Division Manager – Operations Committee Secretariat

THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 81 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries).  The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2023 – 2032) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely, energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa. The Bank is seeking to build a management team that will lead the successful implementation of this vision.

THE COMPLEX:

The Senior Vice-Presidency is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve its strategic objective and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results. The Senior Vice-Presidency will provide effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions. The Senior Vice-Presidency will lead senior management discussions, decision-making processes and the implementation of key Board and Management decisions. 

THE HIRING DEPARTMENT:

SNMO is overseeing the Secretariats of two key management committees – the Operations Committee (OpsCom, SNMO.1) and the Senior Management Coordinating Committee (SMCC, SNMO.2).

The role of the Operations Committee Secretariat (SNMO1) is to support the Bank’s Operations Committee in its efforts towards sharpening the country focus and strategic selectivity of the Bank’s operations; enhancing the quality of operations; strengthening the Bank’s internal cooperation and cohesion among operations departments; and improvement in the development impact of the Bank’s support to its Regional Member Countries.

The Operations Committee Secretariat ensures that the African Development Bank delivers high quality and impactful investments to meet the development priorities of its Regional Member Countries. The core mandate of the Operations Committee Secretariat is to provide secretariat support to the Operations Committee in its day-to-day activities and support the Committee in developing the required processes and procedures to effectively carry out its work.

THE POSITION:

Under the supervision of the Director, the Division Manager (i) supports the Operations Committee to sharpen the country focus and strategic selectivity of the Bank’s operations, strengthen its internal cooperation and cohesion, and improve its development impact; (ii) coordinates and manages the Bank review and clearance process for all Operations; (iii) manages and oversees continuous enhancement of the Bank’s review and clearance processes and systems ensuring their consistency with industry standards and quality review; and (iv) manages Operations Committee meetings and contribute to the management of the Operations Committee’s activities in consultation with operations departments and their respective Front Offices of Vice Presidents.

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KEY FUNCTIONS:

Under the overall supervision of the Director, the Division Manager performs the following:

Review of operations proposals

1. Assist in ensuring that all Bank operations, policies, and strategies are prepared in accordance with Bank rules, policies and procedures.  
2. Ensure compliance and quality control of all documents prepared for Operations Committee discussion before dissemination.
3. Submit for Operations Committee’s consideration proposals that are ready for appraisal, negotiation, and submission to the Board.
4. Support Operations Committee’s decision-making process and prepare the necessary materials to inform the President as necessary.
5. Monitor and report on the effectiveness and compliance of the review process.
6. Coordinate and manage the review process to ensure the quality and timeliness of reviews to support Operations Committee decisions and timely submission of quality proposals to the Board.  
7. Establish and maintain streamlined, efficient, and high-quality review and clearance processes at appropriate levels. 
8. Revamp the review systems and procedures as deemed necessary to support fast-track quality review. 
9. Assist in implementing the One Bank, in particular by promoting the use of BPPS across the Bank and collaborating with Wakanda in designing and implementing an integrated system/portal for Bank’s Operations.

Management of OpsCom

1. Coordinate the review of documents submitted for Operations Committee’s clearance to ensure compliance with all relevant corporate policies and strategies and alignment with the High 5s and the Ten-Year Strategy, as well as clearly established readiness and delivery mechanisms prior to submission for Operations Committee’s consideration.
2. Manage the preparation of Operations Committee meetings, requisite minutes, and related reports, as well as tracking implementation of Operations Committee’s decisions.
3. Coordinate the review all documents post Operations Committee’s meeting and ensure timely clearance as appropriate.
4. Monitor and report on the implementation of the review and clearance process at lower levels and on country and regional teams’ compliance with established process and systems.
5. Supervise the development of appropriate guidelines to accommodate various processing need for proposals without undermining quality.
6. Ensure continuous improvement of internal operating procedures.
7. Review and propose improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of the Operations Committee’s review and clearance process.

Team leadership, Knowledge management and communication

1. Manage the Division and build effective working relationships within the Division.
2. Maintain and build effective working relationships with VPs’ front Offices, designated OpsCom reviewers, staff of regional and sector departments, including country offices, as well as key technical support departments to ensure Bank-wide ownership/internalization and effective application of Bank’s review and clearance instruments including the BPPS.
3. Work closely with other departments in charge of IT, Change Management, Communication, staff training and development.
4. Lead key knowledge dissemination and communication activities, including those based on analytical work produced by the division and sharing of good practices. 
5. Provide guidance and assistance to Task Teams for the smooth delivery of documents and running of OpsCom meetings.

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COMPETENCIES (skills, experience and knowledge):

1. Hold at least a Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, Economics, or related disciplines. 
2. Have a minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience in the development and management of operations or programs, and policies/strategies within the Bank or other multilateral development banks or in similar organizations. 
3. Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.
4. Knowledge of operational policies and strategies of Development Finance Institutions, as well as understanding of processes for developing and implementing development projects and programs.
5. Track record of successful coordination and management of work program with innovation, flexibility, and on short notice.
6. Solid analytical skills, with problem-solving capacity while balancing long and short-term trade-offs.
7. Demonstrated capacity to engage with multiple stakeholders at Senior management level as well as at professional staff level to consistently deliver support for compliance and assist in delivering high quality proposals on time.
8. Ability to think strategically and make sound decisions fast, and to provide sound advice to Senior Management on policies, proposals, processes, and procedures.
9. Ability to manage heavy workloads as well as multi-tasking, in an environment with shifting demands, priorities and deadlines.
10. Strong managerial and communication skills, coupled to ability to work effectively across institutional boundaries in order to achieve institutional effectiveness without compromising quality.
11. Excellent on building team capacity and teamwork, with strong coaching and mentoring skills.
12. Ability to work in French and/or English, with a working knowledge of the other language.
13. Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, SAP, PowerPoint, MS Project).

 

THIS POSITION IS CLASSIFIED INTERNATIONAL STATUS AND ATTRACTS INTERNATIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT.