Afghanaid Programme Funding and Donors Relations Officer

The Organisation Afghanaid is an international NGO (www.afghanaid.org.uk), registered in the UK, specializing in Afghanistan since 1981. Afghanaid has been assisting and facilitating people-driven processes of recovery and development to address rights, entitlements and needs of Afghans in some of the most remote areas of the country for nearly three decades. Afghanaid’s Board of Trustees is based in the UK, together with its registered office. The Head Office is located in Kabul. Afghanaid works in four provinces, namely Badakhshan (north-eastern region), Samangan (northern region), Ghor (western region) and Nuristan (eastern region). 18 district offices and 4 provincial offices serve these provinces, which are well resourced with experienced and skilled Afghan women and men staff, with management support and technical guidance provided by a roving team of senior national and international managers based in Kabul. Afghanaid has over 400 staff members, 97% of them are Afghans. Afghanaid is mandated to facilitate and support Afghan women, men and children in their fight against poverty, inequality and vulnerability through a range of interventions, most supporting grass-roots and local level capacity development, facilitating local development processes, and institution building. Evidence of change from Afghanaid’s programme work leverages its national level advocacy and policy influencing work. All advocacy and policy influencing work of Afghanaid’s is embedded in its grassroots programming work. Afghanaid values knowledge generation from its work and sharing for replication and/or scaling up by itself and others. The evidence of the impact of Afghanaid’s work has earned it recognition, respect and identity with stakeholders within and outside the country. Afghanaid’s work is guided by four pillars: Economic Rights (Food Security and Agriculture Growth; Rural Financing, Market Access and Rural Enterprise); Social Rights (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Education); Civil Rights (Gender Equality; Community Development; Local Governance); Right to Life (Humanitarian Response; Disaster Risk Reduction). Afghanaid is a rights-based learning organization that works with both right bearers and duty holders through grassroots programming and advocacy and policy initiatives at the micro, meso and macro levels. The Department This position sits within the Advocacy and Partnership Development Department (APDD), which covers following scope of work: • Development of project proposals, concept notes and budget for funding bodies (multilateral, bilateral, Trusts and Foundations) • Internal and external reporting of various types on Afghanaid’s work • Internal and external communication and information to staff, supporters in the UK, to support fundraising in the UK • Development and maintenance of relationships with old and new funding partners • Advocacy on issues embedded in grassroots programming on poverty reduction and humanitarian action through coalitions and alliances with others at sub-national, national and global level • Knowledge management through evidence-based research, policy briefing papers, documentation of best practices and lessons learned and commissioning mid-term reviews and project evaluations • Capacity development of national and international staff in relevant areas The Role The Programme Funding and Donors Relations Officer is a key position within the organisation, which under the overall steer of the Managing Director and direct line management of Director APDD, is responsible to contribute and strengthen actions in line with the fundraising strategy and priorities of the organisation. In specific the post holder will: • Raise funds for humanitarian relief, development programmes and advocacy and evidence-based research through production of quality proposals, concept notes together with LFA and budgets • Ensure quality and consistency in relationships with institutional donors • Support programme teams in planning and managing restricted and unrestricted funds • Produce donors reports working closely with programme and finance teams, and ensure quality and coherence of narrative and financial reports • Manage commissioned out projects midterm reviews and evaluations Key Responsibilities The incumbent will be responsible and accountable for effective delivery and achieving results in the following key areas of responsibilities: Fundraising Strategy and Donors Mapping • Support and contribute in development of fundraising strategy and plan of action • In line with the fundraising strategy, assist with research on new donor prospects and support line manager and MD in developing and maintaining relationships with them • Support in regular scanning of donor environment and intelligence gathering to keep donors database active and current • Keep abreast and ensure line manager and MD are well informed of country assistance strategies and plans of institutional donors including large Trusts and Foundations Proposal, LFA and Budget Development • Working closely with programme and other departmental teams, develop high quality funding proposals, budgets and LFAs to sources of restricted monies including institutional donors and Trusts and Foundations; either in agreed sectoral areas and/or to specific donors • Support programme, monitoring & evaluation teams in designing and conducting situation/needs analysis and data gathering to develop district poverty profile and ranking as a basis to prioritise geographical and thematic intervention areas and to identify target beneficiaries • Ensure advance timeline of proposal / concept note development agreed by all concerned staff at head office as well as provincial and district offices • Attend donors information sessions related with different calls for proposals or for unsolicited proposals • Draft and share with relevant teams and MD brief on new opportunities of funding • Secure sign off of the proposals / concept note and budget by relevant thematic / sectoral team leader, provincial manager and final sign off by MD Donors Contract Management and Compliance • Monitor donor funding allocations against programme budget • Review donor contracts and support proactively programme, HR, Finance and Logistics teams in ensuring compliance of donor contractual requirements (e.g. donor guidelines on procurement, monitoring, reporting, security and other related areas) • Monitor and