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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Save the Children International's Diversity Policy, aims to promote equal opportunity in employment and to ban any kind of discrimination based on sex, age, social class, disability, HIV status, religion, race and ethnicity

ROLE PURPOSE: 

The Partnership & Program Development Manager is a middle-level position within the Country Office. In cooperation with Save the Children member countries and in collaboration with the country office Zambia, the Partnership & Program Development Manager will identify and track donor opportunities, facilitate donor engagement, assist in the development of fundraising strategies, lead the new business and proposal decision, design and development process for all funding opportunities. The position requires innovative thinking and creativity to package our program strategies in ways that attract the right donor support and grow out portfolio effectively. S/He will write sections of proposals that speak to our overall capabilities, while coordinating the input of technical advisors, Operations and field office implementation staff, Supply Chain, Finance, HR and Security into proposals and budgets. Recognizing that many conversations with donors involve a review or update around current grants as well as discussions about new opportunities, the Partnership and Program Development Manager will be expected to stay closely informed about the progress of all major institutional grants and able to speak to results in key reporting documents, including supporting on some review of large strategic reports. S/he will be located in Lusaka with frequent travel to the field. The role has an external orientation, but also works very closely with SC Members.

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

Reports to: Program Director

Dimensions:   Save the Children works in the Child Protection, Education, Health and Nutrition and Child Rights Governance across the emergency and development spectrum, humanitarian response. The program has highly integrated multi-sectoral approaches to address some of the most complicated issues affecting children in Zambia, including child marriage, education quality, chronic and acute malnutrition and multi-dimensional poverty.

Number of direct reports:  None

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

General management

• As a member of the Zambia Country Programme, demonstrate behaviors that are consistent with Save the Children's Mission, Vision and Values ​​and ensure their broader application by staff across the programme.
• Contribute to a conductive and productive work environment typified by teamwork and collaboration.
• Contribute to the wider country program agenda.
• Support the effective implementation of the SCI Program Quality Framework 
• Carry out the responsibilities of the role in a way that reflects Save the Children's commitment to safeguarding children, in accordance with our Code of Conduct and Child Safeguarding Policy.
• Ensure a child rights approach with integrated child participation, resilience, protection, and gender strategies across all our thematic areas from design to implementation
• Ensure the design and development of child focused emergency and development programs of a high quality that contribute to the Country Office's strategies and plans, informed by child participation when and where possible
• Ensure that the Zambia Country Office has a first class, multi-sectoral and dual mandate program reflecting all priority technical and sector aspects of the Save the Children global strategy and Theory of Change.
• Ensure excellent coordination and cooperation with incoming member, regional and center-based technical advisors as well as emergent teams during emergencies.
• Provide inputs and support to the advocacy and communications teams to communicate and market our vision internally and externally.
• Contribute to providing technical assistance and capacity building for and with partners on proposal development and new business development as needed.
• New Program and Proposal Development
• Reporting to the Director Programs, develop and submit a comprehensive Business Development Strategy and Process, in line with the Country Strategy, for SMT contributions and approval 
• Oversee the implementation and follow-up of Business Development Strategy and Process, reporting monthly to the Head Program & Operations.
• Identify, research, and disseminate information on new funding opportunities from bilateral, multi-lateral, and other institutional donors. Use creative approaches to link SCI and Zambia program ambitions to donor priorities, while also effectively contributing to SCI Zambia and Save the Children Members' efforts to influence the strategies of donors.
• Support the design of programs that are evidence-based, child-centered, gender-responsive, and climate-informed.
• Support the cultivation of business relationships with external stakeholders and potential partners for large scale or strategic funding opportunities and help shape and contribute to strategies and ambitions for priming or subbing in joint ventures.
• Track upcoming funding opportunities and donor engagement strategy and processes, providing monthly updates to the SMT. Maintain a pipeline of funding opportunities and report regularly on progress
• Assist in developing the SCI Zambia funding strategy for thematic and cross-thematic program strategies and ambitions, with a focus on cross-sectoral integration. These strategies should reflect our ambitions with an eye toward encouraging innovation and creative thinking to achieve more quality and immediate impact for children.
• Examine and evaluate innovative new partnerships and ensure that Save the Children maximizes its efforts to implement its Theory of Change.
• Explore and test potential private sector partnerships.
• Pro-actively seek donor intelligence on prospective new opportunities or partnerships.
• Ensure key contacts, required formats and donor strategies are kept up-to-date at the country office level.
• Directly manage the development of high-value, complex proposals or bids, building on global, regional and national SCI Technical and Thematic expertise, ensuring the highest quality products are submitted to the member and the donor. 
• Coordinate closely with Save the Children members to kick-off, plan and effectively carry out the proposal development process, supporting the coordination and involvement of technical and awards staff in both offices, ensuring regular communication and updating of members throughout the process. 
• Coordinate proposal development teams, ensuring timely inputs, quality assurance, and compliance with donor requirements.
• Facilitate donor engagement
• Lead the development and regular updating of the donor engagement strategy, in line with the funding strategy, to assist in growing the Zambia portfolio, consistent with the Country Strategy
• Cultivate excellent working relationships with donor agencies at regional and country level as appropriate and in close collaboration with the Director-Programs 
• Participate in any donor visit to project(s) within the country office portfolio, as needed.
• Support regular donor check-in/update visits with major institutional donors in Zambia
• Work with technical advisors and SMT colleagues to set ambitious targets for donor engagement and to influence donor strategies.
• Support the Director of Programs and other members of the SMT to represent SCI Zambia in relevant donor forums, workshops and conferences as needed.
• Proposal Quality, Compliance & Learning
• Ensure all proposals meet quality standards , safeguarding requirements, and organizational policies.
• Lead internal proposal review processes and coordinate approvals.
• Capture lessons learned from successful and unsuccessful proposals and promote continuous improvement.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of donor trends, compliance requirements, and best practices in program design.
• Work collaboratively with the program and MEAL team to gather and analyze data to inform innovation in program design.
• Strategic Partnerships & Localization
• Develop and manage strategic partnerships with government institutions, national and local NGOs, civil society networks, and private sector actors.
• Develop and implement a country-level partnership strategy aligned with Save the Children's global localization commitments, child rights governance priorities, and climate and resilience agenda.
• Identify, cultivate, and manage strategic partnerships with national and local civil society organizations, government institutions, donors, embassies, private sector actors, and academic institutions.
• Lead partner mapping and analysis to identify strategic gaps, complementarities, and opportunities for collaboration across program, advocacy, and resource mobilization objectives.
• Promote localization principles , including co-creation, shared decision-making, and capacity strengthening of national partners.
• Support partner assessments, due diligence, and partnership agreements in line with organizational policies.
• Facilitate joint program design, learning, and representation with partners.
• Promote equitable partnership models , ensuring meaningful partner participation in program design, decision-making, governance structures, and learning processes.
•  In collaboration with the awards team coordinate partnership formalization processes , including partner assessments, due diligence, MOUs, partnership agreements, and compliance with organizational policies.
•  Facilitate joint program design and co-creation with partners, ensuring alignment with evidence-based approaches, child-centered programming, and donor requirements.
•  Strengthen collaboration with government counterparts , contributing to strengthening systems, policy dialogue, and scale-up of proven models.
• Represent Save the Children in relevant strategic coordination mechanisms, networks, and forums, promoting shared priorities and collaborative approaches.
• Ensure safeguarding, accountability, and risk management are embedded across all partnerships, with zero tolerance for non-compliance.
• Capture and share partnership learning , good practices, and evidence to inform strategy, advocacy, and proposal development.

