Senior programme funding officer, Central Africa

Conflict, corruption, food insecurity, HIV. The DRC and wider Great Lakes region in Central Africa has huge hurdles to overcome on the way to lifting their people out of poverty and insecurity. You will be working with our country teams, wider alliances and our partners to secure and manage resources to fund humanitarian and long-term interventions addressing the structural causes of poverty in the region.

We have dynamic country programmes in the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda. You’ll provide leadership to the work of securing and managing donor funding. It will involve getting a real grass roots understanding of our work, giving strategic advice to the Country Managers and senior country staff on financing options and potential donors, preparing funding applications and supporting start up of new programmes, as well as accountability through performance and financial reporting. You’ll spend time with programme teams across the region to develop your knowledge of priority areas, which will mean travelling regularly across the DRC, and visits to Burundi and Rwanda for up to 30 days a year. You will lead development of proposals in French and English. Whilst dedicating a large part of your time (at least 80%) to the DRC, this position may also require you to cover Rwanda and Burundi. We’ll expect you to support development of relationships with key institutional donors and build a positive dialogue to leverage opportunities for the programme. The role attracts benefits commensurate with its seniority including a housing allowance, health insurance, relocation costs and annual travel allowance.

It’s essential that you are fluent in written and spoken French and English and have experience of programme development, proposal and reporting writing for donors such as the EC, ECHO, DFID, UN. We’ll expect you to demonstrate proven success at winning grants and contracts, securing funds and have experience of performance and financial reporting. Your background will have given you a real understanding of development issues with a relevant degree and some field experience in high-risk, high-security contexts. You will have outstanding communication and team working skills to work with a diverse workgroup, be highly numerate and have a real analytical ability. You’ll be the kind of person who has the knowledge, qualities and skills to be a real influence on this area and someone who’s a great addition to any team.

More than half the world lives in poverty. We aim to put a stop to that. So we campaign against the inequalities that keep people poor and we work with local organisations to give people strength to find their own solutions to the problems they face, irrespective of their religion. If you’re as determined as we are to end poverty and injustice across the world, work with us to make change happen.

Please show your suitability for this post by giving answers to the following questions: Using the guidance notes may help you formulate your answers.

Writing skills

Please describe a time when you had to adapt your writing style to communicate ideas and ensure that information and messages were understood by a particular audience.

Initiative

Please describe a time when you had to deal with a situation or issue proactively and persistently, and how you dealt with that situation.

Team working: Communication and Interaction

Describe a time when your ability to communicate effectively in a highly sensitive situation helped to produce a successful outcome.

What was the situation and what made it sensitive?
What was the outcome?

Planning and organizing

Describe a specific project or activity in which you had to identify tasks and set priorities for others. Tell us how you went about planning and organizing so that the group would reach the goal.

We value the contribution each person makes to the success of our organisation. So you can expect a wide range of rewards and benefits that will ensure you enjoy a good work/life balance.

Download the role profile (71 KB pdf)

To apply for this post, please download an application pack and email your completed UK & Ireland application form to: recruitment@christian-aid.org (quoting the reference number). Alternatively, your completed application form can be printed out and posted to us at:

Christian Aid
35 Lower Marsh
Waterloo
London SE1 7RT

Please note that CVs will not be accepted

Job reference: 192/LJ

Closing date: Midnight, Sunday 9 October 2011

Interview date: Monday 17 October 2011

Christian Aid values diversity and aspires to reflect this in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of race, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.