Job: Senior Donor Relations Specialist

Location: Washington
Deadline: Thursday, 01 August 2013 

Description

Background / General description:

Established in 2002, the Global Partnership for Education ('Global Partnership' or GPE), formerly the Education for All Fast Track Initiative, has grown and evolved to become the premier partnership focused on basic education in developing countries. Its members include 58 of the world's poorest developing countries, over 30 bilateral, regional, and multilateral agencies; development banks; the private sector; civil society groups; and teachers organizations. The GPE Board of Directors, the Global Partnership's governing body, sets its policies and strategies and approves all funding.

The Global Partnership provides its developing country partners support to build and implement sound education plans. In this respect, GPE manages trust funds that have allocated approximately $2.2 billion over the past 8 years and will be allocating approximately a further $2 billion by 2014. The Global Partnership aims to achieve Education for All by efficiently using international and national resources and matching donors' priorities with developing countries' own education goals and strategies.

The GPE Secretariat, which has approximately 50 staff, is hosted by the World Bank in Washington, DC. As a consequence of the Partnership taking a greater leadership role to achieve international development goals in education, the Secretariat is developing its capacity to support country level processes and meet expectations from GPE's stakeholders to demonstrate concrete results and outcomes as well as clear value for money.

The Secretariat's Partnerships and External Relations Team (CST) includes donor relations, communications, advocacy, civil society outreach, private sector outreach, Board constituency support and the coordination of the Global Partnership's Implementation Plan. The GPE Board agreed to the next replenishment pledging conference being held in June 2014. The Donor Relations Lead will have a critical role in driving the replenishment campaign and building significantly on the platform laid at the first replenishment conference held in Copenhagen in November 2011. The position will offer motivated individuals the chance to shape the future of the GPE and its impact at the global level.

Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 2 year term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities:

The position reports directly to the Manager, Partnerships and External Relations and has the following responsibilities:

1. Develop and execute a comprehensive donor engagement strategy that encompasses traditional and non-traditional donors. Specifically:

• Securing significant increases in contributions to the GPE Fund from GPE traditional government donors
• Facilitating/encouraging increases in bilateral contributions to education from GPE traditional donors
• Securing new donors to the GPE Fund and more broadly to basic education from both OECD DAC members and beyond
• The Donor Relations Lead is expected to place particular attention to the role of emerging donors
• Develop very strong relationships with senior public servants in donor capitals, which will involve frequent travel
• Play a proactive role in securing early payments from donors, working closely with the Finance team and the Trustee
• Development, with the Communications team, of targeted materials 
  2. Leadership role in the planning for and implementation of the 2014 replenishment campaign. Specifically:
• Lead the development of the business case for the replenishment campaign
• Develop and maintain targeted individual donor replenishment plans
• Manage the donor relations team (augmented for the replenishment campaign)
• Oversee the project management of the campaign and the associated comprehensive databases
• Plan for and in some cases lead donor road shows
• Support the planning and holding of the June 2014 pledging conference and other associated meetings 
  3. As part of the Partnerships and External Relations Team, the Donor Relations Lead will work closely with colleagues on advocacy and messaging and also in the planning for and execution of major events that involve donors. Close collaboration on CSO lobbying in donor capitals with the Advocacy lead is also important.
   
  4. Finally, the Donor Relations Lead will also participate in Secretariat-wide activities in support of other teams.

Selection Criteria:

• Master's degree in a relevant discipline
• At least 8 years' prior experience working in donor relations, resource mobilization, development financing or in obtaining similar skills. Work experience for a donor is particularly welcome
• At least 5 years' experience in international development
• Familiarity with cross-cultural dynamics, strong negotiation skills
• Proven track record in raising funds from bilateral or multilateral donors
• Willingness to work in a complex environment and travel frequently to donor capitals
• Strong analytical, writing and facilitation skills
• Ability to work independently and under pressure
• Ability to write competently in English
• Working proficiency in French or Arabic preferred
• Enthusiasm and commitment to the mission of the Global Partnership for Education

Competencies

• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Translates technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies; interacts with clients at the policy level.
• Client Orientation - Maintains client relationships in the face of conflicting demands or directions and provides evidence-based advice and solutions based on sound diagnosis and knowledge.
• Drive for Results - Identifies the needed resources to accomplish results involving multiple stakeholders and finds solutions to obstacles affecting key deliverables.
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Shows leadership in ensuring the team stays organized and focused, and actively seeks and considers diverse ideas and approaches.
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Leads in the sharing of best practice, trends, knowledge and lessons learned across units and with clients and partners, articulating ideas verbally and in writing in a clear and compelling way across audiences of varied levels.
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Gathers inputs, assesses risk, considers impact and articulates benefits of decisions for internal and external stakeholders over the long term.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

More Info and Application