Global Financing Facility

Description

Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2018, the WBG committed $67 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $24 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188-member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally. 

The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions and thirteen Global Practices to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.

The World Bank Group (WBG) is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. The vision of the World Bank Group (WBG) is to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity by fostering sustainable and inclusive growth, building human capital, and strengthening the resilience of the countries it serves. To achieve that vision the WBG leverages the strengths of its global presence and partnerships to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world-class knowledge and convening services. It has three components: (1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.

The Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, with a central mandate to enable the achievement of universal health coverage, is one of thirteen Global Practices working in concert with the WBG regions to design solutions to address clients’ most pressing developmental challenges, and ultimately, enabling the WBG to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Global Financing Facility Context

The global community has made considerable progress over the past 25 years in improving the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents. Rates of preventable death have dropped significantly in many countries and improvements have been seen across a range of key measures of health and well-being. But the progress has not been enough: too many women, children, and adolescents have been left behind, dying and suffering from preventable conditions, in considerable part because of a large financing gap.

The Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) was launched at the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July 2015 as part of a global conversation about how to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which requires a shift from thinking about billions of dollars to recognizing that we need trillions to achieve the ambitious targets that we have agreed upon. This shift is only possible through new approaches to financing that recognize that countries themselves are the engines of progress and that the role of external assistance is to support countries both to get more results from the existing resources and to increase the total volume of financing.

The GFF partnership supports countries in three specific ways: 1) developing an investment case and implementation plan for prioritizing key reforms to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition and a strong primary health care system; 2) strengthening a country-led platform that aligns all key stakeholders around this investment case and uses data to make decisions and create mutual accountability; and 3) mobilizing and coordinating the financial resources needed to accelerate progress for the most vulnerable populations, often in the hardest-to-reach regions.

The GFF recently held a replenishment for the GFF Trust Fund to respond to the demand from countries that want to be part of the GFF. It mobilized more than US$1 billion as a first phase to begin expansion over the period 2018–23 to 50 countries facing the most significant needs. 

The GFF partnership is led by the GFF Director and the day-to-day management of the GFF Secretariat is the responsibility of the GFF Practice Manager. The GFF secretariat, which is based at the World Bank and is situated in the HNP Global Practice, works to deliver on the GFF objectives. This includes working with countries to develop quality investment cases, mobilize increased financing and engage with the private sector. In addition, the secretariat manages the GFF Trust Fund used for catalytic financing of the GFF process and key country priorities, provides technical assistance and supports the GFF Investors Group, the governance mechanism for the GFF.

The External Relations workstream plays a key role in realizing the ambition of the GFF, and leads on the GFF Secretariat’s work on partnerships, communications, governance, advocacy and resource mobilization.  The GFF is seeking a seasoned and experienced Sr. Partnership Officer (Lead External Relations) to lead the GFF External Relations workstream. The External Relations Lead will report to the GFF Practice Manager.

Duties & Responsibilities:

The lead on External Relations is responsible for the overall external relations strategy for the GFF and the development and effective implementation of the work program in this area.  The lead will have a co-supervisory role to provide day-to-day oversight, support and mentorship of the staff working in the external relations workstream across the various topic areas.

The specific responsibilities include, but are not be limited to:

• Oversee the development and effective implementation of the overall external relations strategy for the GFF, including related to the overall positioning, partnerships, communications, advocacy, stakeholder engagement and resource mobilization.
• Provide strategic advice and support to the GFF Director and GFF Practice Manager and lead on the effective positioning of the GFF in the global health and development landscape, resource mobilization, external partnerships and stakeholder engagement, advocacy, communications and reputational risk.
• Lead development and effective implementation of the overall external relations work program and team work programs including partnerships, communications, governance, advocacy and resource mobilization.
• In a co-supervisory role with the GFF Practice Manager, lead and support team members in the development and implementation of individual work programs, and mentor staff and provide support for career development.
• Build, nurture and maintain close and trusted relationships with key GFF partners, including in civil society, the World Bank, GAVi, Global Fund, United Nations, current and future donors to the GFF trust fund and private sector organizations
• Represent the GFF through public speaking, writing and participation in external events, meetings, conferences, boards and other strategic convenings.
• Facilitate public and private engagements with stakeholders.
• Ensures quality control of all external and internal communications, briefings and governance documents related to the overall messaging and positioning of the GFF, including but not limited to the GFF Investors Group, Trust Fund Committee, GFF Leadership, WBG management and staff. 
• Cultivate and sustain strong relationships with existing and prospective key stakeholders across various partner constituencies including donor agencies, multilaterals, private sector, and civil society organizations to support resource mobilization and the effective implementation of the GFF agenda.