Chief Program Officer - African Development Bank

THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank (AfDB) 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 The African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier multi-lateral development finance institution fostering economic growth and social progress in Africa. The AfDB’s primary goal is to reduce poverty and improve living standards by mobilizing resources in and outside Africa, and providing financial and technical assistance for development projects and programs in Africa.

THE PRIVATE SECTOR CREDIT ENHANCEMENT FACILITY (PSF):

The PSF is a captive credit risk participation facility that participates in the credit risks of the AfDB’s Non Sovereign Operations (NSOs) in countries eligible to borrow from the African Development Fund (ADF) – namely low income countries. Given its current capital base, the PSF’s target portfolio size stands at UA 1.1 billion of credit exposures.

Given the specific nature of the PSF as a risk participant in the Bank’s NSO, the ADF Board of Directors exercises oversight over the Facility and approves risk participations by the Facility in each NSO in compliance with the PSF Framework and Guidelines. The PSF Administrator (PSFA) is responsible for the day-to-day management of the PSF and for mobilizing additional resources to increase the Facility’s risk bearing capacity.

The PSF is financially and operationally autonomous with a total separation of resources from those of the ADB and the ADF. It sources certain middle and back office functions from the ADB. The PSFA works closely with relevant departments to ensure these functions are performed in a timely manner and in line with applicable standards and ensure that it meets all performance and financial planning, reporting and audit requirements.

THE POSITION:

Under the Supervision of the PSF Administrator, the Program Officer (PO) will be responsible for four broad sets of tasks, as follows: (a) pipeline development and portfolio management, (b) operational program implementation; (c) reporting, monitoring and evaluation and (d) fundraising and stakeholder engagement. He/she supports the PSF administrative and operational management performs Risk Participation Agreement implementation, in compliance with Guidelines, Policies and Strategies.

In performing this role, the PO is expected to maintain a strategic institutional perspective focused on results and performance.

Duties and responsibilities

The Program Officer will be responsible for:

• Liaise and coordinate with internal and external partners.
• Participate in fundraising outreach activities;
• Communicate and represent the PSF effectively to various audiences, including key stakeholders, clients, beneficiaries, public, internal and external partners under the supervision of the PSFA;
• Coordinate PSF public relations workflow and web-presence (AfDB website, external website, external donor data platform, etc.);
• Develop and implement a communication strategy for the Private Sector Facility;
• Serve as the main contact for internal communications and reporting on the Private Sector Facility with outside parties, including to donors and other stakeholders, and ensure timely responses to solicitations from internal and external stakeholders;
• Contribute to the mobilization of financial resources for the Private Sector Facility
• Fundraising and stakeholder engagement
• Carry-out research and prepare briefs as required by PSFA.
• Lead on development of annual work plans, closely monitoring implementation;
• Lead in the preparation of PSF’s annual report, quarterly updates and monthly briefs;
• Develop and implement a Monitoring and Evaluation system and promote joint performance indicators and ensure its operationalization;
• Reporting, monitoring and evaluation
• Draft documentation recommending specific transactions for inclusion in the PSF portfolio.
• Follow up disbursement procedures and coordination with relevant financial management and portfolio teams vis-à-vis transactions for which guarantees have been triggered.
• Drive portfolio management and early warning systems, particularly in areas of performance reporting and analysis;
• Coordinate and proactively engage in business development to maintain a pipeline/portfolio management system to track project implementation progress and performance;
• Plan and coordinate the annual work programs  to operationalize the Facility’s strategy and business plan;
• Pipeline development and portfolio management
•  Strategic program management
• Provide technical guidance and prepared Documentation on PSF risk participation recommendations
• Develop guidelines, templates and user manuals for internal and external
  audiences;
• Design appropriate approaches and tools to appraise
• Lead the organization of thematic forums and workshops related to Private Sector Facility;

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Selection Criteria

• At least a Master’s degree or equivalent in Management, Finance or Related field.
• Additional qualifications like Chartered Financial Analyst, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA); desirable
• Experience in program management is desirable
• At least seven (7) years of experience in program planning, implementation management support and reporting;
• At least 4 years private sector / non-sovereign portfolio management is mandatory, specifically non-recourse project and corporate finance transactions, and/or guarantee and risk participation instruments;
• Prior experience in the infrastructure, industrial, agribusiness, financial sector and business development is necessary
• Capacity to diagnose each transaction and resolve multiple concurrent problems; and a conceptual and strategic analytical capacity to understand competing requirements of operations and their contribution to results and ultimately impact on each guarantee.
• Demonstrated ability to advise the PSFA in planning, programming, procuring and budgeting within strategic directions and with attention to the resource constraints.
• Ability to work with staff across all Complexes, Donors and external stakeholders. Consequently, and manage multiple tasks with varying levels of information and accountability.
• Credit insurance and guarantees: strong grasp of credit insurance and guarantee instruments concepts and business models, and hands-on experience implementing them.
• Fund management and administration: strong grasp of fund management and administration concepts and processes and hands-on experience implementing them.
• Understanding of ADB NSO ecosystem: understands strategic and operational aspects of ADB NSO activities, including systems and processes for origination, approval, financial close and supervision.
• Private Sector Development Operations in Africa: has deep understanding of the realities of financing and implementing private sector projects in the African context across sectors, including agribusiness, energy, financial and infrastructure.
• Plans for unanticipated risks and future issues by developing contingencies and programs to address issues that may impact achievement of quality results;
• Consistently makes informed decisions and provide advice, to independently solve programs, based on available and hard to find information;
• Proven professional report writing ability;
• Excellent communication skills, integrity, professional maturity and business judgment.
• Good knowledge of operational and project management techniques and administrative requirement of organizations; desirable
• Business plan preparation and implementation monitoring; desirable
• Experience of working with development finance institutions, preferably with some exposure to African low income markets and/or high risk jurisdiction; desirable
• High level professional knowledge of operational and strategic portfolio management techniques and structured credit instruments and loan guarantees; desirabl
• Proficient in the use of standard MS Office software applications, particularly Word, PowerPoint, and Excel as well as SAP. Knowledge of SAP would be an advantage
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English is a requirement for this position. (Bilingual in English and French, highly desirable)