View Vacancy – Governance Advisor, Grade – 7, Islamabad

Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the complete online application form including the employment, educational details, behavioural and technical/ professional skills questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the application forms only with all the required details and the shortlisting is not basis CV/ cover letter. Forms that are incomplete in any respect will not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.

Main purpose of job:

Coordinated global action is needed to tackle the urgent climate crisis and avert the worst impacts on people – displacement, conflict, food insecurity.  The UK has pledged to be a Leader at home to restore our international standing, and to work with other countries, including those on the front line such as Pakistan, to drive forward global action.

The UK Network in Pakistan is looking for a Governance Adviser to join the Climate Resilience and Humanitarian Group at the British High Commission in Islamabad. The job holder will be responsible for providing governance input and support to the Climate, Resilience and Humanitarian portfolio. This role will offer flexible support across the portfolio, as required, focusing on two broad areas: (i) the provision of applied political economy and institutional analysis to inform and support the  Groups overall portfolio’s strategy, policy and programme direction; and (ii) the application of public sector governance expertise in support of the delivery of specific programme objectives on institutional strengthening. 

The job holder will provide political economy and public sector governance expertise to the design, implementation, appraisal, and evaluation of sectoral programmes; to the development and implementation of our foreign and development policies in humanitarian, climate, water and environment; to the development of partnerships and networks amongst government counterparts and other development partners; and in diplomacy and international partnerships as needed. She/he will play an expert role in inter-disciplinary thinking and thought leadership, linking programmes, and bringing deep expertise to maximise the impact of our work in Pakistan. She/he has a solid understanding of the institutional architecture of governance in Pakistan, at federal, subnational and local levels and will be able to develop strong links with development partners, specialist networks, research organisations and professional bodies in Pakistan and globally. 

The role requires excellent communication and team working skills and the ability to work with a diverse set of operational, programmatic and policy leads. It will also necessitate strong interpersonal and networking skills to build and maintain working relationships across the High Commission / Pakistan Network, as well as with external stakeholders and partners on related issues including core governance work, human rights, and economic development. The postholder should have the ability to build instrumental relationships for influencing change especially while working with government departments. 

The role sits as part of a small but agile team whose focus is to ensure governance work maximises the impact of our engagements across the British High Commission and is an effective enabler for the achievement of UK’s priorities in Pakistan. The team has a supportive work culture in which members work flexibly to support each other and share their skills. There are also excellent learning and development opportunities available, and a Senior Governance Adviser, will provide enduring guidance and support. 

We reserve the right to review, revise or amend the roles and responsibilities from time to time reflecting the changing needs of business.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve:

1) Provide governance input to CG4 Climate Resilience and Humanitarian Group – 80%

• Working closely with the Senior Responsible Owner, the postholder will act as lead governance adviser for two climate resilience and humanitarian programmes: 1) the Water Resource Accountability Pakistan (WRAP) programme; and 2) the Building Resilience and Addressing Vulnerability to Emergencies in Pakistan (BRAVE) programme:
  • WRAP aims to strengthen water governance at national and provincial levels, supporting adaption to climate change and improving environmental sustainability. The postholder will lead the Water Governance component, i.e. applying expertise in public sector governance, including both relevant international evidence and Pakistan applied experience to strengthen the institutional capacity (management, planning and budgeting, delivery, accountability) of water related institutions at the federal and provincial levels;
  • BRAVE is a climate resilience and humanitarian programme that aims to maximise the Government of Pakistan’s and communities’ ability to anticipate, avoid, plan for, cope with, recover from and adapt to climate related shocks and stresses. It focuses on institutional strengthening of relevant government counterparts, community climate resilience, and adaptive and shock responsive social protection initiatives.
• Provide institutional analysis and advice to support the building of more inclusive, effective and efficient and accountable water, climate resilience, and humanitarian systems aimed at delivering more and better services to Pakistan’s people;
• Lead engagement with CG4 implementing partners on governance and institutional strands ensuring programme workplans and results frameworks adequately reflect the change CG4’s portfolio is trying to deliver;
• Support the portfolio SROs and programme teams while interacting with government counterparts for uptake of the policy and programmatic reforms including changes in government’s own policies and ways of working, where relevant;
• Build partnerships at senior level with key external stakeholders including government counterparts at Federal (Ministry of Climate Change) and Provincial (Secretary, Planning & Development Department) levels, bi-lateral partners, UN agencies, and other stakeholders to influence and leverage policy in line with UK objectives on climate and resilience – demonstrating UK leadership and expertise.
• Provide timely, high quality political economy and institutional analysis and advice to inform and contextualise CG4’s climate and humanitarian engagement, including providing data, information and knowledge to support climate and humanitarian programming and policy dialogue at Federal and Provincial levels;
• Collaborate effectively with CG4 sector and programme leads, including around identifying and defining short-, medium- and long-term governance demands, requirements and opportunities within the portfolio, drawing in senior governance advice within the BHC and drawing upon HQ governance resources as appropriate;
• Participate effectively in the development of business cases (BCs), annual reviews (ARs) and project completion reviews (PCRs) and ensure that these reflect accurately / realistically on the governance and political economy challenges and opportunities in the climate and humanitarian sectors.

