NGO Job Opportunities - Adeso

Organization: Adeso - African Development Solutions (www.adesoafrica.org)
 
Position Title: Team Lead - Business and Program Development
 
Reporting To:Director of Strategic Partnerships
 
Working With (Remotely): Country Programme Teams, Finance/Human Resources/Logistics, Communications and Advocacy Manager
 
Program / Duty Station: London, UK
 
Starting Date: As Soon As Possible - Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until position is filled. 

Gross Salary Range: GBP 40,000 – 45,000 Annually.

Organizational Context: Adeso is an expanding and vibrant African based international development and humanitarian organization. 

At Adeso, we work with African communities who are yet to realize their full potential; working inside these communities to create environments in which Africans can thrive.

Our belief that economic, social and environmental security is the bedrock of a healthy community drives the nature and intent of our programming. 

We work to prevent and overcome situations that adversely affect community well-being by: reinvigorating the economy, developing skills for life and work, providing humanitarian aid, and influencing policy.

For the past 20 years we have strengthened rural livelihoods through environmental awareness, training, technology transfer and innovative humanitarian projects in pursuit of a peaceful, self-reliant, and greener future. 

At present, Adeso has programs in Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan.
Adeso is an exciting and dynamic organization experiencing managed rapid growth.

A registered non-profit in Kenya, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt charity in the USA and a registered charity in England & Wales (no. 1131711) we offer sound employment conditions with opportunities for personal growth and development.

Adeso US and UK support Adeso through fundraising and donor outreach, along with support in finance, communications, government affairs and other areas. Each organization is governed by separate individual boards to support the organization’s critical work in Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan. 

Adeso US and UK work closely with Adeso in Kenya and the Kenyan Board of Directors to identify institutional priorities and funding needs. Additionally, they support public advocacy on policy issues of concern, through tax-exempt educational and outreach work.
 
Position Summary: The Team Lead - Business and Program Development will provide leadership to the agency’s positioning for and pursuit of institutional and private sector donor resources, with an emphasis on various competitive funding mechanisms.

S/he will provide business development expertise to cross-discipline and cross functional teams in the development of proposals to ensure the highest quality standards and competitiveness. 

S/he will contribute to and support internal learning processes that improve business development practices to ensure funding opportunities align with organization’s mission and objectives, enhance the agency’s value propositions, and leverage innovative, evidence-based results into new revenue and programming. 

S/he will research and track upcoming opportunities through the capture planning stages and into final proposal production and negotiation. 

S/he will strengthen the capacity of country program staff and the technical units as appropriate, in capture planning and proposal development and the introduction of new tools and best practices in coordination with agency-wide efforts from the Business Development community of practice.

Position Purpose
1.    Pre-Positioning (focus on Capture Planning)
2.    Pursuit of Opportunities
3.    Award Administration
4.    Agency Learning
Specific Roles and Responsibilities
 
1. Pre-Positioning (Focus on Capture Planning)
  • 1.1. Stay abreast of trends in new business development in priority Adeso sectors and share those with country program teams. Strengthen intelligence and market research to identify opportunities for diversified funding and inform positioning efforts.
  • 1.2. Actively gather intelligence about new funding opportunities, analyze them, and share with headquarters, regional, and country program staff as appropriate.
  • 1.3. Champion the use of Adeso's online relationship management system (Salesforce) by staff and ensure the accuracy and completeness of all opportunity records in the system.
  • 1.4. Support country programs to improve capture planning capacities and practices, including identification of proposal development teams and expected proposal development support needs.
2. Pursuit of Opportunities
  • 2.1. Support country management to perform due diligence in go/no-go analyses and decisions.
  • 2.2. As determined with the Director of Partnership and Strategy, deploy to provide hands-on proposal development support to country programs. As appropriate, serve in lead or support role in proposal teams. Write or edit technical narratives, produce budgets and other proposal pieces as required depending on capacities of proposal development team.
  • 2.3. Assist proposal development teams to improve proposal competitiveness through cross-sector engagement and integration of industry tools and best practices.
  • 2.4. Provide BD strategic oversight and input for proposal teams; review proposals from a growth perspective as needed, including overall responsiveness to donor requirements, incorporation of cost-effectiveness considerations, and other aspects that may affect Adeso’ competitiveness.
  • 2.5. Ensure accurate, complete and timely submission of proposals to donors, including compliance review of all proposal components, upload into donor systems as required. Follow through with negotiations including support to oral defense, issues letter response and proposal revision through to award signature and award modification as appropriate.
  • 2.6. Assist teams to conduct after-action reviews for key funding opportunities to promote continuous learning and improvement in capture planning and proposal development.
3. Award Administration
  • 3.1. Ensure effective award management for a select portfolio of centrally-issued awards such that: high risk issues are quickly surfaced and handled effectively with donors; reports meet deadlines and quality expectations; agreement terms and compliance requirements are commonly understood and respected; and problems and trends are fed back to project management.
  • 3.2. Work with colleagues across the agency to track, document and build upon donor hot buttons, trends in implementation issues, successes and challenges, and related understanding of donor expectations. Build award implementation experience into proposal development.
4. Agency Learning
  • 4.1. Share relevant learning with the BD community of practice.
  • 4.2. Build country program capacity in BD-related skills through training and ongoing accompaniment.
  • 4.3. Support development and roll-out of BD-related competencies and training programs.
  • 4.4. Work with Country Program teams to develop and maintain capacity statements, past performance tables, and evidence-based results for priority areas; work with HQ to maintain global past performance and corporate capacity statements.
Skills and Qualifications
  • Master’s Degree in Development, International Relations, or relevant field preferred; equivalent experience acceptable
  • 7-8 years of international development experience, including at least 3 years working with an NGO in a developing country
  • Demonstrated experience leading and producing competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to Adeso required. Comprehensive familiarity with technical and cost application requirements of main institutional donors required
  • Demonstrated experience managing people and processes; leading teams to produce deliverables under tight deadlines and at exceptional quality
  • Familiarity with relevant regulations and with the institutional agency-specific policies, procedures and priorities
  • Experience with staff and local partner capacity development and mentoring
  • Experience with implementation and management of awards
  • Must be eligible to work in the UK
Application Process
 
