Business Development & Partnership Manager At International Rescue Committee

sed in Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador

JOB OVERVIEW:

The Business Development & Partnership Manager provides strategic guidance and support to IRC´s Response Northern Central America in program development, grants/sub-grants management, compliance, and donor relations. S/he facilitates proposal development processes and supports a variety of aspects of project cycle management, including reporting, grant and sub-grant monitoring and modifications, and grant closing. The GPC will ensure an effective coordination with all key staff members including those based in HQ and Region.

Responsibilities:

Business Development (55%):

• Manage IRC´s NCA Business Development strategy, support the CD, DDP and Technical Coordinators in proactive engagement with potential and existing donors for fundraising to implement its Strategic Action Plan (SAP) and maintaining good relationships.
• Lead the proposal writing and coordinate with all relevant staff to gather their inputs in a timely fashion with support from the Grants team and coordinate efforts with Regional and HQ-based (NYC, London, Germany) colleagues.
• Support the Grants and Partnership team members and other relevant colleagues in coordinating and maintaining an efficient system for proposal/concept note development and revisions as relevant. Maintain clear responsibilities outlined for management, programs, finance, and operations departments – that yields timely, high quality submissions.
• Ensure proposals are timely tracked with standard IRC tracking tools (e.g. FM01, OTIS).
• Be the primary interlocutor for the HQ-based (NYC, London, Germany) NCA focal points with regards to Business Development initiatives and coordinate with all relevant technical and implementation colleagues and devise the timelines with clear responsibilities for the proposal development and submission.
• Analyze all funding opportunities in collaboration with the technical units’ in-country, Region and HQ levels for further actions.
• Ensure that all current major projects/and those to be developed are aligned with respective Theory of Change with strong Measurement Frameworks.
• Contribute to the identification of potential donors, maintenance of donor relations and mobilization of resources to support planned work as per the SAP, ensuring the Value for Money
• Promote the involvement of stakeholder groups, including implementing partners and beneficiaries (where possible), in designing new projects/ programs.
• Train other country team members as relevant

Team Coordination and grants management support (25%):

• Strengthen the capacity of the Grants & partnerships team members on business development, proposal coordination, writing, grants management, reporting and partnerships
• Ensure that grants & partnership staff collaborate with relevant functional areas (Finance, Supply Chain, etc.) in reviewing donor contracts and outline major concerns to relevant country and HQ based colleagues.
• Support grants & partnership staff and other relevant colleagues in organizing Grant Opening; Regular/Monthly review and Closure Meetings in timely and effective manner
• Ensure the compliance to donor’s policy and procedures at the time of financial and progress reporting.
• Ensure preparation of high quality, comprehensive donor reports, combining information from all the areas, including Finance, Operations, and Programs.
• Support team members in undertaking proactive assessment of potential risks in managing donor contracts throughout the project cycle management, anticipate risks, inform, and support all concerned including SMT to take timely risk mitigation measures
• Support effective coordination with the Award Management Unit in IRC HQs and Region for any day-to-day requirements including periodical realignments of the budgets, managing cost/no-cost extensions etc.

Partnerships (10%):

• In collaboration with the CD and DDP, advance the partnership agenda.
• Support team members in overseeing, facilitating, and coordinating all aspects of partnership life cycle management, from stakeholder analysis, partner identification, due diligence, project development, agreement, start-up, implementation, monitoring through to close-out, coordinating effectively with all programs, operations, and finance components
• Support team members in overseeing the management, coordination, and key risk control elements of IRC NCA´s partnership portfolio to ensure a high level of risk management and compliance in strong, high-quality partnerships that deliver timely and effective assistance in line with IRC’s partnership management system (PEERS).
• Champion robust partner relationship management characterized by the core partnership principles of responsibility, results-oriented approach, equality, transparency, and complementarity.
• Identify, maintain, and engage with key potential partner organizations across the country
• Ensure a high-level of efficiency in seeking approvals from HQ and region to sign the partnership agreement by being proactive and preemptive through consistent learning from past and improving to increase the efficiency of the process.
• Ensure a strong coordination with all key in-country, in the region and HQ to ensure that no unreasonable delays come across in finalizing partnerships.

Qualifications

• Degree in Economics/ Business Administration/ International Relations/ Development Studies or equivalent experience
• Experience in managing USAID agreements and contracts and fundraising activities; preference for candidates with experience managing a range of donor agreements and contracts including UN, ECHO, PRM, SIDA, GIZ, etc.
• Thorough knowledge of partnership due diligence and management practices.
• Proven experience with high-quality report and proposal writing. A writing sample will be required.
• Excellent communication skills in English; high quality copywriting and editing skills
• Proven experience developing budgets, financial management/monitoring, and reporting. An Excel test will be required.
• Experience managing donor projects, preference for experience in both development programs and in emergencies; emphasis on program quality and partnership management.
• High level of analytical skills, negotiation skills and critical thinking
• Ability to manage and lead a team to achieve goals in a complex working environment
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication and relationship skills with ability to influence external organizations and individuals
• 6-7 years of consistent proven and successful experience of program development, managing donors after approval of projects (including reporting, realignments, extensions etc.) and partnership management