Local Partnership Advisor

Job Summary

The Local Partnership Advisor leads long-term equitable relationships with local civil society networks, conducts data-driven program portfolio reviews, and implements context-specific Country Engagement Models. This expert strengthens the organizational capacity of local partners, collaborates with cross-functional finance and humanitarian managers, and champions adaptive leadership frameworks across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

Key Roles & Operational Responsibilities

1. Partnership Stewardship & Localization Leadership

• Architect and lead the development of equitable, trusting, and long-term strategic alliances with local non-governmental organizations.
• Establish mutual accountability parameters and transparent dialogue mechanisms to move away from traditional top-down INGO delivery models.
• Champion the localization agenda globally, ensuring local partner priorities shape project design, resource allocation, and operational timelines.

2. Portfolio Governance & Country Engagement Models

• Provide strategic, high-level oversight across designated multi-country and regional program portfolios to ensure health, compliance, and impact.
• Lead evidence-informed portfolio reviews, tracking key performance indicators, partner satisfaction scores, and program sustainability.
• Operationalize and oversee structural Country Engagement Models, systematically shifting approaches based on evolving local contexts and growing partner operational capacities.

3. Cross-Domain Synergy & Influence

• Collaborate with the Regional Business Development Manager, Regional Finance & Operations Manager, and Regional Humanitarian Manager to build an integrated, agile support system for field partners.
• Represent Cordaid’s Regional Core across strategic international networks, regional institutions, and donor working groups to influence funding policy toward localized mechanisms.
• Coach and mentor decentralized staff, fostering an accountable, inclusive, and high-performing team culture rooted in systems thinking.

Foundational Capabilities & Prerequisites

Required Technical Profile & Experience

• Academic Foundation: Master’s degree in International Development, Public Administration, Political Science, Social Sciences, or a highly related humanitarian discipline.
• Experience Baseline: Minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible, hands-on leadership experience within international development or emergency relief organizations.
• Partnership Mastery: Extensive, proven track record of managing complex multi-country portfolios entirely through local partners and steering diverse multi-stakeholder coalitions.
• Strategic Fluency: Comprehensive understanding of institutional donor frameworks, structural organizational change management, and localized planning methodologies.
• Soft Skills Inventory: Exceptional negotiation, diplomacy, and interpersonal communication abilities, with a demonstrated talent for influencing without direct authority.
• Thinking Paradigm: Advanced capacity for adaptive leadership, structural systems thinking, sharp political awareness, and collaborative decision-making in volatile contexts.
• Linguistic Capabilities: Full professional fluency in written and spoken English is mandatory. Proficiency in additional regional languages is a distinct advantage.

What Cordaid Offers

• Systemic Impact: A prominent senior role explicitly tasked with changing how international aid is structured, moving power directly to local communities.
• Global Flexibility: The ability to operate out of any established Cordaid office worldwide, backed by modern hybrid work provisions.
• Executive Package: A market-conform corporate contract with competitive secondary benefits scaled to the localized country of employment.

Skills Required:

• Hr / Public / Admin
• Political / Science / Ir