This is a challenging opportunity for a dedicated and highly motivated professional.

 If you would like to join this dynamic team, send your up-dated CV and an application letter which should include remuneration requirements and contact details of three work-related referees, to the HR Manager, Adeso in Kenya by email to jobs@adesoafrica.org by 26th October, 2016.


Vacancy: Senior Communications and Advocacy Officer (NEAR Network)
 
Organization:African Development Solutions - Adeso,www.adesoafrica.org& Network for Empowered Aid Response - NEARwww.near.ngo

Reporting To:
 Interim Network Director
 
Working With: Communications Department and Network Advisor
 
Program / Duty Station: Nairobi
 
Duration: One (1) year
 
Organizational Context: Adeso is an expanding and vibrant African based international development and humanitarian organization.

At Adeso, we work with African communities who are yet to realize their full potential; working inside these communities to create environments in which Africans can thrive. 

Our belief that economic, social and environmental security is the bedrock of a healthy community drives the nature and intent of our programming. 

We work to prevent and overcome situations that adversely affect community well-being by: reinvigorating the economy, developing skills for life and work, providing humanitarian aid, and influencing policy.
 
Near Network: Adeso together with other local and national NGOs have come together to form a global network which was launched in May 2016 at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. 

The network, NEAR (Network for Empowered Aid Response), is a movement of local organizations with a bold ambition – to reshape the top-down humanitarian and development system to one that is locally driven and owned, and is built around equitable, dignified and accountable partnerships.
 
Position Summary: The Senior Communications and Advocacy Officer will work closely with the Network Executive Director and the Network Support Officer in the next phase of its development, and namely, help promote the network as the leading platform through which local and national NGOs can convene to advocate for a more equitable and dignified humanitarian system.
 
Scope of Work
 
The Senior Communications and Advocacy Officer will:
  • Implement a Communication and Advocacy strategy for the network
  • Implement the branding strategy for the network
  • Conceive, write up and present a yearly work plan to match the communications strategic objectives
  • Prepare and develop relevant communication materials for the network. This includes writing, development and production of press releases, newsletters, articles, website pages, brochures, banners, posters.
  • Ensure member engagement by adequately communicating to network members about the network’s initiatives and coordinate with members’ communication departments.
  • Manage the network’s website, social media and newsletter. Ensure that the website and social media channels are up-to-date and engaging. 
  • Establish a regular flow of compelling stories – features, photo and video stories etc. - delivered across various communications channels, which bring to life the work of NEAR and its members.
  • Organizing logistics and communication materials for the network events, workshops, trainings, conferences, and the general assembly.
  • Manage contracts with vendors including drawing up terms of reference and contracts with the procurement department.
  • Ensure visibility of NEAR in regional, national and international events
  • Develop and maintain positive working relationships with targeted online, print and broadcast journalists, editorial writers, bloggers and columnists, as well as other media influencers.
  • Oversee monitoring of the current and future news agenda in order to identify and exploit communications opportunities, manage press enquiries and pursue opportunities for promoting NEAR network.
  • Identify key advocacy meetings, working groups, conferences, consultations, donor fora, and events where the network’s members, leadership council and the executive director can advocate on behalf of the network.
  • Oversee management of contact database for all network stakeholders.
  • Any other duties as may be assigned.
Skills and Qualifications
  • Bachelors degree in Communications, Journalism, International Relations or Marketing. Bachelors degree in Business Administration or another related degree will also be considered with relevant work experience.
  • Experience managing networks, communities of practice, or any initiatives that require extensive coordination.
  • Excellent written communication skills up to publishing standards
  • Experience in designing and executing advocacy campaigns
  • Experience in events management
  • Experience in dealing with vendors
  • Familiarity with current development and humanitarian issues.
  • Well-developed capacity for taking initiative.
  • Cultural awareness and sensitivity to gender issues
  • Excellent command of oral and written English.
  • Excellent Organizational skills.
  • Ability to work under tight deadlines
Please Note: This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the job and the general nature and level of work performed by job holders within this job. 

However, this job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of qualifications, skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with the position.

Application Details

 
If you would like to join the NEAR team, please submit your application to jobs@adesoafrica.org with ‘Senior Communications and Advocacy Officer’ on the email subject line. 

Application deadline: 27th October, 2016.

Your application should include the following documents:
  • A detailed resume containing candidate’s qualifications and experiences
  • Two writing samples
  • An application letter which should include cover letter, remuneration requirements and contact information for three work-related referees.
Applications not including all of the above information will not be reviewed.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Adeso is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on one's background, beliefs, gender or sexual orientation.