Director of Government Partnerships - Sierra Leone

About Imagine Worldwide 

All children have immense potential, but hundreds of millions don’t have access to the learning they need. Imagine Worldwide believes that every child should be empowered with the basic right to literacy and numeracy. We provide an innovative education technology solution and implementation model to the global literacy/numeracy learning crisis using the onebillion application and various toolkits and systems to support implementation. Our model is massively scalable, and evidence-based, and can deliver foundational learning to millions of the most marginalized children.

Imagine Worldwide partners with governments, organizations, and communities to provide child-directed, tablet-based learning that is accessible, effective, and affordable. We are a California-based (United States) nonprofit organization operating across seven Sub-Saharan African countries. Learn more on our website.

About the Role

The Director of Government Partnerships will play an instrumental role in carrying out Imagine’s mission, to design, deliver, and scale tablet-based learning solutions that enable children to become literate and numerate in Sierra Leone, and secondly institutionalizing the program within the government for long-term sustainability. The Director will join a highly committed and collaborative team that is working together to empower every child, everywhere to achieve their full potential. They will work directly with the Executive Director of Imagine Sierra Leone and Imagine’s Head of Government Partnerships, to manage Imagine’s path to the national adoption of our edtech program in Sierra Leone. 

Mission and Objectives

The Director of Government Partnerships will take overall leadership and responsibility for engagements with government stakeholders nationwide adoption of our tablet learning program in Sierra Leone and the institutionalization of the program into the Ministry’s core education programming in the country. 

Mission and Objectives

Mission: Lead and manage all interactions with government entities to ensure alignment, compliance, and strategic collaboration for program implementation, policy influence, and institutionalization.

Key Responsibilities

Collaboration between Imagine Sierra Leone and Government Stakeholders

• Develop government engagement plans, setting clear objectives and defining activities;
• Setup regular meetings with different government stakeholders to discuss program progress and resolve any challenges with implementation;
• Support and facilitate functional teams or working groups between Imagine Sierra Leone and Government stakeholders to ensure effective joint planning and delivery of activities between the Imagine, and government personnel to build government capacity;
• Oversee workstreams, assess resource requirements, and plan adequately to support government engagement activities;
• Support the Executive Director’s engagements with the Government officers at different levels to ensure capacity building and ownership of the program;
• Support program implementation governance arrangements and ensure they operate efficiently between the program and the government;
• Collaborate with the  Government to implement the program with a clear goal of devolving power and ownership to government actors over time.

Institutionalization of the Program:

• Uphold principles of system strengthening where Imagine plays a temporary role in program implementation with a clear goal of driving  governments full ownership of the program;
• Lead in-country government engagement strategies in liaison with Imagine Worldwide to ensure continued alignment with Government on key program-related matters;
• Liaise with the governments  policy and planning units to drive integration of program activities in the Ministry's primary operating systems for enhanced support;
• Contribute to designing metrics and criteria to measure, monitor and report on progress towards institutionalization goals;
• Explore critical partnerships within the government education delivery system and secure their alignment and support for the program.
• Develop, negotiate, and manage MOUs and partnership agreements with government entities and relevant stakeholders.

Stakeholder Management:

• Collaborate closely with Imagine Worldwide global office on government engagements and efforts to manage stakeholders;
• Develop and manage detailed stakeholder mapping of all relevant government stakeholders and categorise each stakeholder’s potential influence and impact on our programs and the institutionalization thereof;
•  Build and maintain strong relationships with key government stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance, to support funding coordination and program sustainability.
• Contribute to and maintain systems (equivalent to a customer relationship management system) to manage stakeholder contact information and track engagements and required actions to enable proactive and considered engagements and mitigate against disruptions in relationships with key government stakeholders;
• Develop and implement engagement plans with prioritized stakeholders to solicit support and secure buy-in through meetings, school visits, special events, hosting workshops, making financial and non-financial contributions to government projects, supporting local edtech hubs etc.

Advocacy and Policy Alignment:

• Develop networks and relationships with key stakeholders in  government and other relevant ministries whose decisions or influence has a bearing on the government’s buy-in to the program, such as technology and energy;
• Organise and coordinate itineraries of school tours for government stakeholders, donor visits and special guests;
• Build and maintain local political and industry relationships to support the program;
• Raise Imagine Worldwide’s local profile and stature with government bodies and other key education stakeholders through thought leadership and proactive engagement;
• Keep abreast of relevant policy developments in Sierra Leone   and conduct research as required to guide country office program roll-out activities;
• Lead advocacy for new policies or policy changes required to enable long-term sustainability of our programs; 
• Support local engagements with bilateral and multilateral organizations such as GPE and World Bank; 
• Support the dissemination of project outcomes and learnings to stakeholders.

Program Implementation:

• Lead collaboration with government stakeholders to achieve alignment on the program implementation, management, and governance processes; 
• Leverage government relationships to manage project risks with creative problem-solving and escalations as required.
• Oversee ISP compliance with government engagement requirements and systems strengthening activities, ensuring alignment within district and national level.

Requirements

Education and Work Experience

The successful candidate will possess the following competencies, experiences, and qualities: 

• Advanced degree in political science, education, or social science; 
• A minimum of ten (10) years of working experience in government affairs, preferably in a leadership role within international multicultural organisations (commercial or non-profit).

Ideal Candidate Profile

Proven experience that includes:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English 
• Significant experience in government relations, an extensive knowledge of federal politics, legislative process, and administrative actions in education, climate and/or energy;
• Ability to take knowledge and link governments and policy influencers with the technical resources and messaging required;
• Able to identify viable administrative pathways for implementation priorities as well as major challenges, and develop effective, creative strategies to influence government stakeholders;
• Ability to listen, communicate, and develop trusting relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders to bring together multiple perspectives into a cohesive effort;
• A skilled government relationships builder, with the ability to construct and maintain strong networks of policy influence within the industry and governing institutions;
• Experience in a global environment working with governments and government agencies in the policymaking process, with a strong record of leading and delivering effective results;
• Sincere commitment to work collaboratively with all constituent groups, including staff, board members, stakeholders, and other supporters;
• High energy, maturity, and leadership with the ability to serve as a unifying force and to position communications discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels.

Additional Skills 

• Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision
• Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Strong writing and communications skills
• Relationship builder with the flexibility and finesse to ‘manage by influence’
• Team-oriented, collaborative, flexible, adaptable, and comfortable working in an inclusive, low-ego, matrix-management environment
• Self-starter, able to work independently, and enjoys creating and implementing new initiatives.
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• High integrity, conscientious and willing to take responsibility

Qualities

•  Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision 
•  Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Passion for project management
• Demonstrated ability to think independently and solve problems
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to work in a fast-paced, changing environment

Compensation & Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Location

The Director of Government Partnerships must be based in Freetown, Sierra Leone

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Imagine Worldwide is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.