Christian Aid (CA) is a UK-based international NGO, partnering with others to end poverty in Africa. At the heart of this vision is the transformation of the lives of people who live in poverty, empowering them to have a brighter future. Christian Aid works in more than 30 countries and has been operating in Nigeria since 2003. The Nigeria Country programme focuses on Community Health and HIV, Accountable Governance including humanitarian response and Gender.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Programme Development and Funding Manager

Location: Abuja
Type of Contract: Fixed Term
Contracted Hours: 35
Contract Length: 2 Years
Department: International
Reports to: Head of Programme Funding Africa
Salary Band: C
Matrix Manager (if applicable): Country Manager Nigeria
Competency Level: 3

Role Purpose

• This role is based in Nigeria and contributes to the growth of Christian Aid’s institutional funding portfolio in Angophone West Africa, and supporting the country programmes to ensure strong contract management on their funds from institutional donors.
• The post holder will lead work with Nigeria and support country programmes across the region to initiate new donor engagements and sustain relationships with current donors; to coordinate development of funding applications and to contribute to the development of donor funded programmes; and, to advise and provide support on delivery of on-going contracts ensuring compliance with donors’ and Christian Aid’s regulations.
• This is a senior role that is expected to engage at strategic levels both at global, country and corporate levels to influence Christian Aid’s business models and the way we deliver our programmes. The role will be critical in representing the organisation to donors and other external stakeholders, and to improving Christian Aid’s global, Africa wide and in-country visibility.
• The role will participate in and/or lead project teams within PIF and across the Global Partnership, and will have a substantial element of humanitarian interventions and funding within its portfolio.
• The post holder may also support work elsewhere in Africa and globally, in response to priorities and deadlines.

Key Outcomes

• End-to-end quality proposal delivery responding to both published and unsolicited opportunities
• Acquire and retain new donors and funding relationships from a range of donors, with named key donor account responsibilities
• Provide strong leadership on developing funding proposals, including assembling and managing proposal development teams; working with colleagues in the design and development of high quality projects; and taking responsibility for submission of strong proposals that respond to donor criteria and Christian Aid strategic objectives.
• Support Country Programme staff to deliver on existing contracts. The PDFM specifically takes responsibility for enabling compliance with donors and Christian Aid policies and ensuring timely and quality reporting to donors
• Gather intelligence about upcoming opportunities; develop and share opportunity-specific competitive intelligence analysis and support Country Managers in deciding on consortia formulation.
• Carry-out post-bidding debrief and lead post-award negotiations.
• Ensure that Christian Aid programmes meet our gender and inclusion quality standards, and incorporate latest thinking around our digital strategy.
• Participate in and/or manage project teams involved in strategic proposals or other initiatives.

Role Agility:

• Expected Travel Per Annum: Up to 75 days
• On call/unsocial hours: Yes, in event of Christian Aid response to humanitarian emergency.
• Surge capacity for emergency responses: No

In order to respond to ever changing demands within the environment, Christian Aid operates within an agile framework (both in workforce and operational) that requires from all employees, a high level of responsiveness and adaptiveness to processes and structures making flexibility and a project based working approach the norm. To sustain this system, managers may/will agree further details of specific tasks and duties as part of the performance agreement. Any reasonable duty may be assigned that is consistent with the nature of the job and its level of responsibility, and employees may be required to change the focus of their role from time to time.

Role Context:

• The role works within the Programme Funding Division(PFD), which facilitates access to restricted funding across Christian Aid.
• The role will work lead work with Nigeria and support country programmes across the region and supporting functions, particularly the Humanitarian Division to access and manage funds in support of their strategic priorities. This will include humanitarian and development work. As such the postholder will be expected to travel regularly to project locations across these countries as well as elsewhere in Africa.
• The post holder will network and build relationships with both traditional and non-traditional players within the development sector to create new opportunities and ways of working.
• The postholder will provide expert technical guidance related to design, inception and delivery of large and complex programmes.
• They will work with staff from across the Global Partnership to plan and execute quality interventions in line with corporate strategy and programme/contractual obligations.

Work Relationships

• External: Builds and maintains relationships with Donors, INGOs, NNGOs, Private Sector Actors, government agencies
• Internal: Works closely with Programme Funding colleagues in Africa, HQ and globally. Works directly with Country Programme colleagues in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and elsewhere in Africa, and with Humanitarian Division colleagues, in development of proposals and supporting on donor compliance. Draws on expertise from across the organisation, including Finance, HR, and technical advisors.

Decision Making:
Budgetary / Savings Responsibility:

• Required to provide inputs into decisions in relation to programme development and funding initiatives.
• Development of strategies in agreement with country teams to maximise income from existing and new donors. Development of proposals and reports for funding and contract management in agreement with relevant stakeholders.
• Responsible for compliance on a portfolio of institutional grants and contracts.
• Establishment and strengthening of contacts with new and existing donors at country level in collaboration with programme staff.

Analytical Skills:

• Ongoing analysis and interpretation of donor funding strategies, opportunities, and alignment with Christian Aid country strategies and corporate strategy. Analysis of risk and programme logic.
• Required to bring a strong strategic focus to programme development and management. Expected to question processes and ways of working to identify changes that will improve organisational performance.

Developing self and Others:

• Act as a specialist in their professional area of work delivering continuous guidance and support accordingly to help to achieve activity, fundraising income, programme delivery, and compliance targets on donor funded programs.
• Ensure all contracts and bid data are entered in PROMISE and other in house management information systems.
• Has responsibility for developing, motivating and coaching of Programme Officers linked to institutional funded projects under their management responsibility.
• Looks for opportunities to increase self-development.
• Required to be a team worker and be pro-active in bringing innovation and solutions.

Applied Skills / Knowledge and Expertise
Essential:

• University Degree or equivalent in Health, Business, Economics, International Relations, Development Studies, Environmental Management, Agronomy or a relevant subject.
• Knowledge and expertise in working with institutional donors, which may include FCDO/DFID,
• USAID, Global Fund, European Union / ECHO, UN World Food Programme, UN OCHA
• Significant and proven experience of successful bid leadership across development and/or humanitarian grants
• Outstanding communication and networking skills for relationship building and facilitation, including consortium development
• Excellent writing skills.
• Fluency in English
• High level of numeracy and understanding of financial controls and procedures.
• Project Cycle Management and monitoring, evaluation and learning methodologies.

Desirable:

• Training and facilitation skills
• Ability to read and communicate in French.

Salary
N14,825,051 annually.

Application Closing Date
3rd April, 2022.