Institutional Partnership Development Manager at SOS Children's Villages

• H/She collaborates with the Head of Fund Development & Communications, the National Director and the Program Team to secure institutional funding for SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya. H/She develops and implements institutional partnership strategies, writes concept papers, proposals and other grant application documents and is a key contributor to the growth of the funding portfolio. H/She also manages the day-to-day donor relationships with bilateral donors, governmental institutions, embassies and any other relevant national or international organizations.

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

Fundraising and Donor Liaison

• Proactively identify institutional partnership opportunities at the national/local level (from bilateral, multilateral, international organization and embassies and foundations) that match organizational priorities and donor requirements.
• Develop a comprehensive database of potential donors and update the same regularly to ensure clear potential funding opportunities for SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya based on thorough research and intelligence gathering
• Writing expression of interests, concept notes and proposals and related applications for both grants and contracts under the strategic guidance of the HFDC. This includes: background research, stakeholder analysis, data collection & analysis, consultation processes, development of narrative proposal, coordination of grant proposal budget development and production of all associated documents to a high standard in accordance with donor requirements
• Develop and maintain good relationships with donors by ensuring regular communication, knowledge exchange and effective reporting.
• Working with the HFDC, be the link between SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya and donors especially in management of institutional funding contracts. Ensure regular communication with the SOS Children’s Villages international and regional offices

Donor Contract Management

• Prepare and submit IPD monthly updates and quarterly reports to the Head of Fund Development and Communications.
• Coordinate, monitor and assess the quality of donor reporting making sure that donor requirements are met during the project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and phase/close out
• Responsible for Donor Contract Management (DCM) of institutional (restricted) grants, including contract preparation, development of consortium agreements, teaming agreements, monitoring of compliance with donor requirements, submission of reports.
• Create and maintain grant records in the ProDIGI Grant management system for all institutional donor contracts.
• Undertake routine donor contract administration for country programmes and ensure all grant files; (electronic, system and paper) are complete and kept up to date.
• Establish a close cross-functional working relationship with the Finance, Communication and Program and other departments and provide advice to ensure synergy in donor budgeting, contract management and reporting.

Strategy, Capacity Building

• Develop and implement an institutional fundraising and partnership strategy in line with the needs of SOS Children’s Villages Kenya and ensure this is infused within the organizational strategic plan, global IPD Strategy 3.0 and national plans
• Ensure Senior Management are appraised of all funding trends, challenges and risks in relation to potential funding opportunities, including key relations, grants and contracts.
• Analyzing the funding environment vis á vis SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya’s strategy, plans and priorities, mapping key donors and identifying trends in funding and implications for SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya; Review and implement the recommendations of the donor market survey
• Train and support relevant staff in Project Cycle Management and Logical Framework Approach among other models and approaches for project design and management
• Build fundraising capacity within the programme team, by training staff on proposal development, funding trends and policies, donor relations, reporting, contract management, etc.
• Document learning on the implementation of donor-funded grants and contracts, in order to improve understanding of donor requirements and to improve SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya’s overall grant performance and compliance

Partnership Development and Networking

• Establish and maintain regular contact with donors by organizing donor roundtables, face-to-face meetings, attending donor forums etc.
• Supporting the HFDC, ND and programme team to develop new and existing relationships with key donors and potential consortia partners
• Negotiate collaboration with partner institutions and government departments in support of SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya subject to approval from HFDC.
• Coordinating and facilitating consortia formation and strategic partnerships with other like-minded organizations/or local implementing partners for joint proposal development processes
• Coordinating capacity assessments and due diligence checks of potential local partners to be included in proposals
• Developing MOUs, pre-teaming agreements or other required documentation in relation to consortium formation and partnership development.
• Represent SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya in sector level meetings (development and humanitarian/emergency) and other networking forums and use this to aggressively develop funding partnerships
• Participate in regional IPD networking and training forums and contribute to development of new IPD strategies to improve practice
• Developing material to help promote SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya amongst potential donors, partners and key Government representatives, including briefings, capacity statements and presentations
• Work closely with the General Secretariat in ESAF regional office and International Office in order to ensure coordinated contact with donors.

Performance Indicators

• Developed National institutional partnership fundraising strategy
• Developed donor contract management mechanisms
• Amount of funds (in EUR) raised from institutional partners
• Number of proposal development processes launched, finalized and successful
• Number, frequency, timeliness, and quality of reporting (internal and external donor reports)
• Number and quality of capacity building/training/Coaching conducted for staff
• Number of partnerships and coalitions built, agreements developed and signed with like-minded institutions

Formal qualifications & Experience Requirements

• Minimum Bachelor and preferably Master Degree, in the Social Sciences (social work, psychology, social-pedagogy, community development or economics) and, additionally, a Project Management qualification.
• Minimum 7 years working experience in the field of Project Management for Institutional Donor funded projects
• He/she should have 7 years’ extensive experience in planning, securing and managing funds from institutional donors as well as a thorough understanding of development programming.
• Potential candidates should demonstrate evidence of medium/large proposals they have developed and won 2M USD.
• A thorough understanding of program design and development especially in the sectors of Education, Health, Livelihoods, Gender and GBV, Child Protection, Advocacy and Emergency Preparedness and Response.
• Experience in social science research; the candidate should have extensive experience conducting assessments, evaluations etc.
• A thorough understanding of Donor Contract Management, Project Cycle Management, and training approaches is required.
• Experience of capacity building non-funding staff in all aspects of funding and contract compliance.

Competencies- Knowledge, skills and abilities

• Demonstrable experience in planning, resourcing, implementing, controlling, monitoring & evaluation of and reporting on projects, preferably in the social sciences arena, including donor-funded programs.
• Ability to turn a vision into actionable goals and deliverables, including coordinating the activities of several program locations (and their networks of service providers) around these common goals.
• Ability to challenge conventional thinking, and to influence others to develop new, innovative solutions to promote quality childcare and development, including using broad cross-sector coordination to create large-scale social change.
• Understanding of National legislation policies, strategies and funding mechanisms of SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya in relation to child care development.
• Experience in partnership building, including assessing the suitability of partners, and negotiating and formalizing Memorandums of Understanding.
• Ability to represent the organization at the highest level, including with national bodies and agencies, NGO networks and international donors.
• Ability to link budgets for implementing planned activities and programs, as well as understanding of financial reports for tracking budget execution.
• Proven experience in leading a team.
• Strong MS office skills, preferably with proficiency in using project management software.
• Strong and highly effective communication skills in English including excellent report writing skills.
• Willingness to travel within different the regions, as well as travel within the Sub-Saharan Africa region for experience sharing and workshops.
• The Candidate should have leadership, and innovation, flexible, self-drive and have the ability to work very fast and under strict deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills with the ability to represent SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya in donor forums, develop partnerships with other NGOs
• Experience of capacity building non-funding staff in all aspects of funding and contract compliance.

Personal Attributes

• Good planning, organizing and coordination skills with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work well in a team and to communicate effectively with colleagues, partners, stakeholders and others who are not in the line of command.
• Strong analytic and thinking skills, ability to overcome challenges.
• Ability to manage own time and to work under high pressure.
• Trustworthiness and confidentiality, modelling principled behavior.
• Commitment to address the situation the children of our target group and their families