Job Title: Partnerships Development Manager, South Sudan
Location: Juba
Reporting to: South Sudan Country Director (for the time being)
Management responsibility (if applicable) None at present, but possibility of managing some consultancies as agreed with the Country Director
Key Relationships:
- In country: Peacebuilding Manager, Advocacy and Civil Society Mobilisation Manager, Project Coordinator, Finance Manager, Gender and Inclusion Coordinator, MEL Adviser, Admin and HR Coordinator, Safety and Security Coordinator, other programme staff and Partners’ staff
- Regional: Country Representatives, Programme and Finance Staff
- Global: Programme Learning and Support team; Policy and Advocacy, and Communications teams
Grade and Salary: A competitive INGO salary will be offered
Contract terms and hours: Open ended; standard working week is 37.5 hours
Background:
Saferworld is an independent international organisation working to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives. We work with people affected by conflict to improve their safety and sense of security, and conduct wider research and analysis. We use this evidence and learning to improve local, national and international policies and practices that can help build lasting peace. Our priority is people – we believe in a world where everyone can lead peaceful, fulfilling lives, free from fear and insecurity. We work in over 10 countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We work with a wide range of partners including government agencies, international organisations, civil society organisations, youth and women groups; and communities.
Saferworld in South Sudan:
Saferworld has been working together with South Sudanese civil society organisations on conflict prevention issues in South Sudan since 2008. In 2021 the country programme developed a three-year strategy that aims to bring about transformative change in the way Saferworld and partners work with others to place the average South Sudanese citizen at the centre of decision making and programming. These overarching objective cuts across five impact areas: 1) inclusive peace and justice, 2) people-centred security, 3) gender equality, 4) redesigning international engagement, and 5) climate, conflict and the environment. Together with partners, we support women, youth and community groups in their efforts to build peace, by identifying and addressing safety and peacebuilding priorities that are specific to different communities.
This includes supporting gender transformative approaches, and programming which promotes the participation of young people, women and other marginalised South Sudanese in decision-making processes.
Central to our strategy is working across administrative boundaries and supporting and facilitating spaces for civil society organisations, including women’s rights organisations and youth-led organisations, to work in solidarity to amplify the voices of the communities they work with and to advocate in sub-national and national policy discussions and peacebuilding processes.
Job purpose:
The post-holder will ensure strong systems for project management and MEL are in place, and support and guide project staff and partners to lead in implementation. They will support the effective implementation of South Sudan’s grants in accordance with contractual obligations, by managing donor reporting and compliance through developing and refining processes and workflows to ensure high quality and timely financial and narrative reporting.
The Partnerships Development Manager, in coordination with the Country Director and country senior management team, will provide leadership to project staff and partners in designing and supporting the implementation of peace, security and justice programmes, and in strengthening the team’s capacity to work in partnership in ways that reflect the principles of power-sharing and accompaniment.
Roles and responsibilities:
Grants management systems and processes
- Ensure systems, processes and workflows for grant management and compliance are in place –including developing or updating them when required.
- Manage the reporting process on a portfolio of grants relating to the South Sudan programme – including working with the project and finance teams to produce and write timely and accurate narrative and financial reports.
- Manage donor relations in relation to contract compliance, for existing and new grants, including working with the funding team regarding responses on grant contracts and contractual compliance.
- Work with the funding team to manage the process of the grant set up, working with relevant teams in South Sudan, in the region and globally to ensure staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities in relation to compliance, budgets and deadlines.
- Coordinate key performance indicators (KPIs) around grant management and contract compliance in collaboration with the funding team, with a view to supporting longer-term donor relations and the organisational commitment to quality assurance.
- Ensure relevant project documentation is stored and updated systematically in a way that allows access to the most recent information about the grants for all relevant staff.
- Work with the country programme and financial teams to support effective financial systems and procedures for grant management and compliance, such as for cost recovery, procurement and grant financial oversight.
Compliance and quality assurance, including donor reporting and compliance
- In coordination with South Sudan and London teams, ensure submission of timely donor financial reports, payment requests and updated budget forecasts and amendments for approval.
- Provide support to Project Managers in developing activity and spending plans with programme team and partners, and reviewing budgets according to donor funding conditions.
- Work with the country and global finance teams to ensure project audits meet donor regulations and deadlines.
- Coordinate monthly grant management meetings with finance and programme/project staff, to ensure that finances are reconciled, projects are on track with contracted obligations, including spend and outcomes, communication around the grant progress is up to date, and follow up actions are recorded and acted upon – including informing relevant staff or donors about changes.
- Strengthening and supporting the capacity and institutional development of partners, including in grants and programme management
- Work closely with the Programme team and Finance to develop equitable, working relationships with Saferworld’s partners, in line with Saferworld’s Partnership in Practice Guide, including on partner Memorandums of Understanding and Strategic Partnership Agreements; two-way Organisational Capacity Assessments (OCAs); participatory budgeting and programme design with partners; scoping processes to identify new partnerships; small granting processes to support a wider range of South Sudanese civil society; and mutual accountability and learning (including via annual partnership reflection meetings).
- Work closely with the Programme team and Finance to ensure adherence to partnership agreements, processes, principles and approach, financial receipts and expenditure reports, developing and managing systems to track partner’s spend against income in relation to the project, contract compliance, and donor financial and narrative reports – including IATI where needed.
- Support the development of grant management processes, tools and plans for partners, including capacity strengthening and or improvement-related actions where agreed, working closely with the South Sudan Programme team, MEL Adviser and Global Partnerships Adviser.
