Overview
The Partnerships and Communications Senior Advisor serves as the principal senior lead for strategic partnerships, resource mobilisation, and regional external positioning across the Latin America and the Caribbean (LCR) Region. The role is central to expanding strategic partnerships, driving resource mobilisation, and ensuring coherent external communications and visibility for organisational initiatives.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the development of a comprehensive regional partnerships development strategy.
- Coordinate the development and implementation of an LCR Portfolio Development Plan.
- Advise the Regional Director and regional senior management on strategic positioning, portfolio focus, and entry points for co-financing and public-private partnerships (PPPs).
- Lead donor and partner mapping and maintain a rolling calendar of priority funding opportunities.
- Research and analyse specific donor strategies, programming priorities, and political situations.
- Lead the development of a coherent regional external positioning and narrative framework.
- Lead the regional partnerships effort to develop, extend, and maintain strong senior-level relationships with key partners.
- Lead and manage priority funding opportunities from identification through approval.
- Coordinate and quality-assure concept notes and proposals in English and Spanish.
- Participate and lead in key regional partnership-building meetings and negotiations.
- Lead early-stage partnership engagement and structuring with partners.
- Provide strategic leadership, direction, and quality assurance for impactful regional communications and visibility.
- Lead the design and implementation of internal and external communication strategies.
- Ensure that external positioning, messaging, and visibility activities are fully aligned with the Regional strategy, Partnerships Plan, and priority partner engagements.
- Develop, implement, and monitor communication strategies and work plans.
- Support reputational positioning by preparing briefs, talking points, and communication materials for senior leadership.
- Coordinate communication and visibility efforts for fundraising and donor engagement.
- Serve as the senior partnerships lead in the regional office, managing and guiding partnerships officers and related roles.
- Coordinate, advise, mentor, and coach relevant partnerships and programme personnel.
- Build partnership capacity and negotiation skills among Project Managers and regional personnel.
- Implement standards, tools, and templates provided by HQ to strengthen partnership and project development.
- Develop and lead the setup of tracking systems for monitoring partnership development and progress.
- Identify and synthesise best practices and lessons learned from LCR and other regions.
Required Experience
- Minimum 10 years of experience (or more, depending on academic credentials) in strategic partnership and/or communications development, portfolio growth, international development, in the public sector, or global business environment.
- At least 7 years of experience in senior-level engagements and negotiations with partners such as governments, International Financial Institutions (including Multilateral Development Banks), as well as relevant experience with donors and development sectors, preferably in the Latin America and Caribbean context.
- At least 7 years of experience providing strategic oversight and direction for external positioning, high-level communications, or partner-facing narratives, ideally in senior roles supporting organisational positioning with governments, donors, and development partners.
- Experience working with UNOPS in development and/or humanitarian contexts is considered a strong advantage, particularly in senior roles with responsibilities related to partnership development, strategic positioning, or portfolio growth.
Qualifications
- An advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Business Administration, Political Science, International Relations, International Development, Social Sciences, Communications, or another relevant field is required.
- A First-Level University Degree (Bachelor's) in the above-mentioned areas or another relevant field, with 2 additional relevant years of experience, may be accepted instead of the advanced university degree.
