Trócaire was set up in 1973 as a charity to express the concern of the Irish Catholic Church for the suffering of people living in the world’s poorest regions.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Business Development (50%)

• Lead the review and implementation of Trócaire Somalia’s funding strategy, in line with country programme needs and external funding opportunities
• Lead and advise on the development of good quality and well-designed proposals for submission to institutional and private donors
• Advise on donor funding streams which match with priorities, projects and programmes and take the lead in structuring the approach towards making a funding application
• Pro-actively identify opportunities for securing institutional funding from in-country donors, embassies, and trust funds. This will involve close liaison with Global Partnerships and Funding staff in Trócaire’s Head Office and Nairobi
• Keep up to date with donor policy developments and trends, in the development and humanitarian sectors in-country, and represent Trócaire in funding review groups/networks, as appropriate
• Lead the programme team in grant inception meetings, grant review meetings, and grant close out meetings
• Strengthen existing contacts with donors and support programme staff and management to establish and build new donor contacts

Programme planning and Institutional funding applications.

• Act as key focal point for the proposal design/development
• Facilitate design workshops with relevant technical coordinators and other team members for the development of the proposal
• Lead and coordinate the development of institutional funding applications (concept notes and full proposals, including narrative and financial sections) in close coordination with programme coordinators, CMT, Programme Accountant, Regional and Head Office programme and Business Development teams

Grant management

• Provide advice, guidance and support to staff and partners to meet the contractual obligations and donor requirements
• Maintain and/or develop grant and programme financial management tracking systems
• Work with programme and finance staff to ensure compliance with all financial requirements
• Support programme coordinators and partners (where relevant) in the timely development of reports
• Review all donor contracts (including changes) and keep country management and programme coordinators informed of Trócaire’s responsibilities
• Support the country teams to ensure all programme and project documentation is kept as appropriate on Trócaire’s Management Information System (Salesforce)
• Support the team to work through complexities, intractable issues and ambiguities
• Support any due diligence processes with the Programme Accountant and ensure dedicated action plans are in place where weaknesses have been identified
• Support any risk assessments with the Programme Accountant and ensure mitigation measures are included in the proposal document

Donor relationship building

• Support the Country Director to build new donor contacts, strengthen relationships with current donors and negotiate new contracts with donors
• When required, represent Trócaire and organisational programmes to external parties including donor and other coordination meetings and those presenting co-financing opportunities
• Work closely with IFU at head office to ensure coordinated contact with donors

Capacity building

• Provide support to staff on topics including proposal development, log frames, budgeting, report writing, monitoring and evaluation
• Advise programme teams on how to comply with audit and expenditure verification requirements, and provide quality assurance on the maintenance of project files

Other

• Develop briefing and promotional materials to showcase and generate interest in the programmes: i.e. briefs, updates, case studies, photo stories, website materials etc
• Any other reasonable duty as may be assigned by the line manager that is consistent with the nature of the job and its level of responsibility

Requirements

• Graduate level qualification or equivalent experience in Development Studies, Social Science, or related area
• Minimum two years’ experience of proposal and report writing for major international donors including the DFID, European Union, Irish Aid, Big Lottery Fund, Comic Relief, UN, other relevant trusts/foundations
• Proven track record of securing significant institutional funding from successful grant applications
• Experience of managing grants from donors such as: DFID, European Union, Irish Aid, US Aid, Big Lottery Fund, Comic Relief, UN, or other relevant trusts/foundations
• Excellent writing skills in English, including proposals and reports
• Excellent numeracy for budgeting and financial analysis
• Strong project planning, monitoring and evaluation skills, using logical frameworks
• Excellent networking, communication, negotiation and presentation skills
• Computer literate with excellent command of Microsoft Office software, especially Excel
• Excellent networking skills with the ability to establish good relationships, and confident in diplomatically engaging with senior internal or external organisational representatives
• Good interpersonal relationships and team work skills in a multi-cultural environment
• Good team player and able to establish strong working relationships with colleagues in the country programme as well as in Head Office
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Self-motivated with proven ability to take the initiative
• Able to prioritise tasks and work to deadlines
• Willingness to travel independently as required
• Culturally sensitive and diplomatic
• Flexible and adaptable. Able to learn from experience and apply to future work
• Strong commitment to principles of partnership, solidarity and social justice
• Good understanding of development and institutional funding issues and trends

Person Specification – Desirable

• Relevant subject at Masters Level (D)
• Substantive experience of Humanitarian work in Somalia
• Experience of results-based management and/or monitoring and evaluation