Governance Manager

The Governance Manager provides strategic leadership and oversight for governance programming across multiple grants within IRC Nigeria. The role ensures effective integration of governance and power approaches across sectors such as Health, Nutrition, WASH, ERD, and Protection, managing program delivery, grant compliance, and stakeholder engagement.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement detailed work plans, spending plans, and procurement plans to ensure timely delivery of project outputs and achievement of targets.
• Contribute to the design and development of proposals, budgets, and concept notes in coordination with the Governance lead.
• Support the implementation of the Power Integration Strategy for the Nigeria Country Program, ensuring alignment across governance and sectoral interventions.
• Collaborate with the Monitoring and Evaluation team to track performance and ensure power-related indicators and targets are achieved.
• Produce timely, high-quality, results-based reports including annual work plans, monitoring matrices, and project narratives.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with government institutions, legislators, NGOs, and community organizations to support policy influence and program impact.
• Conduct regular field monitoring visits to ensure program quality, compliance, and alignment with donor requirements.
• Assist with management and oversight of grants including work plans, spending plans, and procurement plans.
• Participate in Grant Opening, Mid-Term Review, and Closing meetings ensuring alignment with donor requirements and IRC standards.
• Prepare and submit high-quality internal and external reports within agreed timelines.
• Ensure effective implementation and use of Monitoring & Evaluation systems throughout project lifecycles.
• Oversee project budget management by reviewing Budget vs. Actual reports and expenditure tracking sheets.
• Collaborate with Finance and Supply Chain teams to ensure accurate financial reporting and compliance.
• Identify and address risks related to budget utilization, grant compliance, and reporting.
• Support recruitment of national staff in coordination with Human Resources ensuring transparent and merit-based processes.
• Maintain job descriptions, participate in interviews, and ensure onboarding and orientation of new staff.
• Provide leadership, supervision, and technical guidance to Governance team members through regular check-ins and mentoring.
• Set performance objectives, conduct reviews, and support staff through coaching and capacity-building.
• Design and deliver capacity-strengthening activities on advocacy, stakeholder engagement, accountability, and community liaison.
• Provide ongoing technical support to field teams to enhance community engagement and inclusive participation.
• Promote continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and adherence to IRC principles and safeguarding standards.
• Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with government entities, community leaders, civil society, donors, UN agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Represent IRC in coordination platforms, technical working groups, community meetings, and stakeholder forums.
• Support design and implementation of advocacy initiatives including events, campaigns, policy dialogues, and community engagement.
• Strengthen IRC’s visibility and reputation through professional representation and stakeholder engagement.
• Facilitate communication and collaboration between IRC and community structures to enhance program acceptance and participation.
• Provide capacity building and technical support on governance and power integration for designated focal persons.
• Promote knowledge sharing and system strengthening by supporting local partners, government institutions, and community groups.
• Collaborate with emergency response teams to integrate governance and power approaches into emergency programming.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development, Public Administration, Law, Project Management, or other relevant field; or Minimum three (3) years of experience in governance programming, social accountability, public administration, institutional development, public-sector capacity building or related technical areas.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of governance and power integration in service delivery, particularly Health, Nutrition, WASH, ERD, and Protection.
• Experience with Systems Strengthening approaches such as Organizational Development (OD), Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), Community Scorecards, and durable solutions.
• Proven ability to work effectively with government institutions, civil society organizations, and community stakeholders, demonstrated ability to negotiate and partner with communities, civil society, and government representatives.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Fluency in written and spoken Hausa and Kanuri is preferred.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 50% of the time, including field locations.

Skills

• Governance Programming
• Social Accountability Support
• Public Administration
• Institutional Development
• Public-Sector Capacity Building
• Systems Strengthening
• Organisational Development
• Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation
• Community Scorecards
• Durable Solutions
• Government Relations
• Civil Society Engagement
• Stakeholder Negotiation
• Program Delivery
• Grant Compliance
• Health Sector Governance
• Nutrition Sector Governance
• WASH Sector Governance
• Economic Recovery and Development
• Protection Sector Governance

Languages

English, Hausa, Kanuri