Job Description and Person Specification

Please note this statement is for information only and does not form part of a contract. This list is not exhaustive and you will be expected to undertake such duties as may be assigned to you by ActionAid from time to time.Employees are expected to be flexible in their work in order to deliver the objectives of the organisation.

Job title / Senior Humanitarian Funding Manager
Contract type / Permanent
Grade/starting salary / Grade 6A
Reporting to / Head of Programme Funding
Team and Department / Programme Funding Team, Fundraising Department
Direct reports / 4 direct reports
Date JD reviewed / November 2015
Context

Are you passionate about making a real difference?

As part of the global ActionAid family, we are helping to build a fair and just world where everyone can claim their rights. To achieve this we work with local people in more than 45 countries to fight hunger and disease, seek justice and education for women, hold companies and governments to account and help communities cope with emergencies.

In the UK our role is to raise funds to reduce poverty in the communities and countries where we work, to take action for long term change and to act in solidarity with people fighting poverty and injustice in poor countries. We aim to make a stronger global differenceby working closely with ActionAid International and our country programmes around the world. We want to achieve a way of communicating that creates a powerful emotional, intellectual and practical connection between people here and in developing countries so as to motivate and engage our supporters. We believe success will be driven by connecting people, demonstrating our impact, seizing opportunities and key moments, working with others, focussing on ethical and sustainable approaches and harnessing technology and digital. We are a value driven, forward thinking organisation, focused on achieving long-term and sustainable change in the lives of the poorest people in our world.

Purpose of the Role

To workata strategicandoperationallevelto deliver AAUK’s institutional funding for humanitarian work undertaken by ActionAid and our international partners.

Working within ActionAid UK’s humanitarian Response and Resilience Team, the focus of this role is to lead and coordinate ActionAid’s’ humanitarian partnerships with DFID, DEC, Start Network, ECHO andUN agenciesand steer a coordinated and flexible approach to increasingthe Federation’s institutional funding for humanitarianwork (covering response, resilience and DRR, preparedness and capacity building).Ensure effective management of ActionAid’s funding relationship with the DEC and for rapid response funding through the Start Network and the DFID Rapid Response FacilityThis role will manage 4 staff and operate as a deputy to AAUK’s Head of Humanitarian Response and Resilience (HRRT).

Key tasks and responsibilities

Strategic Lead on Institutional Funding for HumanitarianProgrammes

  • Lead on the pursuit of humanitarian funding objectives as outlined in the ActionAid UK Humanitarian Strategy and on the delivery of relevant areas of humanitarian funding covered by a delegation of responsibility to ActionAid UK from the International Secretariat.
  • Promote an effective, coordinated and flexible response to maximize institutional funding opportunities within ActionAid UK for major (red and orange alert) emergencies, including the deployment of relevant staff, coordination with IHART (International Humanitarian Action and Resilience Team)
  • Support the development of realistic and ambitious annual and long term plans and targets for institutional funding for humanitarian work, and the tracking, reporting and review of these objectives.
  • Work with HRRT colleagues and others to develop stronger partnerships with a selection of ActionAid countries where there is potential for increasing humanitarianfunding, and where necessary promote and support capacity building activities to accompany this.
  • Ensure effective synergy and linkages in our engagement with DFID and other partners for funding with our work on humanitarian policy and advocacy issues.

Staff Management and Support

  • Manage 3 Funding Managers in ActionAid UK’s Humanitarian Response and Resilience Team to manage relationships with donors (ECHO, UN and Resilience Preparedness and Recovery) and lead on related funding opportunities working with ActionAid Federation members.
  • Manage the Humanitarian Funding Assistant who provides support in a range of activities across the team, including on DEC and Rapid Response contracts and on team administration and reporting
  • Develop work plans with these team members and manage through one to ones and individual performance development programmes addressing performance issues promptly
  • Provide support to the Head of Humanitarian Response and Resilience, acting as a deputy head of team and providing cover for absences due to leave, travelling or other reasons.

