The purpose of the national Partnership Coordinator position is to support NRC Sudan’s strategy and approach towards strategic partnerships – will spearhead NRC Sudan’s capacity-sharing activities with local partners led community-based organizations and networks. NRC Sudan also has a broader perspective on local capacities and partnerships, beyond local NGOs, and seeks to support public and private actors that can serve as lead agents in responding to the needs of their community.

The role requires a diverse set of skills including an understanding of partnership programming in the humanitarian sector and the ability to collaboratively increase national and local actors’ organisational capacity. The Partnership Coordinator will promote ways of working that respect partner contributions to the achievement of the programmatic goals and supports adherence to humanitarian principles.

The Partnership Coordinator will also be directly responsible for operational capacity building of strategic local partners on cross-cutting support functions and overall organisational management. The position will be part of the programme unit and work closely with other Technical Specialists and Project Managers to ensure effective development and implementation of a partnership strategy, including development of contexualised tools and their application in the field.

Generic responsibilities

1. Adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures and consideration of NRC global and regional strategies when executing functions related to this role.
2. Contribute to adapting NRC’s global partnership toolkit and develop NRC Sudan’s way of working around partnership, including role and responsibilities through the Project Cycle and ensuring the application of appropriate systems and practices.
3. Support to ensure a harmonized approach to partnership among NRC Sudan programme response and NRC’s partners in line with NRC policy, guidance notes and toolkits.
4. Lead on identifying partners, assessing their capacity, developing capacity building plan, transferring of relevant NRC experience and tools.
5. Lead on learning and development of NRC staff on issues of partnership, ensuring NRC Sudan partnership approach is disseminated across all units and area offices;
6. Contribute into NRC Sudan Strategy on partnership
7. Contribute to partners’ related PCM procedures and usage of the NRC PCM framework in the Country Office or Area office.

Specific responsibilities 

These responsibilities shall be adapted to the particularities of the job location and context, phase of operation, strategic focus and type of partnerships intervention. This section shall be revised whenever a new employee is hired or the context changes significantly.

Local Partners Capacity Needs Identification 

• Utilize the Organisational Assessment Tool (OAT) to collaborate with partners in identifying their capacity-strengthening needs and learning objectives.
• Assess partner NGOs’ priority needs in terms of capacity development and sharing.

Development and Implementation of capacity sharing component 

• Create and facilitate/coordinate the delivery and progress reporting on Capacity-sharing Plans (CSP).
• Develop and implement capacity-strengthening activities to ensure smooth implementation of partnership agreements and support the overall development of NGO partners.
• Oversee the implementation of localization and capacity strengthening initiatives in accordance with the project plan, and develop a countrywide capacity strengthening annual plan.

Collaborative Learning

• Organize collaborative learning workshops/webinars and exchange resources such as experiences, tools, and best practices in coordination with relevant internal departments.
• Design agendas, facilitate, and oversee the implementation of partner interface meetings as part of a larger partner networking and peer-to-peer mechanism.
• Facilitate collaborative learning workshops/webinars and exchange of resources (experiences, tools, best practices).

Resource Management

• Develop and maintain an online repository of relevant trainings, resources, and shared learning materials.
• Create and maintain a library of up-to-date local partner resources, including mapping, capacity assessments, training materials, and other relevant materials for the Sudan context.

Support and Dissemination

• Assist Area Offices with capacity-sharing initiatives for local partners.
• Ensure the NRC Sudan partnership approach is disseminated across all units and Area Offices.
• Work with the NRC Sudan team to identify and address NRC staff capacity needs related to partnerships through training, coaching, and mentoring schemes.

Evaluation and Feedback

• Contribute to the evaluation and documentation of lessons learned from working with partners.
• Supervise the monitoring of partner learning progress and the application of transferred knowledge, identifying and reporting challenges and achievements.
• Actively integrate partner feedback into tools and guidance, ensuring strong mutual learning between NRC and its partners.

Knowledge Sharing

• Capture and synthesize lessons learned and good practices from local partner engagements in Sudan and facilitate learning from similar humanitarian contexts at regional and global levels.
• Identify opportunities to share learning by local partners at relevant forums (e.g., ICVA, Charter for Change, webinars, development journals).

Internal Capacity Sharing

• Build internal staff capacities by enhancing the knowledge, skills, and behavioural traits required to work effectively with local partners.

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Finance, Logistics, Head of Support, Area Managers, Cc Specialists/ PDMs, Advocacy and Media team, M&E, Project Manager;
• Project or Grant focal points in other partner organisations;
• Local partners

Professional competencies 

Generic professional competencies for this position: 

• Minimum 3 years of experience of relevant experience in a related field, including in partnerships and civil society strengthening.
• Above average computer skills, particularly in Microsoft Windows Word and Excel.
• Proven ability to work effectively with national and local civil society organizations required.
• Good understanding of donor regulations and grants management (e.g. with institutional humanitarian and development donors);
• Strong personal organisational skills, analytical thinking for strategy development.
• Willingness to travel to field offices and work in difficult environment according to travel requirements.

Context related skills, knowledge, and experience:

• Good cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Knowledge of the NGO operations and the dynamics of the humanitarian sector.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Arabic.
• Planning across multiple activities and complex projects.
• Demonstrated experience in learning and evaluation and program development.
• Experience in capacity-sharing and community-based programming.
• Experience in coordinating activities and liaising with external actors.

Behavioral competencies 

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies and the following are essential for this position:

• Planning and delivering results
• Working with people
• Communicating with impact and respect
• Strategic thinking
• Initiating action and change