Regional Business Development Manager, West Arica at Oxfam

Job Purpose

The Regional Business Development Manager will lead on new business development in support of all countries in the WAF region; creating, identifying and accessing new funding opportunities; maintaining a consistent standard of donor relationship and high-quality proposal development across variable country contexts; and will actively seek to grow income for the confederation through multi-country funding opportunities and consortium partnerships.

The Regional Business Development Manager will also support the Regional Director in providing strategic leadership on resource mobilisation across all countries in the region.

He/She will be responsible for developing and implementing the region resource mobilisation strategies; supporting the Regional Director in building partnerships with regional donors and civil society stakeholders; identifying new funding opportunities; addressing key financial and reputational risks; and ensuring that there are strategies in place to maintain adequate skills and capacity, staffing and income within the portfolio of countries in the region.

The post holder will be expected to work across the confederation of OI affiliates in achieving the regional funding strategy and be the primary link for accessing technical fundraising assistance and support from the confederations fundraising architecture.

Job dimensions

• Significant responsibilities for external stakeholder engagement and relationship management with institutional donors and Oxfam at regional level.
• Engagement both internally and externally on proposal development, funding opportunities, and donor strategies.
• Provide specialist advice, knowledge and skills related to partnership-building with institutional donors and Oxfam’s program in region to a range of Oxfam senior managers and staff members.
• Management tasks are complex, not routine, and involve high degree of specialisation.
• Responsible for growing income from donors working in region for the confederation.
• Decision-making requires significant levels of judgement based on technical knowledge, experience, and consultation.

· Collaborates with colleagues in different parts of organisation including programs, finance, human resources, logistics, and funding.

• Provides leadership in the design, coordination, and delivery of agreed strategies and plans for resource mobilisation.
• Contributes to regional income and budget planning processes according to agreed Oxfam processes.

· Manages multi-country bids and proposals with potentially significant financial and reputational impact for Oxfam and its partners.

· Engages with external stakeholders in the development of consortia bids for multi-country programs.

· Works across the global program funding function to ensure coherence, consistency and quality in fundraising efforts and results.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

New business development: (25%)

· Actively identifies, qualifies and tracks funding and partnership opportunities in a systematic manner in pursuit of supporting Oxfam’s program in the region.

· Seeks to grow income for the confederation through multi country funding opportunities and scoping new consortium partnerships with stakeholders at regional level for multi-country programming.

Resource mobilisation strategies: (25%)

· Leads the design and implementation of regional resource mobilisation strategies intended to strengthen income and partnerships to deliver the regional strategy.

· Responsible for ensuring that the regional programs are adequately resourced.

· Monitors the funding pipeline and leads on income planning and forecasting at a regional level.

· Collaborating to support confederation public fundraising by effective matching of program needs within the region to affiliate based public fundraising efforts.

Strategic donor engagement: (25%)

· Responsible for managing and building Oxfam’s relationships with institutional donor representatives within the West Africa regional or multi-country context.

· Proactively engages on a strategic basis with institutional donors at regional level in order to facilitate technical programme exchanges, influence policy and thinking, and identify key areas of potential cooperation, including program funding.

Bid development: (10%)

· Prepares all necessary groundwork for multi-country or multi-regional proposal development and bid management[1],

· Helps assemble bid development teams,

· Provides effective bid project management at regional level and undertakes quality assurance of donor proposals to ensure high quality competitive proposals in order to successfully secure institutional donor funds at scale.

Coordination: (15%)

· Co-ordinates to strengthen business development activities within the region.

· Links with the confederation funding architecture to access intelligence, opportunities and skills.

· Brokering and streamlining assistance from technical advisers and donor account managers in affiliate HQs and shared services.

· Supports staff within the region to adhere to funding policies and guidelines of the confederation.

Management:

· Provides functional matrix management for in-country funding staff across the region ensuring a consistent standard of excellence in resource mobilisation from one country to another. Advises country teams on recruitment, risk identification, skills training and capacity building.

Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge

Essential

• University degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Law, Economics, or International Development or other relevant experience.
• Demonstrable experience and success in engaging with bilateral and multilateral donors for an international agency like Oxfam with proven ability to identify new business opportunities and partnerships
• Experience of working with technical teams to develop program proposals that are funded by institutional donors
• Good familiarity with government decision-making processes, both political and technical, including budget processes, appropriation, protocols, and communications
• Strong proven ability to identify and articulate strategic and policy issues through effective oral and written briefs
• Fluency in written/oral English or French and working knowledge of the other one
• Enthusiasm for and commitment to Oxfam International’s values and mission, and commitment to promoting gender equity and the interests of marginalised people in all advocacy work

Desirable

· Good knowledge and awareness of issues related to Oxfam’s strategic objectives and theories of change

· Experience of skills capacity building in relation to programme funding or related field

Key Behavioural Competencies (based on Oxfam’s Leadership Model)

Competencies

Description

Decisiveness

We are comfortable to make transparent decisions and to adapt decision making modes to the context and needs.

Influencing

We have the ability to engage with diverse stakeholders in a way that leads to increased impact for the organisation We spot opportunities to influence effectively and where there are no opportunities we have the ability to create them in a respectful and impactful manner.

Humility

We put ‘we’ before ‘me’ and place an emphasis on the power of the collective, nurture the team and play to the strengths of each individual. We are not concerned with hierarchical power, and we engage with, trust and value the knowledge and expertise of others across all levels of the organization.

Relationship Building

We understand the importance of building relationship, within and outside the organization. We have the ability to engage with traditional and non-traditional stakeholders in ways that lead to increased impact for the organisation.

Listening

We are good listeners who can see where deeper levels of thoughts and tacit assumptions differ. Our messages to others are clear, and consider different preferences.

Mutual Accountability

We can explain our decisions and how we have taken them based on our organizational values. We are ready to be held to account for what we do and how we behave, as we are also holding others to account in a consistent manner.

Agility, Complexity, and Ambiguity

We scan the environment, anticipate changes, are comfortable with lack of clarity and deal with a large number of elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways.

Systems Thinking

We view problems as parts of an overall system and in their relation to the whole system, rather than reacting to a specific part, outcome or event in isolation. We focus on cyclical rather than linear cause and effect. By consistently practicing systems thinking we are aware of and manage well unintended consequences of organisational decisions and actions.

Strategic Thinking and Judgment

We use judgment, weighing risk against the imperative to act. We make decisions consistent with organizational strategies and values.

Vision Setting

We have the ability to identify and lead visionary initiatives that are beneficial for our organization and we set high-level direction through a visioning process that engages the organization and diverse external stakeholders.

Self-Awareness

We are able to develop a high degree of self-awareness around our own strengths and weaknesses and our impact on others. Our self-awareness enables us to moderate and self-regulate our behaviors to control and channel our impulses for good purposes.

Enabling

We all work to effectively empower and enable others to deliver the organizations goals through creating conditions of success. We passionately invest in others by developing their careers, not only their skills for the job. We provide freedom; demonstrate belief and trust provide appropriate support. We give more freedom and demonstrate belief and trust, underpinned with appropriate support.