Fundraising Specialist

Job Purpose

The Fundraising Specialist will carry out the growth and diversity mandate of WAE in terms of making financial resources available for the Country Program.  S/He will contribute to the organization’s overall goal and in the implementation of its strategic plan through resource mobilization and related activities including opportunity tracking, rapport building, donor mapping and intelligence gathering, relationship building, consortium formation, and most importantly proactive exploration of business opportunity with donors. The position will also contribute in concept note and proposal writing, and managing internal systems related to restricted income. The position is expected to coordinate closely with Programme Quality and Innovation, Universal Programmes, CR WASH Programme, Policy and Advocacy, Finance, and People and OD Departments/Units of the Country Programme. 

Opportunity Generation

• Track potential funding opportunities and collect donor and opportunity-related intelligence in advance for preparation and making bid/no bid decisions.
• Build rapport with potential donors and commercial suppliers, both in-country and abroad, in advance in relation to institutional grants, both from multilateral and bilateral donors.
• Explore possibilities for partnership/consortium with other INGO/ prime for approaching multi-sectoral grants, and coordinate with grant focal (opportunity owner) either in the UK team or WA member country (as the case may be) for support.
• Support the development of new businesses by identifying and accessing new funding opportunities.
• Support the coordination of donor scoping initiatives and the development and maintenance of long-term partnerships with potentially high-value or highly influential institutional donors.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of donor funding priorities and geographical interests relevant to WaterAid Ethiopia's area of work and coordinate with technical teams to position for new funding.
• Co-lead the country team in the identification, tracking, and updating of new business opportunities across a variety of technical sectors and donors, including facilitating technical brainstorming, partner, and competitor landscape analysis, and win theme sessions with technical and country staff.

Bidding 

• Ensure effective coordination of proposal development and bid preparations, involving staff and consultants as necessary to deliver bids.
• Ensure effective contract negotiation for strategic, high-value opportunities, as well as facilitate negotiations on donor contract terms and conditions.
• Support the lead in developing bidding strategies.
• Assist with the negotiation of contracts with donors.
• Provide support for the implementation of bidding processes.
• Participate in Project Design Meetings and coordinate concept notes and proposal development, including sharing initial assessment of new opportunities, preparing timelines, ensuring the proposal team adheres to deadlines, supporting recruitment, assisting in budget development, ensuring document completion, organizing meetings, compiling notes, and drafting and proofreading coherent proposal sections.
• Collaborate with technical units, and other colleagues to support the conceptualization of high-quality programs and proposal designs for new project activities and/or amendments to current projects. Provide guidance on donor policies and ensure project design is responsive and compliant with donor expectations, rules, and regulations.
• Coordinate and communicate with consortium partners. Negotiate and finalize teaming agreements with partners and ensure vetting of partners is performed by country offices as per WaterAid Ethiopia's requirements. Compile inputs from proposal team members, including consultants and partners. Identify partners, consultants, and other proposal development support as needed.
• Support the building of the capacity of the CPs’ fundraising team and partners to engage with donors and other funding opportunities.

Knowledge Management

• Support Senior Management Team members with quality assurance processes, tools, and capacity building for specific donors.
• Document past, current, and future fundraising efforts/successes, challenges, and opportunities.
• Provide regular updates on fundraising.
• Contribute to the preparation of reports and provide feedback to management about what is and is not working.
• Support the coordination of donor scoping initiatives and the development and maintenance of long-term partnerships with potentially high value or highly influential institutional donors.
• Contribute to the preparation of presentations, videos, photos, and reading materials to promote WaterAid Ethiopia’s work.
• Assist with the development and maintenance of a database of donor funding, programme priorities, trends in local and international development assistance, etc.
• Lead on regularly maintaining the WaterAid’s Restricted Income System (RIS).
• Contribute to strategic decision making by providing information and insights on fundraising trends and opportunities.
• Support in keeping the Country Leadership Team (CLT), the region, Institutional Funding and Partnerships (IFP), and International Programme Department (IPD) updated on fundraising activities and provide feedback on how to improve.
• Provide quality assurance and quality compliance support on proposals. Ensure responsiveness to and compliance with solicitation documents and with WaterAid Ethiopia's requirements.
• Contribute to proposal development systems, tools, and process improvement initiatives.
• Facilitate internal post-submission debrief sessions (after action review) with country teams, technical units, regional teams, and other relevant collaborators to collect lessons learned.
• Create and maintain an environment that upholds WaterAid’s Global Code of Conduct and associated safeguarding and child protection policies.
• Ensure that Safeguarding, Child Protection, and Gender Equality policies are fully embedded in project design and implementation as well as relationships with all actors
• Ensure that comprehensive health, safety, and security measures (e.g. risk management plans, local security protocols) have been put in place when designing Programmes / project and are consistently upheld during their implementation. 
• Ensure that partners WaterAid works with adopt the same health, safety, and security standards (as defined in any applicable WaterAid health, safety, and security policies), and arrange for capacity-building support where gaps or weaknesses are identified.
• Understand and put into practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding, Child Protection and Gender policies and Code of Conduct (CoC).
• Adhere to any local security protocols that have been put in place when working in the office, travelling to the field, or undertaking project / Programme activities.
• Immediately report any health, safety, and security incidents or near-misses that occur on WaterAid duty to their line manager, Security Focal Point, or CD.
• Behave and act in a manner that does not put colleagues or anyone that interacts with WaterAid in immediate danger or harm’s way.

