Project Development Manager

About Acted

“We go the last mile. Founded in Afghanistan, against the backdrop of a forgotten crisis, Acted’s mission is to save lives and support people in meeting their needs in hard-to-reach areas. Millions of vulnerable people around the world need humanitarian assistance today, and hundreds of millions will need it tomorrow, in the face of the growing threat of climate change. We believe that our assistance must be conceptualised and delivered within the framework of people’s natural environments, and the territories on which they depend. Therefore, Acted pursues a triple mandate as a humanitarian, environmental, and development aid actor, contributing to the relief, stabilization, and recovery of crisis-affected people in fragile areas. This vision is guided by the motto “Think Local – Act Global” – reflecting the need to rely on a deep understanding of local territories and contexts to develop and implement actions based on local knowledge, structures and capacities. This local thinking contributes to a global response – running through all Acted programming and operations – as we work together towards the building of a 3ZERO world: a world with Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, and Zero Poverty”.

Greening strategy:

Acted’s greening strategy aims to tackle environmental degradation and climate change while meeting the needs of the most vulnerable who are often those most affected by the deepening environmental crisis. Each Acted employee will adhere to these principles through key green programming responsibilities:

• Contribute towards the adherence and development of the greening strategy plan.

• Explore innovative green programming opportunities and/or solutions within your realm of responsibilities and roles

• Encouraging and promoting environmental safeguarding processes and environmental programming standards in accordance with SOPs and technical guideline notes

Acted PSEAH Policy:

The Project development manager has the responsibility to adhere to the PSEAH Policy (Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment). Project development manager has the obligation to complete all mandatory trainings related to the Code of Conduct and the PSEA policy and report any safeguarding concern such as breaches of organisational policies or codes of conduct according to Acted’s procedures. Project development manager carries out work duties in a way that does not harm children, vulnerable adults or other staff or volunteers.

Job Purpose

Ensures the proper representation of Acted in the country vis-à-vis government authorities, donors, clusters/sectoral working groups, UN agencies and other NGOs. He/she develops and builds the program profile in line with the country, regional and global Acted strategy and ensures the funding of its roll-out. He/she ensures an efficient, progressive, cost-effective and responsible growth of Acted in the country through strategic positioning and the quality implementation of projects. Under the supervision of the Country Director, act as legal representative and to ensure Acted’ compliance with Turkish Association Law in Turkey and represent Acted with Turkish Authorities when required.

Chain of Command

Under the authority of:

• Deputy Country Director.
• Country Director (CD)

Line Management:

• Deputy Project Development Manager.
• Project Development Officer(s).
• Project Development Intern(s).
• Project Development Assistant(s).

Working Relations

Internal:

– DCD Programs and External Relations (if any)

– HQ Paris (Grant Management Unit, Finance, Logistics, Audit, Programme, Communication).

– Regional Director.

– Deputy Country Director Field Operations and Project Implementation (if any).

– Area Coordinators (if any).

– Project Managers (if any).

– MEAL Manager.

– Country Finance Manager.

– Country Logistics Manager.

– Compliance/Transparency Officer.

– Security Manager (if any).

External:

– Donors

– National and local authorities

– National and international partners (including working groups and coordination bodies)

– National and international media

Objectives

1. Develop context specific and relevant programming strategy and ensure the funding of its roll-out to sustainably raise Acted’s profile and credibility in country and within the aid system.

2. Ensure good donor relations through proper, qualitative and timely grant management.

3. Facilitate internal coordination and communication as necessary

4. Raise Acted’s profile and credibility with external stakeholders by communicating a positive image of Acted’s activities and engagements in the country.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Positioning and Fundraising
   1. Context Analysis
2. Analyse the country’s socio-economic situation, (donor) trends, needs and gaps;
3. Regularly conduct stakeholder analysis, in particular who does what and where (3W)
4. Alert the Country Director of gaps and emerging needs to trigger assessments in a timely manner.
   1. Strategy development
5. Take a lead role in developing and reviewing programme strategies and identifying strategic opportunities for expanding Acted’s work in the country, and in particular
6. Identify new opportunities and new sectors of intervention;
7. Consolidate and stabilizate programming;
8. Review the geographic and thematic footprint;
9. Ensure activities are relevant and meeting country/beneficiary needs;
10. Identify Acted added-value;
11. Ensure humanitarian principals are adhered to;
12. Identify new donors, private sector partners, national and international NGOs, think tanks, academia, etc. to work with based on complementarity and added value;
    1. External relations

Formalize a country strategy in alignment with global/regional strategy.

1. Maintain active and regular working relationships with donors and act as point of contact for all donor communication, including the coordination of donor visits in the field;
2. Maintain active and regular working relationships with other NGOs, UN agencies, clusters, working groups, Alliance2015, consortia and academia;
3. Ensure the establishment and regular update of a directory of donors, international and local NGOs, other partners and stakeholders;
4. Lead the reporting to national and local authorities as required by Acted registration/legal status in country;
5. In the absence of Technical Coordinators, represent Acted in key clusters, working groups, HCT and (I)NGO coordination bodies.