Safeguarding & Accountability

• Ensure that all partnerships and proposals integrate child safeguarding, PSEA, and accountability commitments .
• Promote a culture of safety, respect, and ethical conduct in all partnership and program development processes.

BEHAVIORS (Values ​​in Practice )

Accountability:

• holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modeling Save the Children values.
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future oriented, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values ​​diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Skilled in social sciences, development area with a relevant masters' degree. 
• Proven track record in producing winning bids, proposals, and reports for institutional donors, corporations and others
• Proven ability to design high quality programs 
• Recommended 5-7 years' experience in both an emergency and development contexts, preferably with solid experience in at least 2 priority sectors of Save the Children: education, protection, child rights governance, health and nutrition or child poverty.
• Excellent coordination, organizational and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate clearly and effectively at all levels and pull together input from a diverse team.
• Excellent writing/editing, reporting, budget development and presentation/communication skills. 
• Experience in presenting project information to donors and partners.
• Experience in coordinating development of large-scale or strategic proposals, including the development of multi-million-dollar project budgets.
• Proven representation skills.
• Cultural awareness mastering and ability to work in an international environment with people from many diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets.
• Experience in solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward. 
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
• Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies.
• Commitment to Save the Children values, including willingness to abide by and enforce the Child Safeguarding policy

