Partnerships & Development Manager

Re-Advertised - Open until filled

Are you a strategic thinker, a partnership broker with skills for spotting new opportunities for funding and collaborative action on women's rights? Do you believe in supporting African women human rights defenders to bring about transformative leadership and social change to the African continent? Are you passionate about women's rights and excited about expanding feminist analysis and action on the pertinent issues African women are experiencing? If this description fires you up, then consider applying for the job of..."

Partnerships & Development Manager

Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa), is a consciously feminist and women’s human rights pan- African Fund, registered in Nairobi, Kenya. Operating as a virtual organisation, the Fund boasts of strategic presence in Africa’s four sub-regions- in East Africa: Nairobi, Kenya; North Africa: Cairo, Egypt; Central Africa: Bujumbura, Burundi and Southern Africa: Harare, Zimbabwe. Recognising the need to move resources rapidly on a continent where opportunities and threats arise and decline quickly, UAF-Africa uses a Rapid Response Grant making mechanism to support unanticipated, time sensitive, innovative and unique initiatives that promote women’s agency in democratic governance, economic and environmental justice, natural resources governance, conflict transformation and justice processes while protecting their personhood, integrity and rights.

UAF-Africa seeks a Partnerships & Development Manager who will translate UAF-Africa’s strategic plans into effective social justice initiatives and results. Guided by feminist principles and values, the Fund advocates for women’s equality, not only as a matter of human rights, but also as a fundamental prerequisite for social change, global security, and sustainable peace. In addition to her core business of Rapid Response Grant making, UAF-Africa also runs alliance building and advocacy initiatives in collaboration with other social justice organisations.

Responsibilities

Partnership building

• Working closely with the Executive Director, develop and implement a partnership strategy to expand the reach and impact of on-going efforts in advancing UAF-Africa’s focus areas. This will be achieved by utilising social marketing, strategic communications, resource mobilization, donor engagement and compliance among other strategies;

· Participate in networking activities in order to identify potential partners; network with local, regional, international; non-profit organizations (women’s rights and mainstream social justice), donor institutions and actors, private sector actors and organisations and state and national agencies among other potential partners for future partnership building;

• Conceptualize new strategic initiatives that could be built around or benefit from diverse philanthropic actors;

· Manage on-going activities, including reviewing all programmatic opportunities; developing relationships with partners and potential partners; managing the partnerships pipeline as issues arise; researching programmatic and funding opportunities and selecting the most appropriate to be advanced; creating and implementing realistic project plans and timelines; coordinating and managing multiple projects;

· Serve as the primary liaison person within UAF-Africa for partnership building and development initiatives;

· Implement strategies to strengthen relationships with key external partners, including donors, grantees, community organizations, individual philanthropists among others;

· Develop and track measures of success and create progress reports for all partnerships;

· Develop and maintain a database of partners and prospective partners;

· Develop and implement a process for evaluating opportunities and ideas in terms of mission/goals fit and organizational capacity;

· Work closely with the Fund’s Finance, Legal, Programmes and Human Resources Managers to draft and negotiate partnership contracts.

Development strengthening

§ Oversee all resource mobilization initiatives to enhance and implement the existing strategy to grow UAF-Africa’s resources in line with the current strategic plan;

§ Be the focal person for proposal development in line with the resource mobilisation strategy and conduct donor mapping according to funding priorities of UAF-Africa;

§ Monitor, identify, review and pursue a steady stream of grant funding opportunities;

§ Review grant funding opportunities and facilitate go-no-go decision making processes with the Executive Director;

§ Be the focal point for proposal development and donor reporting while facilitating cross-functional teams to develop strong grant programme designs;

§ Provide regular updates to the team on grant pipeline progress;

§ Provide early identification and escalation of issues in grant performance to ensure risks are managed;

§ Conduct Learning, Monitoring and Evaluation on organizational resource mobilization and draw up analysis and lessons learnt;

Other Responsibilities

§ Participate as a member of the UAF-Africa’s management team;

§ Provide periodic reports for internal/external communications to the team and other stakeholders;

§ Prepare partnership reports for presentation to the Board as and when required;

§ Assist with programmes public outreach, press releases and public presentations of UAF-Africa’s work, especially on collaborative initiatives;

§ Maintain open and fluid multi-media communications with all partners and potential partners;

§ Develop partnership packages and presentations;

§ Coordinate the development of Information Education and Communication related materials, i.e. media kits, posters and joint publicity material;

§ Any other responsibilities as assigned by the Executive Director.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

The ideal candidate shall have:

§ Master’s degree in social sciences; Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, Law, International Development or other development fields;

§ 8-10 years’ expertise and experience in successful resource mobilization; funding proposal writing and oral presentation, program design, grant management for social justice NGOs-especially women’s rights organisations;

§ Knowledge of social justice/development frameworks, donor liaison and management;

§ Track record of success in networking and partnership building;

§ Experience in monitoring multiple grants, project budgets and financial reporting with strong financial awareness;

§ Track record of success on motivating teams and of successfully conducting capacity building on resource mobilisation for social justice NGOs;

§ Excellent inter-personal, public speaking and negotiation skills - ability to communicate persuasively, in English;

§ Advanced skills in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Database, Excel, PowerPoint) as well as strong familiarity with social media activism and usage;

§ Strong writing, proof-reading, organizational skills;

§ Demonstrated ability to anticipate emerging needs and integrate them speedily into priority settings;

§ Ability to work collaboratively and independently in a fast-paced and virtual team environment, while simultaneously managing a large number of initiatives.

Preferred

§ Working knowledge of feminist and women's rights organisations and movements;

§ An appreciation of gender equality and women’s rights issues, particularly in conflict and fragile political African settings;

§ Ability to interface sensitively with people from various social, economic, political, cultural and religious backgrounds;

§ Budget and financial management skills- familiarity with grant making is an added advantage;

§ Experience working with Salesforce software an added advantage.

Work Environment

§ This is a regional position that involves extensive international travel;

§ African women are strongly encouraged to apply;

§ The selected candidate will be expected to work from their home country, in Africa.

Applicants fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements should submit their application together with a detailed CV and all relevant attachments via email to: jobs@urgentactionfund-africa.or.ke with the subject line Partnerships & DevelopmentManager. UAF-Africa will only respond to candidates who are short-listed for interviews.

Note: Candidates who already submitted applications should NOT resubmit.