provide feedback to programme teams on expenditure and expense posting and coding to correct account codes as per the approved budget of the project • Review monthly financial expenditure reports and donor reports and verify actual spend allocation to donors against the donor approved budgets, give heads up to line manager and MD on wrong coding/classification of expenditure and on significant over/under spends vis-à-vis phased spending plans • Support in development of creative ideas for visibility plans for projects and their timely implementation, in line with donors guidelines • Assist programme teams with development of project specific brochures and their publication and dissemination to relevant stakeholders • Keep line manager and MD and other senior staff informed of any projected inabilities to meet contractual obligations • Draft response to queries regarding contract management from both internal and external sources • Assist in contract amendment cases, as required Data and Filing System • Ensure that data regarding donors contracts is updated regularly in Funding Grid and Donors Reporting system • Ensure that complete and accurate programme funding filing system (hard and electronic) is developed, is easily retrievable and records are well maintained • Completion and regular maintenance of restricted income Contract Information Summary Sheets and their sharing with all relevant teams Donor Reporting, Midterm Reviews and Project Evaluations • Ensure donor reporting schedules are kept up to date and that timelines are shared with programme managers and finance team in advance and agreed • Produce timely and high quality donor reporting with evidence-based results from projects, in close collaboration with the programme teams, using donors’ formats, guidelines and standards and ensure they are impact oriented and not only output oriented • Arrange human interest case studies, lessons learned and best practices with photos of pre-after interventions state for inclusion in reports • Where possible, support programme teams in production of video documentaries as evidence of results of Afghanaid’s work • Ensure sign off on the donors’ reports and TORs of projects midterm review and evaluations by relevant programme teams (sectoral / thematic team leaders) and the final sign off by MD • Act as commissioning manager for midterm reviews and end of the project evaluations and impact assessments Donors Relations • Coordinate logistics and other details, as required, for arranging field/monitoring visits of donors to Afghanaid’s programme • Support line manager and MD with maintenance of donors relations and networks through arranging regular meetings with donors and briefings on ongoing projects Other Duties • Under the guidance or direct line management and overview manager, set performance objectives, develop quarterly priorities and work plan in line with performance objectives, and conduct periodic self appraisal of performance • Hold regular one-to-one line management meetings with direct line manager and overview manager as appropriate to review monthly progress against agreed priorities, document the decisions emerging from 1:1 meetings, and ensure agreed actions and decisions are followed through • Mainstream gender into all aspects of the Afghanaid’s policy research & advocacy work • Manage implementation of policy and advocacy biased projects • Ensure advocacy and policy work is integrated and resourced in programme proposals • Develop basic tools to document evidence-based impact and results post holder is responsible for (as outlined above) • Any other duties as assigned by direct line manager or overview manager Note: This job description does not form part of the contract of employment; it is subject to change in accordance with the changing needs of the organisation. The post-holder will work at all times in a way which is consistent with the organisation’s commitment to equality of opportunity. Person’s Specification Area / Essential Requirement Education Master’s Degree in relevant research-based discipline (Development, Anthropology, Policy and Research, International Relations or similar subjects) Work Experience , Skills and Competencies • At least 5 years of professional experience in fundraising, production of high quality proposals/LFA and budgeting, and in donor reporting • Highly developed analytical skills • Solid understanding of poverty, humanitarian and conflict related policy and practice environment in Afghanistan • Excellent communication skills and experience of working in multi-cultural teams • Demonstrated ability to think strategically, plan and meet deadlines • Development and production of a wide array of communication materials such as project brochures, best practice and lessons learned studies, human interest case studies • Inter-personal skills; team player and problem solving skills • Proficiency in computer software including word processing, spreadsheets, PPT, etc. • Proven skills in mentoring, coaching and facilitating learning and development of national staff • Competent to work with significant levels of autonomy with limited supervision and able to meet tight deadlines • Proven track record of gender mainstreaming • Fluent in English - spoken and written • A results-oriented approach to delivering work priorities Values and Attitudes • Ability to deal with difficult, often challenging work situations • A willingness to live, travel and work in isolated and possibly high risk locations • Behavioural role model for peers and fellow team members • Commitment to humanitarian principles and action and to Afghanaid’s equal opportunity and gender policies • Sympathy with the mission and vision of Afghanaid • Commitment to empowering and rights-based approaches to support poor Afghan women and men in securing their rights • Personal integrity, sense of humour, intuitive and self motivation • Knowledge of personal strengths and weaknesses • Ability to manage conflicting priorities in personal workload, meet tight deadlines and achieve results • Sensitivity to Islamic culture and respect of Afghan customs and traditions How to apply: Only applications that address the stipulated duties and meet the required qualifications will be considered. Applicants are requested to submit their CVs along with a cover letter explaining suitability for the position to Masooma Faizi, Human Resources Officer at vacancies@afghanaid.org.uk Deadline for submission is 6th October 2012.