PURPOSE OF POSITION:
Reporting to the Field Support Director this role will have two primary purposes: 1) networking across a diverse region, partnership, and external partners, so that our teams have access to learnings, innovation, knowledge, skills, and experiences; 2) facilitate collaboration for mutual benefit and CWB impact. A central component of the role is to connect all internal and external stakeholders in Economic Development (ED), to generate learning through mapping and selecting aligned projects across WV Middle East/Eastern Europe Region (MEER) NOs, to transfer learning to general NO program implementation with a focus on driving quality results, and to transmit learning to our people through an action oriented learning methodology. This position will lead these four functions with the aim to achieve the objective of increasing our impact on Child and Youth Well-being by increasing effectiveness, scale, reflection, and evidence-based review.
Lead the continuous quality improvement of WV Middle East/Eastern Europe Region’s Economic Development programs, by providing program support to the 9 countries, promoting innovation through research and piloting. Learning Hub Lead for Economic Development will also stimulate cooperation amongst WV, partner organizations, government bodies and Academic Institutions active in the field.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Strategy
- Ensure that the EDLH is impact driven toward generating internal and external learning that strengthens NOs in their focus and capacity to successfully reach the partnership Global Targets and MEER and NO strategies.
- Ensure that the EDLH operates based on the principle of inclusiveness. Align contextually diverse youth empowerment projects from NOs to the EDLH. Ensure the learning from the aligned projects is transmitted back to NOs so as to strengthen impact, scale-up and action.
- Ensure that the EDLH does not become infrastructure heavy, but instead loosely embraced by the host Armenian NO making the EDLH flexible, adaptable, and collaborative.
- The EDLH should develop and celebrate a unique design and implementation plan (DIP) with the aim to generate, transfer and transmit learning into action and impact on CWB in MEER.
Generate Learning for impact - Ensure the EDLH is grounded within the real issues facing WV field staff, and that an ED impact evidence base will emerge equipping a network of NO interested in ED with the knowledge to expand their financial donor base, deepen their internal and external partnerships, and turn failures into opportunities.
- Conduct a mapping process, based on solid criteria, to select the NOs best practices within ED projects. Elevate and connect these projects into a network or ED aligned projects to generate shared evidence and learning.
- Work through the ED network of aligned projects managed by NOs to develop Regional ED Platforms for the purpose of influencing and reforming ED policy.
- Through this network or aligned projects, use the evidence and learning to facilitate the process of raising up ED issues, regionally – for the purpose of advocacy (facilitating change)
- Identify and explore creative ways to fill ED skill and systems gaps in producing a professional evidence base needed to informed decision making, investment, and ministry impact.
Transfer: Impact through collaborative learning - Build a EDLH that has a goal driven orientation toward transferring ED knowledge ensuring scale up of what has been discovered and deemed contextually useful across the NOs to improve child and youth well-being in MEER;
- Establish a EDLH with a strong field oriented approach based on experimenting, daring to fail, innovating, incubating, discovering, monitoring, and evaluating to ensure that the network of aligned projects in the hubs will organically transfer learning for operational scale-up and fundraising;
- The EDLHs Lead is accountable to ensure a high level of cross-pollination of learning occurs between the network of hubs with the aim to create an open and fluid platform that will effectively disseminate information and ideas, attract innovation, and sharpen impact of our core ministry;
- Work with FSDs and Ministry Line Director, other LH Leads, and the NOs to develop a learning agenda from evidence collected through the LHs with a shift from an instructional methodology to a “learning by doing” methodology.
- Develop a system whereby the learning is captured from the ED aligned projects for knowledge refinement and management. Create a mechanism that can simply transfer this knowledge to NOs as requested and needed to enhance their impact on CWB.
Transmit: Impact through partnership and scale-up - Collaborate with Ministry lines (MLs) to ensure that F&D, Advocacy and HEA are integrated in EDLH designs, implementation plans, and selection of aligned projects.
- The EDLH Leads extensive internal and external network must attract cutting edge thinking and strategic and technical partnering opportunities;
- Ensure the EDLH plays its part in fundraising by strengthening our comparative advantage through positioning WV NOs as a credible thought leaders in key topics within ED based on a network of evidence and impact driven aligned projects;
- Ensure that the learning from the EDLH works to enhance NO expertise building credibility and organizational reputation with governments positioning and enabling stakeholders and NOs to influence reforms and promote “aligned projects to policy adoption” for sustained impact;
- The EDLHs Lead is accountable to ensure innovative scaled-up for impact by involving and enhancing partnering with governments, coalitions, donors, universities and thought leaders stimulating programmatic experimentation and creativity for permanent impact for the most vulnerable;
- Provide advice and guidance to national offices in drafting and submitting proposals in alignment with their Youth strategies.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:
- Post graduate qualifications and / or Professional background in Economic Development / business or other relevant field
- Knowledge in international Economic Development standards (including microfinance)
- Knowledge in programming resources and tools in Community based Economic Development programming
- Strong analytical, organizational, problem solving, negotiation, collaborative and influencing skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Computer literacy
- Experience in management of/consultancy on Economic Development and/or microfinance programmes at a national or regional level
- Experience in Economic Development / microfinance programming in developing countries
- Significant leadership experience in an international organization
- Demonstrated experience in program or project design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
- Experience in working in MEER countries
- Extensive travel is expected (40%-50%). This role involves the facilitation and coordination of a virtual, geographically dispersed Economic Development teams in the National offices
- REQUIRED:
