Sri Lanka : Country Project Development Officer– Colombo At Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development

Fixed Term | 6 Months | ASAP

Acted

For the past 30 years, international NGO Acted has been going the last mile to save lives. Currently, Acted supports 20 million people across 43 countries to meet their needs in hard-to-reach areas – and pursues a triple mandate as a humanitarian, environmental and development aid actor. Acted relies on an in-depth knowledge of local territories and contexts to develop and implement relevant long-term actions, with a wide range of local and international partners, building together a “3ZERO” world: Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty

Acted Sri Lanka

Acted has been present in Sri Lanka ever since January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the violent tsunami that struck the east coast of the island in December 2004. Since the deployment of disaster relief and rehabilitation activities in the Eastern Province, the NGO has remained mobilized to respond to specific emergencies caused in particular by natural disasters, and has worked with communities and local civil society to build sustainable resilience and support the most vulnerable.

The Project Development Officer (PDO) contributes to the development of project proposals in line with Acted’s global and in-country programme strategy, and ensures proper grant management, incl. timely reporting of project achievements to donors. The PDO facilitates internal communication and coordination with relevant departments and contributes to Acted external communication strategy.

You will be in charge of

Fundraising
1. Context Analysis
  1. Analyse the country’s socio-economic situation, (donor) trends, needs and gaps;
  2. Regularly conduct stakeholder analysis, in particular who does what and where (3W)
2. External relations
  1. Maintain active and regular working relationships with donors
  2. Maintain active and regular working relationships with other NGOs, UN agencies, clusters, working groups, Alliance2015, consortia and academia;
  3. Regularly update a directory of donors, international and local NGOs, other partners and stakeholders;
  4. Contribute to the reporting to national and local authorities as required by Acted registration/legal status in country;
  5. In the absence of Technical Coordinators, represent Acted in key clusters and working group meetings.
3. Fundraising and proposal development
  1. Identify funding opportunities;
  2. Contribute to the identification of potential relevant international and/or local partners (private sector partners, national and international NGOs, think tanks, academia, etc.) to be included in proposals;
  3. Liaise with AMEU to contribute to the ToRs of assessments to be conducted for proposal development and to request their input in the logframe development (esp. formulation of SMART indicators);
  4. Contribute to the development of fundraising documents (be it expression of Interests/ Concept Notes/ Proposals) in line with Acted country strategy and donor requirements and in close collaboration with Acted HQ GMU (Grant Management Unit) and finance;
  5. Liaise with Area Coordinators, Project Managers and Technical Coordinators to ensure that proposals are relevant and technically sound;
  6. Integrate learning from previous interventions (e.g. lessons learnt and best practices) into new proposals
  7. Involve FLATS teams in the development of fundraising documents, particularly finance for the budget and logistics in case of specific donor procurement rules.
4. Contracting
  1. Contribute to addressing in a timely manner all comments by donors on proposals in liaison with relevant staff in country and Acted HQ GMU and finance;
  2. Read thoroughly all contracts before signature, seeking Acted HQ GMU and finance advice when required.
Grant Management
1. Contract follow-up
  1. Ensure that contractual obligations (including visibility requirements) and reporting deadlines are known and met by Programme, AMEU and FLATS team;
  2. When any issue is identified in meeting deliverables in the given timeframe and budget, inform relevant staff in country and seek Acted HQ Program Department advice on potential solutions that would meet donor rules.
2. Reporting
  1. Participate in and take minutes of kick-off and close out meetings for each project
  2. Write quality narrative reports, reflecting the progress and status of projects in a transparent, timely and professional manner, in liaison with Acted HQ GMU and finance, which will contribute ultimately to steady cash inflow;
  3. Work in close relation with AMEU to incorporate AME data (incl. data on input, process, output, outcome and impact indicators, lessons learnt and best practices) in reports and review M&E reports from AMEU;
  4. Liaise with FLATS teams when preparing reports, especially with finance to ensure greater coherence between financial and narrative reports by crosschecking the matching of data in the narrative and financial reports;
  5. Contribute to the monthly update of the Reporting Follow Up (RFU) and ensure smooth and regular communication with Acted HQ GMU.
  6. Ensure ad hoc requests from donors are addressed in liaison with the CD, programme and support teams;
3. Partner Follow-up
  1. Liaise with partners when required to develop relevant grant agreements in close coordination with Acted HQ GMU and finance;
  2. Ensure partners report to Acted in a timely and qualitative manner as per the requirements of the grant agreement.
Management and Internal Coordination
1. Staff Management (if any)
  1. Manage a Project Development Intern and/or Assistant(s) if any, following up the work plans and day-to-day activities;
  2. Mentor the PDI and/ or PDA with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity.
2. Internal Coordination and Communication
  1. Facilitate interdepartmental communication and information sharing from the Base, to the Area, Capital, and even up to the regional and HQ offices by taking minutes of the various Acted coordination meetings
  2. Ensure these meeting minutes are sent monthly to HQ;
  3. Keep Acted HQ GMU and finance updated on latest developments, opportunities and challenges so that GMU can best advice on the way forward.
3. Filing
  1. File properly contractual project documents both in hard and soft copies;
  2. Update regularly the Resource Centre at the office with appropriate and relevant external and internal resources.
External Communication
1. Contribute to Acted external communication strategy by feeding regularly Acted HQ Communication Department with informal updates on projects, a flash news, pictures, articles on projects progress and/or specific events for Acted communication tools, including, but not limited to, Acted Newsletter, websites and Acted Annual Report;
2. Ensure the update and design of in country communication and visibility tools and publications, their dissemination and availability to Acted teams, as well as the capitalization of media and pictures of the mission;

Expected skills and qualifications

Master Level education in a relevant field such as International Relations, Development or Political Science
1-2 years previous work experience in a relevant position
Previous related work experience, with knowledge of proposal writing and donors relations
Excellent skills in written and spoken English
Strong negotiation and interpersonal skills
Ability to work in a multicultural and fast-paced environment
Ability to work well under pressure

Conditions

Salary between 1500 and 1700 € monthly (before income tax), depending on the level of education, security level, etc as well as a monthly living allowance of $300
Accommodation and food provided in Acted guesthouse
Pension, health insurance, life insurance and repatriation assistance (& unemployment insurance for EU citizens)
Flight tickets every 6 months & visa fees covered
Contribution to the luggage transportation: up to 100 kgs, depending on the length of the contract
Annual leave of 25 to 43 days per year
One week pre-departure training in Acted HQ, including a 4-days in situ security training
Tax advice (free 30-minute call with a tax consultant)
Psychological assistance