Partnerships Coordinator

SCOPE OF WORK:

The Partnerships Coordinator reports to the Head of Grants and Partnerships and is responsible for supporting the Myanmar country program in the management and oversight of partnerships. The position is responsible for facilitating the delivery of high-quality partnerships with local organizations and will ensure compliance with IRC and donor requirements and consistency with the IRC’s partnership management system, Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System. Working with the programs, grants, and operations departments, the Partnerships Coordinator leads a team to oversee all steps in the partnership management lifecycle and will ensure that partnerships are appropriately integrated into overall project cycle management. The coordinator fosters and promotes attitudes and values conducive to collaborative partnerships across IRC’s functional departments. This includes promoting long-term, principled partnerships that shares power, resources, and learning and elevates the knowledge and expertise of each partner.

Main Responsibilities

Partnership Management

• In collaboration with the Head of Grants and Partnerships, foster and promote attitudes and values conducive to collaborative partnerships across the country program’s functional departments based on a clear and shared understanding of IRC’s strategy, approach, and core partnership principles.
• Oversee and support a partnerships team in all aspects of partnership management in alignment with IRC’s partners systems and policies, PEERS, ensuring well planned, timely, coordinated, and coherent partnerships across technical sectors.
• Liaise with HQ Awards Management Unit to facilitate partnership agreement review and approval processes and ensure partnership agreement management consistent with IRC and donor policies, and Lead on any partnership agreement modification in coordination with partner, program, finance and HQ.
• Contribute to building a strong understanding of PEERS across country program functional departments.
• Together with HGP, technical and field leads, coordinate stakeholder mapping exercises across locations where IRC works to help identify new partners that can advance the country program’s strategy.
• Together with HGP and partnership team, lead project opening meetings with partners to ensure agreement terms and conditions are well understood, and where possible, include partners in IRC’s project cycle management meetings from project design through project close-out.
• Establish partner monitoring schedules and ensure programmatic and compliance monitoring visits occur in coordination with other program and operations departments.
• Facilitate timely and accurate submission of partner financial reports and fund requests in accordance with PEERS requirements, and coordinate review of financial and programmatic reports with relevant IRC staff.
• Ensure the timely scheduling and carrying out of partner close-out activities in close coordination with IRC internal relevant program staff per PEERS guidelines.
• Maintain accurate and up to date records for all partners in line with PEERS and IRC Finance policy requirements.
• Facilitation of Partnership Working Group.
• Support effective partnership project close out processes, incorporating reflection and lessons learned.
• Actively engage with and help drive IRC’s regional partnership initiatives, including participating in working groups and thematic meetings on partnership approaches and practices, finding opportunities for systems improvements, and coordinating to ensure a coherent, efficient and effective joint approach to partnerships.

Partner Support and Capacity Sharing

• Ensure partners have collaboratively developed project support plans and oversee the delivery of timely and effective support, ensuring that it appropriately addresses issues identified in the due diligence process, and is coordinated with relevant departments for the effective implementation of the plan.
• Support the resourcing and implementation of organizational development support as required. 
• Promote and identify ways for continual learning between IRC staff and partners.
• Facilitate systematic partner feedback on IRC’s management of and performance in partnerships, as well as appropriate action in response to the feedback.

Staff and Team Management and Development

• Together with Head of Grants and Partnerships, supervise a team of partnership managers and partnership finance managers in line with IRC’s people manager standards. This includes coaching, training, and mentoring direct-report staff, communicating clear expectations, setting annual performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented annual performance reviews.
• Promote and monitor staff care and well-being. Model healthy work-life balance practices and support appropriate interventions in response to identified staff care needs.
• Lead on the recruitment and management of new grants & partnership staff, consultants or other external support, in coordination with HR.
• Delineate clear roles and responsibilities within the Partnerships Department and work closely with grants unit.