Overall Job Purpose;
The Resource Mobilization Manager & Partnershipts is responsible for overall oversight and coordination of donor engagement and all fundraising and proposal writing. S/he uses an entrepreneurial approach in working with staff from (including programme, finance, and M& E) to develop and submit high quality institutional and high value donor proposals and tender bids that are aligned with defined priorities, demonstrate impact and offer value for money. S/he is proactive in identifying new and non-traditional sources of funding from a range of institutional donors and working to leverage funding prospects.
Principal duties and responsibilities
- Organizational Development, Strategy and Communication
- As a member of the Management Team (MT), participate in MT meetings and contribute to the overall development, implementation and review of the Strategy, Fundraising Strategy and Plan.
- Maintain positive working relationships with MT members and ensure there is effective coordination of all activities
- Represent internally and provide inputs to all fundraising related activities when required, including participation on task forces, training courses and conferences
- Develop a Fundraising Strategy and Operational Plan that meets the strategic requirements in consultation with the Executive Director and key programme staff.
- Develop and implement the resource mobilization strategy for the financial contributions to be gathered.
- Clarify the governance structure and the legal framework for the new mechanism.
- Develop clear timelines for delivery of documents on business plan, communication strategy, launch strategy, fund-raising strategy and related.
- Donor Engagement and partnership building
- Networking, updating, and liaising with key in-country and international donors
- Provide effective coordination for the establishment of proposal development working groups with representatives from key stakeholders within and outside .
- Advise programme and programme quality teams, finance, working groups on relevant donor requirements/compliance, potential funding opportunities, changes in donor priorities and ensuring quality grant management for all related projects.
- Act as the interface between finance and programme quality teams to ensure grant compliance
- Ensure fundraising staff have individual work plans and up to date development plans.
- Develop and implement a business case for that will notably clarify the vision, road map, important case profiles, and economic return of investment of right sized investment in African research and the nature of the investment.
- Coordinate and provide support to the Leadership Group currently made up of high ranking leaders in government, global funders, private sector and academia.
- Coordinate and monitor the task teams with distributed leadership established to drive forward activities.
- Establish a mile-stoned road-map which takes advantage of existing events, notably the Grand Challenges, the Science Forum, the World Economic Forum, NEPAD and others.
- Maintain a relationship management tool and coordinate relationships with, and calls/meetings with partners and the Internal Review team at AESA.
- Foster systematic collaboration to specific and broad audiences in Africa and globally
- Strengthen systematic collaboration amongst actors that fund, conduct and engage in research in Africa by acting in conjunction with, and on behalf of, multiple stakeholders including national governments, philanthropy organizations, bi- and multi-lateral partners, scientists (and academia broadly), private companies (African and global) and institutional investors.
- Institutional and High Value Fundraising
- Building strong relationships with fundraising staff in Funding Affiliates and liaise with them on all fundraising-related communications.
- Work closely with all the Funding Affiliates and relevant programme departments to ensure high quality and timely submission of proposals and concept notes, Project Report/Project Progress Reports to donors and funding affiliate
- With support from Programme team and Executive Director identify and facilitate opportunities for relationship building with key donors
- Develop and manage strategic consortium partnerships with appropriate CSOs, academic organisations and private sector firms to leverage chances of success in competitive calls for proposals and tender bids
- Coordinate and oversee efforts to secure co-financing for all institutional and high value grants
- Explore the funding mechanisms required to bring the business case to reality, including but not limited to in-kind contributions, blended financing, impact financing, governments and philanthropic donors’ contributions.
Person Specification Education, Language & Qualifications
- Minimum Masters’ degree in Project Planning & Management
- Bachelors’ Degree in Social sciences & Humanities; Policy & Development Studies; Natural Sciences or other relevant disciplines.
Essential Knowledge, skills and Experience
- Minimum of seven years experience with an NGO in a senior program funding position(s) involving proposal development and donor liaison
- Excellent writing, reasoning, and analytical skills
- Excellent English language skills (written, reading, and spoken)
- Capacity building experience including training and skills development
- Experience of developing successful proposals and/or tender bids to any of the, EU, USAID, DFID, and the UN as well as other institutional donors.
- Experience of developing successful proposals to private donors – trusts and foundations, high net worth individuals and/or corporates
- In-depth understanding of logical frameworks as a tool to develop theory of change and intervention logic