Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation for children. We work in around 120 countries. Our vision is to live in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

ROLE PURPOSE:

Lead the development proposal development team ensuring alignment with country office strategy and donor and member requirements
Provide guidance and training to staff involved in proposal development, including thematic specialists, budget development staff, and field operations teams
Act as the main contact for development proposals and as a liaison with the thematic/ sector leads as well as NGO partners and donors as appropriate

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Head of New Business Development

Dimensions: Save the Children works in 8 regions in Ethiopia with a current staff of approximately 1,600 staff and an annual budget of approximately $80 million each year.

Key working relationships: Ensures appropriate coordination between technical experts (PDQ team) including MEAL, Operations, Budgeting, Security, HR and Awards teams to ensure the execution of strong proposal development processes.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Donor research, engagement strategy and relationship building

• Conduct research and intelligence gathering on key donors
• Support fundraising strategy and country office strategy development processes with the Head of NBD
• Assist in seeking and tracking donor intelligence on prospective new opportunities or partnerships and manage this information to ensure it is shared with key stakeholders frequently
• Coordinate closely with the Head of the NBD and Senior Management to cultivate relationships with external stakeholders and potential partners for strategic funding opportunities.
• Represent SCI in meetings, working groups, clusters, task forces, as needed.

Lead proposal development

• Draft and/or solicit proposal concepts by identifying and clarifying opportunities and needs; studying calls for proposals, and sharing information with relevant thematic teams from the Program Development and Quality Team.
• Facilitate and organize proposal design workshops and meetings involving all relevant technical, finance and operations colleagues as needed
• Lead proposal development, developing work plans and tracking each step of the process to ensure that the proposal team is meeting key deadlines.
• Facilitate the development of concept notes, proposals or bids and conduct quality control, review and revisions of drafts
  Work closely with field and Country Office-based Finance and Awards teams to ensure that staffing ratios and all overhead costs related to proposal development are adequately covered through the use of response master budgeting.
• Check all concept notes and proposals follow internal procedures and are compliant with internal and donor standards. Process all documents through the SC Award Management System and ensure approvals are in place prior to submission.
• Work closely with the field operations team to ensure quality proposals with realistic implementation plans and compliance with SoPs for all program development.
• Communicate with relevant SC member contacts to review and approve concept notes and proposals.
• Assist the Head of NBD in regularly communicating and training on program design processes and requirements.
• Ensure the design and development of child-focused programs of a high quality that contribute to the Country Office’s strategies and plans.
• Track and ensure the incorporation of all feedback and edits throughout the proposal revision stage in order to ensure that a high-quality finished product is submitted to the donor and member.

Documentation and learning

• Capture and document learning from ongoing projects to be applied to project design.
• Ensure that all documents are properly filed within the award management system and country office shared drives.
• Hold meetings with Awards Management staff to ensure that successful proposals are handed over and all lessons learned during the proposal development stage are shared.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant government (ChSA), member, and donor guidelines and ensure their compliance in proposal development.

Other

Provide pipeline information and reports as required and represent the NBD unit in working groups with other departments.

KEY COMPETENCIES (Save the Children competency framework)

• Delivering Results
• Developing Self & Others
• Problem Solving
• Applying technical & professional expertise
• Working effectively with others
• Communicating with impact

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Academic Qualification- Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized University in a discipline relevant to Save the Children’s thematic priorities;
• 10 years of work experience out of which 5 years should be directly related to program development and/or program management.
  Computer literate
• Knowledge of local laws and development/humanitarian context
  Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and, coaching
• Ability and willingness to work irregular hours and work with incoming humanitarian surge teams in the event of emergencies
• Willingness to travel to all SC’s operational areas
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
• Commitment to Save the Children values