 2) Governance reform coordination and advice – up to 20%

• Coordinate with and support British High Commission Islamabad policy and programme activities, leveraging the experience of sectoral workstreams in Pakistan and elsewhere to ensure a consistent and coherent approach to governance reform across our portfolio;
• Provide strategic communications support including through pragmatic and real-life examples of how governance interventions have enabled the achievement of critical objectives in the humanitarian, climate, water and environment sectors.

Cross-mission Learning and Development opportunities including:

• Formal in-house and external training
• Coaching, mentoring and job shadowing
• Structured learning on the job, including stretching objectives and work

Any other information (or specific local Post requirements):

Required technical competencies:

• Governance Core Competency – Applied Governance and Political Economy Analysis:
  Understand governance evidence, policy, and practice in a range of settings (both development and non-development settings); demonstrates knowledge of core governance concepts, and an informed understanding of how political dynamics interact with institutions at global, national, and sub-national/regional settings and shape change. Apply both political and institutional analysis to inform policy direction, deliver plans, advice, and programming decisions.

• Governance Specialist Competency – Public Sector Governance and Service Delivery:
  Demonstrate knowledge of public sector governance at national and local levels, an understanding of evidence on how change happens and its application for partner institutions and sectors. Provide analytical, advisory and programme support to public sector reform processes that deliver improved services for all.

• Governance Specialist Competency – Public Financial Management and Domestic Revenue:
  Understand the role of public financial management and domestic revenue mobilisation in development, accountability, and state-building processes. Advise, influence policy direction and programme leadership on PFM and revenue mobilisation, working with HMG, country, and international partners.

Please review the Governance Cadre Technical Competency Framework for answering the Behavioural, Technical/Professional Questions.
Please use the STAR method to describe your example (for guidance : A brief guide to competencies – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Essentials on Arrival:

• Advanced degree (Masters) in governance, public policy, economics, or similar relevant discipline.
• At least 5 years of full-time relevant professional experience, with demonstrated experience in research or applied work on institutional strengthening.
• Deep knowledge of the institutional governance arrangements in Pakistan;
• Strong expertise in the application of governance evidence to inform policy and programming,
• Demonstrated expertise in application of PEA (design, commission, conduct, quality assurance);
• Solid understanding of raising, spending, and accounting for public resources in the Pakistani system (Public Financial Management and Domestic Resource Mobilisation);
• Understanding of means of preventing and sanctioning misuse of public resources (Anti-corruption) and illegal flow of private and private resources (Illicit Finance);
• Good research and analytical skills including the ability to search and organise information, critically assess data and present findings succinctly and coherently;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to be able to articulate in practical terms how governance interventions can enable/ unblock delivery of services to audiences which may be unfamiliar with governance work;
• Ability to work and deliver project outcomes within deadlines.

 Language requirements:

• Language: English
• Level of language required: Fluent