Associate Director - Regional Business Development - Africa

About CWS

Church World Service (CWS), faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable solutions to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster.

CWS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, gender identity, genetic information, age, disability or veteran status in employment or in the provision of services.

Primary Purpose

The Associate Director - Regional Business Development - Africa will actively support the institutional funding growth and diversification of Church World Service programs in Africa and will lead on key multi-country funding opportunities and partnerships as required.

Associate Director - Regional Business Development will act in close partnership with CWS’ Business Development team (HQ) and regional program leadership to establish and maintain close relationships with institutional donor technical staff, including USAID, BHA, Feed the Future, Hunger Project, WFP, ECHO and UK AID and others.

The Associate Director - Regional Business Development, working under the supervision of the Deputy Regional Representative - Program, with a reporting line to the CWS HQ Business Development Unit, will identify and track funding and partnership opportunities in a systematic manner in pursuit of CWS funding strategies.

The Associate Director - Regional Business Development will provide coordination and logistical support for funding priorities and targets, proposal development, submissions, competitive analysis and positioning, and contribute to the portfolio’s strategic development.

The Associate Director - Regional Business Development will provide guidance and capacity building on new business development, actively track, and analyze project pipeline and portfolios, on planning for key must win new opportunities, and for ensuring well-coordinated and competitive proposal management processes are used.

Responsibilities

Leadership and Management

• In alignment with the CWS Business Development Strategy, support resource acquisition for the Africa portfolio to achieve regional and organizational BD Key Performance Indicators and funding diversification and sustainability goals.
• Manage the development and implementation of regional business development plans and manage periodic portfolio performance reviews.
• Manage research and development projects for competitive analysis and new funding markets for the Africa region.
• Use data to inform decision making by working with BD Systems & Operations on regional pipeline data collection and reporting, and support Go / No-Go decision-making processes for the portfolio, ensuring bid assessments including risk and compliance factors are completed.
• Manage the full BD process life-cycle for funding opportunities, applying industry standard practices and applying quality control measures.
• Provide bid leadership and review; ensure technical and cost applications are complete and of high quality; write proposal sections and ensure overall proposal cohesion and quality;

and participate in opportunity reviews as needed.

• Manage consortia and sub-partner development and agreements in pre-award processes.
• Contribute to the continued development of BD data strategies and processes; collecting and analyzing data sets as required.
• Participate in advancing the continued enhancement of resource development strategy, approaches, processes and tools across the organization to support the diversification and sustainability goals.

Contribute to building a BD culture’ across the organization.

• Support program teams to develop presentations of their results and innovative strategies to position CWS Africa in advance of upcoming proposals, including developing and updating capacity statements.
• Provide input in the identification of new programmatic opportunities aligned with CWS mission.

Representation / Engagement

• Represent CWS externally with high degree of professionalism and integrity to identify and secure funding streams. This role will collaborate with others in the organization including the BD Engagement team, Technical Unit, Programs staff, Executive staff, and Communications teams in these efforts.
• Cultivate new donor partnerships and position CWS for term funding opportunities.
• Cultivate relationships with strategic partners, including technical advisors, researchers, NGOs stakeholders, community organizations and other professionals in support of CWS programming.
• In coordination with key team members, attend meetings, conferences, and networking events to represent CWS and build relationships with potential partners and donors

Technical Business Development :

• Implement CWS global business development policies and guidelines.
• Plan, execute, monitor, and evaluate BD activities leading to increased financial support for the CWS programs in Africa, and continuous learning to further develop and enhance these activities.
• Collaborate with Country Representatives, program managers and other technical staff, to identify key funding gaps and potential funding sources the drafting of all proposal sections ensuring that all the pieces come together in a coherent, compliant with donor requirements, and in a winning manner.
• Keep abreast of the development sector emerging trends and best practices.
• Conduct analysis of the development sector competitive landscape and funding trends and challenges

Data Input

• Use Salesforce to ensure all international portfolio donors, opportunities, engagement activities, etc. are captured to inform action and decision-making.
• Conduct quality assurance review of Salesforce data in conjunction with BDU, and support Go / No-Go decision-making processes for the portfolio, ensuring bid assessments including risk and compliance factors are completed.

Qualifications

Experience :

• Minimum 10 years paid work experience
• Minimum seven years’ experience with demonstrated success in business development for large, complex humanitarian aid and international development organizations, with a particular emphasis on Resilience, Ag Livelihoods, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptive Programming, and displaced populations, and with public (USG, UN, UK, EU, other multi / bilateral) and private sector (corporate, foundation) institutional donors.
• Experience working with a diverse team operating under high pressure and tight deadlines, applying a demonstrated inclusive management approach.
• Strong English communication skills, both written and oral. High capacity to influence and negotiate.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural / multi-national environment required.
• Ability to bring lightness to serious work is preferred; calmness and empathy during crises is a must.

Skills :

• Highly effective project management skills for complex projects across teams.
• High competence with Salesforce or similar system for grants management.
• Demonstrated capability in working with data sets, systems, and analysis.

Education & Certifications :

Bachelor’s Degree or similar professional and / or academic qualifications in economics, marketing, Resource Mobilization Development management or marketing.

Abilities :

• Work and make decisions independently and contribute to overall operations at management levels
• Exercise good judgment and seek guidance as appropriate when confronted with unanticipated problems in the field.
• Maintain a high-performance standard with attention to detail, completing tasks within set timeframes;
• Exercise good judgement and seek guidance as appropriate when confronted with unanticipated problems.
• Deal effectively and courteously with many associates, outside agencies, refugees and members of the general public.
• Manage large and diverse workload under pressure with competing priorities.
• Maintain the integrity of official records.
• Analyse and solve complex problems and make sound decisions.
• Work with minimal supervision
• Maintain a high - performance standard with attention to detail.
• Work independently and contribute to overall operations of RSC Africa.
• Be flexible with changing of daily duties as needed.

Special Requirements

Important Requirements :

• Strong English communication skills, both written and oral.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment required.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and willingness to support as a CWS employee required.
• Ability to travel extensively, including to remote locations in Africa

Special Requirements :

• COVID Vaccination is required for all successful candidates.
• The candidate should be in good health, willing and able to travel extensively in often difficult conditions and have a high degree of flexibility.

Must have proof of Yellow Fever vaccination before traveling for RSC Africa

• This position is based in Nairobi Kenya
• This position requires the use of laptops at all times, competence in Microsoft office packages is required.
• This position may require travel in sub-Saharan Africa on short notice and under sometimes difficult conditions to meet demands of a dynamic operational program
• Background check which includes references, and an educational and criminal check is required before the start of employment for international applicants.
• A valid passport and the ability to maintain a valid passport throughout the entire appointment is required, which includes having enough passport pages for travel.
• Internationals - International applicants must be legally eligible to work and obtain a work permit in Kenya.
• Environmental : Incumbents in this position will be exposed to excessive noise, marked changes in temperature and / or humidity, dust and infectious diseases, harsh weather climates, long work hours, bumpy roads, extended travel, excessive sun exposure, and non-ventilated spaces.
• The US Embassy rates Kenya as both HIGH in crime and HIGH in terrorism. Incumbents should fully understand the insecurities present within Kenya and the region.
• Full time
• All employees should be prepared to work from the CWS office within their location of hire. Remote work arrangements may vary depending on location and the governing rulings regarding the COVID-19 pandemic

CWS recruitment is free of charge. Church World Service (CWS) does not charge fees of any kind during the recruitment process (Submission of application, interviews, assessments, trainings, etc.

Any solicitation of funds should be reported to

CWS is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, gender identity, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status.

Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.