The Ugandan Jobline

Job Title:   Programme Development Manager

Organisation: Save the Children International

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About US:

Save the Children International is an international relief organization that was established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and other conflicts.

Job Summary:  The Programme Development Manager is a position within the Programme Development and Quality Team. The Programme Development Manager will identify and track donor opportunities and coordinate proposal development for strategic funding opportunities. In addition, they will support the Head of Programme Development & Partnerships to develop fundraising strategies and donor engagement plans.

The position requires excellent written and verbal communication skills and innovative and analytical thinking and creativity to package our programme strategies to attract the proper donor support and grow our portfolio effectively.  S/He will write sections of proposals that speak to our overall capabilities, while coordinating the input of internal and external stakeholders including technical advisors, Operations, Finance, HR and Security into proposals and budgets. The post covers both development and refugee response programming. In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

The role includes external representation, including extensive partner coordination, but also works very closely with colleagues across the Uganda Country Office and SC members.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

New Business Development

• Identify, research, and disseminate information on new funding opportunities from bilateral, multi-lateral, and other institutional donors. Use creative approaches to link programme aspirations to donor priorities, while also effectively influencing the strategies of donors.
• Support cultivation of business relationships with external stakeholders and potential partners for large scale or strategic funding opportunities, either as a prime or sub-recipient in joint ventures.
• Manage the BD pipeline, support the Head of PDP/Awards/ Finance to conduct analysis of Restricted Funding portfolio.
• Work with Head of Programme Development & Partnerships, Regional Office, SCI Centre, and Members to explore the potential for innovative ways to fundraise.
• Lead on developing ideas, concepts, and proposals within a specific thematic area (e.g. health, climate change, education, livelihoods)
• Keep track of up-coming funding opportunities, donor engagement and proposal development process.
• Provide regular updates to the Head of Programme Development & Partnerships, Director of Programme Development and Quality and SMT on the status of the funding portfolio and key trends to monitor.
• Participate in key donor meetings, when necessary, to foster long-term collaboration and engagement.
• Ensure key contacts, required formats and donor compliance information are kept up to date at the country office level.
• Support development of fundraising strategies and donor engagement strategies.

Support Donor and Partner Engagement

• Support the Head of Programme Development, PDQ Director and Country Director to cultivate excellent working relationships with donor agencies at the regional and country-level as appropriate.
• Represent the Uganda office in relevant donor forums, workshops and conferences where new business development opportunities can be formulated.
• Working closely with the Head of Programme Development and Partnerships to develop and regularly update donor mapping tool and engagement plan.
• Lead Proposal Development/and project design processes and develop high quality projects.
• Lead the high complex/largest priority proposals, including Developing/managing multi-themed consortia/responsibility for overall partner management.
• Manage multiple top-priority opportunities at varying stages of development, while working flexibly to take on other opportunities when the shape of the pipeline requires it.
• Produce proposal development schedules and track timelines, ensuring and facilitating coordination amongst teams – PDQ, Programme Operations, Finance, HR, Security and Member Services.
• Lead the design/ process for, and development of proposals for target donors/partners. Be the author of the proposal, writing content and coordinating inputs from other members of the bid team, based for example on the outputs of technical/design workshops, contextual and organisational information, and experience and capability information.
• Project manage the proposal development process, securing all the required approvals and overseeing quality assurance of the programme design, including the development of theories of change, logframes and budgets (including the MEAL budget component). Work in line with SCI sign off and approval policies.
• Lead the budgeting process, including sign off processes and demonstrate value for money in design. Work closely with Finance and Operations colleagues to produce accurate budgets, that meet donor requirements and internal standards. Demonstrate VFM in design process.
• Lead and/support interdepartmental coordination for programme and proposals development with Programme Operations (for field team inputs, logistics requirements, costings, etc.), Security, Awards Management, Finance & Grants, and HR (for staffing requirements).
• Draft Uganda CO contextual information i.e. capability statements; country context and programme experience, while drawing on the expertise of technical advisors, Operations, Finance, HR and Security.
• With in-country TAs, seek out and facilitate input of technical advice from backstops or members to ensure that programmes benefit from Save the Children’s global expertise, while remaining relevant to the local context. Facilitate engagement of consultants on large-scale proposals, or when technical specialists are needed.
• Represent Save the Children alongside technical experts, in consortium meetings regarding proposal development, leading these where necessary when Save the Children is a consortium lead.
• Ensure that Programme Quality Framework and Theory of Change is addressed in all new proposals and that key elements of programme quality are included (e.g., child participation, child
• safeguarding, gender, lessons learned from past proposals, accountability, risk assessments, effective and sustainable partnerships, etc.).

Capacity Strengthening

• In coordination with the Head of Programme Development & Partnerships, ensure the ongoing review of internal processes and WoW and seek constant improvement for proposal development processes with Ugandan CO in the country, regional and field offices, run training sessions for Uganda CO colleagues in proposal development and project design.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• Development and/or Business Development professional with a relevant Masters’ Degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Recommended 7 years’ experience emergency and/or development contexts, preferably with solid experience in more than one of the Save the Children priority sectors: education, protection, child rights governance, and health and nutrition.
• Excellent coordination and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate clearly and effectively at all levels and pull together input from a diverse team.
• Excellent writing/editing, budget development and presentation/communication skills.
• Experience in presenting project information to donors and partners.
• Experience in coordinating development of large-scale or strategic proposals, including the development of multi-million-dollar project budgets.
• Proven representation skills.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets.
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in.
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
• Ability and willingness to work flexibly and long hours in the event of a humanitarian emergency.
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required.
• Commitment to Save the Children values, including willingness to abide by and enforce the Child Safeguarding policy.

Management:

• Ability to manage small teams and work across a variety of internal stakeholders.
• Good people management skills/experience and proven ability to create an environment, which encourages team working and motivates a team across various geographical areas.

Desirable:

• Practical experience and successful track record in coordinating the development of proposals for a variety of donors, particularly EU/ECHO, USAID, FCDO, private sector foundations and UN agencies.

NB: Save the Children is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to employ and assign the best qualified talent, persons with disabilities and female candidates are encouraged to apply.

How to Apply:

All candidates who wish to join Save the Children should apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 26th April 2024

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