Regional Business Development Manager

Organizational Unit :

Cordaid East and Southern Africa (ESA CLUSTER)

Job’s aim :

The job holder will be responsible for strategically positioning the Cordaid East and Southern Africa (ESA) Cluster through creating effective partnerships with donors and partners to ensure stable portfolio growth.

Specifications of the job:

The Regional Business Development Manager (RBDM) will support Country Offices within the Cordaid ESA Cluster, comprising Country Offices in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Zimbabwe to strategically position themselves, creating effective partnerships, analyzing and defining added value/ and transforming opportunities into concrete high quality project proposals linking Cordaid thematic strategies and approaches to institutional donor requirements. S/he will be responsible for identifying trends and developments and the process of developing and writing high-quality project proposals. The successful candidate will work closely with the program managers, MERL Advisors, and the Regional Communications Coordinator. In cooperation with the Regional Communications Coordinator S/he will also be responsible for publishing materials, highlighting Cordaid’s achievements to donors and partners.

Aim of the Organizational Unit: Is responsible for realization of Cluster targets through the various Country Offices.

Job category/Grade: Grade X of Cordaid Uganda Salary Scale

Supervisor: Regional Director ESA Cluster.

Supervises : None

Job Location: The successful candidate will be based in any of the Cordaid ESA Countries with frequent travel within the region.This is a national contract position with a regional content scope.

RESULT AREA AND DESCRIPTION OF THE ROLE

Business Development & Grant Acquisition

Identifies, tracks and analyses new business development and funding opportunities. Coordinates and leads the process of proposal development and writing of high-quality project proposals. Able to formulate strong theories of changes and results framework.

Contributes to the bid management process in accordance with Cordaid and donor requirements and respective Country strategic plans. Ensures the follow up and review of the entire grant proposal development process. Develops a funding strategy for building relations and securing Cordaid ESA budget and annual plans. Translates the strategy into a plan and concrete actions. Follows up on those actions.

Account Management & Implementation.

Leads on development and implementation of a Donor Relationship Management Plan (DRMP) for each donor to ensure to outline the required action points and timeline to achieve donor-specific goals. Identifies and expresses Cordaid value proposition(s) for each donor or account. Builds active relationships and creates strong bonds with (potential) donors, allies and partners. Identifies and leads on the formation of new consortia. Monitors donor intelligence and community priorities/needs, creates opportunities and positions Cordaid for funding opportunities.

Ensures the participation of technical and program teams in donor engagement fora(s).

Negotiates and coordinates team agreements, memorandums of understanding and other relevant institutional agreements with (consortium) partners.

In liaison with the respective Country and Programme Managers, the Regional Communications Coordinator, and the M&E Advisor facilitates the development of country specific Strategic Plans and Annual Reports to be shared with potential donors and government agencies as appropriate.

Donor Coordination

Coordinates donor contacts and presents focused comparative advantages, efficiency and synergy for Cordaid as a whole, in collaboration with Country Offices for locally present key accounts representations.

Provides active support to Global Office and respective Country Offices on donor coordination

mechanisms and ways for Cordaid to join and activate locally.

Donor Compliance

Provides technical advice in negotiations with institutional donors over contracts, costs, governance and accountability, and donor conditions. Ensures donor reporting, compliance standards and requirements are communicated to relevant thematic leads promptly. Attends to queries and addresses them timely.

Innovation

Keeps informed of new developments and emerging issues of relevance to Cordaid by attending events, reading current literature and attending workshops and conferences. Advocates the adoption of innovative approaches to Business Development.

Networking & Partnership building.

Fosters and maintains relationships with key stakeholders to enhance collaboration and funding prospects.

Maintains and/or builds a relevant external network. Ensures visibility of Cordaid’s thematic expertise.

Represents Cordaid in relevant fora. Develops and/or maintains partnerships.

Capacity Building

Identifies the need for support and facilitates the training of managers, project leaders and other relevant staff in effective donor engagement.

Develops and implements tools, templates, and best practices for proposal development and donor engagement.

Reporting

Prepares and submits periodic reports on business development activities and outcomes to the ESA management for the benefit of the Cordaid Global Office.

Tracks deadlines and timelines and informs the relevant Country Manager of any potential challenges in meeting deadlines.

Convenes post-proposal debriefing meetings with management to discuss the proposal process and identify lessons learned.

Integrity

Showcases integrity standards as outlined in Cordaid’s integrity policies. Fulfills integrity responsibilities as outlined in Cordaid’s Integrity Framework and Standard Operating Procedures. Actively contributes to a safe environment within their scope of influence by encouraging dialogue, trust, as well as understanding and adherence to Cordaid’s integrity standards and procedures.

Other Any other duties assigned by the Cluster Director.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experiences

1. Master’s Degree or equivalent experience in international relations, development studies, business administration or a related field. Postgraduate qualification in related fields is an added advantage.
2. Proven track record in business development, grants management, or fundraising in different thematic areas including Health, Sustainable Livelihoods, Climate Change, Education or related field.
3. Strong understanding of the funding landscape in East and Southern Africa
4. Excellent proposal writing, editing, formatting, research, and communications skills. Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with donors and partners.
5. Minimum of 7 years of relevant professional experience with at least five years of proposal development experience.
6. Ability to work effectively with others across the region.
7. Strong knowledge of the competitive market within CORDAID’s technical areas.
8. Proficiency in English language.

Competences

1. Ability to cultivate and maintain professional donor and stakeholder relationships.
2. Ability to meet competing priorities, demanding deadlines and work under pressure.
3. Has strong writing, networking, marketing, facilitation, presentation, negotiation, conflict resolution and coordination skills.
4. Has strong planning and time management skills, multi-task & adapt to frequent changing priorities.
5. Has strong analytical skills and in depth understanding of strategies (ability to link donor priorities and Cordaid strategy)
6. Flexibility to travel (travelling at least 50% of time)