Safeguarding, Safety & Security

• Create and maintain an environment that upholds WaterAid’s Global Code of Conduct and associated safeguarding and child protection policies.
• Ensure that Safeguarding, Child Protection, and Gender Equality policies are fully embedded in project design and implementation as well as relationships with all actors
• Ensure that comprehensive health, safety, and security measures (e.g. risk management plans, local security protocols) have been put in place when designing Programmes / projects and are consistently upheld during their implementation. 
• Ensure that partners WaterAid works with adopt the same health, safety, and security standards (as defined in any applicable WaterAid health, safety, and security policies), and arrange for capacity-building support where gaps or weaknesses are identified.
• Understand and put into practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding, Child Protection and Gender policies and Code of Conduct (CoC).
• Adhere to any local security protocols that have been put in place when working in the office, travelling to the field, or undertaking project / Programme activities.
• Immediately report any health, safety, and security incidents or near-misses that occur on WaterAid duty to their line manager, Security Focal Point, or CD.
• Behave and act in a manner that does not put colleagues or anyone that interacts with WaterAid in immediate danger or harm’s way.

Other roles

Perform any other responsibilities, tasks or activities as reasonably required by line manager as the range of duties are not intended to be a complete description of all.

Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Master’s degree in Social Science, Development Studies, Business Administration, Economics, or any other relevant discipline. 
• Minimum 7 (seven) years of professional experience in institutional fundraising with INGO or UN agency in a similar capacity.
• Experience in fundraising in WASH sector would be an advantage. Proven records in fundraising are essential. 
• Previous successful experience developing projects and writing proposals to public and private donors. 
• Strong proposal writing and budgeting skills, IT proficiency, strong communication and writing skills, good interpersonal skills, ability to work in a team setting, ability and willingness to travel to remote areas, and ability to prioritize high volumes of work to meet tight deadlines.
• Excellent English language in written and verbal communications skills are required.

Knowledge:

• Should have competency in WaterAid’s common approaches to work including partnerships, convening, inclusion, systems strengthening, creating behavioral change, and mainstreaming gender and inclusion of youth.
• Knowledge of business development culture and competition in Ethiopia and elsewhere,  
• Familiarity with online funding databases or systems is essential.
• Understanding of the issues related to WASH and climate resilience is desirable. 
• The person should be confident and fluent in conversation with donors, consortium leads, and at external forums with good representational and communication skills. 
• Functional skills are required on most of the common Microsoft Programmes. A good command of the English language and excellent writing skills are essential.
• Good command of budget development and project revision. 

Behavioral competencies

• Able to draw confidence and support from other teams, colleagues, partners, and donors
• Must be a person who is self-motivated. 
• Good interpersonal skills and capacity to understand and work with other colleagues and teams.
• Able to plan, prioritise, and work independently (with minimum supervision) under extreme pressure, manage demanding workload; and urgent priorities and meet deadlines.
• Excellent networking, engagement, and negotiating skills and proven ability to initiate and maintain strategic partnerships
• Result-oriented, agile, and adaptable to a changing environment
• Ability to contribute strategically.
• Strong conceptual and analytical skills 
• Diplomatic and multicultural skills.
• Attention to detail.
• High personal integrity and ethical behavior;
• Strong communication with excellent verbal and writing in the English language 
• Ability to handle pressure and meet deadlines.
• Excellent organisation, prioritizing skills 
• Excellent time management
• Commitment to WaterAid’s values and a working style that reflects these. 
• Able to work independently and as part of a team. Positive outlook, excellent interpersonal skills – builds good relationships with internal and external stakeholders; effectively work in a diverse team environment, respect for gender, diversity, and organizational culture

How To Apply

Qualified applicants can send their CVs and motivational letters via this LINK

WaterAid is an equal opportunities employer regardless of sex, race, disability, age, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. WaterAid Ethiopia does not discriminate on grounds of gender, marital status, race, tribe, religion, culture, disability, age, HIV/AIDS status, or any other factor. WaterAid Ethiopia encourages female candidates to apply. 

WaterAid is committed to ensuring that wherever we work in the world, there is no tolerance for the abuse of power, privilege or trust. WaterAid reinforces a culture of zero tolerance towards any form of inappropriate behavior, abuse, harassment, or exploitation of any kind. The safeguarding of our beneficiaries, staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf, is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. All staff and volunteers are required to share in this commitment through our Global Code of Conduct. We will conduct the most appropriate pre-employment references and checks to ensure high standards are maintained.