Consultancy: Pipeline Development Consultant (Tunisia) 356 views

Consultancy: Pipeline Development Consultant (Tunisia)

Company Overview:

About Palladium – Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value.  We work with governments, businesses, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. With a team of more than 3,000 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of over 35,000 experts, we help improve economies, societies and, most importantly, people’s lives.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.  

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com 

Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

Project Overview and Role:

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) is a 6-year and €114 million programme funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that aims to create a prosperous future for 200,000 young women and men in the Middle East, North Africa, Sahel & West Africa and Horn of Africa regions. The Fund will be supporting initiatives in 23 countries that will offer youth, in particular young women, opportunities for work that is demand-driven and productive, offering a stable income and safe working conditions, and that is contributing to their personal development and social protection.
Private sector, civil society and knowledge institutions will be invited to submit proposals through Challenge Calls that are geared to scalable solutions for creating more and better jobs and income generating opportunities for youth. Solutions will in particular focus on an integrated approach that addresses the shortcomings on the demand side (jobs) and supply side (skills) and bridging the mismatch between these two in the labour market.

Role Overview:

As the In-Country Pipeline Development Consultant, you will be responsible for building a pipeline of prospective entities who will apply for CFYE’s Challenge Calls in-country. This assignment will build on the research, analysis and local engagement activities that will aim to build an understanding of the obstacles to youth employment in the country as well as to identify some of the strategic
opportunities for intervention/support from the Challenge Fund. Coupled with Marketing and Outreach activities, pipeline development will entail identification of entities that are well-suited to develop and deliver a project to address the challenges identified from research activities. You will be part of a Country Start-up Team that will include a Country Lead, an In-country Scoping Researcher and potentially a CFYE team member to support scoping research. Apart from working directly with this team, this role will also require you to work with wider CFYE team and coordinate particularly closely with the central start-up team that include the following:
– Deputy Team Leader.
– Strategy Advisor.
– Central Coordinator, Start-up Phase.

Overall, there will be three main areas of responsibility associated with this role:
1) Lead on identification of and engagement with prospective entities in country to introduce CFYE and it’s objectives, encourage them in applying for the Challenge Fund and advising them in developing project ideas that will be in line with emerging findings from CFYE’s research. Inform the research team/invite them to scheduled pipeline meetings which
may be relevant for research purposes.
2) Proactively manage the pipeline of prospective entities that will involve periodic followups and sharing of key information related to CFYE concept note submission and selection processes. Along with Country Lead and Central Start-up Team, conduct on-going pipeline data analysis to identify gaps, risks and opportunities for CFYE’s portfolio of projects.
3) Coordinate closely with Central Start-up Team and CFYE’s Communications and Marketing Manager to develop and refine an approach to building pipeline as well as country specific marketing and outreach strategy.

These areas of
responsibility are detailed as Key Activities below.

Key Activities:

