Program Officer - Business Development and Proposal Development

For assigned regional post, lead programme development, grant management and resource acquisition with high standards of appropriateness, timeliness, and effectiveness. Lead the design process of regional, full proposals and concept papers less than $4 million and provide the final review of all assigned proposals and concept notes. Ensure that grants are managed effectively through appropriate, timely and detailed communication with key stakeholders. Encourage and facilitate the documentation of promising practices and lessons learned in program development, grant management and resource acquisition.


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT AND EXECUTION
• Contribute to the development of the regional office strategy.
• Support the Regional Program Manager in the development, roll out and execution of the regional external engagement strategy.
• Lead the development of the regional resource acquisition strategy based on the targets set in the overall regional strategy.
  
EXTERNAL ENGAGMENT
• Work with Regional Program Manager to ensure World Vision representation at regional level coordination meetings with donors, stakeholders, INGOs, local organizations, and government officials. Provide updates on projects at coordination meetings. Provide key stakeholders, including
• Communications Officer and Policy and Advocacy Officer, with updates of meeting outcomes stakeholder priorities.
• Ensure regular and proactive communication with the Senior Program Development and Management Officer to ensure that support office and donor requirements are met.
• Maintain supportive communication within the program team and external stakeholders in line with the Regional Program Manager’s strategy and approval.
• Facilitate the growth of assigned regional program by cultivating good working relationships with regional donor representatives, NGOs to ensure that assigned regional office builds its reputation for integrity, expertise and reliability.
• Ensure that external engagement materials (e.g. regional briefings), including policy and advocacy and communications materials (e.g annual reports, program briefs, capacity statements) are available at the regional level to share with donors and other stakeholders.
  
RESOURCE ACQUISITION

Pre-proposal/opportunity tracking:
• Activities include but are not limited to the following:
• Track regional funding opportunities and programming gaps
• Advise Regional Program Manager on programmatic concerns and opportunities
• Coordinate with the Senior Program Development and Management Officer, to present funding ideas and concepts to appropriate stakeholders and donors
• Gather intelligence and share individual sector opportunities; a) develop keen understanding of sector strategies by donor, b) follow up on specific sectoral funding opportunities at the regional level
• Assess level of risks associated with regional opportunities and ensure sufficient alignment with all relevant WV strategies at the Juba and regional offices, and use information to make recommendations whether or not to pursue specific opportunities.
• Engage and pre-position WVSS at the regional level with NGOs and institutional donors to develop consortia
• Support Senior Program Development and Management Officer with the regional components of the external partner mapping exercise
• As requested by the Regional Program Manager, help build the capacity of other staff to engage in fundraising
• Support the Regional Program Manager to conduct assessments of the implementation capacity of regional offices and partners.
• Review assessments and baseline reports to gather and prepare background information and data for the design of programs and projects.
  
  Proposal development:
  Lead the acquisition process for assigned proposals, ensuring timely submission, managing all components of the process and, including but not limited to the following
• Serve as proposal manager as assigned or support designated proposal manager, ensuring support/engagement of technical sector specialists, grant finance officer, procurement, program quality etc as needed.
• Lead WV’s component of joint design with partners.
• Negotiate WV’s role with regional level partners, in coordination and consultation with the Regional Program Manager.
• Work closely with regional finance managers on all proposal budgets.
• Develop necessary components of proposals.
• Ensure engagement of key stakeholders (e.g. regional government ministries, communities, regional leadership, sector specialists and regional program quality officers) in the proposal design process.
• Ensure integration of cross cutting themes into all proposals.
• Support recruitment process to ensure identification and inclusion of qualified key personnel.
• Strategize with regional office and sector specialists on ways to integrate Area Rehabilitation Program and Private Non-Sponsorship funded projects with grant proposal design.
• Facilitate lessons learned after proposal development process; share key lessons with key stakeholders. Work with Senior Program Development and Management Officer to archive lessons learned.
• Support proposal development in other regions, as per the guidance of the Resource Acquisition and Management Team Manager, in consultation with the Regional Program Manager.
  
  Post-submission:
• Ensure Senior Program Development and Management Officer follows up with donor(s) and partner(s) as necessary.
• For awarded grants, ensure complete, smooth transition to project officer, which includes actively supporting grant start up process
• If proposal is denied, ensure debrief from donor and disseminate lessons learned to all relevant parties
• Submit relevant Human Resources requisitions to support timely recruitment in the event of a grant award
  
GRANT MANAGEMENT

Grant Start-Up
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Lead or coordinate grant start-up and any required training (e.g., donor requirements) with the Support Office, partner, and other key stakeholders
• Ensure all involved staff and stakeholders have copies of approved program design (narrative, logframe, monitoring and evaluation plan, budget, and grant agreement) and that they understand donor regulations, reporting and other requirements.
• Assist with recruiting and staffing/consulting needs
• Support regional staff in meeting special donor requirements, such as providing procurement and supply chain with the grant regulations for the purchase of capital assets
• Ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities for key staff to support successful grant implementation
• Work with the Regional Program Quality Officer to ensure that monitoring and evaluation systems are set up (including reporting templates) and processes for developing detailed implementation plan is completed and that the reporting and evaluation process for the performance management of programs is developed
• Coordinate with the Senior Program Development and Management Officer to ensure communication of outcomes of grant start-up to the donor and internal stakeholders
  
  Grant Implementation
  Ensure that grants are managed effectively through appropriate, timely and detailed communication with the Regional Program Manager, Project Officers, Sector Specialists and Program Quality Officers and other relevant stakeholders regarding major issues and successes related to the grant. Coordinate, encourage and facilitate the documentation of promising practices and lessons learned.
  
  On-going support to grant implementation includes, but is not limited to:
• Provide grant management assistance to the assigned region as needed
• Coordinate with Senior Program and Development Officer to support regular, positive, and productive communication with respective donor representatives, and partners regarding the implementation of program activities
• Work with Regional Program Manager to monitor funding status for the assigned regional programme to identify possible funding gaps and ensure smooth transitions from one grant to the next upon grant closure
• Support to Project Officers so that they can deliver on time reports
• Monitor grant implementation and resource/fund utilization rates in conjunction with the project officer and the regional finance manager
• Assist field staff in accessing appropriate technical assistance for successful implementation of activities
• Monitor grant compliance and working with the Finance Team, ensure WV responds professionally to all compliance and audit issues, follow-up on audit findings and recommendations
• Revise program documents as necessary and coordinate with Senior Program and Development Officer to ensure complete approved grant amendments
• Coordinate no-cost extensions and ensure that the Senior Program Development and Management Officer submits to donor
• Provide regular updates to regional office staff on the status of funding and fundraising plans.
• Assess the effectiveness of current projects, recommend relevant changes to project outcomes and activities, and identify possibilities for new projects.
  
  Grant close out:
• Lead close-out process for assigned projects (includes final reports, asset disposal and lessons learned)
• Coordinate with the Program Quality Team to ensure that final evaluations are conducted as per donor contractual agreements

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

REQUIRED:
• Experience in program design and development, funding acquisition, program monitoring and evaluation, information management, capacity building, and grant compliance
• At last 2 years field experience in a relief or development environment
• Previous experience with successful proposal writing and budget preparation (USAID, ECHO, BPRM, UN agencies preferred)
• Capacity building experience in proposal development, project design, implementation, reporting, evaluation and grant compliance
• Computer knowledge including Word, Excel, Lotus Notes and Power Point
• Excellent writing skills in English

Program Officer - Business Development and Proposal Development