With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith. Come join our 33,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Key Responsibilities:

Reports to: Director, Programme Development & Impact

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Proposal Development

• Lead the development and submission of winning funding applications (approximately 50 applications annually) in accordance with WVU Grant Acquisition Procedures and related best practices. This shall include day-to-day coordination of a team of Resource Development staff and, from time to time, direct writing of proposals.
• Make timely recommendations to WVU Senior Leadership Team on grant opportunities, which should be pursued.
• Ensure strong collaboration with World Vision Support Offices on relevant funding opportunities.
• Ensure strong coordination with other departments within WVU on proposal development, notably technical specialists, programme operations division and grant finance.
• Engage additional resources from within the World Vision International partnership, as necessary, in order to enhance proposal development. This may include technical specialists, grant writers (where surge capacity is needed) or other contributors.
• Ensure all necessary grant acquisition due diligence and Go – No-Go procedures are adhered to.
• Ensure all WVU financial standards are adhered to in the development of project budgets, maximising cost recovery for support costs and ensuring match funds are secured before grant agreements are signed.

Donor Engagement

• Develop and maintain a Resource Development Business Plan to guide strategic interactions with potential donors and partners.
• Proactively build strong networks and relationships with key donors.
• Represent WVU to donors, both informally and formally, including giving presentations on behalf of WVU, as required.
• Represent WVU in negotiations with donors over grant contracts etc.
• Maintain a strong overall awareness of donor trends (both globally and for Uganda specifically) and awareness of specific, relevant grant opportunities.
• Facilitate and coordinate interactions between WVU colleagues (including technical specialists and senior leadership) and key donor representatives, as appropriate.
• Engage with WV Support Offices in order to support their donor interactions in global capitals.
• Collaborate with colleagues to develop and disseminate information resources (e.g. fact sheets, capacity statements, situation reports) that can enhance donor engagement.

Networking, external coordination and relationships

• In addition to donor relationships above, the jobholder will: Collaborate with colleagues (especially technical managers and specialists) to ensure effective networking through and information flow from inter-agency fora, including refugee sector working groups and government ministry working groups. This will include direct participation in such fora from time to time.
• Collaborate with colleagues (especially technical managers and specialists) to ensure effective bilateral engagement with key government ministries.
• Proactively develop strong relationships with counterparts at peer NGOs, UN agencies, and other organisations in order to facilitate information sharing, enhance intelligence gathering on donor opportunities and identify potential partnerships for grant applications.
• Proactively develop strong relationships with World Vision Support Offices with a view to identifying new funding opportunities from private fundraising sources.
• Represent WVU within the global organisation as focal point for Grant Acquisition, interacting with other World Vision offices including in the East Africa Region (EARO), Brussels and Geneva offices, and Global Centre,

Strategic Leadership & Planning

• Develop and implement a multi-year resource development strategy aligned with the organisation’s strategic plan.
• Lead donor mapping, market analysis, and funding trend assessments to inform fundraising priorities.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to set annual fundraising targets and monitor performance.

Team Leadership & Capacity Building

• Provide leadership in facilitating a high-performance management culture, open trustworthy staff relationships and integrity to enhance smooth staff relations and accountability.
• Lead recruitment processes, as required.
• Supervise and mentor a team of resource development officers or grant writers.
• Build internal capacity in proposal writing, donor engagement, and fundraising best practices.
• Promote cross-functional collaboration between programs, finance, and M&E teams.

New Business Development

• Explore new business opportunities in the area of 1) commercial contracting, 2) carbon financing, and; 3) Impact Investing
• Identify and lead internal discussions on the risks and benefits of new business opportunities
• Develop internal capabilities required to manage new business opportunities
• Pursue and pilot new business opportunities to complement other funding streams (with SLT approval)

Other

• Contribute, as required, to ongoing development of the WVU National Strategy, particularly giving advice from the perspective of latest donor trends.
• Collaborate closely with Programme Operations Division and WVU Response Management Division for smooth handover of awarded grants so as to ensure effective start-up of implementation.
• Maintain a general overview of the implementation status of existing grant projects so as to be able to effectively communicate with donors, as required.
• As a senior staff member, participate in and actively support the overall leadership of the Programme Development & Impact division.
• Be flexible to undertake additional tasks, from time to time, in order to enhance the overall performance of the Programme Development & Impact division and WVU in general.
• Contribute to effective information management and information flows. This shall include provision of all relevant inputs into the Horizon / IMPAQ information system and provision of necessary management reports within WVU and EARO.
• Ensure quality management of departmental budget and all reporting requirements.

KNOWLEDGE/QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE ROLE

Required Professional Experience

• Master’s degree in International Development, Business Administration, Communications, or related field.
• Minimum of 7–10 years of experience in resource mobilisation, fundraising, or business development in the NGO sector.
• Significant experience of government donor relations and fundraising is essential.
• People management skills and experience. Strong interpersonal and networking skills to work cross organizationally and with different cultures
• Proven results-oriented leader with the ability to handle a heavy work load, manage and satisfy multiple conflicting organizational, donor and other stakeholder demands.
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships with all staff and other key partners
• Ability to communicate effectively.
• Demonstrate leadership and team building ability
• Ability to provide spiritual leadership to the team.
• Good planning, time and deadline management and organizational skills.
• Well informed on latest trends in grants sector.
• Excellent writing skills.

Preferred Knowledge and Qualifications

• Strategic thinking and innovation
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Results-oriented and proactive
• Donor intelligence and negotiation skills
• Team leadership and collaboration
• High level of integrity and professionalism