Programme Development Manager (Maternity Cover) at Saferworld

Key areas of responsibility

Programme design and proposal development

• Support and work with country managers/directors and country teams to make informed go/no go decisions on calls for proposals and invitations to submit funding applications.
• In coordination with country managers/directors, lead on programme design and development of programme concept notes and proposals for institutional donors that link to our organisational theory of change [insert link] and enable Saferworld to realise our strategic plan at the country levels. This includes coordinating between various teams, facilitating development of country team ideas, and taking the overall lead in drafting funding applications (including concept note/proposal narrative, budgets, theories of change, MEL frameworks, and risk matrixes as required based on various teams’ inputs).
• Ensure proposal development processes follow Saferworld’s organisational values and principles in terms of partners’ involvement and leadership (including in participatory proposal and budget development), budget sharing with partners, preparing teaming agreements, and informing partners about donor requirements and their/our obligations towards these.
• Ensure a strong gender and conflict analysis is included in programme design and concept note/proposal writing.
• Maintain a bank of programme concept notes and proposals for allocated countries/themes.
• Provide country teams with guidance on institutional donor policies and strategies, and ensure funding applications align with these, as well as with previous donor feedback and learning.
• Strengthen the capacity of country teams and partners to identify funding opportunities and to develop strong programmes and high quality proposals.
• Where relevant, support with due diligence processes when entering into partnerships with INGOs and new funding relationships with donors.

Strategic development

• Support and work with country managers/directors and programme teams to develop, plan and implement resource mobilisation plans to fund country strategies, including supporting and coordinating teams to cultivate and maintain good relations with donors.
• Oversee a portfolio of donors, keep a track of their strategic and funding priorities and opportunities for engagement, and feed these into country resource mobilisation plans.
• Act as a focal point for engagement with an institutional donor (such as the Norwegian Government or the Danish Government), in consultation with colleagues in the Funding Working Group, and maintain a strategy for engagement with this donor.
• Work closely with country managers/directors and programme colleagues to engage with and cultivate donor relationships in allocated countries.
• In collaboration with country leadership, monitor country resource mobilisation plans, and contribute to monitoring and analysing country fundraising performance, including proposal success rate.
• Ensure cross-organisational collaborative working, including working closely with the Funding Working Group to ensure country resource mobilisation plans are connected to global outreach and cultivation with key donors.
• Keep up to date with donor policy developments, and provide analysis of the implications for Saferworld.
• Keep the funding/grants management database updated with key information about funding opportunities relevant to allocated country programmes.
• Participate in/support negotiations with donors related to new and/or existing grants in allocated country programmes.

Cross-organisational representation

• Participate in external networking and represent Saferworld at relevant donor conferences, seminars and/or other fundraising events in relation to our work.
• Engage with the wider NGO and fundraising community, particularly in relation to institutional and statutory funding.

Key working relationships

• Head of International Programmes, country managers/directors and heads of region – working together on programme design, proposal development, and the development of resources mobilisation plans to enable the implementation of country and regional strategies.
• Programme Support and Learning team – working closely together to ensure proposal development and programme design is of the utmost quality and in line with organisational approaches to partnership, gender, security and justice, MEL and advocacy.
• Funding Working Group – regularly coordinating to ensure country and regional resource mobilisation plans are connected to global outreach and donor cultivation plans, ensure approaches to Statutory and Institutional donors are co-ordinated with other parts of the organisation and leverage donor research support.
• Finance team, both in-country and in London – working collaboratively to develop programme budgets, ensuring effective cost recovery and budget sharing with partners. .

Scope and accountability

• Decision-making and limits of authority
• Lead effective programme development; fundraising plans and ensure programme impact and quality in the proposals written.
• The post-holder is expected to show considerable leadership within the organisation and a high level of analytical thinking, creative thinking and problem-solving capacities. This includes developing systems and processes to meet new needs; identifying and applying appropriate programme design approaches; collecting and analysing a range of information from different sources; and developing new ideas and approaches to design and securing funding from statutory and institutional donors.

Other resources

• Responsible for cross-regional and organisational information-sharing and lesson learning on fundraising areas.

People management

• Technical supervision’ and ‘supervision and oversight’ responsibilities may be assigned to this post-holder, including but not limited to consultancies and/or dotted line management of staff.
• Within the team, line management of programme design coordinators, officers or interns may be a possibility.

Legal, regulatory and compliance responsibility

• Supporting internal and donor compliance as part of programme design and proposal development support to country programmes.

Person specification

Knowledge and Experience

• Demonstrable experience of designing, developing and implementing international development programmes – preferably in conflict-affected contexts – that bring about community-led programme change, and policy and practice change. Experience of designing peacebuilding, security and justice, and/or conflict prevention programmes is an asset.
• Demonstrable experience of writing successful institutional funding proposals – including developing theories of change, MEL frameworks, risk matrixes and complex budgets.
• Proven experience of financial management, including programme budgeting and financial reporting.
• Demonstrable experience of leading programme design sessions/workshops including developing and remotely managing processes to write successful concept notes and proposals while building and managing relationships, including remotely, with country offices and/or local partners.
• Demonstrable experience in building and maintaining relationships with institutional donors, and understanding of donor requirements, particularly for donors relevant to Saferworld such as the FCDO, USG/USAID, EU, UN agencies and Sida (among others).
• Demonstrable experience of working with teams and partners in ways that reflect the principles of power-sharing, solidarity and accompaniment.
• Experience in mainstreaming gender-sensitivity/responsiveness/transformation in programme design and proposal development.
• Strong understanding of key political, development and humanitarian trends and debates on, and/or experience working in, focus countries/regions for Saferworld (especially Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Central Asia), particularly linked to conflict prevention, peacebuilding, development, governance, and security and justice (desirable).

Skills/Abilities

• Excellent written and spoken English; knowledge of a second language is desirable.
• Ability to work flexibly, independently and on own initiative.
• Experience in developing strategies, and translating strategy into practice.
• Ability to negotiate and understand priorities of colleagues, applying a problem-solving supportive approach.
• Excellent communication skills, with clear strategies for working remotely with colleagues and partners, including experience of communicating effectively across cultures and with diverse audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines, multiple priorities, and prioritise and manage workload.
• Excellent participatory workshop facilitation skills.

Personal qualities

• Self-motivated and persistent in the face of complex challenges.
• Able to manage multiple and complex priorities at once and prioritise work to deliver on objectives effectively.
• Personable, empathetic and able to develop excellent working relationships and collaborate with staff around the world.
• Commitment to and compliance with Saferworld’s safeguarding principles.
• Commitment to gender equality, respect and value equality and diversity, and understanding of how this applies to own area of work.
• Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Saferworld.