The Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa (RST ESA) provides leadership and coordinates support for an expanded UN system response to ending the AIDS epidemic at regional and country level. It steers, promotes, and supports regional and national partners and the UN system towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Using an equity and equality lens as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the RST ESA promotes effective use of strategic information of the epidemic trends and the status of its response and provides technical leadership on people-centered HIV prevention and response in the region focused on key populations and locations most at risk.
The External Relations Department mobilizes resources for the Joint Programme which includes core funding, non-core (extra-budgetary funding) and grants oversight and leads the engagement with private sector. The Department further builds, maintains, and nurtures strategic relationship with a variety of international and bilateral institutions and member states, the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) and its members, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and others, inter alia ensuring that UNAIDS governance remains inclusive and fair, with equal access to engagement in processes, committees and decision making.
Main tasks and Responsibilities of the Position:
Reporting to the Regional Director, and matrixed to Director, Resource Mobilization, the Regional Advisor oversees the resource mobilization portfolio.
He / she has the following key responsibilities:
Donor relationship management:
Maintains and strengthens relations with donors and identifies strategic opportunities for developing relations with new donors. This includes helping to develop collaborative relationships with non-traditional donors and non-Official Development Assistance (ODA) sources of funding.
Liaises with donors on issues relating to resource mobilization, programme priorities, partnerships, governance, and organizational results and impact. Represents the RST in discussions with donor governments and other external funders and partners in the assigned portfolio and builds effective partnerships with UNAIDS supporters.
Coordinates UNAIDS’s inputs into activities and events with donors such as multilateral reviews, missions, meetings, consultations and alike, as required, conducting all necessary activities to initiate, plan, implement, follow up and evaluate such events. Prepares resource mobilization briefing documents for others and prepares and delivers presentations for audiences within and outside of UNAIDS.
Develops concept papers, proposals, and agreements for submission to external funders, or provides advice to this effect.
Ensure robust implementation and reporting on funded programmes.
Negotiates with relevant government ministries and agencies on new contracts, funding extensions and reprogramming, as required in consultation with other relevant UNAIDS organizational units.
Market intelligence gathering and provision of resource mobilization advice:
Gathers market intelligence and strategic information on funding and emerging donor priorities and shares information as required to support core funding of UNAIDS. This includes the analysis funding trends and programming as input into the development of resource mobilization strategies and analyses.
Provides information and advice on donor priorities and interests to inform UNAIDS leadership and colleagues on opportunities for resource mobilization. Advises on the contents of donor proposals and negotiations for funding on priorities approved by senior management.
In conjunction with colleagues across UNAIDS, develops guidelines and tools to support the organization-wide resource mobilization effort.
Knowledge management and collaboration:
Keeps up to date all relevant organizational databases, such as on donors, on projected incoming resources and alike.
Participates in advising on the resource mobilization strategy providing advice on innovative initiatives for increasing financial support.
Proactively seeks and implements collaboration with external resource mobilization teams, for example in cosponsor organizations, for the implementation of joint resource mobilization activities.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications:
Education:
Essential:
Advanced university degree at Master´s level or equivalent in international relations, public affairs, communications, political or social sciences or another field related to the responsibilities.
Experience:
Essential:
At least seven years’ work experience in/with bilateral or multilateral development organizations, including in external/donor relations, negotiation, innovative partnerships development and major funding initiatives with donors and/or governments.
