Vacant Job For Corporate Strategy and Policy Division Manager at African Development Bank Group


African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. We are recruiting to fill the position below:     Job Title: Division Manager, Corporate Strategy and Policy Reference: ADB/18/034 Location: Côte d’Ivoire Grade: PL2 Position N°: 50092393 The Complex

  • The Senior Vice-Presidency complex (SNVP) is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve it strategic objective, and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results.
  • The SNVP will provide effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions.
  • The SNVP leads senior management discussions, decisions-making process and the implementation of key board and management decisions.
The Hiring Department
  • The Strategy and Operational Policy Department (SNSP) plays a key role in shaping a corporate vision and a strategic perspective for the African Development Bank (AfDB) as well as developing the operational policies aimed at guiding the Bank’s agenda.
  • The primary roles of the department are: (i) to develop and help maintain (along with other units) corporate strategies and operational policies necessary for the Bank to deliver according to the spirit of its Charter and in line with the Bank’s 2013-2022 Strategy, the High 5 priorities, and other strategies; (ii) to play a prominent role in keeping the Bank a strategy-focused organization in line with its policies;  (iii) to support the Bank in raising its profile and engaging strategically at international fora, as well as to foster cross-fertilization and greater coordination with other MDBs ; and, (iv) to lead the Bank in the development of a new culture of innovation and change, including the incubation of new financial/non-financial  products and business lines.
The Position
  • The key objectives of the position of the Division Manager Corporate Strategy and Policy will be to:
  • Provide overall leadership in the preparation and dissemination  of policies, strategies, guidelines and procedures as well as in providing policy/strategic advice across the Bank
  • Provide overall leadership in the assessment of countries eligibility to Bank financing ;
  • Manage the Division’s human/budgetary resources and work program to ensure full delivery on the Department’s work program.
  • Play a supporting role for staff delivery and promote individual staff development in the work place.
Duties and Responsibilities Under the supervision of the Director - Strategy and Operational Policies, the Division Manager Corporate Strategy and Policy will perform the following duties:
  • Provide overall leadership in the preparation and dissemination  of policies, strategies, guidelines and procedures as well as in providing policy/strategic advice across the Bank
  • Prepare the annual work program for Policy/Strategy/Guidelines including the development of new guiding documents as well as the review and/or revision of the existing ones.
  • Allocate the various policies/strategies of the work program to the most relevant task managers and monitor progress.
  • Coordinate with the policy/strategy shops of sister Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) on the activities of the MDB Forum on Policy and participate in such meetings, as required.
  • Consult, as deemed appropriate, other MDBs on policies/strategies being developed for the Bank.
  • Identify emerging international issues and assess their potential implications on Bank’s policies, strategies and development assistance, and provide accordingly advice on the Bank’s response to these issues.
  • Provide overall leadership in the assessment of countries eligibility to Bank financing ;
  • Lead on the updating and dissemination of the Bank’s classification of countries, which defines their eligibility to the various financing windows of the Bank Group. Follow up regularly on the Debt sustainability status of the 54 Regional Member Countries, based on the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) exercise lead by the IMF and the World Bank and provide a regular update on the resulting country classification.
  • Lead on the identification of countries the status of which requires a creditworthiness assessment for potential graduation or downgrade;
  • Undertake, in close collaboration with the Group Chief Risk Department, the creditworthiness assessment of countries likely to graduate or to be downgraded for submission to the Senior Management approval. Prepare the related information notes for the Board.
  • Undertake, in close collaboration with the Group Chief Risk Department, the identification of ADF-only countries likely to be eligible to limited ADB sovereign guaranteed loans.
  • Undertake, in close collaboration with the Group Chief Risk Department, a special risk assessment of the ADF countries potentially eligible to limited DAB sovereign guaranteed resources and submit such assessment to the Bank’s Credit Risk Committee (CRC) for approval.  Prepare the related information notes for the Board.
  • Manage the Division’s human/budgetary resources and work program to ensure full delivery on the Department’s work program.
  • Initiate the recruitment of staff to fill the vacant positions available. Draft the vacancy notices and provide CHRM with all the required support for disseminating the requests for applications, the long-listing and short-listing of applicants, and the composition of interview panels. Sitting in the interview panels, as required.
  • Preparing requests for additional staffing within the framework of the budgeting process as well as ad-hoc requests. Proposing new structure for the Division/Department, in the context of global institutional restructuring or fine-tuning, as appropriate.
  • During annual budgetary exercise, consolidate budget proposals for the Division/Department based on headcount and work program.
  • Propose, based on the work program priorities, an allocation of the resources available for consultancy services, missions and internal/external consultations, for the Director’s arbitration.
  • Supervise the implementation of the budget, as approved by the Director, in line with the Delegation of authority matrix.
  • Ensure, before end year, that budget balances are optimally utilized through carry-overs, based on the priorities of the upcoming year’s work program.
  • Discuss and agree with all staff, at the beginning of the year, on their work program and performance objectives.