- Work closely with the South Sudan MEL Advisor to ensure that information required for reports is shared and information needed is recorded.
Work with the Programme team to identify challenges and opportunities from working in partnership and develop creative ways of collaborating and supporting cross-learning to strengthen Saferworld’s partnership approach (including ways to better support groups with different structures, such as networks or movements).
Donor strategic engagement and funding
- Work with the South Sudan and funding colleagues to nurture and develop donor relationships.
- Manage and maintain good donor communications for existing and new grants through effective grant management and donor stewardship, including coordinating responses on contracts and ensuring contractual compliance.
- Represent Saferworld and facilitate engagement with external funders to advocate for change and promote support for Saferworld’s work.
- Together with funding and programme development staff, identify and support the development and implementation of a funding strategy and support programme development and funding proposals.
- Act as a point of contact and coordination with funding colleagues on grant updates and funding opportunities.
Wider strategy and programme development
- In collaboration with the South Sudan team and other global support teams, support the implementation of the country strategy and contribute to the annual planning and strategy review processes.
- Actively participate in Saferworld’s country team and advocacy meetings, keeping abreast of ongoing programmatic, contextual, security and risk developments, and ensure these are informed by programmatic priorities, including compliance and grant management requirements, and donor and other stakeholder engagement.
Key working relationships
- Colleagues in the South Sudan programme team– Maintain a good working relationship, communication and working collaboratively on programme implementation, monitoring, assessment and reporting.
- Colleagues in Programme Support and Leaning team– working collaboratively and for support on programmatic approaches and learning, and on programme development.
- Partner Organisations - working collaboratively to co-design and effectively deliver programme activities, facilitating participatory budgeting processes, and supporting demand-driven capacity strengthening activities.
- Sub-national/ National authorities and other external stakeholders including donors– Liaise with relevant government officials and maintain relationships with key INGOs /CSOs and strategic networks in country and at the regional level as may be necessary to enhance networking, information sharing, collaborative working as appropriate.
- South Sudan and global Finance teams– working collaboratively on development of costed funding budgets, financial reports, budget realignments and budget tracking
- Other Grant Manager specialist roles – working collaboratively, sharing information, providing advice and guidance in relation to own specialist area of grants management and partnerships knowledge
- Colleagues in the Funding Working Group, particularly the South Sudan Programme Development Manager – working collaboratively on the implementation of the South Sudan funding strategy and support programme development and funding proposals.
- Donors– including institutional donors, trusts and foundations - donor stewardship, developing relationships, reporting
- Other INGOs UN agencies– networking, sharing information, collaborative working as appropriate where joint funding bids are required
Scope and accountability
Decision making and delegation of authority
- Decisions relating to donor compliance, and donor communication
- Decisions relating to donor reporting, budgetary adjustments in dialogue with senior managers and Head of Finance
- Decisions relating to Saferworld project partners, MOUs, partner compliance and liaison
- Represent Saferworld in relevant high-level and coordination meetings at various levels.
Financial resources
- Responsible for budget tracking
- Budget forecasting
- Payment requests
- Manage project budgets.
- Approve of financial transactions as allowed in the Delegation of Authority matrix.
Other resources
- N/A
- Ensure submission of timely and accurate financial reports and other data to finance staff in Juba.
People management
Oversight over 12 Saferworld partners
- Project staff as agreed with the Country Director
Legal, regulatory and compliance responsibility
- Ensure that staff and partners are compliant with Saferworld and donor regulations
- Ensure all financial and narrative reports are completed and recorded in line with donor regulations
- Ensure compliance of the state-level offices with local legislation, Saferworld’s policies and procedures, and donor regulations.
Person specification
Knowledge
- Direct experience in one or more of the following areas: gender, climate change and conflict, community security, coalition building and/or networks, conflict sensitivity, peace building and/or justice sector programming.
- Substantial knowledge of South Sudan and/or the region.
- Proven experience of project and budget management (for example, project planning, grant management, compiling and monitoring budgets, monitoring and evaluation, narrative and financial reporting), preferably in an INGO setting.
- Experience in developing and maintaining systematic and transparent records in order to keep track of projects and for accountability and auditing purposes.
- Experience of working in/with an INGO that has a commitment to partnership or works with partners in empowering ways.
- Experience of donor compliance.
Experience
- Financial systems and processes.
- Planning systems and processes.
- working in a conflict affected environment.
- Experience of coordinating new business development (fundraising).
Skills and abilities
- Excellent writing skills in English.
- High level communication skills, including experience of communicating effectively across cultures and with diverse audiences, both verbally and in writing
- Ability to work with minimum supervision and juggle multiple tasks and assignment.
- A natural problem solver with strong interpersonal and people skills.
- Excellent participatory workshop facilitation skills.
- Strong planning skills.
- Ability to work in a non-partisan and impartial manner, particularly in high-stress and highly politicised environments, and appreciating gender, cultural and ethnic diversity.
Personal qualities
- Commitment to and compliance with Saferworld’s safeguarding principles.
- Commitment to respect and value equality and diversity, and understanding of how this applies to own area of work.
- Commitment to own continuing personal and professional development.
- Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Saferworld.
Other requirements
Any other role-specific requirement e.g. requirement to travel and frequency of travel
- Experience of using SUN or similar systems – for financial management and reporting.
- Experience of being involved in auditing processes.
- Good understanding of South Sudan.
- A good understanding of peacebuilding.
How to apply
Application process
Send your CV and a cover letter addressing the person specification and why you feel your experience matches the requirements of the role to jobs@saferworld.org.uk with job ref (PDM_S. S)
Deadline for applications: 10th October 2023, on a rolling basis.