Oversight and management of ActionAid’s DEC Grants portfolio

  • Represent ActionAid at DEC events and meetings when necessary.
  • Act as the primary point of contact on funding matters within the ActionAid network during DEC appeals ensuring effective linkages between Country Programme staff, ActionAid UK and IHART.
  • Lead on proposal development processes, including logframes and budgets, work in in close collaboration with country programmes, either remotely or by travelling to the affected country..
  • Ensure effective grant management including inception workshops, timely reporting, evaluations and reviews and donor compliance of DEC grant portfolio.
  • Ensure ActionAid compliance with the annual DEC Accountability Framework (DECAF) process, (and whatever eventually succeeds it), task managing the relevant lead staff to ensure the provision of accurate and high quality information demonstrating our compliance and improvement plans.

Oversight and management of Rapid Response Funding (DFID and Start Network)

  • Lead ActionAid UK’s relationship with DFID in respect of our participation in the Rapid Response Facility and other potential funding channels open specifically to RRF pre-qualified agencies.
  • Lead ActionAid UK’s relationship with the Start Network around the actual and potential release of funds through the Start Fund and other potential funding channels for humanitarian response open specifically the Start Network member agencies.
  • Collaborate with IHART and country programmes to raise awareness of and interest in rapid response funding, and the development of appropriate capacity in country to engage with opportunities
  • Ensure HRRT maximize opportunities to apply for and benefit from rapid response funding opportunities. This will include promoting effective identification of potential crises emerging and ActionAid’s participation in the alert raising and decision making processes.
  • Identify and task staff within HRRT to lead on individual rapid response applications, working in collaboration with IHART and country programmes. Where necessary or appropriate, lead on these proposals personally.
  • Ensure the effective record keeping, contract management and compliance of rapid response grants, including reporting and MEALactivities.
  • Ensure staff in HRRT and elsewhere as necessary are trained and have sufficient skills and knowledge to understand the application processes for rapid response funding and are able to submit high quality and timely applications and proposals.

Networking internally and externally:

  • Liaise regularly with key staff in IHART and the International Partnership Development team and other key International Secretariat functions for technical and thematic support and to ensure our work is maximised and as strategic as possible.
  • Engage with NGO networks through participation in working groups and other forums to influence donor funding policy and practice.
  • Work with team colleagues and others to ensure that internal systems and processes are fit for purpose to support AAUK’s humanitarian funding strategy
  • Share responsibility with colleagues in the Humanitarian Resilience and Response Team to encourage cross- departmental information and knowledge sharing within ActionAid, both in the UK and internationally.

Person Specification

Knowledge and experience

Essential

  • Experience developingandimplementing successful programmefundingstrategies and of delivering income against targets.
  • Humanitarian programming experience, and a good understanding of international development and humanitarian issues, including women’s rights, rights based approaches and governance
  • Applied knowledge of project cycle management including problem analysis, project design, financial planning and management, and monitoring and evaluation.
  • Experiencesecuring institutional funding grants and contracts at a multimillion level
  • Experiencepreparingqualitynarrativeandfinancial reportsfor institutional donors
  • Sound knowledge of humanitarian funding policy and typical contract rules and procedures
  • Experience establishing and cultivating strong donor relationships that have delivered substantially increased income
  • Experience of managing a team of staff and promoting high performance
  • Experience working with people from different cultures to deliver complex work tasks
  • Strong commitmenttoActionAid’s mission, visionand values

Desirable

  • Experience of emergency funding mechanisms such as the DEC, Start Network and DFID Rapid Response Facility
  • Experience of working on emergency response programmes
  • Experienceoflivingandworkingin thedevelopingworld.

Skills and abilities

Essential

  • Abilitytointerpretandanalysecomplex informationfromarangeofsourcesandpresent toadonor ina detailed and accurate way.
  • Provenfacilitation, trainingandcapacitybuilding skills,ideally insupportingpartnersor colleaguesoverseas.
  • Thenumerical abilitytoanalysefinancial information, budget andmonitor costs.
  • Excellent communication skills, particularly to produce high quality written narrative
  • Confidence to operate in a strategic leadership role and to engage with senior managers
  • Ability to think and work proactively and flexibly, creatively and strategically under pressure or when faced with competing demands.
  • Ability to work well in a team and cross-organisationally and to establish excellent relationships with colleagues from different functions and cultures.
  • Ability to travel overseas, often to insecure environments at short notice, several times a year.
  • Confident and proficient in the use of MS Office

Desirable

Fluency inasecondlanguage spoken in developing countries, in addition to English