Lead Risk Financing Adviser - Sahel 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: Lead Risk Financing Adviser - Sahel

Location: Nigeria

Background to the Centre

• The Centre for Disaster Protection works to prevent disasters devastating lives, by helping people, countries, and organisations change how they plan and pay for disasters.
• We focus on disaster risk financing to help ensure that money and plans are in place before a disaster strikes, so that the poorest and most vulnerable people are better protected.
• We are committed to work in partnerships across sectors and geographies to drive more impactful and more equitable disaster risk finance that leaves no one behind. Specifically, through a focus on:
  • Delivering excellent client outcomes and promoting lasting disaster risk finance expertise. We provide clients with impartial and evidence-based advice, quality assurance and training that meets their needs and drives more effective disaster risk finance. 
  • Quality evidence and learning. We work to strengthen the evidence base for prearranged financing and document and share what shows the greatest potential to achieve system change.
  • Impactful communications and global policy engagement. We seek to engage and influence through evidence-led policy and inclusive policy dialogue that bridges both ‘local to global’ and the humanitarian development climate nexus, targeting the bottlenecks key to effect transformative change of the international crisis financing architecture. 
• Additionally, we are focused on building effective systems and processes for people and operations that support the Centre to rapidly, yet strategically, scale and grow in a way that supports our people to do their best work through safe challenge, promoting and integrating diversity, equity and inclusion. 
• The Centre is funded with UK aid through the UK government.

The Sahel Project

• As part of our next phase, we are expanding our team and recruiting a Lead Risk Financing Expert primarily supporting our strategic Sahel programme.
• The Advisory and Training workstream includes advice, quality assurance and training to developing country governments, international development and humanitarian organisations and donors to improve disaster risk management and financing.
• The workstream aims to ensure high-quality crisis and disaster risk financing is available to and used to good effect by countries and organisations, so that the most vulnerable people are better protected. 
• As one of our strategic programmes, the Centre is implementing a UK Aid funded project to support five countries in the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger) to strengthen their adaptive social protection systems. 
• The Centre works alongside the World Bank’s Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Programme (SASPP) to provide support to country teams in laying the foundations for stronger policy, practice and financing for social protection systems in the Sahel that are more adaptive to climate-related shocks. 
• Our efforts seek to ensure that further improvements to Sahelian social protection systems are informed by principles and practices of good disaster risk financing, and that long-term financing and early warning systems are linked to suitable triggers. 
• The project is expected to run from July 2022 to December 2026 (subject to the Centre’s project funding being extended beyond June 2025), during which time the Centre will provide high-quality technical assistance, capacity building and evidence support to ensure that: 
  • National social protection systems in Sahel countries are better able to adapt to shocks, like droughts or floods.
  • Weather and early warning data are utilised to improve disaster risk preparedness.
  • Financing strategies are put in place for social protection systems.
  • Social protection systems are more inclusive, avoid doing harm and contribute to gender equality.

About the Role

• The role will include providing advice, quality assurance and training to the Sahelian country governments, World Bank task team leaders and country teams, as well as wider international development and humanitarian organisations and donors to improve disaster risk management and financing. 
• The candidate is expected to contribute to the design and lead the delivery of high-quality technical advisory and analysis on disaster risk analysis and financing, applied to adaptive social protection. This role will also be involved in reviewing and quality assuring other Centre suppliers’ ongoing work alongside the Centre’s Sahel team.
• Further examples of work to be undertaken may include, for example: working alongside a client’s advisory team to provide advice to a low-income country government or a regional development bank on the design and implementation of pre-arranged finance solutions1; providing quality assurance reviews of disaster risk financing products; or leading on the delivery of specific risk financing solutions and presenting findings at regional events.
• This role is expected to be largely desk-based, requiring incidental travel to countries in the Sahel. Applicants will be required to travel irregularly to low-income, often fragile and conflict-affected countries (as a guide, one week every 2-3 months, travel restrictions permitting). 
• In addition to these role-specific responsibilities, the Lead Risk Finance Advisor is expected to:
• Uphold the organisation’s values and contribute to a positive organisational culture.  
• Build the Centre’s external reputation through delivering excellent technical work and the development of innovative solutions. 
• Develop effective partnerships and relationships at senior levels across the development, humanitarian and financial sectors.
• Manage and supervise teams of Centre staff and consultants, coaching and mentoring colleagues as required, including potentially direct line management of a Risk Analyst.

Qualifications

• Candidates should possess a Master's Degree level in a relevant field. 
• Fluency (written and spoken) in French and English are required. Fluency in Arabic would be advantageous but not required.
• Successful candidates must also demonstrate:
• A strong commitment to building resilience and reducing vulnerability in low and middle-income countries.
• An understanding and commitment to the Centre’s values and mission.
• And be willing to travel to Africa, Asia, and other international locations as needed including lower income and fragile, conflict-affected contexts (travel restrictions permitting).

Skills and experience
Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate the following skills and experience:

• At least ten years’ experience in disaster risk financing or a relevant field, such as public financial management, insurance, risk management, risk modelling, actuarial science, economics, shock-responsive social protection, or humanitarian finance.
• Experience in designing, delivering and/or quality assuring technical advisory in the international development sector to a high standard is required.  Experience in one or more of the following is highly desirable:
  • Working in and on Francophone African and fragile and conflict-affected countries.
  • Managing projects for or in close coordination with international development and/or humanitarian agencies and/or governments.
  • Applied research to a high standard.
• Experience in complex client management and the ability to build effective strategic partnerships across different sectors and stakeholders, including working with government at a senior level.
• Proven ability to work independently with occasional guidance and oversight, and as part of international teams often working in different locations and time zones.
• Work experience in the focus countries noted above will be considered an asset.

The offer

• The contracts will be fixed term and will not extend beyond June 2025. Contract extensions will be offered subject to project funding being extended. The role will be contracted by DAI Global UK, who are the Centre’s managing agent.
• A competitive salary and benefits package is available, which includes 25 days annual leave (plus public holidays) and a contributory pension scheme.  
• The salary offer will be based on the level of experience, this will be in the region of £40,000 to £70,000. This is an indicative salary range based on employment in the UK, employment in other locations may impact the salary range.

Application Closing Date
3rd March, 2024; 12:00 pm (UK time)