Marie Stopes International (MSI) is a global organisation providing personalised contraception and safe abortion services to women and girls. Our local teams of professionals are passionate about the work they do in communities across 37 countries. The services we provide give a woman the power to choose when she has children so that she’s free to pursue her plans and dreams for herself and her family.

The primary responsibility of this role is to further MSI’s Goal: The prevention of unwanted births and its mission of ensuring an individual’s right to: children by choice, not chance.

The Function

The UK-based MSI DFID Reproductive Health Programmes Team has responsibility for oversight of all MSI’s contracts/grants funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), as well as management MSI’s overall relationship with DFID. The Team provides leadership for ensuring that organisational strategy, policy, systems and capacities are responsive to DFID priorities and investments and that the organisational strategy and policies influences the DFID priorities and investments.  In addition, the DFID team oversees all DFID funded multi-country programmes which includes the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) to ensure that programme implementation and project management exceed DFID expectations. 

WISH is a DFID funded, three year, multi-country programme which aims to improve access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) for women and girls in areas of highest unmet need. In Nigeria, WISH will increase access to family planning and integrated SRH services for women, men and young people with a focus on reaching young people, people who are poor and people who are marginalised.  It will achieve this through a combination of direct service provision, strengthening of public sector health information and services, addressing demand side barriers to accessing services and improving policies, financing and commodity security to create an enabling environment for SRHR. 

The Partnership Consultant will perform a key function facilitating collaboration, co-ordination and communication between WISH stakeholders in Nigeria, and ensuring the benefits of the WISH partnership approach.

The Role

This is a strategic role which will report to the Head of WISH based in London. The Partnership Consultant will lead on national level programme collaboration and co-ordination, driving communication between all consortium partners within Nigeria to ensure synergy between the various work streams of the programme. S/he will work closely with the programme leadership of each agency to ensure that the activities of all consortium partners are aligned and being implemented efficiently and effectively, and that the consortium as a whole is embedded within federal and state level and national health system and civil society platforms. The Partnership Consultant will lead on development and implementation of a WISH Nigeria engagement strategy, supporting the co-ordination and development of partnerships both within the consortium and externally with various governmental, non-governmental and private sector organisations, which are essential for effective implementation and sustainability of the WISH programme.

The consultant will work with the WISH office in London and MSION to support consortium members to develop and agree coordinated project implementation workplans, ensuring that opportunities for synergy are maximised. S/he will also support partners in identifying environmental opportunities and challenges, and risk levels to ensure WISH in Nigeria is maximising opportunities for impact.

Key Responsibilities

1. Consortium Coordination and partnership working

• Ensure strong and close coordination across all WISH consortium partners working in Nigeria, especially in thematic areas that are of strategic importance to the global programme.

• Facilitate a partnership approach to implementation of WISH, creating a working environment that encourages regular communication between partners and open sharing of ideas.

• Lead the national consortium coordination committee which will consist of representatives from each consortium partner; facilitate quarterly meetings (and more recently if required) to:
  • review results and strategize together,
  • address challenges in implementation,
  • share learnings and provide peer support,
  • improve partner coordination,
  • share updates in workplans as appropriate.

• Set coordination committee agendas, chair and document key decisions and follow-up actions from the meetings, and ensure timely and effective follow-up by consortium members. S/he will invite external experts and stakeholders will be invited to participate, as appropriate.

• Participate in the creation and implementation of inception workshops, mid-term review and ongoing planning and knowledge sharing activities, including leading on the development and delivery of workshop modules to a multi-stakeholder audience, as required.

• Provide guidance, support and oversight as necessary to the consortium partners to ensure the programme is implemented efficiently, effectively and providing good value for money, as needed, particularly on joint activities.

• Support project partners to identify risks and opportunities for strengthening the impact WISH Nigeria.

• Contribute to key sections of quarterly and annual reports relating to consortium coordination and stakeholder engagement.
  
  

2. Nigeria WISH stakeholder engagement

• Lead on the development of a Nigeria WISH engagement strategy with consortium members, SRHR stakeholders and DFID Nigeria that ensures WISH in Nigeria is embedded within relevant state and national level health sector and civil society platforms.

• Oversee, monitor and report on implementation of the engagement strategy.

• Support the engagement of consortium partners in relevant national level forums and partnerships, and where necessary represent WISH at national or state level meetings.

• Lead on engaging Nigeria WISH steering committee, working closely with consortium members to identify members, finalise TORs and to engage and retain engagement of key stakeholders with WISH; coordinating steering committee meetings, supporting the documentation of actions from meetings; working in collaboration with colleagues at MSION who will provide logistical support.

• Contribute to delivery of the stakeholder engagement including for example stakeholders analyses, contextual reports or other pieces of work that inform or otherwise support delivery of the engagement strategy and strengthen WISH Nigeria partnership working.

