| Main purpose of job: The role will lead the day-to-day engagement with Blue Planet Fund (BPF) delivery partners in the region, supporting the BPF programme portfolio’s coordination in West Africa and its alignment with local priorities and context. The role holder will provide advice and guidance to the UK based BPF programme management teams and leadership to inform live programming decisions in West Africa, including supporting the design of any new BPF programmes. The role holder will support British Embassy and High Commission staff to engage with the BPF portfolio. This role will also ensure the BPF supports marine nature commitments made by countries in West Africa. This role will require close collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including British Embassies and British High Commissions (BHC), regional and multi-lateral organisations, the UK BPF programme teams, UK government departments, non-government organisations (NGO), and the private sector, to maximise the impact of the BPF programme in the region. This is a great opportunity for a highly motivated self-starter with strong experience in advising on programme design of international development and/or marine programmes. You will need to be good at stakeholder engagement, including with senior government officials and local communities. It is important that you can build a deep understanding of the local context using stakeholder engagement and discussions with Government partners. You will need to use this knowledge and understanding to inform the design of Blue Planet Fund programmes and help the growth of ones which are already delivering. You will facilitate join up between delivery partners and support knowledge sharing so that Blue Planet Fund programmes in the region provide a coherent offer in line with Blue Planet Fund country plans. You will need to learn and understand the breadth of UK projects in the region to identify synergies and avoid overlap between programmes. You will report to the Team Leader of the Climate and Investment team at the British High Commission in Accra and to the International Sustainable Blue Finance team in London. You will enjoy a good level of autonomy and will be encouraged to decide how you can best deliver your job. You will also be able to access professional development opportunities, including scope to work on the wider BPF programme and other embassy priorities, including UK advocacy work on the marine environment across the region. You will need excellent communication and presentation skills (both written and verbal), and the ability to deliver high quality work. You will need to assess and prioritise your own workload within given timeframes, to meet project schedules. This role will also require you to undertake a certain amount of regional travel, which will be planned well in advance, approximately once every 2-3 months. As with any role, there will be occasions when the work is reactive to instructions and tasking either from teams in the UK or from High Commission Senior Management. All staff are expected to be collaborative team players, willing to turn their hand to any task. | Roles and responsibilities: Programme coordination and advice – 80% The Blue Planet Fund (BPF) is delivering a portfolio of multilateral and bilateral programmes in West Africa. To support these programmes, you will need to: - Maintain oversight of BPF programmes running in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and scoping work in Sierra Leone and other countries in the region.
- Work with British Embassy and High Commission colleagues in the region, supporting consultation with governments and national stakeholders, including civil society organisations, on regional and national needs and priorities.
- Provide advice to UK based BPF programme management teams for project decisions, including reflecting views and contextual points from host country stakeholders.
- Ensure delivery is structured around the agreed country plan.
- Work with UK based team-member(s) to lead the development of country plans to ensure that BPF programming is complementary with other in-country and regional donors and their activities, including liaising with other donors, multilaterals, and diplomatic missions to ensure programme activity does not duplicate other work.
- Support on the day-to-day relationships with BPF programme delivery partners and country governments receiving support through the BPF, ensuring join up across the programmes and other donor programmes.
- Coordinate Defra and FCDO BPF programme activities in West Africa to ensure complementarity and advising UK based BPF programme teams on how to improve joined-up delivery.
- Provide advice and support to UK BPF teams on the delivery and design of BPF programmes in West Africa (eg. supporting the Ocean Country Partnership Programme and the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) develop their partnerships in West Africa and providing support for Defra’s competitive grant fund (OCEAN), providing support to FCDO’s Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition programme).
- Work to increase the effectiveness of UK aid programmes in the region by sharing key lessons from BPF projects in West Africa with UK programme teams and programme teams in the region.
- Provide advice and guidance to British Embassy and High Commission staff in the region on all aspects of BPF programme activity.
Blue Planet Fund policy and wider UK government support on the marine environment – 20% - Deliver wider mission critical work as required as part of the team at the British High Commission.
- Drafting briefings, reports and presentations on the marine environment as required.
- Supporting international visits from UK senior civil servants and Ministers.
- Representing the UK at meetings across West Africa to influence and communicate UK marine priorities.
- Participate in self-development to continually improve performance/systems and undertake development activities that are identified.
The above is only an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. You will carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by the Defra and FCDO programming teams. These responsibilities may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the BPF and the organization. | Resources managed (staff and expenditure): NA Travel and subsistence (T&S) arrangements will be in place to reimburse any additional and reasonable expenses necessarily incurred on official business. | | |