Vice President, Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Vice President, Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex

Position Number: 50092320
Location: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Position Grade: EL3

The Complex / The Hiring Department

• The Vice-Presidency for ‘Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery’ (RDVP), is responsible for operational relevancy, efficiency and effectiveness of the Bank Group’s operational programs, and activities.
• The RDVP will ensure that the Bank operates successfully across its Regional Member Countries and will oversee the full implementation of all aspects of the Bank’s Regional Directorates.
• Five Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Hubs have been created, each run by a Director General: Southern Africa, North Africa, West Africa; East Africa, and Central Africa, as well as Nigeria Country Office.

The Position

• The African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier multi-lateral development finance institution fostering economic growth and social progress in Africa.
• The AfDB’s primary goal is to reduce poverty and improve living standards by mobilizing resources in and outside Africa, and providing financial and technical assistance for development projects and programs in Africa.
• The Vice President, Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex, leads the Complex and will drive the implementation and execution of the new development and business delivery model for the Bank through five regional development and business delivery hubs, with one in each region of Africa: North, South, East, West, and Central as well as Nigeria Country Office. Each hub is led by a Directors General (DG).

The Vice President is expected to:

• Deepen regional integration by cultivating strategic partnerships with regional economic communities, private sectors and development banks;
• Execute regional projects to improve regional and intra-regional trade and competitiveness that focuses on:
  • Oversee and ensure systematic and impactful donor coordination within and across regions;
  • Business development and
  • Resource mobilization in collaboration with FRMB
• Improve operational efficiency, effectiveness and overall health of the Bank’s portfolio across regions to achieve significant developmental results and impacts;
• Ensure consistency amongst Regions and safeguarding the "ONE-Bank" purpose;
• Develop the AfDB as a strong 'brand' across the African continent and member countries, building on the brand and the overall communications strategy, including engaging with civil society, non-government organizations as well as the local media;
• Represent and provide visibility for and including through organizing/participating in high profile events (Senior level visits, interviews, seminars, business events and conferences);
• Continuously seek out business opportunities that support the bank’s purpose on the continent;
• Champion the Organizational mandate and purpose - providing a direct and indirect support that will contribute to the Bank’s output and mandate.

Key Functions
Strategic Leadership & Direction:

• Provides leadership in achieving the Bank’s strategic imperatives and the management of change;
• Plans, directs, and coordinates the day-to-day functioning of the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex;
• Provides strategic leadership and direction to the regional development and business delivery offices, country offices, and teams responsible for the Bank's operations;
• Leads and ensure synergy across the regions in implement the Bank’s Transition States and fragility strategy through the Coordination office; and the Regional Integration Coordination office;
• Ensure People Management in line with the Bank’s People Strategy;
• Champion the Bank’s strategic imperatives, particularly the High 5s;
• Need to guarantee and maintain consistence of processes / procedures across all the regions.

Building Relationships and Using Influence:

• Be an accountable partner in ensuring the Bank meets and exceeds the evolving requirements of borrowers, shareholders, development partners, and other stakeholders;
• Strengthens and builds partnerships and synergies internally across functions and geographies, and externally with key institutions to drive regional integration and development;
• Develops constructive working relationships at the highest Management level within the Bank and externally so that important, sometimes contentious, issues can be dealt with effectively;
• Develop strong constructive relationships with RECS and other sector regional cooperation entities.

Business Development:

• Lead business development and drive investments into the regions through appropriate coordination mechanisms, including collaboration with the Bank’s African Investment Forum;
• Collaborate with Sector Vice Presidents and the Chief Economist/Vice President for Economic Governance to develop and deploy high quality knowledge, advisory and technical services to governments and other stakeholders;
• Oversee the development of critical resources and technical capability necessary for sourcing and originating of bankable national and regional projects, including collaboration with the private sector on projects with social impacts in the Regional Member Countries;
• Ensure effective and efficient project development and approvals supported by robust service-level standards in procurement, disbursement, legal and fiduciary safeguards;
• Lead and assist DGs in identifying truly regional transformational operations co-financing partnerships.

