Duration: Permanent position
Preferred starting date: Beginning November 2020
About Plan International
Plan International is an independent international cooperation and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. We believe in the power and potential of every child and in gender equality. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls and young women who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing all children and especially girls. We are active in over 80 countries across the world.
The purpose and ambition of Plan International EU Office is to advance children’s rights, equality for girls and youth in particular in the EU’s external action. In line with Plan International’s Global Strategy, One Million Reasons, and the EU Office’s 5-year strategy, we will contribute to ensuring that 100 million girls learn, lead, decide and thrive.
Role Specification
The Head of the EU Partnership Team (HoP) will provide overall leadership and vision, setting the direction of the team. This includes coordinating outreach and support, informing decision-making and prioritisation of funding activities, and ensuring the timely and effective implementation of priorities, in line with the EU Office (EUO) strategies and global strategies of Plan International, to inspire and guide the team. The HoP will play a critical role in supporting the strategic leadership role of the Head of Office/EU Representative of Plan International EU Office and will also work in close collaboration and coordination with the Head of Influencing Team (HoI).
The purpose of the role is to support the Plan International EUO objectives as set out in the multi-year EU strategies. The HoP will deepen partnership relationships with the EU institutions, partners and across Plan International.
Over the years, Plan International has scaled up its humanitarian work and operations, and is now recognised as one of the global leaders, for example in child-centred DRM, based on Plan International’s gender transformative approach. Plan International works in partnership with the world’s largest humanitarian donors, including the EC Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) through the Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) of, to date, 9 Plan International National Organisations (NOs) with ECHO.
Plan International EU Office also acts as the Global Account Management (GAM) holder for ECHO and DEVCO/Trust Fund on behalf of Plan International. As such, the EU Office oversees the overall engagement strategy with ECHO, DEVCO, EEAS and other EC Director-Generals and steers the fundraising process, aiming to maximize the income potential for Plan International as a whole and to influence the EU around Plan International priorities and approaches.
The HoP applies an innovative, fresh and solution-driven approach and has to stay up to speed on the latest developments at the EU level to ensure we achieve our European Partnership and global targets and maximise our funding contribution to the movement for gender equality and girls’ rights.
The HoP steers the EU strategy when identifying and defining funding opportunities in the EU context and further strengthens relationships with respective relevant stakeholders.
The post holder will consult, cooperate, and capitalise on existing organisational strengths; will be expected to have leadership qualities to effectively represent Plan International externally; and will be supported with access to all Plan International member Organisations’ relevant technical resources.
The HoP must credibly and powerfully represent the organisation by ensuring high-level respect for the EUO across the federation. Across the organisation, the post holder will be expected to build effective relationships with all National, Regional, Country and Liaison Offices to maintain an effective EU funding, income, and strategy.
Key Responsibilities
1. Contribute to the overall partnership development between Plan International and the EU institutions by leading the strategic engagement on the working areas of the partnership team and relevant entities across Plan International and contribute to those of Plan International EU Office in general
- Lead on the monitoring and analysis of relevant EU humanitarian aid, international cooperation, peace and security, programme, and funding trends with Pl lenses and priorities. Ensure that analysis is informed by PI’s programmatic experience and knowledge around the world and guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CEDAW and other EU and international humanitarian and human rights standards;
- Conduct appropriate power analysis to strategically frame priority issues and identify opportunities related to EU institutional funding to influence and engage with existing and new EU decision makers and stakeholders;
- Be an active contributor and facilitate deeper collaborative working to the funding and partnership work across the Plan International federation, supporting spaces for learning, information sharing, and relationship-building between EU National Offices (NOs), Country Offices (COs), and Regional Offices (ROs), with the aim to influence change on EU policies and practices and to achieve more concrete funding opportunities, consequently maximizing EU funding across the entities;
