Regional Business Development Specialist - East Africa Regional Division at Handicap International (HI)

Under the hierarchical supervision of the Technical Head of Program (THOP), and in close collaboration with the Regional Director, Country Managers, Country Directors, country-based business development officers, Operations Managers, shared service managers and other technical Unit members, the Business Development Specialist actively contributes to the development of the East Africa regional program by designing, implementing, and monitoring its fundraising strategy. The role includes identifying funding opportunities and leading the development of concept notes and project proposals through submission to donors, including public institutions, foundations and private sector partners

Responsibility 1: Strategic positioning and planning

• Participate in the development and monitoring of the operational strategy (StratOp), with particular focus on the fundraising action plan and internal project documents
• Ensure follow up, implementation and monitoring of the fundraising strategy
• Observe donor strategies and priorities at country/regional level and monitor opportunities in order to anticipate calls for proposals and identify bidding opportunities
• Interact with identified donors to understand their perception of HI's current programming, and identify their areas of interest in order to target fundraising efforts
• Draw up a mapping of (regional) humanitarian and development actors (INGOs, UN agencies, government representations) to monitor trends and remain competitive
• Analyse fundraising trends and inform the program on transformation rate, project coverage, duration and amounts secured
• Coordinate fundraising efforts, especially networking, monitoring of donor opportunities
• Liaise and mobilise adequate team members to support fundraising efforts (technical specialist, program directors, country managers, etc).
• Organise regular meetings with country directors/country managers/operations managers
• Coordinate with other programs/countries to gather and promote best practices, facilitate dialogue with donors (for prospection / replication of activities)

Responsibility 2 : Relationship management

External

• Work with the Country Directors, Country Managers & Technical Unit members to strengthen HI's attractiveness and influence, developing key relationships with relevant decision makers in, national and local organizations, donors and major international organizations;
• Develop active and quality working relationships with donors and strategic partners in the country identify potential consortium.
• Participate in various platforms and meetings on behalf of the Geographical Director, Country directors/country managers to increase HI's visibility and allow for information gathering on funding opportunities
• Promote HI's technical positioning, approaches, know-how and skills within the relevant networks with a view to developing consortium agreements with the support of the Technical Unit.
• Develop supporting documents, such as "project sheets" and/or "donor sheets"; and develop new tools such as capacity statement

Internal

• Share funding opportunities with country teams
• Ensure that CRM is updated, if needed send reminders to people in charge
• As long as necessary (depending on CRM use) maintain internal BD communication and sharing tools up to date (Teams channel, follow up table of ongoing opportunities…) in order to allow country teams to have access to the latest, up to date documents

Responsibility 3 : Proposal development

• Coordinate proposal development, distributing tasks among the key people involved in the writing of the project proposal for submission to the donor, in accordance with HI's proposal writing process and tools (PDM tool, PD-tool, CRM, etc.), including the development of: logical frameworks, MEAL plans, narrative descriptions planning, staffing and budgeting
• Ensure the position of primary writer for some complicated, multi country projects.
• Ensure coordination and triangulation framing with, IPSO, shared services, operational teams and (global) technical specialists
• Proactively coordinate the involvement and input of all relevant technical advisors (HQ and mission staff) for all proposal development
• Identify, where appropriate, relevant/competitive arrangements (consortia, multi-country projects, etc.) and facilitate negotiations;
• For consortia: ensure coordination and communication, coordinate initial screening, (pre) teaming agreements and manage stakeholder input during project development;
• Review the project proposal/final concept note prior to submission for compliance with donor guidelines and expectations, consistency between the budget and the technical description, and overall quality;
• Proceed (if necessary) with the final submission of concept notes and project proposals to donors.
• Coordinate and collaborate with HI national associations (IPO/IPSO) for all relevant donor proposals

Responsibility 4 : Capacity building

• Develop training modules on proposal writing and project cycle management for all programs' staff and local partners when relevant
• Provide training on donor rules, regulations and strategies for all programs' staff involved in the writing of proposals
• Provide training on the use of CRM to new users, coaching as needed. Support the country teams in the use of new features
• Ensure proper transition between Business development and project implementation

Requirements

• You have a minimum of 5 years of professional experience in development and/or humanitarian work
• You have at least 3 years of business development experience
• You have a strong experience in proposal writing, financial planning and budget development (including co-funding principals)
• You are able to develop SMART indicators
• You have experience in Donor Contract Analysis and negotiation capacities
• You have excellent written and verbal communication skills, suitable for high-level external representation and proposal development
• You are autonomous, flexible, and can prioritise
• English and French mandatory