Portfolio Implementation and Management:

• Drive accountability for operational efficiency, effectiveness, and the overall health of the Bank's portfolio to achieve significant impacts in the delivery of the High 5’s across the regions;
• Build the capacities of regional and country teams, including project implementation units and execution agencies within each region;
• Ensure effective and efficient project management and disbursements, supported by robust service-level standards in procurement, disbursement, legal and fiduciary safeguards.

Performance Management:

• Foster an environment that stimulates and rewards performance, initiative and innovation, and encourages continuous learning, open communication and teamwork.

Competencies (Skills, Experience and Knowledge)

• Hold at least a Master's Degree in in Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Business Law, or related disciplines.
• A minimum of fifteen (15) years relevant and demonstrable experience in international development finance or with a leading private sector financial institution and at last ten (10) years should be at a senior management level.
• A record of delivering results in complex project, country, and partner arrangements in Africa.
• Experience in regional integration and knowledge of the issues as related to Africa.
• Strong negotiating skills.
• First-rate interpersonal skills; demonstrated ability to present and win support for ideas; a good listener; cultural sensitivity, commitment to diversity and capacity to initiate and manage innovations and change.
• A strategic mind-set and the capacity to steer the Bank’s agenda while empowering staff during a phase of institutional reforms and transformation towards greater country focus of the Bank's activities.
• Ability to build successful relationships across the matrix of scope assigned to the role.
• Excellent understanding of multilateral development institutions, strategies and operational issues.
• An acute appreciation and understanding of the elements essential for the effective delivery and measurement of development impacts through projects and programs in Africa.
• Ability to identify and create meaningful linkages across sectors to drive regional integration and development in Africa.
• Highly developed negotiation skills proven to yield positive outcomes with senior counterparts, both internal and external.
• Ability to innovate, communicate, and implement new strategic approaches essential to the creation and success of the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex.
• Highly developed strategic thinking skills allied to an ability to translate strategic concepts and direction into the implementation of workable and sustainable projects and programs.
• Able to define and effectively drive the Bank’s activities under uncertain and challenging circumstances.
• Demonstrated ability to take prudent business risks and make effective, timely and well-determined decisions.
• Ability to work under pressure in a multicultural and distributed organization.
• Proven ability to build and lead motivated and committed teams across functional and geographic boundaries, and to utilize the talent and expertise of team members in a productive way.
• Ability to design long-term plans and programs to develop staff competences in line with the Bank’s strategic priorities.
• Ability to inspire, generate and sustain staff commitment and professional excellence.
• Agility and resilience to drive successful change management processes.
• Business Development demonstrated capacity: a sense for business generation and ability to identify business opportunities to enable a sustainable development environment.
• Strong leadership and coaching skills, with a proven track record of working with large teams and creating an empowering and self-development focus oriented work environment.
• Fragility assessment knowledge and relevant experience.
• Operational Effectiveness: commitment to ensure that full use is made of the systems, procedures and culture within the organization in order to deliver the required results.
• Innovation & Creativity: commitment to search for and produce innovative and creative approaches to activities in order to enhance performance and create added benefits to the bank and its clients.
• Problem Solving: Applies business knowledge to the resolution of problems and identifies solutions to the benefit of the client (internal and external) and the organization.
• Communication: Provides clear and concise oral and written communication; presents oral information with clarity and appropriate style and adapts language and style to suit the requirements of a particular audience.
• Client Orientation: Ensures that the client (internal or external) is considered to be of primary importance in all transactions and interactions. Strives to understand, and when appropriate, anticipate client needs, and ensures that the client receives the best possible service from the Bank.
• Team Working & Relationship Management: Works with others to maximize the effectiveness of the team as a whole, sharing the knowledge and the workload. Develops strong working relationships with colleagues and contributes to creation of a positive team environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software applications (SAP, Microsoft Office suite and vastly used Collaboration Suites).

Application Closing Date
13th January, 2022.