IDB3453 - Lead Technical Cooperation Specialist
Business Unit Operations- Global Practice & Partnership
Division Reverse Linkage
Department Cooperation & Capacity Development
Country Saudi Arabia
Location Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
Job Grade E4
Closing Date 31-Mar-2025
Job Purpose
Act as a technical authority on reverse linkage and technical cooperation internally for the IsDB and externally for member countries. To lead the design and implementation of the Bank’s policy, strategy, operational plan, work programs and interventions relating to reverse linkage and technical cooperation, lead the inclusion of innovative solutions through reverse linkage in the Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS), lead the effort to mobilise financial resources to supplement existing internal resources, advise Global Practices to mainstream reverse linkage within all activities of the Bank and position IsDB in the global landscape of South-South Cooperation, sharing knowledge and expertise.
Policy and Strategy Planning and Input:
• Advise on general strategic orientations related to reverse linkage and South-South Cooperation and build the IsDB’s enabling environment for reverse linkage.
• Lead the formulation and updating of the IsDB policies and strategies related to technical cooperation and reverse linkage.
• Ensure effective mainstreaming of reverse linkage in the IsDB’s sector policies, strategies and Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) and annual operational plans.
• Improve the technical cooperation mechanism of the IsDB in line with the strategic orientations of the Bank.
• Ensure that reverse linkage is well positioned within the corporate results framework, identify and select the relevant indicators based on the strategy objectives and report on them.
• Undertake the required capacity gaps analysis in the framework of the MCPS in the assigned region.
• Contribute to the work plan, programs and activities and ensure timely achievement of the same.
• Undertake sector/analytical work and studies in relation to reverse linkage and capacity development to examine issues, assess the needs and identify required priority interventions, and prepare related policy briefs/notes.
• Collate inputs from Global Practices and Regional Hubs to prepare and regularly update Bank’s reverse linkage and capacity development approaches.
• Identify business process improvements and suggest changes to the quality team for the update of the operations manual.
Program and Portfolio Management:
• Provide overall leadership on cascading down the IsDB’s strategic plans and policies related to reverse linkage to the operational level.
• Assess the overall risk of the portfolio of reverse linkage and undertake required preventive/corrective measures.
• Lead the piloting of innovative approaches for operationalizing South-South and Technical Cooperation within and across regions as well as enable cross-regional knowledge fertilization and exchanges.
• Lead resource mobilization efforts to raise funds to supplement existing internal resources and support South-South and Technical Cooperation project and activities through the reverse linkage.
• Map the available development solutions in the regions and link them to the demand expressed by the member countries through reverse linkage.
• Conceptualize regional and cross regional reverse linkage programs and pilot new initiatives that encourage sharing expertise and best practices among member countries.
• Lead the peer-to-peer consultation process between the providers and recipients of expertise across the regions.
• Ensure high quality at entry of all reverse linkage and capacity development components and projects as well as technical cooperation operations.
• Ensure that changes made in the regions regarding new projects are compliant with reverse linkage policy and capacity development pillar strategy.
• Support the teams in Regional Hubs for timely and quality implementation of reverse linkage projects and technical cooperation operations.
• Collaborate with other teams to ensure dissemination of tailored knowledge and expertise to support project implementation.
• Ensure adequate consideration of cross-cutting issues, such as capacity development, women’s empowerment and social/environmental issues in reverse linkage interventions.
• Undertake strategic interventions to build the national ecosystem of South-South and Technical Cooperation of the member countries across all regions.
Partnership:
• Promote the global agenda of South-South and Technical Cooperation.
• Position reverse linkage as effective mean for development assistance in the global architecture of South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
• Forge new partnerships with countries from the South for reverse linkage.
• Build, engage with and nurture diversified network of developers and strategic partners in the member countries and non-member countries in the regions for synergy, complementarities and co-financing of reverse linkage interventions in collaboration with the Partnership Development Complex.
• Identify centers of excellence in the regions to partner with for reverse linkage interventions
• Promote connectivity among technical cooperation agencies from member countries and countries from the South as well as external development organizations and institutions, for the sake of mutual learning and benefits.
Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination:
• Guide, advice and coach team members in reverse linkage.
• Contribute to the transfer knowledge of Division programs to other employees within IsDB Group and externally to member countries to ensure awareness.
• Increase stakeholders’ awareness on IsDB’s initiatives, in particular, and best practices of South-South and Technical Cooperation in general.
• Develop knowledge product, papers and publications on South-South Cooperation and reverse linkage.
• Keep abreast of international developments/advancements related to South-South and Technical Cooperation, with emphasis on the respective region.
• Contribute to building of necessary knowledge on reverse linkage within the Regional Hubs.
Reporting:
• Establish a mechanism to collect and analyze data on the mainstreaming of reverse linkage within the Bank’s operations.
• Prepare regular internal status reports of all activities of the Division within the IsDB Group, highlight any concern areas and success stories on reverse linkage.
• Prepare report for external use to demonstrate and provide required information regarding reverse linkage projects in the regions.
• Coordinate with other sectors specialists to present the reports and publication related to performance of Division’s programs.
• Contribute to the establishment a robust feedback system for capturing information and lessons from various internal and external stakeholders on the operations of the Division.
Academic and professional qualifications
• Minimum Master's Degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, International Development or any other related field.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in project and program design, advisory, projects monitoring and evaluation, technical cooperation, capacity development etc. ideally in similar type of multilateral organizations.
• Minimum 3 years of Managerial / Supervisory experience.
Skills & Necessary Knowledge
• MS Office
• Planning & organizing
• Expert in Reverse Linkage and South-South Cooperation
• Sound knowledge in policy and strategy development
• Knowledge on development of tools and sector guidelines
• Advanced project management
• Drive for results
• Advanced analytical thinking
• Advanced problem solving
• Advanced partnership management
• Passion for excellence
• Teamwork