- Coordinate and support Plan International’s Europe priorities and strategy internally and with peer organisations to ensure the lived experiences and evidence stemming from programmes are reflected in the EU’s policy and practices;
- Build relationships and communicate with the highest standards, internally and externally to strengthen a culture of collaboration, partnership, and learning across PI and the relevant actors;
- Ensure Plan International is a recognised actor in the right levels and ensure the organisation is present in relevant networks and forums;
- Lead on the development and implementation of Plan International’s EU strategy related to the high-level EU funding and engagement strategy;
- Drive change at the EU level for the benefit of children and particularly girls and young women;
- Develop, lead and promote engagement, collaboration, and coordination in funding actions to reinforce strategic partnerships between Plan International and the EU institutions involved in humanitarian aid, international cooperation, and peace-building, at Brussels, regional and country levels in order to achieve effective, efficient, aligned, coordinated and accountable resource management capability across PI;
- Lead, steer, and supervise the EU engagement approach with ECHO of lead NOs & COs in respective countries/regions;
- Monitor and analyse relevant EU humanitarian aid trends and donor intelligence [i.e. the triple nexus, Grand Bargain, securitization of migration, etc.], and provide strategic advice on how to create/pursue partnership opportunities with the EU;
- Develop/fine-tune systems and tools for disseminating/sharing information, communicate and engage with the EU on strategic/programmatic and operational issues as relevant across the organisation;
- Proactively represent Plan International EUO with key EU audiences; establishing, productive and professional relationships with strategic partner organisations; maintaining and developing effective working relations with EU targets and other stakeholders;
- Provide to the HoO strategic input into direction setting, support cohesiveness of messaging and approaches and the alignment of agreed priorities within the EU office and strategy;
- Provide on-going direction/oversight to ensure engagement plans are implemented effectively by partnership team members and other relevant entities within Plan International to achieve desired large-scale funding in the areas of girls’ rights and gender equality;
- Explore innovating methods of fundraising at the EU level and lead the EU Partnership team to continuously improve efficiency;
- Represent Plan International in key partnership fora, networks, conferences etc.
2. Develop effective systems and processes to support efficient implementation & management of humanitarian, international cooperation, peace building and other relevant grants
- Lead the EU Partnership efforts to ensure greater collaboration among European NOs holding a FPA with ECHO and COs in countries of ECHO operations and EU Delegations;
- Lead your Partnership team colleagues – directly with those to whom you are line manager and indirectly with the team as a whole;
- Provide on-going direction/oversight to ensure partnership and influencing strategies and actions are implemented effectively by the Partnership team members;
- Report to HoO on the Partnership teams’ progress and prepare key strategy documents and initiatives for decisions;
- Lead on the monitoring, evaluation and learning of funding approaches, tools and actions with a view to increasing the impact of the EUO’s partnership and funding work towards the EU. Stimulate creative thinking within the Partnership team to deliver smart, engaging partnership, programmes and business development on EU level;
- Manage and coordinate the overall implementation of the ECHO GAM’s operational plan, by achieving the objectives of the approved Business Case, which includes implementing efficiently a coordination system among the European NOs and COs;
- Understand and adapt to PI EU Partnership development, systems and procedures, organizational structures and decision making processes;
- Showcase the work of Plan International with peer organisations and at key programmatic influencing opportunities, building allies and supporters at EU level.
3. External Networking & Outreach
- Represent and profile/position Plan International as a leading, humanitarian, international cooperation and peace-building actor in relevant NGO networks, such as VOICE and other relevant coalitions and networks;
- Represent Plan International and EUO at meetings or events with EU institutions, and other external stakeholders as relevant;
- Represent the EUO in networks and meetings within Plan International as relevant to the role and as mandated by the HoO;
- Participate in training and other activities as required;
- Perform other tasks as per requested by the HoO;
- Ensure that all tasks undertaken on behalf of Plan International, either externally or internally, are executed in accordance with the overall aims of Plan International and in line especially with organisational values, policies and procedures.
