A business Development Specialist to lead and coordinate Caritas Nigeria’s fundraising and grants acquisition efforts in Nigeria.

Background

Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (Caritas Nigeria), is a Not-for-Profit Humanitarian and Development Agency, established by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), that coordinates relief and social development interventions of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. Caritas Nigeria works to fight hunger, disease and ignorance, as well as responds to humanitarian crises and emergencies by mobilizing resources from within and outside the Church to meet the basic needs of affected persons, regardless of religion, nationality or ethnicity.

Job Summary

The Business Development Specialist is responsible for leading and coordinating Caritas Nigeria’s fundraising and grants acquisition efforts in Nigeria.  S/he will build the profile of Caritas Nigeria through pre-positioning, donor engagement, active response to donor proposal solicitations and strengthening business development capacity within the Caritas family. S/he will oversee an annual fundraising target of $5M from institutional donors such as USAID, multi-laterals including UN agencies, and international organizations, including The World Bank Group.

Specific Duties Includes:

• Intel gathering
  • By scouring donor portals such as USAID’ Grants.gov and DFID’s supplier portals, collate intel on donors’ pipelines to enable Caritas Nigeria pre-position itself to apply for new projects.
  • Act as the primary contact for Business Development Specialists within Caritas agencies including Catholic Relief Services, CAFOD and Caritas Germany who provide backstopping to Caritas Nigeria in donor intel gathering.
  • Research and document donors’ priority themes and regions within Nigeria to pre-position Caritas Nigeria for future partnerships.
  • Carry out donor mapping and formulate a donor engagement strategy that supports pursuing non-traditional funding sources such as contracts and untapped high potential donors such as international banks and government embassies/Missions.
• Pre-positioning
  • Provide strategic direction for fundraising through development of a fundraising plan that is closely aligned with Caritas Nigeria’s Country Strategy.
  • Support new/renewal of registration with relevant donors such as USAID’s SAM to ensure the Caritas Nigeria’s eligibility for institutional donors’ grants.
  • Lead organizational assessments required by donors to further increase Caritas Nigeria’s eligibility.
  • Support the Communications Department to produce and disseminate agency visibility materials including Past Performance Reports and Capacity Statements to enhance Caritas Nigeria’s visibility and reputation as a viable humanitarian partner.
  • Pro-actively seek and participate in donors and NGOs’ forums as a way of increasing Caritas Nigeria’s visibility and collecting intel on forthcoming projects.
  • Strategically influence humanitarian agenda in Nigeria by contributing to donors’ country strategies and supporting the Catholic Church to engage Nigeria governments at federal and state levels on humanitarian matters.

• Proposal development
  • Manage the Go / No-Go decision-making process within Caritas Nigeria whenever a new opportunity presents itself.
  • Facilitate consortium formation/lead partnership discussions where necessary.
  • With support of the Leadership Team, formulate a Proposal Response Team and develop a proposal delivery calendar.
  • Act as the Proposal Coordinator during the proposal development period – pulling together resources and contributions from other team members and departments including Finance, Operations, Communications and Project Management.
  • Submit proposal packages ensuring compliance with donor submission criteria.
  • Lead the After-Action Learning (AFL) to ensure Caritas Nigeria documents and builds on its experience into the future.

• Leadership and management
  • Provide direct management, leadership and mentoring to team members.
  • Identify and build business development capacity within Caritas Nigeria.
  • Manage funding relationships with Caritas Internationalis and other Caritas agencies.

Key working relationships:

Internal:

Caritas Nigeria Executive Secretary, Chief of Party, Project Directors, Unit Heads, all Caritas Nigeria staff. 

External: CBCN, CRS, CAFOD, Caritas Germany, Misereor, Donor Agencies, JDPCs at the Provincial and Diocesan levels, All Units of the Church & Society Department, other NGOs, the general public.

Qualifications/Experience

1. A Masters’ Degree in Communication, Information Sciences, Journalism, Marketing, from a reputable institution, is required with at least 7 years of experience in a similar role (Proposal Development).
2. Past proposal development experience with a track record of winning multi-million dollar grants and working with National or International NGOs, is a must-have.
3. Proficiency in program identification, design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

4. Experience with, and a demonstrated commitment to humanitarian and development work
5. Excellent English language; oral and written communication skills
6. Excellent networking skills and ability to build relationships with donor agencies
7. Excellent grant writer with vast experience developing complex proposals for institutional donors such as United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), European Commission (EC), Department For International Development (DFID), government departments and multilateral and international organizations like the UN agencies.
8. Knowledge of the funding cycle of different donor agencies

9. Familiar with the different platforms used by donor agencies, such as Grants.gov, EU AID, etc.
10. Ability to interface with multiple stakeholders, representatives, and partners in a professional manner on an ongoing basis.
11. Proficiency in MS Office suite, internet searches, website management, and graphic design.
12. Ability to work both in a team and independently and ability to transfer knowledge through formal and informal training
13. Familiarity with Catholic Social Teaching.

Disclaimer

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.