Key Roles and Responsibilities
1. Proposal Leadership & Development
- Lead the design and development of high-quality proposals, ensuring alignment with donor guidelines and organizational priorities.
- Coordinate the end-to-end proposal process, including strategy development, partner engagement, writing, budgeting, compliance, and submission.
- Organize and facilitate proposal design meetings, including technical brainstorming and project planning.
- Support negotiations and drafting of teaming agreements with consortium partners.
- Collaborate with the Budget Unit to develop compliant and competitive cost proposals.
- Draft, review, and edit technical proposal sections (e.g., technical approach, management plan, past performance, capability statements).
- Ensure quality assurance and timely submission of all proposal components.
2. Strategy & Stakeholder Engagement
- Contribute to the development and refinement of ForAfrika’s business development strategy, including annual revenue targets and opportunity pipelines.
- Identify and engage with strategic donors, partners, and collaborators.
- Develop and implement stakeholder engagement plans to deepen donor relationships.
- Represent ForAfrika at external events and industry forums to enhance organizational visibility.
3. Capacity Building & Team Support
- Support other regional and country office teams during peak proposal periods.
- Provide mentorship and training to junior proposal development staff and contributors.
- Facilitate internal learning and sharing of best practices to strengthen institutional BD capacity.
4. Process Optimization & Knowledge Management
- Support the continuous improvement of BD processes and tools, incorporating feedback from past proposal efforts.
- Ensure systematic capture and sharing of proposal resources and donor feedback.
- Maintain updated boilerplate content, CVs, and organizational capacity statements for proposal use.
Qualifications and Skills
- A minimum of 8 years in international development, with at least five years in a senior partnerships role focusing on strategic fundraising, competitive bidding, proposal and grant development, and/or business development.
- Proven experience in proposal development from concept note to full proposal, and experience in innovative strategies for resource mobilization, with a strong track record of raising substantial donor funds.
- Demonstrated leadership capabilities, including coaching staff to high performance and engaging in effective cross-cultural and cross-functional collaboration to achieve shared goals.
- Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to train others, harness cross-functional contributions from colleagues across locations, and effectively communicate through various
methods. - Exceptional presentation and communication skills; experienced networker with the ability to develop strategic partnerships with C-suite corporate executives, international donor representatives, and government authorities.
- Deep knowledge of or experience facilitating partnerships and funding opportunities in humanitarian and development aid.
- Possesses a personal network and deep understanding of programs in the international development space, including work with multilateral agencies (e.g., World Bank, GAVI, UN agencies), INGOs, government agencies, and foundations.
- Experience with Salesforce, proposal management software, and donor compliance portals (e.g., SAM.gov, Grants.gov, EU Funding & Tenders Portal) is preferred.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to manage multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent storytelling skills with the ability to craft compelling, donor-friendly narratives.
Special Requirements
- Must overlap with Africa Standard Time (AST) by at least six (6) hours.
- Shortlisted candidates will be expected to provide writing samples.
