Head of Partnership | Plan International

Head of Partnership

Head of Partnership Plan International EU Office Brussels, Belgium

Job Title: Head of Partnership 
Reporting to: The position reports to the Head of Office/EU Representative, Plan International EU Office
Contract: CDI (Belgian permanent contract)
Status: Full-time (5 days = 37.5 hrs. /week)
Based in: Brussels, Belgium (Plan International EU Office, Galerie Revenstein 27, 3rd floor.)
Salary: Based on experience
Benefits: 20 legal holidays + 4 PLAN holidays, pension scheme, life insurance cover, hospitalization, dental 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

Plan International is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We strongly encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities or members of other underrepresented groups to apply. In addition, if you do not meet all the requirements and are very interested in the position, you can still apply by letting us know what you would bring to the work of Plan International.

About Plan International 

Plan International (PI) is a rights-based development and humanitarian organisation working for equality for girls and better lives for all children. We are independent of government and have no political or religious affiliation. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls 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 (EUO) is to advance children’s rights and equality for girls in particular in the EU’s external action. In line with Plan International’s Global Strategy, One Million Reasons, and the EUO’s 5-year strategy, we will contribute to ensuring that 100 million girls learn, lead, decide and thrive. We work with the EU in its three roles as a donor, policy-maker and promoter of human rights.

Role Specification

The Head of the 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 Plan International EUO strategies and global strategies of Plan International (PI), 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 EUO (HoO) and will also work in close collaboration and coordination with the Head of Influencing (HoI).

The HoP will deepen partnerships with the EU institutions, partners and across PI. 

Over the years, Pl has also 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 Pl’s gender transformative approach. Pl works in partnership with the world’s largest humanitarian donors, including the EC Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO). 

EUO also acts as the Global Account Management (GAM) holder for ECHO and DEVCO/Trust Fund on behalf of PI.  As such, the EUO oversees the overall donor engagement strategy with ECHO, DEVCO, EEAS and other EC Director-Generals and steers the fundraising process, aiming to maximise the income potential for PI as a whole and to influence the EU around PI 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 post holder will consult, cooperate, and capitalise on existing organisational strengths; will be expected to have leadership qualities to effectively represent PI externally; and will be supported with access to all PI 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 Offices (NOs), Regional Offices (ROs), Country Offices (COs) and Liaison Offices (LOs). 

1. Contribute to the overall Partnership Development between PI and the EU institutions in collaboration with relevant entities across PI:

  • Lead on the monitoring and analysis of EU humanitarian aid, international cooperation, peace and security, and other relevant programmes and funding trends with Pl lenses and priorities [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 spaces across the globe;
  • 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 PI federation, supporting spaces for learning, information sharing, and relationship-building between EU NOs, COs, and ROs, with the aim to influence change on EU policies and practices and to achieve more concrete funding opportunities, consequently maximising EU funding across the entities;
  • Coordinate and support PI’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;
  • Lead on the development and implementation of Pl’s EU strategy related to high-level engagement for EU funding, including via NOs & COs in respective countries/regions;
  • Drive change at the EU level for the benefit of children and particularly girls and young women;
  • Lead, steer, and supervise the EU engagement approach with ECHO of lead NOs & COs in respective countries/regions;
  • 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 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 EUO and strategy;
  • Provide on-going direction / oversight to ensure engagement plans are implemented effectively by partnership team members and other relevant entities within PI to achieve desired large-scale funding in the areas of girls’ rights and gender equality;
  • Explore innovative methods of fundraising at the EU level and lead the EU Partnership team to continuously improve efficiency;

2. Develop effective systems and processes to support efficient implementation & management of humanitarian, international cooperation, peace building and other relevant grants:

  • Lead the Partnership team’s efforts to ensure greater collaboration among European NOs, including the NOs that are holding a FPA with ECHO, and COs in countries of ECHO operations and EU Delegations in general;
  • 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, respective PI entities 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;
  •  Implement efficiently a coordination system among the European NOs and COs for responding to funding opportunities and managing projects;
  • Understand and adapt to PI Partnership development, systems and procedures, organizational structures and decision making processes;
  • Showcase the work of PI with peer organisations and at key programmatic influencing opportunities, building allies and supporters at EU level.

3. External Networking & Outreach

  • Represent and profile/position PI as a leading humanitarian, international cooperation and peace-building actor in relevant NGO networks, particularly at VOICE and EPLO and where appropriate at CONCORD, and other relevant coalitions and networks;
  • Represent PI and the EUO at meetings or events with EU institutions, and other external stakeholders as relevant;
  • Represent the EUO in networks and meetings within PI 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 PI, either externally or internally, are executed in accordance with the overall aims of PI 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 PI’s capacity to work with strategic partners at scale;
  • Provide inspiring and dynamic leadership and direction to the partnership team;
  • 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 as well as to the EUO Board Meeting and other entities of PI, as relevant;
  • 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 PI 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 PI EUO Team.

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. Commitment to Plan International values and purpose.

  • 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;
  • 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;
  • 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.

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 Partnership” in the subject.

Deadline for applications is the 10th January 2021 at 23:59, Local Time in Brussels, Belgium. Interviews will take place in the third week of January 2021.

Applications received after the deadline will not be reviewed. If you do not hear back from us until 16th of January, unfortunately your application has been not considered.

Therefore, 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.