4. Internal Management/Coordination and Leadership
- Create and steward new frameworks, procedures, standards and/or systems that are needed to improve Plan International’s capacity to work with strategic partners at scale;
- Lead internal efforts to resolve cross-cutting issues relevant to EU engagement;
- Lead on delivering effective internal communications across EUO and the organisation in general, such as contributing to the EUO Management and Coordination meetings by strategic inputs and deliverables from the partnership team perspective as well as to the EUO Board Meeting, as well as to other entities of PI, as relevant;
- Provide inspiring and dynamic leadership and direction to the partnership team;
- Lead change and promote a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing, results and influence through partnerships and forward-thinking within the partnership team while contributing to PI’s overall EU strategy and Plan International in general, working in close collaboration and coordination with the HoO and the HoI;
- Act as a leader and role-model of the organisation’s values and purpose;
- Be a dynamic and proactive member of the Plan International EU Office Team;
- Ensure that internal and external relationships are well managed and are constructive/productive.
Profile Sought
1. Knowledge & Experience
- At least 5 to 7 years professional related experience;
- Understanding of the EU institutions and its decision-making processes;
- Good knowledge of the EU’s interests, external relations policies and funding trends;
- Solid experience in leading institutional donor strategies;
- Proven track record in raising significant funds from major institutional donors, including the EU;
- Experience of managing EU grant contracts is an asset;
- Experience in managing diverse team members;
- Network/relationship management experience, preferably with EU personnel (with personnel of other relevant institutions will be an asset) and experience in similar organisations as Plan International Federation;
- In-depth understanding of issues relating to humanitarian and protracted crises, international cooperation, and emergency response (‘triple’ nexus) in complex and less complex environments;
- Proven experience on child rights, girls’ rights, and gender equality, as well as, for example experience in child protection and gender in emergencies;
- Proven experience with a diverse, international, multisector/multicultural/multilingual environment;
- A passion for understanding and demonstrable commitment to women’s rights and human-rights based approaches, gender equality and inclusion, as well as the role of girls, children, young women and young people as agents of change.
2. Skills & Personal Qualities
- Fluent in oral and written English and working knowledge of any other language will be considered as an asset;
- Excellent communication, networking, collaboration, consensus-building and inter-personal skills;
- Ability to influence leaders and decision making actors in the EU level, international bodies and within PI;
- Shows initiative, innovative and creative to achieve results, courage to challenge the status quo and question the way PI works;
- Excellent leadership qualities and team building skills, decisive;
- Collegiate – acting as team player;
- Effective relationship management skills at a senior level;
- Intuition for success, results focused and ability to work to a consistently high standard, managing stress effectively whilst prioritising multiple tasks and competing deadlines;
- Takes responsibility for their actions, and learns from their successes and failures;
- Understanding of complexity of problems and possesses investigative, analytical, and creative thinking skills required to solve them;
- Visionary: strong strategic and innovation skills, including leading development of partnership strategies;
- Has a positive impact on those around her/him and ability to lead a major change while keeping the team and partners on board;
- Willingness to travel, including to remote and conflict areas if necessary;
- Commitment to Plan International values and purpose.
Working Conditions
Based in: Brussels, Belgium (Plan International EU Office, Galerie Revenstein 27, 3rd floor.)
Duration: CDI (Belgian permanent contract)
Status: Full-time (5 days = 37.5 hrs./week)
Salary: Based on experience
Benefits: 20 legal holidays + 4 PLAN holidays, pension scheme, life insurance cover, hospitalization and outpatient cover, meal vouchers, work-related public transport costs
Travel: Yes, travel might be necessary depending on need, within or outside Europe, including to projects and operations
Reporting: The position reports to the Head of Office/EU Representative, Plan International EU Office
How to apply
If you meet the skills requirements above and are interested in applying for this post, please send your CV (no Europass) and cover letter in English to EUORecruitment@plan-international.org with “Application: Head of EU Partnership Team” in the subject.
Deadline for applications is the Friday 28 August 2020 at 23:59, Local Time in Brussels, Belgium.
Applications received after the deadline will not be reviewed. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy. Plan International is fully committed to promoting the realisation of children's rights including their right to protection from violence and abuse. That means we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with. Plan International believes that it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. We must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.
Plan International is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities or members of other underrepresented groups to apply.
this job offer is not open for applications
