View Vacancy - KL - Prosperity Fund Programme Manager and Adviser: Future Cities, C4

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, health and infrastructure amongst others.

We are recruiting Future Cities Programme Officers in each country to oversee, assess and monitor programme activity to ensure intended outcomes and impacts are achieved, and the programme continues to offer value for money.

The successful candidate will build relationships and work closely with delivery partners, the government of Malaysia, city level government offices, businesses, civil society, NGOs and other external stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of the programme. The successful applicant will work to the Head of Prosperity at the British High Commission in Malaysia and will coordinate with other posts in the region and government colleagues in the UK to ensure that programme in inception and implementation is complying with the International Development Act, including the International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014; meets the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)’s ODA criteria; is untied; meets UK government transparency commitments on ODA spend; and complies with HMG audit requirements. And the programme is effectively identifying and managing risks to successful programme implementation.

An important aspect of the job will be working with Department of International Trade colleagues in Malaysia and in London to unlock the opportunities created by the programmes’ interventions for increased inward trade and investment, particularly for UK companies.

The post will be based at the British High Commission in Malaysia, a vibrant, international organisation, committed to diversity and staff development, and also expected to visit Melaka and Iskander cities regularly (at least every quarter).  

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

Roles and Responsibilities:

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.

Oversight of Programme Delivery

•  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 team in Malaysia and colleagues in London.
•  Deploy excellent programme management skills to drive forward delivery of the programmes in-country, including: inputting into and critically assessing monitoring, reporting, evaluation and learning; inputting into procurement processes, providing local insight; overseeing delivery including resolution of issues and mitigating risk; managing local benefits realisation; and managing relationships with implementing partners.
•  Co-ordinate with other programme officers in the Prosperity Fund to drive consistency, deliver efficiencies and increase impact through realisation of synergies.
•  Reach out to colleagues to understand UK policy aims in this space and work with policy leads at post, in the region and in London to ensure programme activities remain aligned to these aims.

Stakeholder Engagement and Co-ordination

•  Build and maintain relationships with Malaysian Government interlocutors at federal, state and city levels responsible for programme priority areas to enable and enhance the implementation of the programmes and ensure continued buy-in by Malaysian government partners and contribute to policy and regulatory reforms.
• Work with and influence national and international partners at a senior level (e.g. other donors) to promote UK objectives (e.g. on the Rules Based International System [RUBIES], implementation of the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and UK Aid Strategy) and improve our understanding of partners’ priorities.
• Work with all stakeholders to drive through lasting change on the back of programme activity, for example by promoting the programme’s work to relevant beneficiaries.
•  Liaise with the regional networks (e.g. Climate Change and Energy, Economics and Trade) and communications colleagues to deliver effective communications activities.

Prosperity/Commercial

•  Support the secondary prosperity benefits of the programme by identifying and promoting commercial opportunities in the Future Cities sphere (e.g. transport and infrastructure) to expand that market for international (including UK) trade and investment. Work closely with the Malaysia Prosperity Network in the High Commission to ensure these programmes are fully coordinated with the other parts of the programme and relevant to the High Commission’s work.

Policy Delivery

• Know and monitor the current business regulatory environment and development opportunities in the Future Cities sphere for Malaysia, including opportunities for and barriers against the programmes objectives. Build relationships with key decision makers in Malaysia’s 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. Coordinate with others in the High Commission and relevant government departments in London. 

Cross High Commission liaison

•  Collaborate with Department of International Trade and Other Government Department colleagues at post, the region and in London to unlock opportunities for increased inward trade and investment, particularly for UK firms, and track UK response to the opportunities.

The successful candidate will be expected to embody the UK civil service’s values and FCO’s mission objectives.

• Graduate with a university degree relevant to the job (ideally but not limited to economics or development economics or environment or environmental economics or business studies).
• At least 3 to 5 years of experience in a relevant field in the public or private sectors.
• At least 5 years’ experience in programme management ideally in a development or economic or urban planning context.
• Experience of delivering complex programmes.
• Experience of managing delivery partners.
• Understanding of ODA/International development, and economics.
• Strong people interpersonal skills.
• A flexible and creative problem-solver, able to come up with innovative solutions to complex challenges.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills including in giving presentations to external audiences.
• Excellent working levels in both written and spoken English
• Team player driven by values.