Team Leader - Skills for Prosperity, Nigeria at Palladium Group

Ref.: req8025

Project Overview and Role

• Global Prosperity Fund’s ‘Skills for Prosperity’ is a £75m DFID programme, which seeks to improve the cost-effectiveness, access, quality, relevance and equity of skills through innovative approaches in 9 Middle-Income Countries around the world, including Nigeria.  
• In Nigeria, the Skills for Prosperity (S4P) country programme will work in six targeted states to: Improve access to quality Higher Education and TVET for youth and young women, with a focus on improving access to and the quality of apprenticeships, and supporting training institutions to deliver demand-driven, competency-based training,
• Strengthen education-to-employment linkages, and
• Build the capacity of training institutions to improve outcomes for vulnerable women and people with disabilities.
• Apprenticeships, training, and capacity building interventions will focus on identified high growth sectors of the economy (Agriculture/Agribusiness/agro-allied industries; Creative and Entertainment, and Information and Communications Technology sectors).
• S4P aims to directly benefit 6,000 youth and women in targeted states of Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Edo, Benue and Lagos.
• We are looking for talented individuals with a relevant track record, and interest or experience in the private sector and skills training. Most of all we are looking for team members with the drive to tackle new and complex challenges and work with us to learn, adapt and deliver sustainable benefits for Nigeria.
• As well as a competitive salary, bonus and benefits, we are an outgoing, creative, and supportive team and offer a personally and professional rewarding environment above all.

Scope of Work
Provide overall programme management, including:

• Oversight, quality control and issue resolution of all deliverables and operations for all aspects of programme delivery
• Continually managing, monitoring and evaluating interventions, taking actions to correct course as necessary and building the evidence base for future interventions
• Financial management, including responsibility for ensuring the project, demonstrates good value for money
• Managing the full in-country team
• Steer the overall technical and strategic direction of the programme. This includes bringing together all aspects of programme delivery - and particularly the labour market supply and demand focus areas - through systems thinking.
• Managing the intervention managers (PSD, Skills and Equity) to ensure successful execution of all programme interventions
• Managing the 6 State Coordinators and their activities, ensuring cohesion and coordination across the targeted states
• Serve as key point of contact and relationship-holder with the client, and lead relationship building partnerships with other programmes
• Identify, develop and maintain relationships with stakeholders in government, private sector, academia and in civil society in order to promote S4P and its approach in target states, other states and abroad, as opportunities arise
• Participate and drive senior stakeholder consultation workshops, roundtable discussions, information dissemination workshops and virtual sessions
• Advocate for change in skills development and higher education amongst key stakeholders and political functionaries and provide recommendations on key policy interventions and implementation
• Leverage Palladium’s global footprint to forge international partnerships especially with relevant UK skilling entities, across the skills value chain

Required Qualifications
Requirements:

The ideal Team Leader will have the following essential skills:

• Outstanding leadership skills, including extensive experience managing multidisciplinary teams for demanding donors, and demonstrable ability to bring the best out of team members
• Proven track record in designing and leading education, skills and/or youth employment development programmes, offering an experienced and balanced bridge between supply and demand thinking approaches to skills and education development
• Extensive experience and knowledge of Nigeria and its context, including understanding of the local political economy and existing networks of relevant high-level contacts in business and government
• Demonstrable previous experience managing large donor programmes in Nigeria
• Excellent networking and relationship-building skills and experience convening multi-stakeholder groups comprising private sector, government and non-governmental actors

It is desirable that the Team Leader also has significant experience in:

• Working with the UK Government, and in particular the Department for International Development
• A thorough understanding of the UK Government’s Prosperity Fund aims and objectives
• A strong background and understanding in delivering gender and socially inclusive programmes