Save the Children Senior Grant Writer Job in Kenya

Senior Grant Writer - Somalia/Somaliland Country Office
Team/Programme:  PDQ    

Location:  Nairobi
Grade:  TBC  (Competitive Package)    

Post Type: National/International

Child Safeguarding:

Level 3 - the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people

Role Purpose:  

The Senior Grant Writer shares the overall responsibility for  proposal development and donor report writing processes.  

S/he will also ensure appropriate consultation with the concerned managers as indicated Flow Charts for proposal development and report writing and provide capacity building support to staff where required. 

S/he will work closely with the technical teams, the field and Nairobi-based PDQ team, and with the Area operations teams.

Scope Of Role:

Reports to: Business Development Manager

Dimensions: 

Save the Children International works in 4 regions in Somalia/Somaliland with a current staff complement of approximately 450 staff and current expenditure of approximately 64$ million in 2012.

Staff directly reporting to this post: None

Key Areas Of Accountability:

• The Senior Grant Writer is responsible for coordinating all emergency and development programmes and providing support in the overall programme development process. Within the Business Development Team, the Senior Grant Writer will have  a support role in establishing and promoting the proposal and reporting system to ensure that our Country Office:
• is  informed on the extent to which both the emergency response and development interventions are affecting the lives of the targeted populations;
• has evidence-based knowledge on the positive and negative impact that both the emergency response and development interventions are having over the communities where SCI works;
• receives regular, timely and context-specific, meaningful feedback from our staff, partners, programme participants (who are or are not targeted by our interventions), and that feedback effectively informs and signals areas where strategic attention is required.

• Responsible for conducting full range of activities required to prepare, submit, and manage high standards grant proposals to donors;
• Track all announcements for competitive proposals on a daily basis
• Develop/maintain the information on all competitive proposals
• Lead on the coordination during development of high quality concept notes and funding proposals (including logframes and budgets), ensuring information sharing between programmes (including MEAL) and operations teams, as well as an appropriate level of field input
• Lead on the coordination with relevant staff and provide additionally requested information in relation to proposals from donor, SCI or Save the Children members promptly and accurately and make necessary revisions based on feedback;
• Work closely with the finance and grants team, field and Nairobi-based PDQ team and Operations, as well as relevant technical staff to develop appropriate and realistic proposal narratives and budgets (as per Flow Chart).
• Provide support to Business Development Manager (BDM) to maintain the proposal submission processes, ensuring an appropriate level of consultation, and budgeting issues are taken into account.
• Maintain an updated database and electronic files of proposals submitted, approved, rejected (including grant and report tracking)
• Assist the Business development Manager (BDM) on development and dissemination of proposal development tools;
• Lead with submission of proposals as necessary and provide necessary training to other staff when required
• Work closely with MEAL team to generate high quality proposals in line with SCI’s global objectives
• Ensure all proposals are reviewed and approved before final internal submission
• Lead on ensuring internal sign off processes are undertaken in timely manner and Core Business Processes for proposal development are adhered to.
• Assist with other fundraising initiatives as requested by BDM;

Quality Reporting

• Ensure the SOPs (in particular, reporting flow-chart and guidelines) are adhered to at both field and Nairobi level; provide feedback to teams on the correct use of these procedures
• Lead on the coordination of donor reports, ensuring that all relevant teams (Area Programme and Operations teams) are involved in quality writing/reviewing appropriate sections
• Work closely with MEAL and concerned subject/technical specialiststo generate high quality final reports
• Lead on the coordination with relevant staff and provide additionally requested information in relation to reports from donor, SCI or Save the Children members promptly and accurately and make necessary revisions based on feedback
• Lead on the preparation and provision of a quality report-writing workshop to all field bases, including a period of time spent coaching and providing direct support with Budget Holders and Programme Managers to prepare donor reports
• Initiate, support and contribute to a review of the SOPs and note any improvements / bottlenecks in reporting quality and accountability

• Additional support to improve emergency/development donor reporting, including:
• Highlight report sections within the donor template that need to be filled out by the field teams along with providing clearer guidance when sending out the template;
• Create and circulate a reporting schedule of donor reports and their specific funding requirements and deadlines for report submission; track progress of reports, submission dates, etc.
• Send out reminders at each deadline stage of the reporting schedule to relevant staff (Area Representatives)
• Maintain a grant reporting filing system including submitted proposals and budgets, amendments, intermediate and final reports, donor template.
• Ensure all reports are reviewed by BDM or delegate before  internal submission
• Work closely with the BDM to ensure coordination between proposal, reports and lessons learnt.

Information Management

• Ensure that all appropriate donors and Save the Children International’s formats both reports and proposals are available to relevant staff, as well as a clear understanding of donor requirements.
• Lead on the updating of the weekly Funding and Grants tracker and distribute accordingly – both internally and externally.
• Follow up with Finance and Grants teams on ensuring systems (such as PADs & CADS) are signed off in a timely manner.

Skills and Behaviours (our Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency

Qualifications and Experience

• Advanced degree in Project Planning,  Development, Economics, or related fields Social Sciences  Minimum of 4 years of progressive work experience in fundraising environment and with substantial and proven experience of writing winning proposals and reports
• Strong and proven hands on experience in project cycle management in general and participatory project planning processes in particular
• Knowledge of major donors project cycle management processes and requirments
• Demonstrated experience of coordinating and preparing strong narrative and financial reports for a variety of donors
• Demonstrated experience developing multiple narrative and cost proposals simultaneously
• Solid ability to negotiate, communicate and liaise effectively and diplomatically with colleagues across all levels of the organization, including exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to successfully interact in a multicultural professional environment
• Must possess a strong work ethic, have confidence, take initiative and be a self-motivated, enthusiastic team player as well as individual contributor
• Experience working in difficult hardship environment
• Understanding of major donors’ compliance requirements
• Sound personal organisational skills, including time management, and ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure
• Excellent command of English language, both verbal and written
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children International’s aims, values and principles
• Information Communication Technology literate

Child Safeguarding Policy:

Any employee, consultant, contractor or the supplier undertaking an activity on behalf of SCI must sign the Child Safeguarding - Declaration of Acceptance  Form] and comply with the SCI’s Child Safeguarding Policy which is a statement of SCI’s commitment to preventing abuse and protecting children with whom it comes into contact.  

This extends not only to children with whom SCI and its partners work directly, but also includes children whom staff are responsible for. Save the Children's Code of Conduct sets out the standards which all staff members must adhere to.

Please send a copy of your CV with a cover letter to EA.recruitment@savethechildren.org. For more information please visit our website www.savethechildren.net/jobs  

Applications close on December19th 2012.