Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

ROLE PROFILE

Title
Local Fund-Raising and Partnerships Specialist
Functional Area
Country Office
Reports to
Business Development Manager

Location
Country Office
Travel required
30%
Effective Date
01-07-2021
Grade

ROLE PURPOSE
This position requires strong analytical, report-writing, negotiation, and communication, skills to be able to perform at the optimum level. Postholder will work with the Business Development team focusing on local funding raising and partnerships opportunities that contribute to the overall fund-raising and partnerships efforts of Plan International Ghana.  In addition to pursuing local fundraising, post-holder will initiate and coordinate the establishment and development of relations with state structures, international organizations, civil society organisations and private sector structures on an equal footing within a formal framework, mutually agreed collaborations with shared objectives and responsibilities that would enable Plan International Ghana to:

Promote the values ??of Plan International, understand its own barriers and catalysts and those of partners on gender inequality, learn from others and jointly define appropriate indigenous solutions to reduce inequalities in favor of girls;

Contribute to the mobilisation of civil society and capacity building for civil society organisations for the realisation of children’s rights advocacy and other influencing activities;

Mobilize resources for the implementation of projects and programs;

Ensure the sustainability of interventions and the consolidation of achievements.

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE
Financial measures or statistics relevant to post such as budget; list of direct and indirect reports

Area of Responsibility –Local Grants and Partnerships to support the country strategy of Plan International Ghana.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

1) Strategic Management of local Fundraising and partnerships

Initiate and coordinate the development and regular update of Plan International Ghana’s policy, plans, and guidelines on local Fundraising and partnerships;

Initiate and coordinate under the supervision of the Business Development Manager and in concert with the Technical Advisors and the Head of Programmes and other relevant functional units, a framework for effective local fundraising and partnerships to achieve strategic and programmatic objectives per country strategy;

Initiate and coordinate under the supervision of the Business Development Manager the development and monitoring of the implementation of guidelines for local fundraising as well as the operationalization of the partnerships cycle.

Ensure the partnerships cycle is aligned to Plan International’s global building better partnerships (BBP) approach.

2) Operational management of the Local Fundraising and partnerships
a) Local Grants Acquisition and Management:
* Ensure readily available data per country programmes priorities for easy reference for proposal and concept note development.
* Develop a schedule for local resource mobilization within Plan International Ghana.
* Maintains a database of all potential donors for purpose of local fund raising
* Support the preparation and review of local grants proposal budget
* Reviews concept notes and proposals for submission to the Business Development Manager
* Monitors local Grants Implementation in the field.

b) Local Grants Reporting: Support local Grants Reporting to ensure they meet local donor requirements and produce no negative/adverse feedback. To do this, the role will:
* Develop, update and maintain a schedule for grants reporting detailing the donor, reporting requirements, type of reports, deadlines etc
* Facilitates timely follow ups on donor deadlines

c) Local Donor Relationship Management:
* Facilitate timely follow ups on local donor deadlines and ensure that all local donor queries are adequately addressed
* Review reports due local donors and ensure that reports meet donor reporting requirements as per FADs and other documented agreements and recommend actions to Business Development Manager.

d) Partnerships Management:
* Coordinate the development of partnership agreements and financing agreements;
* Coordinate in collaboration with relevant technical teams, the assessment of institutional and operational capacity partner institutions and their capacity building plans;
* In collaboration with Managers of various projects / Programs and Technical Advisors, ensure that Plan International Ghana respects the principles of partnership and fulfills its obligations towards partner institutions and on the other hand that the partner institutions respect their contractual commitments effectively and on time (respect for the principles of partnership, diligent implementation of activities, achievement of expected performance in terms of indicators, timely filing of schedules and reports, compliance with rules associated with management of funds and personnel assigned to the Programs, etc.)
* Coordinate activities of closure, renewal and sustainable partnerships and alliances.

Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

* High contact with, project teams and support staff at Country and field Office levels to support locally raised grants implementation and effective partnerships.
* Maintains medium contact with partners, Multilateral Companies and organisations operating in Ghana.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential
Gained through education, training, & experience
Qualification and Experience
* Master’s degree in Marketing, Public Relations, Development Studies/Social Sciences or related area
* Have at least 4-6 years working experience in a related field
* Has good understanding of contemporary resource mobilization and management in the Ghanaian and global context
* Experience in Gender, Advocacy and partnerships Development related issues.
* Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office packages (Word, Excel, Internet Software and Power Point)

Demonstrated behaviours needed by the post holder to successfully perform the role.
* Continuous commitment to high performance and improvement.
* Ability to work in a team
* Committed to the protection of the rights of the child
* Communicates clearly and effectively
* Knowledge in development issues affecting children
Skills Specific to the post needed to put knowledge into practice
* Crisis management skills
* Negotiation and Influencing skills
* Good Business Development and Marketing skills
* Proven leadership and supervisory skills
* Excellent human relations skills
* Excellent Communication and IT skills
* Tactical planning skills
* Facilitation, presentation, training and communication skills
* Project management skills
* Monitoring and evaluation skills
* Critical thinking and analytical skills
PLAN INTERNATIONAL’S VALUES IN PRACTICE
We are open and accountable
* Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
* Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
* Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
* Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
* Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people
We strive for lasting impact
* Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
* Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
* Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
* Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.
We work well together
* Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
* Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
* Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
* Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

* We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
* We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
* We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
May be “typical office environment”; note if heavy lifting, climbing, excess travel, etc.
Travel requirements
This position entails 30% travelling within program areas, as well as to corporate and other partners organizations.

Level of Contact with Children:
Low contact: the job responsibilities of this position require occasional contact with children and it is expected that children shall be protected at all times.