LGA Manager

Title: LGA Manager

Role Location: Bauchi

Start date: November 2024

Project Background:

The purpose of the five-year (2020-2025) “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness” (“State2State”) Activity is to increase the accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria. This will be achieved by:

• strengthening governance systems (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation) related to the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation, and hygiene [WASH]).
• increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation, and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary).

State2State will achieve this purpose by facilitating the sustainable strengthening of subnational governance systems, supporting the efforts of local reformers, and building on locally derived solutions, including, to the extent possible, reforms already working in other parts of Nigeria.

Position Objectives:

The LGA Manager in Bauchi State will oversee and implement all aspects of State2State interventions at the LGA Level. She/he will ensure timely preparation of political economy analysis. She/he will provide support to other State-led interventions across objectives as well as cross-cutting interventions.

The role also serves as a liaison between the Activity and focal LGAs and as a point of contact for all gender and social inclusion, and desk officers matters in Bauchi State.

Reporting: The LGA Manager will report to the State Team Lead in Bauchi State and will coordinate closely with the MEL Director on M&E matters, and other Specialists in the team.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the operation and technical delivery of LGA-level interventions and effective management of reform support with local government representatives and community-level stakeholders.
• Deliver support for improved governance and service delivery within the local government.
• Maintaining strategic relationships with government counterparts and other relevant stakeholders, including local government, civil society, and development partners.
• Responsible for developing, planning, and implementing targeted, high-impact interventions that meet the objectives of the Activity.
• Ensure the integration of cross-cutting considerations, such as gender and diversity (inclusion of people with disabilities) conflict sensitivity, and environmental considerations.
• Work with members of the state team to identify and develop intervention concepts and budgets, in line with Activity objectives and delivery.
• Ensure weekly and monthly targets for activity concepts and commitments are met.
• Ensure governance improvements are owned and delivered by the local governments under their agenda.
• Engaging local partners in setting sector and budget priorities and strengthening LGA budgeting and planning processes while adapting existing citizen guides to the budget and collaborating with CSOs’ to raise budget literacy.
• Applying a Do No Harm approach, collaborate with local partners to mitigate the potential for conflict, and forge partnerships between state and LGA institutions and CSOs to support participatory mechanisms for dialogue on budget priorities.
• Provide training and mentoring to LGA finance and administration staff on developing systems for more rigorous controls on LGA expenditures.
• Tracking improvements at the state and LGA levels in all areas of governance including auditing, budgeting, planning, and procurement processes.
• Address conflict and provide M&E support at the LGA levels including establishing KPIs that flow down to the LGA level on health, education, and WASH facilities.
• Coordinate with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Director to report on indicators.
• Compile and submit political economy analysis reports to the State Team Lead weekly, monthly, and annually.
• Consult with the GESI Coordinator to implement and report on GESI and Desk Officers interventions.
• Perform such other duties as may be assigned.

REQUIREMENTS

Education

• A bachelor’s degree or Higher National Diploma in International Relations, Law, Management, Development Studies, Planning, Business Administration, Social Studies, Political Science, Sociology, or a related field from an accredited academic institution with 9 years of relevant professional experience.

Experience:

• At least nine (9) years (with bachelor’s degree) of work experience with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded programs, or on other large donor-funded programs with preference given to democracy and governance related to the technical area of the position.
• Experience in leading successful reform interventions and evidence of good working relations with relevant local, ward, and state-level governments and other key stakeholders.
• An ability to manage relationships and understand institutional change in complex environments.
• An exceptional understanding of financial and technical delivery, program impact monitoring and evaluation, and reporting against results.
• Knowledgeable of the socio-economic context of the implementing state.
• Experience in liaising and building effective partnerships with government authorities and civil Society Organizations (required).
• A solid understanding of conflict sensitivity and gender and social inclusion as core principles and the ability to incorporate them throughout a project cycle, including experience applying political analysis tools and adjusting programming according to potential socio-economic dynamics (desired).

Skills

• Excellent communication and writing skills with the ability to analyze complex political and socio-economic problems and report on them.
• Collaborates effectively with local authorities, stakeholders, beneficiaries, and the broader community to advance country office or regional objectives.
• Excellent writing and communication skills.
• Establishing and maintaining effective relationships with implementing partners.
• Strong knowledge and cultural understanding of the State.

Languages

• Fluency in English is required (oral and written), and at least a working knowledge of the language of the environment.

Note: This is a local hire position only for Nigerian Cooperating Country Nationals (CCNs).