Programme Funding Manager

Self Help Africa (SHA) is an international NGO, dedicated to the vision of an economically thriving and resilient rural Africa. SHA focuses on agriculture and agribusiness as the engine of growth in Africa.

Our approach is collaborative and market-based: although we see our primary clients as smallholder farmers in Africa, we work with all participants in the agricultural value chain.

The Group also has two social enterprise subsidiaries – TruTrade, which supports market access for smallholder farmers in the agricultural value-chain; and Partner Africa, an ethical auditing and consultancy firm that operates across more than 40 countries across Africa.

Self Help Africa is looking to recruit a Programme Funding Manager to develop and maintain long-term engagement strategies with key institutional donors (government, trusts, foundations and commercial) in the UK and Europe, in order to maximise SHA income and influence across its programmes.

Working closely with the Head of Programme Funding this post will have lead responsibility for supporting high-value grant and commercial contract opportunities and will work closely with assigned country teams to develop high quality bids. The Programme Funding Manager will provide cover as required for the Head of Programme Funding including managing and supporting the team.

Key responsibilities:

Proposal Development

· Identify, research and advise on new funding opportunities.

· Lead proposal development for assigned countries/donors and coordinate cross-organisational teams to respond to funding opportunities.

· Contribute to meeting ambitious departmental financial and non-financial (volume and quality of proposals) targets.

· Develop and oversee timetables; coordinate inputs; write and edit content; provide quality assurance on fit with donor priorities; ensure compliance with internal review and approval procedures; ensure timely submission; and follow up with donors for feedback.

· Work closely with colleagues in the Programmes Department, who lead project design, to contribute to the assessment, research and design of projects for specific donor funding opportunities.

· Liaise with donor staff and colleagues on progress of applications or potential funding opportunities.

· Work closely with Programmes Department colleagues to support and/or lead contract negotiation with institutional donors.

Donor Strategy Alignment and Relationship Management

· Account management – actively manage relationships with assigned funders.

· Maintain up-to-date information on donor priorities, strategies, regulations and activities pertaining to Self Help Africa’s strategic plan.

· Ensure relevant staff including senior management and Country Directors are briefed on donor activities, through the preparation of briefing notes and maintaining up-to-date information on our management information system.

· Coordinate donor strategy to maximise relationships and funding from donors through: meeting donors and cultivating contacts; liaising with colleagues across the organisation to coordinate donor meetings and briefings; and writing capacity statements/quality statements for specific donors.

· Provide advice to Programme Department colleagues on donor policies and priorities, and managing funding contracts, in order to support overall donor strategies.

· Maintain and report on donor relationship and income pipelines on a periodic basis.

Commercial Contracting

· Support the growth and development of SHA’s commercial contracting portfolio.

· Track commercial contract opportunities and maintain knowledge of contract holders and potential prime partners. **

· Prepare high-quality capacity statements and tender documents in response to commercial contracting opportunities.**

Programme Funding Team and Miscellaneous

· Work with colleagues within the Programme Funding Team, and across SHA, to improve the standard of proposal and report writing and donor relationships, and ensure funding opportunities and contracts are managed according to donor requirements.

· Contribute to Programme Funding Team reporting through ensuring donor information is up-to-date in Self Help Africa’s management information system.

· Represent SHA in donor funding-related groups and networks.

· Keep up-to-date on the agricultural development sector.