Partnerships Officer, NOC

The Partnerships Officer provides advice and support to the Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team (UNCT) for strategic partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Iraq. The role involves strategic planning, coordination of partnerships, resource mobilization, financing for SDGs, knowledge management, and capacity development within the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Baghdad.

Responsibilities

• Provides substantive support for strategic planning for and coordination of UNCT strategic partnerships with the Government of Iraq, international development actors, civil society, the private sector, and others for SDG achievement.
• Provides advice on the development and implementation of the UN Partnership Strategy in alignment with and support of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.
• Supports the UNCT with the effective implementation, monitoring and assessment of the strategy at regular intervals to harness new emerging opportunities, anticipate changes, and make mid-term adjustments.
• Conducts liaison and coordination with UN entities at country, regional and HQ levels to package and define a value proposition for local UN partnerships.
• Serves as a key entry point for external stakeholders seeking guidance and support in navigating opportunities to partner with the UNCT.
• Builds extensive contacts with critical development partners, Government, private sector, civil society and other non-traditional partners.
• Develops and maintains trusted working relationships with senior government officials and key national institutions.
• Facilitates high-level dialogue between the UN system and the Government of Iraq and leads substantive preparation and coordination of the RC’s high-level engagements with government officials.
• Coordinates substantive and institutional aspects of visits by senior UN officials and delegations involving government engagement.
• Provides substantive support to the Resident Coordinator and the UNCT in identifying risks and opportunities related to specific partnerships and suggests mitigation measures.
• Provides inputs on due diligence processes of potential investment and partnership opportunities in accordance with UN regulations and procedures.
• Supports joint partnership and resource mobilization initiatives and management of pooled funds for the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.
• Provides substantive support to develop and implement locally tailored resource mobilization strategies and initiatives for Cooperation Framework priorities.
• Monitors and analyzes existing resource mobilization partnerships and relationships including traditional and non-traditional partners and donors.
• Supports the UNCT with analysis of funding streams from internal and external sources for proposal preparation.
• Supports the UNCT in preparation of the Funding Framework of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.
• Provides support to design joint programmes for joint resource mobilization and coordination during implementation.
• Advises RC/UNCT and external partners on offers from specialized UN entities and ensures development of youth partnership strategy supporting SG priorities on youth, disability inclusion, gender and other thematic issues.
• Works closely with the Resident Coordinator Office Economist and other UN country team finance experts to promote partnerships supporting financing for accelerating SDGs.
• Prepares briefing papers and discussion points on partnership issues related to financing for development for consideration by RC/UNCT.
• Contributes to advocacy, communications and dialogues with partners to improve development assistance policies and practice.
• Undertakes design and execution of innovative proposals to strengthen UNCT engagement and reputation and generate greater financial resources in support of SDGs.
• Contributes to knowledge management and capacity development relating to partnerships and resource mobilization and management at the country level.
• Promotes collaboration, peer support, innovation, good practices, lessons learned, needs and opportunities through participation in communities of practice and knowledge networks within the Resident Coordinator System and across the UN.
• Researches, analyzes and presents best practices and lessons learned from implementation of UN partnership initiatives to advise RC and UNCT.
• Supports UNCT with a knowledge repository of potential donors at national and sub-national levels.
• Monitors and analyzes best practices and successful models of SDG partnerships and resource mobilization implemented by the UN in country and elsewhere.
• Provides advice on global/corporate guidelines, tools and other materials related to partnerships, resource mobilization and donor engagement.
• Keeps abreast of emerging innovative approaches in partnerships, resource mobilization and donor engagement and proposes new ways of working.
• Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.
• Ensures that requirements and background information used for data analysis are documented.
• Performs other duties as required.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent degree) in business or public administration, sustainable development, social sciences, education or related area is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is an advantage.
• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience and track record in strategic support to partnerships, project/programme management, resource mobilization in the context of development cooperation or related area is required.
• Experience in developing strategic partnerships in Iraq across government, development organizations, and civil society organizations is required.
• Experience in designing and implementing partnerships in development programming is required.
• Experience in resource mobilization strategies is required.
• Experience in preparing project /programme proposals is required.
• Experience in inclusion strategies that promote Gender equality, youth participation and inclusion of persons with disability is desirable.
• Experience in UN interagency coordination is desirable.
• Experience in promoting knowledge management in the context of development cooperation is desirable.
• Experience in supporting financing of SDGs is desirable.
• Fluency in English and Arabic at UN Level III for reading, writing, listening and speaking is required.

Skills

• Strategic Partnerships
• Project Management
• Programme Management
• Resource Mobilization
• Partnership Design and Implementation
• Proposal Preparation
• Data Analytics
• Business Analytics
• Data Science
• Development Cooperation
• Inter-agency Coordination
• Knowledge Management
• Financing for SDGs
• Inclusion Strategies Design
• Gender Equity Promotion
• Youth Inclusion
• Disability Inclusion

Languages

English, Arabic