This position is responsible for providing strategic and technical leadership to World Vision Lanka (WVL) to acquire grant and private non-sponsorship funding, with the aim to grow and diversify WVL’s funding base. A core part of this strategy is for the Director, Grants Acquisition and Management (GAM) to establish strong relationships with external parties, including Donors, Government Entities, UN Agencies, INGOs, and Support Offices. This position will move WVL towards being a priority INGO in Sri Lanka for donor agencies and facilitate collaborative partnerships around grants with other entities. In the role of leading GAM, this position will work closely with the National Director to establish and grow relationships and drive strategic investments through regular business planning. This position will also work closely with the Director of Operations and Director of Effectiveness, Evidence and Impact to ensure grants and PNS are aligned to WVL’s capabilities and technical directions.
This will involve the coordination of key departments in the National Office (NO) and Regional Office (RO) as well as drawing on resources from the South Asia Pacific Office, the WV Technical Services Organisation, and Support Offices.
To ensure learning and improvement, the position will ensure successful and non-successful proposals are reflected on and improvements made.
The Grants Acquisition and Management will work closely with Operations Managers to monitor the success of grants. While Operations is responsible and accountable for grants implementation to meet donor requirements, the GAM Team will manage all communication and reporting to donors, as well as advise Operations Team on donor compliance requirements and key contractual milestones. The GAM Team will work closely with Operations to advise on under-performing grants and develop corrective actions plans.
The GAM Director will work closely with the Operations Director to support grant management capacity building within the WV Lanka team. The Grants Acquisition and Management Team will develop and maintain oversight over grant management tools and capabilities across the organization. This will entail working with Team Leaders to ensure systems, people, and tools are in place that promotes excellence in grant implementation and management.
The role will provide critical support to the National Director in strengthening his/her ability to engage all stakeholders effectively, and will support all other key ministry areas for effective program implementation and enhance quality of ministry. He / She will provide leadership in enhancing WV Lanka’s public visibility, reputation and brand name recognition. He / She will also serve as a member of the Senior Leadership Team of WV Lanka, and as such provides strategic leadership to the office both in the capacity of GAM and in the management of the office more broadly.
This position is based in Colombo with travel to field locations in the country.
Strategic Engagement & Leadership:
- Grants Acquisition and Management strategy established within the framework of WV Lanka national strategy.
- Contributes to development of WV Lanka policy procedures & business plan.
- Grants Acquisition should be able to meet funding needs of the organization.
- Reciprocal values developed through innovative projects and activities that are compatible with core business area and thereby enhancing the corporate brand equity of organization.
- Donor and partner mapping regularly updated for strategic engagement and interest/vision aligned with WV Lanka proprieties.
- Sustainable and diversified resource growth through new funding and partnership opportunities.
- Organizational capacity developed for effective grants acquisition and management and diversified funding streams.
- Innovation and collaboration (internal and external) in developing new projects.
- Strategic oversight of grant management that strengthens the achievement of results and agreed grant targets.
External Engagement: High quality working relationship between WV Lanka and key stakeholders, including SOs, international and Local stakeholders such as Potential Donors:
- Relationships with all existing and potential donors and partners managed and cultivated.
- External stakeholders able to articulate WVs mission.
- WV Lanka known as key partner and resource person in child focused advocacy programs in Sri Lanka.
- Able to be a key partner in developing and publicizing World Vision brand creating awareness and confidence among potential donor.
- Integration of GAM team among other functions within WV Lanka and WV stakeholders.
Effective, Collaborative & High Performing Grants Acquisition and Management Team:
- Clear performance expectations and individual learning plans established for all direct reports that drives consistent high performance.
- Performance feedback and coaching conducted on a regular basis.
- Demonstrates an understanding of and commitment to World Vision’s Core Values in the approach to work and relationships.
- Strong collaboration with different key working relationships and stakeholders.
- Professional development goals of the team consistent with World Vision Lanka’s strategic goal.
Donor Engagement:
- Lead compilation and fine tuning of professional reports ensuring they are presented in a timely manner and meet donor / Support Office requirements.
- Build relationships and credibility with donors, using program evidence base and policy expertise focusing especially on government and other multilateral donors.
- Lead and guide the development of strategic funding relationships with key government and multilateral donors, liaising with colleagues in at the regional office and support offices.
Integration of Operations department with other functions within WV Lanka and WV Global Centre:
- Contribute to development of WV Lanka policy procedures related to Marketing, Advocacy and Communications.
- Greater participation in leadership team meetings and other team based functions specially in recruitment & selection of key staff and strategy development.
- Consistency of services and initiatives to Regional and Global Centre initiatives.
Staff Capacity building and Structure:
- Analyze and adjust structure for cost, efficiency and effectiveness, and determine ‘optimal’ grants portfolio package as well as program cash flow.
- Define roles and responsibilities for GAM within WV Lanka by creating essential core competencies and providing support to foster continuous and effective engagement of the grant program.
- Develop strategies to attract and maintain staff numbers aligned to Grant portfolio.
- Provide leadership in facilitating a high performance management culture, open trustworthy staff relationships and integrity to enhance smooth staff relations and accountability.
- Provide leadership in staff capacity building in grants acquisition, management and grant compliance as per national, partnership and donor initiatives.
Professional & Personal Development:
- Understanding of and commitment to World Vision’s Core Values demonstrated in the approach to work and relationships.
- Servant and Spiritual leadership model not only to Corporate Solutions Team but to strategic leaders of the organization, and others based on Biblical principles and beliefs.
- Remain sensitive to the political implications of WV’s activities, advising of any indications that the neutral and humanitarian nature of the work is being compromised.
- Personal and professional development goals consistent with World Vision’s strategic goal.
- MBA, MPA, MPP, or other graduate education.
- Good knowledge understanding of WV vision, mission and WV partnership operations.
- Demonstrable prior successes in grant submissions/acquisitions.
- Excellent communications skills in English both verbal & written is essential for the position.
- Developed people in a cross-cultural setting and initiated and implemented organizational change at leadership level.- Essential
- At least 5 – 6 years’ working experience in INGOs, NGOs, Bilateral donors etc.
- Extremely high level of written and verbal communication skills & competent in the use MS office suite.
- Ability to prepare high quality project and program design documents, consultancy terms of reference, bid submissions/tender responses, and project reporting.
- Experience working with government/institutional partners – potentially gained through a consulting company, international or community development organization or government.
- Project planning and project team leadership.
Preferred Skills, Knowledge and Experience:
- Local Context – Understanding of local context, with ability to communicate in Sinhala and/or Tamil will be preferred.
- Legal Know-How - Understanding laws and issuances on Grants, Fund Raising and Taxation.
- Project Proposal Specialist - Able to formulate, conduct research and package project proposals to acquire funding/grants from funding agencies.
- Fund Grants Negotiator - Able to negotiate the approval of project proposals with funding agencies.
- Fund Grants Researcher – Able to conduct study/research on current trends on fund grants management including those of funding agencies’ preferred projects and development issues.
- Effective Communicator - Able to communicate effectively in English, producing coherent marketing messages in written and oral form.
- Understanding of Humanitarian industry.
Work Environment/Travel:
- The position will be based in Colombo & requires ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally.