REGIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

WaterAid is an international not-for-profit, determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation.

WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest communities. We work with local partners and influence decision-makers to maximise our impact.

Based in Pretoria-South Africa, Zambia- Lusaka, Malawi- Lilongwe, Madagascar – Anatana or Mozambique- Maputo, WaterAid seeks to appoint a

REGIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: SOUTHERN AFRICA

The Regional Business Development Manager is a central part of the Southern Africa Regional team and will play a key role in helping to expand WaterAid’s funding portfolio as well as building regional intelligence, positioning WaterAid’s work in our key thematic areas (such as health and climate), and proposal development. The role will partner with country teams in the region, fundraising specialists, and technical experts across WaterAid as well as externally with donors and partners to develop a multi-year pipeline of opportunities and implementing a strategy for business development. This will focus on ensuring WaterAid is well positioned within key donor and consortium partner networks in the region as a “go to” partner for long term sustainable WASH programming.

Key responsibilities for the Regional Business Development Manager will include: 

Strategy

1. Support country programmes in developing fundraising, donor and consortium partner strategies from a deep understanding of how to position WA’s programmes within the current donor marketplace

2. Provide up-to-date information and propositions to federation members that enables them to engage with and champion country strategic funding needs

3. Contribute to overall new business strategy in collaboration with country teams, Senior Program Development Manager and Regional Director, assessing regional performance against Key Performance Indicators and annual revenue targets.

Pipeline development and management

1. Be responsible for growing and monitoring the pipeline of relevant funding opportunities to WA country programmes, coordinating with fundraising members to communicating donor intelligence, ensuring a balanced portfolio of funding types and ambition

2. Work closely with colleagues across the International Programmes Department (IPD) to facilitate the design, shaping and development of ambitious funding propositions to take to donors.

3. Support CPs to bring donor perspectives and ensure donor expectations are addressed during monitoring, reporting and compliance

Funding skills and capability development

1. Monitor the fundraising skills, capabilities and investment levels within country teams, and support the development of both funding focused roles and the capability of country SMTs to engage with donors and develop funding propositions

2. Develop a strong internal communications and knowledge sharing strategy, to ensure regional colleagues are aware of and able to access information and resources around donors and partners

3. Play a leading role in co-creating and embedding business processes, systems, and policies for restricted funding

Leadership and Line management

1. Responsible for working with a high-performing team of country Heads of Funding and Donor Relationship Leads across the globe. The RBDM will contribute to strategic and operational planning processes; define and deliver an agreed set of team performance targets; and providing guidance, coaching and support in helping peers achieve optimum performance.

2. The RBDM will contribute towards establishing the core new business processes of the team and will lead on and ensure effective linkages with other key stakeholders

3. Responsible for the matrix management of the Heads of Funding at the country level.

The Regional Business Development Manager must meet the following criteria:

1. Master’s Degree level qualification in international development, economics or a related discipline, or equivalent work experience.

2. Approximately 10 years of experience in planning, securing and managing restricted funds from institutional donors such as USAID, EC, UK Government, International Financial Institutions such as the WB, AfDB, local and international corporates, trust and foundations such as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation etc.

3. Substantial experience and knowledge of the institutional funding space and a deep understanding of bilateral and multilateral donors’ routes to market

4. Demonstrable track record of developing and delivering on strategies for restricted income growth

5. Solid experience building partnerships to facilitate opportunities in consortium contracting and negotiating the position of WA in those consortia.

6. Strategic networker with the ability to identify and transform opportunities into tangible results

7. Excellent communication, listening and collaboration skills

8. Ability to work in a flexible and agile way to identify opportunities and address challenges

9. Ability to work independently, be a pro-active self-starter and instigate new approaches, ways of working and initiatives

10. Ability to take complex information and simplify for audiences

11. Ability to regularly travel in order to attend external events and meetings and to visit country offices

12. Excellent people leadership skills, including the ability to work in a matrix environment, coaching and mentoring staff in remote locations

13. Demonstrated ability to work across institutional boundaries, units, and teams in an effective, empowering, and productive way

14. Commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace

15. Working style that reflects WaterAid’s values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity and Innovation

View the full job description and application instructions on the Vacancies page at www.actionappointments.co.za and email your application by Wednesday 19^th June 2024 to tracy@actionappointments.co.za