Job Title: Projects Support Officer
Reporting to: Chief of Party WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)
Location: Based in Lilongwe, Malawi
Rationale: The purpose of this post is to support the WASH Team and the Country Director to ensure that The Malawi WASH programme is a sector leader, adequately funded and positive donor and government relations are maintained.
Concern Universal helps communities around the world find practical, long term solutions to poverty. Our vision is a world where justice, dignity and respect prevail for all. We work in partnership to challenge poverty and inequality, supporting practical actions that enable people to improve their lives and to shape their futures. Concern Universal is a registered charity, based in the UK.
In Malawi, Concern Universal works towards a goal of ‘sustainable & dignified lives’, working with farmers in rural areas. Programme areas include Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); resilience (climate-smart agriculture, disaster risk reduction, microfinance); emergency response (food/cash distributions); environmental management (forestry, catchment management); health (malaria net distributions, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention); sustainable energy (cleaner cookstoves, solar); social inclusion (rights, governance, accountability, advocacy). This work is implemented in close collaboration with government partners in nine districts across the country. Concern Universal Malawi’s Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme has since 1992 developed to be the biggest implementer of rural water supply and sanitation programmes after the Malawi government, with interventions reaching over 500,000 rural people each year (and a total value of over £8 million). Since 2003 we have constructed and rehabilitated over 3,000 water points (serving over 650,000 people), installed 750 VIP latrines in schools, facilitated the installation of over 60,000 improved latrines with SanPlats at community level and triggered almost 400 villages using Community Led Total Sanitation to become Open Defecation Free.
Objectives
- To ensure timely reporting and communication on donor contracts and internal monthly reporting within CU;
- To lead on building an institutional real-time knowledge of donors and various funding opportunities relevant to the needs of the programme;
- To work with the WASH team to improve quality assurance through improved monitoring and evaluation, documentation of lessons learned, best practises and case studies.
- To work with project managers, partners and the finance manager in preparing and submitting proposals in line with the specific funding strategies.
- To contribute to improving appropriate programme visibility, innovations and impact.
- To improve national networking and relationships through work with WESNET.
Responsibilities:
- To communicate and coordinate work relating to donor funding within The Malawi programme
- To advise and when necessary support project managers on donor guidelines and contractual obligations, particularly on reporting, co-funding, procurement and visibility requirements & work with the CoP to ensure a coordinated approach to donor grant management.
- Support to ensure timely narrative and financial reporting to donors in collaboration with WASH Project managers, Operations manager and Country Director
- Coordinate building an institutional real-time knowledge of donors and various funding opportunities relevant to the needs of the programme and WASH sector in Malawi; and provide project managers with access to and support on donor funding guidelines and application processes – leading on proposal development where necessary.
- To ensure that the submission of proposals for all projects is coordinated with the relevant staff at project specific levels and with the Country Director as appropriate, including development of proposal budgets.
- Develop clear and deliverable short (1 yr) and long-term (3-5yr) funding strategies for the WASH programme under the supervision and drive of the WASH CoP and Country Director;
- Assist the Country Director in building donor relations and in attending meetings with donors as appropriate and required, and maintaining timely communication with donors in conjunction with Project Managers and Country Director
- Produce communications, including brochures, social media and website contents, as necessary.
- Conduct monitoring, evaluation and data analysis of WASH programming.
- Improve and produce documentation of lessons learned, best practices and case studies, and ensure wide scale dissemination and adoption.
- Supporting effective and timely programme visibility in line with CU strategies and donors,
- Supporting identification and execution of appropriate innovations that contribute to changing the way things are done in the programme and sector wide; and ensure the lessons from the innovations are drawn and used accordingly.
- Supporting identification of real projects impact and making a plan on scalability and dissemination for wider adoption
- Collaborating and networking with WESNET and other big WASH players, and supporting strategizing on WESNET relevancy and impact
- To build the capacity of other CU WASH staff in proposal writing, project reporting and profile documentation.
- To contribute to WASH management decisions
- Other tasks as agreed with the WASH CoP and Country Director.
Personal Profile
This is a pivotal position providing the right candidate with the opportunity to gain solid experience and to learn with an International NGO – it is an office based position with substantial in-country travel and exposure to field work. The ideal candidate is a well-organised, motivated and methodical person with work experience and good understanding of donor relations, contracts and proposal development, excellent writing/communication skills, capable to carry out work with limited supervision and interested in consolidating his/her work experience in institutional fundraising and grant management support.
Essential qualifications
- Fluent written and spoken English
- Excellent report writing skills
- Faultless attention to detail
- Good interpersonal skills with a patient, flexible & responsive disposition
- Two - three years relevant work experience
- Degree level qualification in Development oriented field or other relevant subject and/or equivalent academic capacity
- Understanding (and experience desirable) of working with donors
- Solid Planning and Organisational skills
- Ability to work proactively, under own initiative with minimal supervision
- Ability to work to tight deadlines and multiple priorities in a demanding environment
- Strong computer skills: Excel, Word, Power point and Outlook
- Commitment to humanitarian values and capability to adapt to the local work environment and constraints.
Desirable qualifications
- Proven experience in proposal writing and understanding of project budgets
- Proven experience in grant and contract administration
- An understanding of co-funding mechanisms in relation to Institutional Donors.
- Familiarity with large international donor contractual requirements
- Experience of budgeting and financial management
- Understanding of the WASH sector
- Interest/experience in communications (brochures, social media, website content etc)
What we offer
We offer a respectful and empowering working environment and the opportunity to make a real impact.
Terms and Conditions
Salary: Grade 1a £5,000 per Annum
Benefits: 25 days annual leave, Travel and PA Insurance
Contract type: Permanent, full-time contract, subject to a 3 month probation period.
HOW TO APPLY:
Application Process: All applicants must complete an application form. For an application form and other information about CU and its programme in Malawi, please visit our websitewww.concernuniversal.org
Please submit completed application forms to Rachel Dixon at the following address:applications@concern-universal.org
Closing date: Sunday 17th April 2016. Initial telephone interviews for shortlisted candidates will take place W/C 18th April followed by a panel interview and written exercise for the final shortlisted candidates W/C 25th April. These dates are subject to change.