Pipeline Development Approach:
– Develop a coherent and systematic strategy to build a pipeline of potential applicants that is reflective of the emerging findings from scoping research activities, country’s priority sectors and growth trajectory as well as overall CFYE portfolio’s aspirations
– Provide feedback or inputs on the Pipeline Development Tool that will be used to capture the details of organizations and entities engaged or to be engaged in the pipeline building process.
Pipeline Development: This involves identification of prospective applicants who will be encouraged to apply for Challenge Fund in the country.
– Responsible for development of a high potential pipeline and identification of prospective applicants in the country in coordination with the Country Lead as well as other members of the Central Start-up Team. The phase-wise target number of
prospective entities for the pipeline will be agreed with the Country Lead and the Central Start-up Team but will be in the range of 50-150 prospects, contingent on the country.
– Coordinate and lead meetings with potential applicants to introduce CFYE, its key parameters and application process.
– Ensure that pipeline data is regularly and systematically captured using the tools developed by the Central Start-up Team. 
– Coordinate with the Central Start-up Team and Country Lead to ensure that the emerging pipeline is in line with CFYE’s portfolio priorities, identify the gaps, and work with the In-country Pipeline Consultant to fill those gaps.
– Coordinate with CFYE’s Communications and Marketing Manager to effectively use digital marketing platforms to widely disseminate the challenge fund in the relevant sectors. Identify and attend relevant industry events to market the challenge fund if
considered a crucial part of the outreach strategy.
– Work closely with In-country Scoping Researcher to follow-up on leads identified during the course of research activities and stakeholder interviews.
– Where required, participate in the meetings with prospective stakeholders during research phase to identify key findings emerging and building strategic priorities for the challenge call in Country.
– Liaise with Country Lead and In-Country Scoping Researcher on a regular basis to review the progress of pipeline building.
– Work closely with high potential and promising leads to act as a sounding board for them when developing project ideas that can be submitted for CFYE Concept Notes.
– Support with partnership development and match relevant applicants from network / existing pipeline on an on-demand basis.
Marketing and Outreach:
– Work closely with the Country Lead, CFYE Start-up Central Team and CFYE Communications and Marketing Manager to develop a detailed marketing and outreach strategy as well as an implementation plan for the country that lays out the approach to effectively reach high potential leads including (I) relevant (media) channels, and (ii) organisations (for instance local Private Equity. funds, other challenge funds, private business associations, etc)
– Work with the Country Lead to organize CFYE webinars to share findings of the scoping research, details of the application submission and selection process.
– Support the Country Lead in organizing and managing Q&A sessions with prospective applicants, development of FAQ documents and managing communication with prospective applicants.
Evaluation and Selection:
– Provides inputs on the development of Concept Note and Business Case Templates as well as the eligibility and evaluation criteria.
– When required, participate in evaluation of concept note and business cases submitted by applicants as per the process defined by the Central Start-up Team.
– Where relevant, provide support in developing a coaching plan for business case applicants based on the research findings and emerging priority areas.
– Assist in communicating feedback to rejected and accepted Concept Notes based on evaluators’ comments in a shareable language and standard format.
Miscellaneous:
– Support the Country Lead in development and execution of a country-specific start-up activities work-plan in accordance with the start-up process and ensure to operate and deliver as per the agreed work-plan.
– Where required, provide inputs to the Central Start-up Team to develop and refine the start-up processes as well as tools and templates.

Level of Effort:
This assignment is expected to take 2 to 3 days each working week, starting from 1st December 2021 to 31st January 2022, with a total of approximately 25 days. Depending on CFYE needs and utilisation of days, the duration of this assignment or the associated number of days may be amended as necessary.
Reporting:
You will report to the Country Lead, but will be expected to work closely with other members of CFYE Central Start-up Team.
Deliverables and Outputs:
– Pipeline development strategy that will lay out the identification and engagement plan with prospective entities
– Marketing and Outreach Plan detailing the activities to be conducted and key messages, that is expected to be developed with inputs from CFYE’s Communications and Marketing Manager.
– Final pipeline of prospective entities that are expected to apply to CFYE’s Call in country.
– Evaluation scores for and feedback on Concept Notes and Business Cases (if applicable).
Recruitment and Location: 
This assignment requires the consultant to be based in country. The recruitment cycle may be closed early contingent on the quality and number of applications received.

Required Qualifications:

You are strongly encouraged to apply for this position if you:
– Are a private sector professional or a private sector development expert with linkages and networks that can help identify promising entities for the Fund.
– Have significant experience analysing or supporting development of business plans or funding proposals.
– Bring a good understanding of the local context of private sector development in the country.
– Sound business judgment and initiative; ability to work in multicultural environments and build effective working relations with internal and external clients and partners.
– Aiming to invest in building a thorough understanding of the objectives of the CFYE. 
– Capacity to interact senior officials and private sector leader, and credibly influence senior decision makers. 
– High degree of self-motivation and proven ability to work independently under limited supervision and tight deadlines. Ability to multitask and work collaboratively in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.
– Proper balance between attention to detail and focus on broader issues.
– Excellent writing skills. Ability to translate complex issues into easily understood terminology.
– Excellent communication and presentation skills in English.

Deadline: 22 November, 2021.

#CFYE