The Senior Program officer will support the line management to ensure that the resource acquisition process and partnerships are managed well contributing to a culture of performance and accountability for results increasing the resource base and diversified strategic engagement with multiple Institutional donors, Multi-laterals, UN and partners. Realizing the growth potential, it has become imperative to a position to help support the growth as per country strategy that is envisaged.

The senior Program officer will work to manage and build the capacities of the Program Development Unit (PDU) and other internal partners for better networking, resourcing grants, and institutional fund acquisition capacities, enhancing dialogue with donors for increased funding opportunities. Orienting and positioning PDU and other departments for coalitions and consortia engagements and developing grants management capacity (compliance, timeliness, and accuracy of reporting, grants tracking to reduce organizational liabilities, etc.). This role will also identify, pursue, and negotiate financial, nonfinancial and risk-sharing partnerships with a range of partners (government agencies, donors, other non-governmental organizations and UN in Sudan to expand the reach and impact.

The position will monitor and will be responsible for the progress of partnerships and resourcing ability by developing implementing and evaluating donors and partnership engagement plans, donors and partners communication strategies, set up fundraising targets, improve KPIs in grants and partnership management and overview proposal development and contract management processes.

The position-holder will mentor Program Officer/s, guiding the design of proposals, provision of timely/quality reporting, and positioning with donors/supporters to enhance the reputation of the organization. And also will coordinate Donor engagement, UN, World Vision (WV), and government forums, promoting regular attendance, coordination, information-sharing, and promoting WV leadership when and where possible. He or she will encourage the development of prepositioning and marketing materials to promote fund-raising. This position will report to the GAM director will work closely coordinate with the Operations Director, sector technical teams, Finance, People & Culture (P&C/HR), and Support services.

The success of this position will be evaluated under below motioned vital success factors:

• Funding Growth: Increased income from a range of funding partners in line with World Vision Sudan strategic priorities.
• Project Delivery and Program Resourcing Partners: Established a new partnership and well managed existing partnerships within World Vision Sudan, which are in line with the strategic plan and meet set targets.
• Project Design: Package large scale high reach projects into contracts/MoUs, Proposals, and WV Sudan’s working environments that meet the needs of both new Donors, partners, and the World Vision Sudan.
• Leadership: To lead and manage the team of program officers and Junior Program officer in PDU and ensure to build their capacity with right skill sets and competencies.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Donor Scoping & Mapping:

• Work closely with the Grant acquisition and Management (GAM) Director and the National Director to scope new potential donors and formulate a strategy to engage these new donors.
• Maintain a good working relationship with donors (bilateral & multilateral, UN/NGO partners, peer organizations, and support offices and to cultivate an influencing environment for strong partnerships/ alliances.
• Develop and regularly update the World Vision Sudan’s donor engagement strategy.
• In coordination with the Communications Manager, develop and disseminate World Vision Sudan’s success stories, visibility and branding materials and case studies to donors.
• Review donors’ thematic and geographical priorities, mechanisms for channeling funding and partnerships on a bi-annual basis and work with the Senior Management Team to adjust World Vision’s strategy accordingly.

Proposal Development & Contract/Bid Management:

• Develop Well-integrated, high-quality project designs for submission in response to published solicited and unpublished unsolicited requests (RFAs / RFPs) and maintain a high win-rate of proposals submitted.
• Supervise the process of grant proposals development. Ensure that there is a substantial team in place for every proposal being developed.
• Track proposal reviews and approvals with donors and support offices.
• Provide a framework for interagency engagement and development of consortia proposals.
• Liaise with technical teams to leverage their support in the grants development process. Support professional staff to engage with technical (donor) networks.
• Attend and make a presentation on behalf of WV Sudan to all key donor meetings.

Quality Assurance & Donor Compliance Management:

• Expand and enhance WV Sudan systems and processes for monitoring and evaluation of partners and their impact.
• Monitor and continue to refine partners' reporting system to WV Sudan, including measuring the impact of the partner programs and WV Sudan support.
• Contribute to the reporting and communication of impact and results in WV Sudan investing.
• Expand and enhance WV Sudan systems and processes for monitoring and evaluation of partners and their impact.
• In coordination with the M&E Manager, collate, organize and archive past and current proposals in a centralized, accessible location ensuring the integrity of the information within these proposals.
• Working closely with the M&E Manager, ensure past evidence from implementation, lessons learned and new data from needs assessments inform design the design of new projects.
• Monitor and continue to refine partners' reporting system to WV Sudan, including measuring the impact of the partner programs and WV Sudan support.
• Lead and Support in project kick-off/startup workshops to ensure concepts articulated in proposals are clearly understood by implementation teams, and such concepts are translated into viable and time-bound in work plans/project implementation tables.
• In liaison with the Zonal Ops team, Program Managers / Area Coordinators and Technical teams, identify humanitarian gaps and pre-emptively develop programs to market to both institutional and non-institutional donors.
• Contribute to the reporting and communication of impact and results to WV Sudan investments.

Capacity Building: Actively engage in knowledge and skills transfer of program development and fundraising to national staff. This will include regular training and involvement of national staff in fundraising and program development activities.

Other: Perform other duties as required.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

Required:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Rural Development; Social Sciences or a related field from an accredited university. A Master’s degree in a similar field would be preferable.
• At least seven years of previous experience in project development; fundraising, proposal development, and donor liaison in INGO in a relief and development context. At least four years of direct project management a similar, conflict-prone environment.
• Have the experience of dealing negotiations with the Government, Bi / Multi-lateral Agencies, and institutional donors.
• Knowledge and awareness of Sudan or fragile context.
• Willingness to live and travel in harsh conditions.
• Experience in working in a cross-cultural environment.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of the humanitarian industry (relief, development, and advocacy), including how INGOs operate in the global and local contexts. Understanding WV current ministry and operations are critical.
• Broad understanding and in-depth knowledge of donors, government and bi/multilateral agency requirements and systems.
• Excellent writing skills with attention to detail.
• Knowledge of World Vision’s Child wellbeing objectives.
• Exceptional English Language communication skills (oral and written).
• Outstanding analytical/problem-solving skills and proven attention to detail in the development of written documents.
• Knowledge of World Vision’s initiatives and field operations.
• Clear understanding of donor relations with a track record of successful grant management.
• Documented and traceable experience in program development, writing reports, as well as evidence of donor engagement.
• Cross-cultural sensitivity, flexible worldview, emotional maturity, and physical stamina.
• Ability to maintain performance expectations in diverse cultural contexts, psychologically stressful environments, and physical hardship conditions with limited resources.
• Commitment to World Vision Core Values and Mission Statement.
• Ability to exhibit exemplary lifestyle as interpreted in a specific local cultural context.
• Adept in expressing ideas thoughts and concepts clearly and effectively.

Computer Skills: Demonstrates practical computer skills including the use of SPSS, Microsoft Office Suite, Lotus Notes.

Preferred: Prior knowledge and or willingness to learn Arabic.

Source:https://careers.wvi.org/jobs/sudan/field-operations/senior-programme-officer/12790