Associate at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Key responsibilities for this role include:
Leveraging and strengthening Delivery expertise

• Support the effective management and enhancement of Community of Practice program on delivery for embedded delivery advisors and colleagues
• Support and coordinate internal capacity building and training efforts, by providing relevant research, tools and frameworks, and identifying capacity gaps
• Contribute to the development, enhancement, and roll-out of TBI’s delivery products, methodologies and tools, and the provision of trainings to Country Directors and in-country advisors
• Support the Delivery Team to engage with network of internal and external experts to undertake a series of talks and events (e.g., fireside chats) on delivery
• Support the development and maintenance of a knowledge management and dissemination system

Specialized hands-on support to country teams for delivery project scoping and set up

• Support the enhancement of TBI’s proprietary delivery framework through research, case studies, and innovative tools, for delivery scoping exercises and government delivery needs assessments
• Provide inputs and materials required to offer expert delivery support and surge capacity, especially during inception, planning and early operationalization phases – includes delivery asessement reports, delivery labs, stocktake meeting preparation, progress reports, delivery sprints
• Develop and update tools, frameworks, and guidelines to ensure standardized use and application of TBI’s delivery framework and offer across the globe
• Support the enhancement and implementation of quality assurance processes for TBI’s delivery offer
• Support the refinement and use of a metrics-based approach to identify risks, problem-solving and learning during implementation – make recommendations for course-correction as needed
• Support coordination of capacity building efforts on delivery for TBI’s counterparts, including implementing institutions

Pushing the frontier – innovating on delivery

• Support research and studies that help TBI reimagine delivery with creative solutions addressing specific needs of our government counterparts. This includes benchmarking delivery best practices globally
• Support the design and operationalization of TBI’s new delivery offer. This includes but not limited to data-driven prioritization (e.g., data analytics for granular targeting), combining design thinking, behavioral insights and data science with delivery planning tools (e.g., delivery labs and sprints), and clear line of sight and tools to scaling up results (e.g., pay-for-succes contracts, outcome funds, results-based financing).
• Support Delivery Advisors develop joint delivery frameworks with other advisory sectoral practices (e.g. e-government, digital ID, agrifood) and global innovation team including document development
• Provide inputs and materials that contribute to development, piloting and roll-out of new/innovative toolkits, templates, and ways of working (tech and non-tech)

Partnerships

• Provide inputs and materials to support establishment of partnerships that ensure TBI’s proprietary delivery methodology, impact on the ground, and strategic priorities are well reflected in the program of work
• Support the exploration and recommendation mechanisms that ensure effective use of knowledge resources and new capabilities resulting from partnerships into TBI’s operations with country teams and practices
• Liase, alongside Delivery Advisors, with partnerships and MEL team to contribute to reporting mechanisms (e.g., data collection, preparation of reports to financiers if need be)

Contribution to wider TBI

• Contribute to wider TBI corporate activities
• Quickly become a valued and supportive team member of the GCS team, clearly linking strategy, policy and technology with delivery
• Support the Director of Delivery and Senior Delivery Advisor in overall strategy development and implementation

Person Specification

• This is a role in a fast-paced virtual team working out of different geographies and in complex policy and government support areas. The successful candidate will build effective trusting relationships with country and program teams and provide open willingness to jump in and support the anchor and project teams. With an emerging knowledge of delivery principles and processes, the postholder will have a grounding in management consulting and programme management including the requisite soft skills.

Successful candidates for the role should be able to display the following:

• Experience in management consulting or programme management with knowledge of public sector contexts
• Experience in government delivery functions is valuable
• Proven track record of developing frameworks and tools, process quality improvement and standardisation in addition to relevant experience of working in a project and programme environment
• Experience in structured problem-solving and workplanning
• Experience with public-sector capacity-building program development and roll-out a plus
• High quality communication, drafting and presentation skills are essential, including in power point. Experience in writing briefs for senior government officials – precise and brief. Graphic design skills are an advantage.
• Ability to develop and implement tools at different levels of complexity, including professional knowledge management tools and the tools of the Microsoft 365 environment
• Be a strong team player with excellent soft skills as well as flexibility to help where needed
• Highly developed analytical skills that can be deployed in a range of contexts
• Willingness to travel, sometimes on short notice
• Prior experience working with or for governments would be an added advantage
• Fluency in English is required (oral and written). French, portguese, or other language skills in TBI’s growing list of client countries is valuable.