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

• As a member of the Zambia Country Programme, demonstrate behaviours that are consistent with Save the Children’s Mission, Vision and Values and ensure their broader application by staff across the programme.
• Contribute to a conducive and productive work environment typified by teamwork and collaboration.
• Contribute to the wider country programme agenda.
• Support the effective implementation the SCI Programme Quality Framework
• Carry out the responsibilities of the role in a way that reflects Save the Children’s commitment to safeguarding children, in accordance with our Code of Conduct and Child Safeguarding Policy.
• Ensure a child rights approach with integrated child participation, resilience, protection, and gender strategies across all our thematic areas from design to implementation
• Ensure the design and development of child focused emergency and development programs of a high quality that contribute to the Country Office’s strategies and plans, informed by child participation when and where possible
• Ensure that the Zambia Country Office has a first class, multi-sectoral and dual mandate program reflecting all priority technical and sector aspects of the Save the Children global strategy and Theory of Change.
• Ensure excellent coordination and cooperation with incoming member, regional and centre-based technical advisors as well as surge teams during emergencies.
• Provide inputs and support to the advocacy and communications teams to communicate and market our vision internally and externally.
• Contribute to providing technical assistance and capacity building for and with partners on proposal development and new business development as needed.
• Reporting to the Director Programs, develop and submit a comprehensive Business Development Strategy and Process, in line with the Country Strategy, for SMT contributions and approval
• Oversee the implementation and follow-up of Business Development Strategy and Process, reporting monthly to the Head Program & Operations.
• Identify, research, and disseminate information on new funding opportunities from bilateral, multi-lateral, and other institutional donors. Use creative approaches to link SCI and Zambia programme ambitions to donor priorities, while also effectively contributing to SCI Zambia and Save the Children Members’ efforts to influence the strategies of donors.
• Support the design of programmes that are evidence-based, child-centred, gender-responsive, and climate-informed.
• Support the cultivation of business relationships with external stakeholders and potential partners for large scale or strategic funding opportunities and help shape and contribute to strategies and ambitions for priming or subbing in joint ventures.
• Track upcoming funding opportunities and donor engagement strategy and processes, providing monthly updates to the SMT. Maintain a pipeline of funding opportunities and report regularly on progress
• Assist in developing the SCI Zambia funding strategy for thematic and cross-thematic programme strategies and ambitions, with a focus on cross-sectoral integration. These strategies should reflect our ambitions with an eye toward encouraging innovation and creative thinking to achieve more quality and immediate impact for children.
• Examine and evaluate innovative new partnerships and ensure that Save the Children maximizes its efforts to implement its Theory of Change.
• Explore and test potential private sector partnerships.
• Pro-actively seek donor intelligence on prospective new opportunities or partnerships.
• Ensure key contacts, required formats and donor strategies are kept up-to-date at the country office level.
• Directly manage the development of high-value, complex proposals or bids, building on global, regional and national SCI Technical and Thematic expertise, ensuring the highest quality products are submitted to the member and the donor.
• Coordinate closely with Save the Children members to kick-off, plan and effectively carryout the proposal development process, supporting the coordination and implication of technical and awards staff in both offices, ensuring regular communication and updating of members throughout the process.
• Coordinate proposal development teams, ensuring timely inputs, quality assurance, and compliance with donor requirements.
• Lead the development and regular updating of the donor engagement strategy, in line with the funding strategy, to assist in growing the Zambia portfolio, consistent with the Country Strategy
• Cultivate excellent working relationships with donor agencies at regional and country level as appropriate and in close col

• Collaboration
• communication skills
• Innovative thinking
• Creativity
• Proposal writing
• Donor engagement
• Fundraising strategies
• Business development
• Coordination
• Quality assurance
• Compliance
• Technical assistance
• Capacity building
• Advocacy
• Marketing

• Middle-level position experience
• Experience in cooperation with Save the Children member countries
• Experience in collaboration with country offices
• Experience in identifying and tracking donor opportunities
• Experience in facilitating donor engagement
• Experience in developing fundraising strategies
• Experience in leading new business and proposal decision, design and development process
• Experience in writing proposal sections
• Experience in coordinating input from technical advisors, Operations and field office implementation staff, Supply Chain, Finance, HR and Security
• Experience in staying informed about the progress of institutional grants
• Experience in speaking to results in key reporting documents
• Experience in supporting review of large strategic reports
• Experience in working with SC Members
• Experience in Child Protection, Education, Health and Nutrition and Child Rights Governance
• Experience in humanitarian response
• Experience in integrated multi-sectoral approaches
• Experience in child rights approach with integrated child participation, resilience, protection, and gender strategies
• Experience in designing and developing child focused emergency and development programs
• Experience in coordinating with member, regional and centre-based technical advisors as well as surge teams
• Experience in providing technical assistance and capacity building for and with partners on proposal development and new business development
• Experience in developing and submitting a comprehensive Business Development Strategy and Process
• Experience in overseeing the implementation and follow-up of Business Development Strategy and Process
• Experience in identifying, researching, and disseminating information on new funding opportunities
• Experience in supporting the design of programmes that are evidence-based, child-centred, gender-responsive, and climate-informed.
• Experience in cultivating business relationships with external stakeholders and potential partners
• Experience in tracking upcoming funding opportunities and donor engagement strategy and processes
• Experience in developing funding strategies
• Experience in examining and evaluating innovative new partnerships
• Experience in exploring and testing potential private sector partnerships
• Experience in seeking donor intelligence
• Experience in managing the development of high-value, complex proposals or bids
• Experience in coordinating proposal development teams
• Experience in leading the development and regular updating of the donor engagement strategy
• Experience in cultivating excellent working relationships with donor agencies