Federal Lead at Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI)

Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) is an international development company. For more than 45 years, we have worked on the frontlines of international development, tackling fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability. Currently, DAI is delivering results that matter in some 80 countries.

Our development solutions turn ideas into impact by bringing together fresh combinations of expertise and innovation across multiple disciplines. Our clients include international development agencies, international lending institutions, private corporations and philanthropies, and national governments.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Federal Lead

Location: Abuja
Reports to Head of Programmes.
Programme: PLANE (Partnership For Learning For All In Nigerian)

Job Description

• The Federal Lead will provide strategic leadership for the federal level engagement activities and effective management of reform support.
• They manage the State teams and will work closely with the technical focus of Output 4 to lead on work planning, maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, and managing the extended team experts who will implement activities.
• In addition, Facilitate research, design, implementation and monitoring for evidence based policy approaches to education within federal and state governments;
• Maintaining strategic relationships with federal government counterparts and other relevant stakeholders, including state governments, civil society, other reform programmes and development partners;
• Taking overall responsibility for operation and delivery of federal activities;
• Managing work planning and budgeting of federal activities;
• Ensuring efficient and effective use of resources while achieving best value for money in the commissioning of activities;
• Facilitating and delivering regional governance reform activities whilst ensuring governance reforms are owned and delivered by federal government under their own agenda;
• Using a rapidly learning, flexible, responsive and adaptive approach to facilitating federal governance reform;
• Facilitating possible issue-based approaches to resolving specific service delivery problems with a connection to governance as models for governance reform and improved service delivery;
• Facilitating a reform outreach, knowledge management, and knowledge market approach to supporting governance reform within Nigeria;
• Working with the central knowledge management unit and ensuring cross learning within federal level and between federal and states, through the identification of existing networks, and the development of new peer learning platforms and locally-developed tools
• Implementing work plans and budgets;
• Overseeing monitoring of implementation and overseeing result tracking for federal activities;
• Coordinating reform advisors, reform facilitators and short-term advisory support;
• Reporting to and liaising with to senior management serving as the primary focal point for federal work.
• Contribute to engagement with stakeholders, as appropriate.

Role Specification

• 10 years of experience of policy development and a strong track record of delivering results on complex multi-component programmes;
• Experience of leading successful reform interventions and evidence of good working relations with relevant federal governments;
• An ability to manage relationships and a sound understanding of institutional change in complex environments;
• Extensive experience in Nigeria specifically working at federal level;
• Cultural sensitivity and a good understanding of the education challenges of Nigeria and federal level dynamics;
• Experience in management of diverse teams and effective performance management;
• An excellent understanding of financial and technical delivery, monitoring and evaluation of programme impact and reporting against results;
• Excellent communication skills and ability to develop high quality written materials.
• Experience working in Nigeria specifically in Northern Nigeria
• Previous experience of conducting and commissioning research
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills

Application Closing Date
15th October, 2021.