View Vacancy - VNM - Prosperity Fund Programme Manager – Infrastructure and Future Cities Adviser (C4)

Main purpose of job:

The cross-UK Government Prosperity Fund (PF) was created in 2015 to promote economic growth in middle income countries and create opportunities for international business, including for UK companies. The fund has a budget of £1.2 billion over 6 years to provide support to partner countries in key reform areas such as the business environment, energy financial services, infrastructure and future cities, amongst others.

We are recruiting a Programme Manager in Vietnam to oversee, assess and monitor activity of two of these programmes: Future Cities and Global Infrastructure. The successful candidate will build relationships and work closely with delivery partners, the government of Vietnam, businesses, civil society, NGOs and other external stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of the programme. The successful applicant, based in Ho Chi Minh City, will work to the Deputy Consul General and will coordinate with other posts in the region and government colleagues in the UK to achieve UK policy objectives and to ensure that the programme complies with OECD rules for ODA. An important aspect of the job will be working with Department of International Trade colleagues in Vietnam and in London to unlock the opportunities created by the programmes’ interventions for increased inward trade and investment, particularly for UK companies.

This is a challenging and exciting opportunity to play an influential role in a high-profile and strategic British development initiative in Vietnam, which aims to have a positive impact on economic development and trade, as well as strengthening the relationship between the UK and Vietnam.

The Future Cities Programme through a series of targeted interventions seeks to address city specific barriers to prosperity. The Programme will realise and implement this though 3 integrated pillars (Transportation, urban planning and resilience). The programme will work joint with the Vietnam government to implement the three pillars, supported by two cross-cutting themes: smart technology/data and project financing, and act as a catalyst for further investment within Vietnam.  

The Global Infrastructure Programme seeks to introduce to the Vietnamese public and private sectors best practice infrastructure tools for business case preparation, evaluation and approval (5 Case Model), project initiation (based on the UK’s Project Initiation Routemap - PIR), as well as digital construction (based on the UK’s Building Information Modelling – BIM programme). BIM is introduction of digital technologies and standards to the design and construction of public buildings and infrastructure, in order to deliver savings to public spending. The UK has developed world-leading methodologies for the wide use of BIM on public projects and project based standards to generate public savings. The Vietnam part of the programme will be piloted on BIM, supporting the Vietnamese Government’s national BIM roadmap,and follow up with the business case development (5 Case Model) and infrastructure planning (PIR) tools. The programme is led centrally out of London, with regional and in-country staff to help roll it out on-the-ground in-country.

The successful candidate will accordingly oversee infrastructure activities in Vietnam liaising closely with in-country stakeholders and maintaining progress, with management by the team in London. The Programme will promote development and training of these UK methodologies and also support their implementation and embedding on legal framework and in at least one major infrastructure project in Vietnam. One aim of the GIP is to support wider dissemination of the UK’s infrastructure methodologies across the SE Asia region. The role may contribute to regional development exchanges (e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia) including the sharing of best practice amongst government officials.

The job holder will also provide technical advice to the British Embassy and Consulate in Vietnam on future cities and infrastructure development in Vietnam’s cities and regions and maintain strong working relationships with the both Programmes’ UK implementing partners (Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Infrastructure and Projects Authority in the UK), Vietnamese government representatives including Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Ho Chi Minh provincial authorities and UK private sector companies. 

Roles and responsibilities / what the jobholder will be expected to achieve:

We are looking for a pro-active, engaged individual with a passion for delivering development impacts. The job holder will have three main responsibilities: oversight of programme delivery, stakeholder engagement and coordination, prosperity and commercial leadership, policy delivery; and liaison with DIT colleagues at post and in London.

Programme Management (50%)

• Engage with delivery partners, proactively seeking opportunities to oversee in-country delivery of the programme’s components by delivery partners. Utilise strong insight into the impact of the programmes beyond delivery of activity and report this to the Head of Prosperity in Hanoi and colleagues in London. Lead on the management of Vietnam ensuring that relevant Vietnamese government ministries and other partners adopt and roll out best practice infrastructure tools and approaches from the UK, working with the Programme teams in London (IPA, BEIS and FCO).
• The successful candidate will oversee the Future Cities programme, lead on government to government engagement and help ensure the outputs of the interventions flow through into the planned outcomes and impacts. This includes ensuring a development and inclusive approach is observed throughout the whole programme, specifically, but not limited to, gender equality and inclusion.
• Co-ordinate with other programme officers in the Prosperity Fund to drive consistency, deliver efficiencies and increase impact through realisation of synergies.
• Contribute to the effective day to day running of the Global Infrastructure and Future Cities Programmes including: providing local insight; finances; reporting; communications; monitoring and evaluation; and robust contract management.   

Stakeholder Management (20%)

• Establish and maintain positive working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders to support delivery of the Programme including: implementing partners; Vietnamese government representatives, British Embassy colleagues; British government colleagues based in the UK; British private sector companies; British and international infrastructure and urban development associations and organisations; and bilateral and multilateral donors operating in Vietnam.   

Technical Advice (20%)

• Lead, within the Embassy, on all infrastructure development issues and on effective tools and approaches for successful construction project management and control. Provide technical advice on the Global Infrastructure Programme strategy, programmes and activities in Vietnam. Be prepared to regularly articulate technical opinions verbally, in writing and in presentations (internal and external). 
• Be alert to emerging issues and trends which might impact or benefit the two Programmes’ objectives and activities. Provide guidance on how to best integrate infrastructure innovation and new technology into the Programme. Help update Programme priorities and approaches as new knowledge and evidence comes to light and infrastructure markets evolve.
• Know and monitor the current business regulatory environment and development opportunities in the Future Cities sphere for Vietnam, including opportunities for and barriers against the programmes objectives. Build relationships with key decision makers in government, civil society and private sector in support of these programmes, including leveraging diplomatic and senior engagement to drive forward regulatory and policy shifts in support of prosperity objectives. Provide reporting on your analysis to government colleagues.
• Actively seek synergies and collaboration across the Consulate General and Embassy and other development partners to ensure the Programmes achieve maximum impact on target beneficiaries and, very importantly, create secondary commercial benefits for UK companies. Strong influencing skills will be important for this.  

Cross Embassy Support (10%)

• Actively support the Programme team in London and British Consulate General as required. Be a supportive and considerate team member. Help colleagues achieve their learning and development objectives. Provide coaching and shadowing opportunities if required. Coordinate with other Embassy teams (Department for International Trade and Prosperity and Political Sections).

Resources managed:

Resources: a share of the total programme budget for activities in Vietnam (with overall budget being centrally managed out of London though with regional deployment).

• Graduate with a university degree relevant to the job and at least 5 years of experience in a relevant field.
• At least 5 years experience in programme management ideally in a development context.
• Experience of delivering complex programmes
• Experience of managing delivery partners
• Understanding of ODA/International development
• Solid knowledge of  Vietnam infrastructure-related legislation, policies and regulations at the central, regional and local levels.
• In-depth understanding of infrastructure tools, approaches and best practices to maximise impact on poverty, gender equity, economic development and value for money. 
• A flexible and creative problem-solver, able to come up with innovative solutions to complex challenges.
• Fluent in written and spoken English and Vietnamese.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills including in giving presentations to external audiences.
• Team player driven by values.
• Fluent written and spoken English and Vietnamese –  equivalent to IELTS language assessment score of 6.5 or above