CARE Malawi
Position: Business Development Lead
CARE is a leading humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty and social injustice with a special emphasis on women and girls. CARE International is a global force and a partner of choice within a worldwide movement dedicated to ending poverty in over 100 countries. We are known everywhere for our unshakable commitment to the dignity of people. CARE partners contribute to the empowerment of the most marginalized and vulnerable rural women and girls to exercise their rights.
CARE Malawi has recently launched a new Country Strategic Plan which is well aligned with the CARE Vision 2030 and Government Strategies including the Malawi Vision 2063.
In order to successfully deliver the new Strategic Plan, CARE Country Office is looking for a suitably qualified person to fill a vacant position of Business Development Lead (BDL) which is available in the Country Office in Lilongwe.
Position: Business Development Lead (BDL)
The BDL will play a strong resource mobilization role and support delivering an efficient and effective awards management function in ensuring that the Country Office has a robust and diverse donor funding base. In addition, the BDL will also be responsible for ensuring that programs are properly implemented fulfilling CARE QUALITY and ACCOUNTABILITY standards along with delivering the desired IMPACTS that significantly contribute to reducing poverty and social injustice.
Position description
The BDL will drive strategic and proactive resource mobilization approaches and work to improve donor and internal CARE engagement/visibility and implementation of Resource Mobilization processes and tools (e.g., proposal development, Resource mobilization, knowledge Management, reporting, etc.). The BDL will proactively identify and track donor opportunities, facilitate donor engagement, develop fundraising strategies, and coordinate proposal development for large and strategic funding opportunities. S/he will also ensure that systems, policies, procedures, and people are in place to ensure proper Awards management in line with both CARE and donor rules and regulations. The BDL will also play a key role in identifying and nurturing partnership opportunities to maximize collective impact and work with Awards and Sub Awards Managers in the management of all programmes and develop best awards management practices and processes across the Country Office.
This position requires innovative thinking and creativity to effectively represent CARE’s capacity, attract the right donor support, and grow the Country Office’s portfolio. The position also requires the ability to work with diverse teams; including but not limited to technical specialists and advisors, program operations, finance, HR, security, resource mobilization, Awards management, and Monitoring Evaluation Accountability & Learning (MEAL) staff at the country, regional and global levels.
Specific Roles and Responsibilities
The successful candidate will be expected to perform the following specific duties:
- Ensure resource mobilization efforts align with the Country Office and CARE regional and Global strategies.
- Develop a resource mobilization strategy and update it on a yearly basis in collaboration with CARE International Member Partners and the CARE USA global Resource Mobilisation team, liaising with members to determine opportunities, support global donor relationship management, and align member and country funding strategies.
- Lead portfolio and funding assessment (portfolio analysis, donor landscape assessments, funding opportunity assessment) in order to identify potential donors to advance the country office strategy.
- Develop funding tracking systems and mechanisms to track funding against the country strategy and annual targets and revise annual fundraising targets and forecasts accordingly.
- Conduct win/loss analysis and provide recommendations for the country office to increase the success rate, while maintaining an appetite for innovative programme design
- Lead in organizing key donor meetings and initiate donor contacts when necessary to foster long-term collaboration and engagement. Pro-actively seek donor intelligence on prospective new opportunities or partnership.
- Research, identify, and disseminate information on different actors in the Malawi context for strategic new partnerships.
- Cultivate business relationships with external stakeholders and potential partners for large scale or strategic funding opportunities, either as a prime or sub-recipient in joint ventures.
- Identify, research, and disseminate information on new funding opportunities from bilateral, multi-lateral and other institutional donors as well as private sector and non-traditional donors.
- Lead the development of donor engagement plans and optimise donor engagement.
- Develop donor engagement strategy and facilitate donor engagement prior, during, and after donor meetings, or visits to program sites as required.
- Coordinate all proposal development including the development of high-value or complex proposals or bids, building on global, regional, and national expertise, and ensuring the highest quality product.
- Facilitate, in collaboration with the country office program technical leads, inputs from technical teams to ensure that programmes benefit from CARE’s global expertise while remaining relevant to the local context.
- Maintain an updated database of high performing consultants and facilitate engagement of consultants on proposals or when technical specialists are needed.
- Support the development of general and thematic capacity statements in coordination with technical specialists, Advocacy & Communication and Monitoring Evaluation Accountability & Learning (MEAL) teams.
- Ensure that the Awards Management System (AMS) is effectively maintained and up to date for all awards and sub-awards including authorization, reporting timelines, and document retention.
- Engage globally on the development of CARE systems, processes, and the sharing of best practices.
- Ensure that key staff (including partners) have a clear understanding of donor compliance requirements throughout the project management cycle and that there is a complete audit trail of the implementation and reporting for all awards.
- Ensure all partner organizations undergo legal vetting against prescribed organization lists, and that this status is recorded and updated as needed in the Awards Management System.
- Work with program staff to ensure relevant donor requirements are effectively communicated and understood by implementing partners.
- Support capacity building and compliance with all new and existing partners including regular monitoring and systems in place so that partner delivery meets donor expectations and requirements, in collaboration with programme operations.
- Lead on partnership strategy development and adherence, roll out global partnerships policies and procedures, and develop contextualized tools.
Minimum Required Qualifications, skills and relevant work experience
- Bachelor’s degree preferably in Business Management, Economics, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Agriculture/Agri-business or any related field from a recognized university. Master’s degree in any the above or related areas will be an added advantage.
- 5-7 years extensive experience of business development, project design, Awards, and partnerships management.
- Demonstrated experience in development of complex integrated social development and humanitarian programmes to various major donors including USAID, FCDO, GIZ, EU/EC, Irish Aid, private sector donors and various Trust and Foundations.
- Demonstrated proposal writing skills, awareness of different donor requirements and templates/formats, and coordination of proposal development processes.
- Demonstrated experience in programme Awards management.
- Technical training in any of the fields related to CARE ’s thematic priorities (e.g., livelihoods, Health and nutrition, education, Gender Equal, climate justice, protection, Women’s Economic Empowerment, and adolescent development, etc.) is an added advantage.
- Demonstrated experience in a similar role or senior management role that included similar responsibilities with clear articulation of achievements or contributions.
- Good team player, strong listening skills and demonstrative learning attitude, hardworking and devotion who can adapt challenging situations without compromising compliance and quality.
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision as well as to work as part of a team.
Method Of Application
Applicants who meet the required qualifications and experience should send their applications through email to
Email: [email protected]
addressed to the attention of:
The Country Director
CARE Malawi
P/Bag A89
LILONGWE
Closing date for receipt of applications is 15 November 2024. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
CARE has zero tolerance to sexual exploitation and abuse and has a Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Policy which outlines expected behaviors and responsibilities of all staff and CARE related personnel (consultants, vendors, partners, project participants, etc.). All potential candidates will be required to complete a Self-Declaration Form and those successful will be expected to sign up to the Code of Behavior contained in the PSEA Policy.