  • Review with all staff, at mid-year, progress achieved as regards their objectives and agree on the way forward.
  • Review the performance of all staff, by end year, and propose performance rating and write-up for Director’s validation.
  • Play a supporting role for staff delivery and promote individual staff development in the work place.
  • During the course of the year, organize review meetings with staff, to assess progress and quality in guiding documents on the drawing board. Help staff in improving the drafting and messaging of their papers.
  • Disseminate among staff high level information that may be useful to their policy/strategy work.
  • Facilitate for staff access to individual development training sessions, mainly on Bank’s official languages and on policy/strategy issues. Advocate for staff participation in internal/external events that increase their awareness on development issues.
  • Facilitate staff mobility, as appropriate.
  • Coordinate the provision of analytical and technical support to Senior Management in preparation and follow up to high-level global policy fora, conferences, including Heads of Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) meetings, United Nations Summits, and represent the Bank in these events, as required
  • Coordinate the Bank’s participation in the work streams of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and Regional Development Banks (RDBs), and (co-)represent the Bank in the working groups, including key strategy meetings
  • Collaborate driving an innovation agenda at the Bank by originating new products and processes; and incubate new corporate initiatives
  • Establish effective partnerships with internal, external customers and stakeholders, using a range of communication and facilitation skills towards new initiatives and business improvements.
  • Coordinate the Bank’s relationships with other multilateral development Banks, international organizations, and bilateral agencies at institutional level and strategy matters
  • Provide analytical input and strategic advice for the Bank’s resource mobilization efforts (ADF replenishments, ADB general capital increases, and innovative financing options).
  • Support the HR and performance management of the department, including recruitment, goal setting, learning, feedback, staff performance reviews, performance improvement plans, documentation and record keeping.
  • Work closely with the Director and the Division Manager as a member of the departmental management team;  represent the Director and Department at internal and external fora.
  • Provide the task managers with guidance and quality control in the preparation and the review of the policy/strategy document.
  • Ensure that during the process of policy/strategy development, consultations are broadly conducted both across the Bank and externally.
  • Lead on the processing of policies and strategies throughout the Bank’s review process and ensure that comments received are adequately addressed in the revised papers.
  • Prepare, along with the Task manager, the presentation to Board’s committee and/or the Board  of policies/strategies for review or approval. Assist the Director during such presentation to the Board or sit for him/her.
  • Provide Operations Complexes with advice on policy compliance, strategic alignment as well as best practice operational approaches for the design and processing of their lending and non-lending operations.
  • Lead on the updating of the Bank’s Operations Manual and its dissemination, including on the maintenance of the Operations Manual’s webpage.
Selection Criteria Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:
  • Hold at least a Master's Degree or its university equivalent in Economics, Macroeconomics or Development Economics, Finance, Strategic Management, Engineering or related development fields and a broad knowledge of development/operational  issues gained through advanced study or work experience. A PhD is an added advantage.
  • Have a minimum of eight (08) years of relevant experience: proven combination of hands-on  operational experience with strong analytical skills; good understanding of development economics and specificities of Regional Members Countries (RMCs). Proven exposure to high-level policy development, negotiation, and debate fora.
  • High level skills in communication and negotiation as well as ability to build partnership with a broad range of clients and deliver results that meet the needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the institution.
  • Excellent leadership skills and lateral thinking; high sense of professionalism and initiative in work relations with colleagues and external collaborators; ability to listen to staff; inspire trust and integrity and good conflict resolution management skills.
  • Problem solving and decision making: Solves complex problems and makes decisions that have wider corporate impact
  • Client/results oriented and proactive individual
  • Team working and relations: ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relations with colleagues
  • Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating: Challenges, innovates and contributes to a learning culture
  • Provide staff with continuous feedback on performance for improvement of delivery.
  • Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French with a working knowledge of the other.
  • Competence in the use of standard MS office applications (Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint) and preferably SAP.
  • Demonstrated managerial skills
  • Authoritative understanding of principles and concepts of policy/strategy making, strategic planning, global development policy debates and major development issues
  • Excellent knowledge of the Bank or other similar institutions’ policy/strategy process and lending/non-lending products
  • Proven experience in policy/strategy development, strategic planning, financial analysis report writing and reviews; demonstrated experience in impact and scenario analysis.
  • Ability to provide technical leadership to develop clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies.
  • Capacity to develop and adapt policies, strategies, approaches and models to meet emerging system needs and to enhance the continuing accuracy, integrity and accountability of the Bank's financial resources.
  • Ability to identify and analyze systemic issues, formulate opinions and make conclusions and recommendations to resolve same.
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in a diverse organization tailoring language, tone, style and format to match audience.
  • Ability to think “out of the box” and drive institutional change
  • Personal influence Demonstrating Leadership: Leads by example; initiates and supports change
  • Ability to listen to staff; inspire trust and integrity and good conflict resolution management skills.
  • Manages staff and teams effectively; ability to drive the best out of colleagues
    How To Apply Interested and qualified candidates should: Click here to apply   Application Deadline 18th April, 2018.