Operations Team Leader (Social Infrastructure) at Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) is a multilateral development bank (MDB) which funds its projects and other developmental activities using Islamic finance. Hence, the name “Islamic”. Founded in 1975, the IsDB is headquartered in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the Bank is to foster economic development and social progress of its member countries.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Operations Team Leader (Social Infrastructure) RH-Abuja

Ref No: IDB3232
Location: Abuja
Division: Country Rel.&Ser. Africa & Latin America
Department: Country relations and services Africa & Latin America

Job Purpose

• Under the supervision of the Country Operations Manager, to manage the portfolio of a specific sector (Education and Health) projects and TAs within the approved costs, timelines and quality to ensure efficient delivery of the Bank’s mandate to support socio-economic development in the relevant Member Countries. Supervise and provide technical oversight to Project Officers on day-to-day basis for the implementation of projects and provide clearance on their tasks.
• Lead in the project appraisals, conduct portfolio quality reviews, clear project progress reports and PIASRs, contribute to clearance of tender documents and contracts related to implementation of the approved projects and proactively mitigate risks issues in the portfolios.
• Provide technical support and contribution in shaping the Bank’s strategy by focusing on the given sector in the covered region, including contribution to MCPS, analytical work and programming.
• Contribute to the Bank’s operational, financial and procurement policies and guidelines as well as to the knowledge management agenda.

Key Accountabilities
Project Appraisal:

• Lead the preparation of project appraisals to ensure comprehensive coverage of the technical, economic, social, financial, procurement, institutional and environmental aspects of the project proposals are in line with the operations manual and applicable policies/procedures of the Bank.
• Seek inputs from the respective Sector Teams in CPO to further refine and enhance the project appraisal documents prior to submission for Board approval.
• Ensure all changes identified during project appraisal is incorporated in all the relevant documents for alignment of project design and approach prior to submission of project for Board approval.

Project Approval:

• Follow up and communicate the project approval status, in line with IDB’s disclosure policy, to the relevant focal point in the Member Country.

Project Implementation And Monitoring:

• Coordinate with respective CPO Sectoral Leads for receiving technical assistance in all aspects across the entire project lifecycle.
• Maintain project plans to ensure ongoing monitoring of project progress, proactive identification of issues and implementation of action plans to resolve issues promptly.
• Liaise with the Operations Quality and Results Unit during the operational cycle of projects to ensure necessary operational policies and procedures are being followed and suggestions for improvements are implemented.
• Review disbursement requests and advise on clearance status to country management to ensure timely resolution of procurement and other related issues and ensure that Cumulative Undisbursed Commitments (CuC) are brought to the minimum.

Project Closure And Review:

• Contribute to the development of project completion reports, on completion of each project, ensuring that all elements of the project charter have been incorporated in the report.
• Provide inputs to the Sectoral Teams in CPO ensuring that the problems and issues faced, remedial actions taken, and the lessons learned are well documented for reference in the future projects.
• Provide necessary inputs to the Portfolio Effectiveness Unit, at the end of the project portfolio cycle, to ensure that the portfolio development effectiveness objectives have been achieved.

Academic And Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Education/Health Management/Economics/ Engineering or related field.
• Master’s degree would be preferred.
• Minimum 8 years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree/6 years with a Master’s degree in the development sector, of which minimum 5 years in a specific sector.
• End-to-end project processing experience is highly desirable.
• Experience on designing and managing Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funded projects would be preferred.

Skills & Necessary Knowledge:

• Project Management skills.
• People Management skills.
• Quality Management.
• Results Orientation.
• Portfolio Management.
• Time and resource management.
• Building Relationships
• Passion for Excellence
• Problem Solving skills
• Vendor Management
• Global Trends and Challenges in the specific sector.
• IT skills, especially in project management.

Application Closing Date
17th February, 2024.