Regional Institutional Portfolio Development Manager*

The position is to be filled as soon as possible, with an initial contract duration of two years. There are good prospects for an extension. Employment location will be Bamako, Mali, with frequent travel to programme countries in the region.

As Regional Institutional Portfolio Development Manager at Welthungerhilfe (WHH), you will be responsible for supporting portfolio development across all countries in the Central Sahel region (including Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger). In doing so, you will guide, support, and build capacity for new grant development, strategic donor relationships, active tracking and analysis of country and regional pipelines and portfolios, planning for new opportunity development in the region, and well-coordinated and competitive proposal management processes.

Your responsibilities

• Provide intelligence, generating leads and establishing direct and sustainable donor relationships
• Support and challenge Country Offices (CO’s) to map and capture the existing donor’s portfolio, analyse institutional funding trends in the region and suggest ways forward
• Inform and support strategic planning, particularly funding strategies (in line with WHH’s Sahel strategy, country strategies and WHH Global Institutional Funding Strategy) and subsequent donor engagement planning for CO’s across the region
• Act as a link between WHH’s Regional Directorate, Institutional Donor Relations Unit & COs in relation to donor partnerships and ensure regular exchange with the mentioned Units
• Understand and effectively communicate the region’s pipeline and priority funding gaps, as agreed with the Regional Director and the Country Directors – these may include thematic/program gaps, co-financing gaps as well as operational sustainability gaps
• Proactively work with the COs, Institutional Donor Relations Unit and Marketing teams to drive improvement in strategic portfolio planning
• Ensure that COs collaborate effectively to gather and assess donor information relevant to upcoming major opportunities
• Strengthen COs capabilities on long-term capture planning for major forthcoming funding opportunities throughout the Sahel region
• Proactively guide and support country teams where necessary to rigorously assess the strengths and weaknesses of potential consortium relationships
• Support regional and country leadership decision making to form programming consortia which strengthen both programming and resource mobilization outcomes
• Support regional and country teams to define the staffing needs and identify team members to successfully bid for significant upcoming funding opportunities
• Prepare all necessary groundwork for country or multi-country/ multi-regional proposal development and management, assemble proposal teams for multi-country opportunities, provide effective proposal management at regional level and undertake quality assurance of donor proposals to ensure high quality competitive proposals
• Strengthen CO capabilities to facilitate effective in-person and remote proposal design workshops and undertake design workshop facilitation

Your profile

• A relevant university/polytechnic degree or qualification that are commensurate with this position
• At least 5 years of demonstrated experience identifying and securing funding from major institutional and government donors, multilateral agencies, or foundations
• Demonstrated experience in coordinating and facilitating the development of major proposals to institutional donors
• Experience in project and change management related to organisational development projects and international, cross-functional teams with a proven history of delivering results
• Ability to solve complex problems through critical thinking, analysis, establishing a clear course of action, and ensuring acceptance
• A high level of attention to detail and the ability to lead key tasks (such as proposal development) on time under significant pressure
• Highly developed networking skills and ability to form productive working relationships with a wide range of internal colleagues and stakeholders
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including communicating with impact, influencing, negotiating, and coaching
• A high degree of flexibility and adaptability in order to respond to changing needs
• Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours in the event of major emergencies including travelling at short notice and for extended periods of time
• Readiness to receive necessary vaccinations for traveling to Welthungerhilfe’s programme countries
• Excellent spoken and written French and English; German language skills would be an advantage

Our offer

We offer you the opportunity to work in a responsible and interesting field as part of an extremely dedicated team. Welthungerhilfe attaches great importance to the personal and professional development of its employees and the balance of their work and private life. Remuneration is based on our gender-independent salary scale. In addition, Welthungerhilfe offers numerous other benefits, which are listed under “Our benefits”.