Project Development Manager

Background on ACTED

ACTED is a French humanitarian NGO, founded in 1993, which supports vulnerable populations, affected by humanitarian crises worldwide. ACTED provides continued support to vulnerable communities by ensuring the sustainability of post-crisis interventions and engaging long-term challenges facing our target populations, in order to break the poverty cycle, foster development and reduce vulnerability to disasters. Their interventions seek to cover the multiple aspects of humanitarian and development crises through a multidisciplinary approach which is both global and local, and adapted to each context.

ACTED is looking for professionally confident, self-motivated, experienced and committed team player to fill the project development manager Position in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Duties and Responsibilities:

1.      Positioning and Fundraising

1.1  Context Analysis

a)      Analyse the country’s  socio-economic situation, (donor) trends, needs and gaps;

b)     Regularly conduct stakeholder analysis, in particular who does what and where (3W)

c)      Alert the Country Director of gaps and emerging needs in order to trigger assessments in a timely manner;

1.2  Strategy development

a)      Contribute to the development of a country programme strategy in alignment with Acted global/regional strategy;

b)     Assist the CD in identifying strategic opportunities for expanding Acted’s work in the country;

1.3 External relations

a)      Maintain active and regular working relationships with donors and act as point of contact for all donor communication, including the coordination of donor visits in the field;

b)     Maintain active and regular working relationships with other NGOs, UN agencies, clusters, working groups, Alliance2015, consortia and academia;

c)      Ensure the establishment and regular update of a directory of donors, international and local NGOs, other partners and stakeholders;

d)     Lead the reporting to national and local authorities as required by Acted registration/legal status in country;

e)     In the absence of Technical Coordinators, represent Acted in key clusters, working groups, HCT and (I)NGO coordination bodies.

1.4 Fundraising and proposal development

a)      Identify funding opportunities;

b)     Identify new donors for diversifying Acted donors’ portfolio including private companies and private foundations;

c)      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;

d)     Update on a monthly basis the Donor Follow Up (DFU) which documents latest negotiations and proposal possibilities with  donors;

e)     Liaise with MEAL to contribute to the ToRs of assessments to be conducted for proposal development and ensure their input in the logframe development (in particular the formulation of SMART indicators);

f)       Oversee the development of fundraising documents (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;

g)      Liaise with Area Coordinators, Project Managers and Technical Coordinators to ensure that proposals are relevant and technically sound;

h)     Ensure that learning from previous projects (e.g. lessons learnt and best practices) is incorporated into new proposals;

i)       Ensure the involvement of FLATS teams in the development of fundraising documents, particularly finance for the budget and logistics in case of specific donor procurement rules.

1.5. Contracting

a)      Support the Country Director in negotiating proposals and/or contracts with donors;

b)     Address in a timely manner all comments by donors on proposals in liaison with relevant staff in country and Acted HQ GMU and finance;

c)      Read thoroughly all contracts before signature, seeking Acted HQ GMU and finance advice when required.

2. Grant Management

2.1. Contract follow-up

Ensure that contractual obligations (including visibility requirements) and reporting 

a)      deadlines are known and met by Programme, MEAL and FLATS team;

b)     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.

2.2.  Reporting

a)      Ensure project kick-off and close out meetings are conducted for each project;

b)     Oversee the development of 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;

c)      Liaise with FLATS teams when preparing reports, esp. with finance to ensure greater coherence between financial and narrative reports by crosschecking the matching of data in the narrative and financial reports;

d)     Work in close relation with MEAL to incorporate MEAL data (incl. data on input, process, output, outcome and impact indicators, lessons learnt and best practices) in reports and review M&E reports from MEAL;

e)     Update monthly the Reporting Follow Up (RFU) and ensure smooth and regular communication with Acted HQ GMU;

f)       Ensure ad hoc requests from donors are addressed in liaison with the CD, Programme and support teams.

2.3.  Partner Follow-up

a)      Liaise with partners to develop and sign relevant grant agreements in close coordination with Acted HQ GMU and finance;

b)     Ensure all potential partners have a clear understanding of what is expected in terms of reporting so as to comply with Acted and donor requirements and regulations;

c)      Ensure partners report to Acted in a timely and qualitative manner as per the requirements of the grant agreement.

3. Management and Internal Coordination

3.1. Staff Management

a)      Ensure that staff in the department understands and is able to perform its roles and responsibilities;

b)     Manage a team of Project Development Officers, Interns and Assistants delineating their responsibilities and follow-up the work plans and day-to-day activities;

c)      Ensure a positive working environment and good team dynamics;

d)     Manage interpersonal conflicts between departmental staff members;

e)     Undertake regular appraisals of staff and follow career management;

f)            Identify the PDD training needs, discuss plans with the coordination and HR for both internal and external trainings, and implement them according to PDD strategic and operational priorities;

g)      Coach, train, and mentor the PDD team with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the PDD team and providing professional development guidance.

3.2. Internal Coordination and Communication

a)      Facilitate interdepartmental communication and information sharing from the Base, to the Area, Capital, and even up to the regional and HQ offices by ensuring implementation of Acted coordination mechanisms (WAM, MCM) and dissemination to relevant staff;

b)     Ensure these meeting minutes are sent monthly to HQ;

c)      Ensure regular and clear communication with Acted HQ GMU and finance to keep it updated about latest development, so that GMU can best advice you ahead of a task.

3.3. Filing

a)       Implement a filing system end ensure the proper filing of contractual project documents both in hard and soft copies;

b)       Together with MEAL, set up a Resource Centre at the office regularly updated with appropriate and relevant external and internal resources.

 4.      External Communication

a)      Oversee the PDD’s contributions to Acted’s 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;

b)     Ensure the continuum of PR activities, including formal presentations, engaging media for coverage on success stories, updating project-specific and regional fact sheets, and documenting publications featuring Acted in the media;

c)      Manage Acted’s in country communication activities including media visits, photographer’s mission, videos, etc.;

d)     Oversee 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;

e)     Follow, contribute to, draft and disseminate position papers, statements, reports and releases on Acted’s engagements and humanitarian advocacy, in line with Acted’s in country and global strategy as well as positioning, in close collaboration with the country director as well as HQ communication and programme departments.

·   Own at least a Master Degree

·    At least 5 years’ experience in the humanitarian sector in high management position;

·   At least 5 years’ experience working with NGOs;

·   Perfectly fluent in English and French (any other language will be an asset);

·   Proved ability to work under pressure;

·   Willingness to be deployed all over the country for field mission in remote areas;

 Key Performance Indicators

·    % success rate of proposals;

·    % of proposals submitted in a timely manner;

·    % of reports submitted in a timely manner [for final reports by Acted internal reporting deadline];

·    Number of donors in portfolio and % change as compared to previous year or prior to arrival;

·    Number of clusters/working groups/coordination mechanisms with active Acted participation

·    Retention rate among PD staff;

·    Regular and timely holding of internal coordination meetings and submission of minutes/reports to HQ (WAM, MCM, MAR);

·    Number of advocacy papers drafted and/or contributed to during the past 6/12 months;