Project Background

The Government of the Republic of Zambia is implementing the National Decentralization Policy which aims to realize citizen-driven local governance within a unitary State for sustainable development. Through this Policy, Government will: a) strengthen decentralized democratic governance by promoting inclusive citizen and community participation at the local level to enhance local development; b) implement administrative decentralization by devolving functions from the national to the sub-national and substructure levels to enhance efficiency in the delivery and access to public services.; and c) implement fiscal decentralization by enhancing financial capacities at the local level in order to support the implementation of devolved functions. Significant progress is already being made towards the implementation of the Policy Objectives.

In this regard, USAID Local Impact Governance Activity (Local Impact) is assisting Zambia to build a sub-national system of governance for devolved service delivery more responsive to citizen needs. The program is engaging national, sub-national authorities and CSOs to expand the capabilities of partner provinces and districts to deliver sustainable development outcomes, increase effective citizen and private-sector involvement in development planning and monitoring, and improve public financial management and domestic revenue generation at the local level. The activity is specifically working toward three objectives:
Objective 1: Citizens improve their collective skills to effectively assess service- delivery needs and performance and constructively engage with government.
Objective 2: The sub-national governance system becomes more responsive to citizen needs, generates, and accountably expends revenue, and improves service-delivery outcomes.
 Objective 3: The program generates learning and facilitates problem solving that supports the development of an effective, financially viable sub-national governance system for devolved services, capable of being scaled up throughout Zambia.

1. Objectives of the Assignment

The Partnerships Specialist will be based in Lusaka, Zambia. This position will build the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) and other private sector organizations to improve their skills to effectively assess their local government service delivery performance and improve citizen engagement in local decision making. The Partnership Specialist will be responsible for the technical management of the civil society organizations, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders in achieving project targets. S/he will work closely with the Grants and Procurement Manager and the Citizen Engagement Team.

2. Tasks & Responsibilities

• Support the development of strategies to improve civil society relationships and engagement with local authorities, to address issues of transparency, accountability and effective citizen participation in local decision making.
• In collaboration with the grants team, leads on the technical management of civil society grantees, including technical input at solicitation designing, monitoring of grantee performance and oversight of reporting requirements.
• Responsible for day-to-day technical management of all CSOs and like partners
• Use the Organization Performance Index (OPI) to develop and provide capacity building to the CSOs to ensure they meet both local and international standards, improve their engagement with citizens and local authorities in demanding for quality services.
• Coordinates technical staff (Monitoring Evaluation, and Learning team, Communications Team, and Objective leads) in providing input on reports and other technical requirements to the CSOs.
• Ensure timely feedback is provided to the CSOs
  Schedules regular check ins with CSOs, and like partners, to oversee performance monitoring and evaluation to ensure all CSO activities targets are met or exceeded.
• Provides weekly reports and updates on the progress of CSO activities.
• Ensure synergy between CSOs activities alignment with USAID Local Impact project activities and targets.
• Foster and maintain effective, professional relations with CSOs, local organizations, and other stakeholders for successful implementation of project civil society activities.
• Any other duties as assigned.

3. Qualifications

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies, Political Science, Governance, Democracy, or other relevant fields
• Excellent relationship management skills, attention to detail, and organizational skills.
• At least five years professional experience in capacity building of Civil Societies, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), etc.
• Demonstrated excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in English