• Working as necessary with colleagues from Options Nigeria to ensure the national ownership output (focusing on advocacy and health budgets/domestic resources) is synergistic and coordinated both within the consortium and with other relevant coalitions, networks, state level, national and global platforms.
  
  

3. Other

• Contribute insights and inputs to key country deliverables as required, such as political economy analysis exercises.
• Contribute to/participate as necessary with WISH partners in internal and external audit and review processes, DFID annual review and VIP visits, third party monitor review visits and information/evidence requests etc., as required.

Team Member Behaviours

Work as One MSI

• You contribute, use, and share accurate data and evidence to improve understanding, insight and decision-making across MSI, enabling us to maximise our ability to influence others
• You share relevant knowledge, expertise and resources to strengthen teamwork and prevent duplication of effort
• You actively work as part of a team, providing support and flexibility to colleagues, demonstrating fairness, understanding and respect for all people and cultures.

Show courage, authenticity and integrity

• You hold yourself accountable for the decisions you make and the behaviours you demonstrate
• You are courageous in challenging others and taking appropriately managed risks.

Develop and grow

• You seek feedback to enable greater self-awareness and provide the same to others in a way which inspires them to be even more effective
• You manage your career development including keeping your knowledge and skills up to date.

Deliver excellence, always

• You strive to consistently meet and exceed expectations, putting clients at the centre of everything, and implement smarter, more efficient ways of performing your role
• You build and maintain effective long-term working relationships with all stakeholders, and are a true MSI ambassador.

Leadership (For Leaders only)

• You inspire individuals and teams, through situational leadership, providing clear direction
• You seek and provide opportunities which motivate team members, helping to develop skills and potential whilst strengthening our talent and succession pipeline
• You are aware of emerging developments in our sector, demonstrating strategic insight about our clients and business and encourage this in your team
• You articulate a vision of the future which inspires and excites others.

MSI Values

• Mission driven: With unwavering commitment, we exist to empower women and men to have children by choice, not chance.
• Client centred: We are passionate about our clients and dedicate our efforts to delivering agreed objectives to the highest possible quality.
• Accountable: We are accountable for our actions and take responsibility for everything we do to ensure long-term sustainability and increased impact.
• Courageous: We recruit and nurture talented, passionate and brave people who have the courage to push boundaries, make tough decisions and challenge others in line with our mission.

• 8+ years of experience in delivering SRHR and/or partnership programmes within Nigeria, especially northern Nigeria (essential).

• Proven experience in strategic planning and project management (essential).

• Significant experience effectively managing partners (where you have no line management) to reliably deliver results across a range of work streams in challenging environments (essential).

• Strong networking and proven stakeholder management skills to be able to bring key external parties, such as key government officials, into implementation delivery conversations in a constructive and collaborative way, especially in northern Nigeria (essential).

• Extensive understanding of the political economy and operational context for SRH service delivery and policy/advocacy work in Nigeria, especially northern Nigeria (essential).

• Proven track record of establishing strong working relationships and operating effectively to enhance programme outcomes and quality in a highly political setting, successfully managing multiple expectations, agendas and interests which do not necessarily always align (essential).

• Experience of working in collaboration with government ministries, departments and agencies (essential).

• Experience in delivering programmes focussed on people who are young and/or marginalised (desirable).

• Experience in partnering with international donors, especially the UK Department For International Development (desirable).

Skills

• Master’s degree (MA, MSc, MPH) in public health or relevant field of social science, or equivalent experience (essential).

• Technical understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights programmes in Nigeria, especially northern Nigeria, including the provision of health services (essential).

• Ability to work with a diverse team within and outside of the organisation to deliver results on time and within budget (essential).

• Ability to identify opportunity and risks and course-correct programmes to drive impact (essential).

• Ability to balance evidence-based approaches with innovation to adapt to changing contexts (essential).

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and fluency in English (written and spoken) (essential).

• Excellent representational skills with experience of negotiating and influencing governments, working with partners, donors and development agencies (essential).

• Ability to use effective strategies to facilitate change initiatives and overcome resistance to change by involving others, listening and building commitment (essential).

• Competent in all the Office based software packages (essential).

Personal Attributes

• Pro-choice (essential).

• Self-starter, able to work independently and be self-motivated in defining goals and objectives.

• Able to look at the big strategic picture but also engage in the detail when necessary.

• Strong leadership and negotiation capabilities, able to manage conflict and promote collaboration.

• Team player; energetic, enthusiastic and positive.

• Quality-focussed and results-oriented.

• Calm under pressure.

• Highly organised.

• Confident and professional; good listener.

• Responsive, resourceful and determined.

• Sound judgement, action oriented and decisive.

• Integrity.