Africa Practice – Associate Director, Philanthropic Advisory

About Africa Practice

Africa Practice is a mission-led strategic consulting firm advising investors and development partners across the continent. Our mission is to shape a prosperous Africa that inspires the world. For over 20 years, we have been partnering with global investors, policymakers, development partners and other changemakers to drive transformation on the continent.

Our insights and advocacy solutions are rooted in detailed system and stakeholder understanding. We identify, generate, and analyse human-centered systems data to design impactful advocacy interventions. We

deliver our world-class insights and advocacy solutions through our local presence.

We operate as one company, with a diverse team working on a hybrid basis in Abuja, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Gaborone, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, and London. We are risk analysts, development economists, advocates, storytellers, data scientists, policy experts, systems thinkers, and creative minds. Over 80% of our staff are African and over 50% are women. We have been a signatory to the UN Global Compact since 2021 and we are actively working to achieve B-Corp status.

The Role

Role: Associate Director, Philanthropic Advisory

Contract: Full time, 2 years fixed term, renewable

Salary: Competitive, based on experience and competence

Reports to: Senior Director, Philanthropic Advisory

Location: Flexible (Johannesburg, Lagos, London, Nairobi, New York)

Job Summary

The Associate Director, Philanthropic Advisory will focus on identifying and converting growth opportunities in the existing portfolio. They will also be responsible for strategic advisory and growth on all philanthropic projects. Specifically, this means excellent project delivery on existing projects (work plans, quality assurance, performance monitoring). The successful candidate will also be responsible for capturing best practice learnings across the philanthropic portfolio, to be applied within the company’s wider growth strategy.

Primary Responsibilities

Philanthropic advisory and growth - 35%

• Contribute to the development of a refreshed go-to-market strategy and value proposition, then conduct a capability and capacity assessment to map Africa Practice’s readiness to deliver against it.

• Lead the implementation of a business development and thought leadership programme to position Africa Practice’s refreshed philanthropic advisory proposition and support the achievement of our growth objectives.

• Act as a senior advisor to clients to guide the evolution of investment strategy, programming and the delivery of priority investments.

• Develop creative programming solutions for clients facing specific challenges or opportunities on the continent.

Client service and delivery - 35%

• Oversee project delivery across Africa Practice’s portfolio of philanthropic clients, monitoring project implementation, providing quality assurance and identifying opportunities to evolve and grow accounts or projects where relevant.

• Build and maintain strong client relationships, embedding yourself as a trusted advisor across a range of existing assignments.

• Ensure that consulting projects are delivered within the required timeframe and to a highquality standard, delivering the impact envisaged.

Market insights and engagement - 20%

• Monitor and assess the philanthropic ecosystem in Africa on an ongoing basis to ensure the company understands the latest trends and opportunities as they emerge.

• Network and build relationships with key international development stakeholders to identify trends and build a pipeline of new project opportunities.

Team management - 10%

• Support the People function with the development of a programme to identify internal and external candidates capable of implementing new and existing capabilities required to deliver philanthropic programme objectives.

• Build and develop strong relationships with Africa Practice’s multi-functional teams working across projects and across geographies, playing a strong mentoring and leadership role.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Passion for development and action-oriented when it comes to the impact of public policy and advocacy on accelerating the delivery of development goals.

• 10+ years of experience in international development advisory, with a focus on strategy or management consulting for complex donors or philanthropy-funded projects.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment, multitask, prioritise, and advise clients across multiple projects with varying methodologies and objectives.

• Strong and proven network of contacts and relationships across the philanthropic ecosystem in Africa, with a track record of conceptualizing and delivering successful consulting and/or grant proposals.

• Experience in building and managing collaborative partnerships between diverse government, community, private-sector, and philanthropic actors at the international and local level.

• Experience in developing human-centered and evidence-based intervention designs through collaborative processes.

• Successful track record of managing teams in remote field locations and coordinating projects across multi-sector technical activities.

• Strong technical expertise in one or more of the following areas: political economy, public policy design and/or advocacy, program development, and capacity-development of civil society organisations and government entities.

• Experience working in one or more of the following segments of the philanthropic ecosystem: inclusion and resilience programming, climate change, healthcare, education, or agriculture and nutrition.

• Understanding of the importance of data-led monitoring, evaluation, and continuous learning on development projects, with demonstrable experience of implementation.

• Experience with and strong appreciation for evidence-based intervention design and datadriven insights and advocacy.

• Excellent oral, written, and verbal communication abilities in English. Fluency in French a significant advantage.

• Proficiency and ease working in a hybrid, crossborder environment, using a range of different software platforms.

• Significant experience working in African countries.

What We Offer

We offer the successful candidate an opportunity to work within a dynamic pan-African consultancy advising a prestigious portfolio of clients. This position offers:

• Competitive remuneration.

• Organizational focus on talent development, delivered through individual development plan.

• High degree of flexibility in ways of working.

• Immediate opportunities for growth.

• Collaboration with a diverse and experienced team of colleagues.

How to Apply

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are much less likely to apply for a position unless they meet every single qualification. So, this notwithstanding, if you are excited about this role, we would love to hear from you. At Africa Practice, we are dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, and authentic workplace. You might just be the new team member we are looking for - for this or other roles.

Do you want to contribute to an influential and prosperous Africa, inspiring the world? We’re looking for Africa’s changemakers – smart people with strong analytical, advocacy, digital and problem-solving skills who can reconcile diverse perspectives to deliver sustainable change.

All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR.

To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page, complete our online application form, and submit your CV and cover letter as two different documents, which should be prepared before applying as they will be considered in the application process. The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.

The document should be saved in PDF in the following format:

Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyy) e.g., Pat-Jones-CV-052024-AfricaPractice or PatJones-CoverLetter-052024-AfricaPractice.

Timeline

Closing Date: 26th June 2024

First stage interviews: TBC

Final interviews: TBC

Selection Process

All candidates will receive an update regarding their application after the closing date. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder.

Equality Statement

Equality and diversity are at the core of Africa Practice’s values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.

Queries

If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email at africa-practiceassociate-director@oxfordhr.com in the first instance.

About Oxford HR

Exceptional leaders can inspire change and propel purpose-led organisations towards reaching their world-changing goals. Finding such leaders can be a challenge; and yet their transition into leadership is vital to an organisations mission and success.

Oxford HR is a global leadership consultancy dedicated to searching for and supporting remarkable leaders and teams in purpose-led organisations.

We understand the nuances of purpose-led leadership because we’ve worked in organisations across the breadth of the sector ourselves. We’ve also worked with such organisations since 1995; so, we appreciate just what benefits impactful people can bring.