1.4 Fundraising and proposal development

1. Identify funding opportunities;
2. Identify new donors for diversifying Acted donors’ portfolio including private companies and private foundations;
3. Contribute to the identification of potential relevant international and/or local partners(private sector partners, national and international NGOs, think tanks, academia, etc.) to be included in proposals;
4. Update on a monthly basis the Donor Follow Up (DFU) which documents latest negotiations and proposal possibilities with donors;
5. Liaise with MEAL to contribute to the ToRs of assessments to be conducted for proposal development and ensure their input in the logframe development (in particular the formulation of SMART indicators);
6. Oversee the development of fundraising documents (Expression of Interests, concept notes, proposals) in line with Acted country strategy and donor requirements and in close collaboration with Acted HQ GMU (Grant Management Unit) and finance;
7. Liaise with Area Coordinators, Project Managers and Technical Coordinators to ensure that proposals are relevant and technically sound;
8. Ensure that learning from previous projects (e.g. lessons learnt and best practices) is incorporated into new proposals;
9. Ensure the involvement of FLATS teams in the development of fundraising documents, particularly finance for the budget and logistics in case of specific donor procurement rules.
   1. Contracting
10. Negotiating proposals and/or contracts with donors with support of CD;
11. Address in a timely manner all comments by donors on proposals in liaison with relevant staff in country and Acted HQ GMU and finance;
12. Read thoroughly all contracts before signature, seeking Acted HQ GMU and finance advice when required.
    1. Contract follow-up
13. Grant Management
14. Ensure that contractual obligations (including visibility requirements) and reporting deadlines are known and met by Programme, MEAL and FLATS team;
15. When any issue is identified in meeting deliverables in the given timeframe and budget, inform relevant staff in country and seek Acted HQ Program Department advice on potential solutions that would meet donor rules.

2.2. Reporting

1. Ensure project kick-off and close out meetings are conducted for each project;

2. Oversee the development of quality narrative reports, reflecting the progress and status of projects in a transparent, timely and professional manner, in liaison with Acted HQ GMU and finance, which will contribute ultimately to steady cash inflow;

3. Liaise with FLATS teams when preparing reports, esp. with finance to ensure greater coherence between financial and narrative reports by crosschecking the matching of data in the narrative and financial reports;

4. Work in close relation with MEAL to incorporate MEAL data (incl. data on input, process, output, outcome and impact indicators, lessons learnt and best practices) in reports and review M&E reports from MEAL;

5. Update monthly the Reporting Follow Up (RFU) and ensure smooth and regular communication with Acted HQ GMU;

6. Ensure ad hoc requests from donors are addressed in liaison with the CD, Programme and support teams.

   Partner Follow-up

7. Liaise with partners to develop and sign relevant grant agreements in close coordination with Acted HQ GMU and finance;

8. Ensure all potential partners have a clear understanding of what is expected in terms of reporting so as to comply with Acted and donor requirements and regulations;

9. Ensure partners report to Acted in a timely and qualitative manner as per the requirements of the grant agreement.

10. External and Internal Coordination

3.1. External coordination and legal representation

1. Follow up with in country FLATS departments on Legal administrative requirements
2. Review, approve and sign all administrative decisions (legal paper ledger which documents organisational actions for the purpose of accountability)
3. Oversee preparation and be present during yearly audits
4. Lead and make decisions in consultation with Country director and Legal team
5. Represent Acted with Local and National Authorities when required
6. Review, approve and sign all funds reception and transfers declarations
7. Ensure constant up to date knowledge and application of evolving legal environmen

3.2. Staff Management (if any)

1. Ensure that staff in the department understands and is able to perform its roles and responsibilities;
2. Manage a team of Project Development Officers (if any), Interns and Assistants delineating their responsibilities and follow-up the work plans and day-to-day activities;
3. Ensure a positive working environment and good team dynamics;
4. Manage interpersonal conflicts between departmental staff members;
5. Undertake regular appraisals of staff and follow career management;
6. Identify the PDD training needs, discuss plans with the coordination and HR for both internal and external trainings, and implement them according to PDD strategic and operational priorities;
7. Coach, train, and mentor the PDD team with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the PDD team and providing professional development guidance.

3.3. Internal Coordination and Communication

1. Facilitate interdepartmental communication and information sharing to the Capital, regional and HQ offices
2. Ensure regular and clear communication with Acted HQ GMU and finance to keep it updated about latest development, so that GMU can best advice you ahead of a task.

3.4. Filing

1. Implement a filing system end ensure the proper filing of contractual project documents both in hard and soft copies;
2. Together with MEAL, set up a Resource Centre at the office regularly updated with appropriate and relevant external and internal resources.
3. External Communication
4. Contribute to Acted’s external communication strategy by feeding regularly Acted HQ Communication Department with informal updates on projects, a flash news, pictures, articles on projects progress and/or specific events for Acted communication tools, including, but not limited to, Acted Newsletter, websites and Acted Annual Report;
5. Ensure the continuum of PR activities, including formal presentations, engaging media for coverage on success stories, updating project-specific and regional fact sheets, and documenting publications featuring Acted in the media;
6. Manage Acted’s in country communication activities including media visits, photographer’s mission, videos, etc.;
7. Oversee the update and design of in country communication and visibility tools and publications, their dissemination and availability to Acted teams, as well as the capitalization of media and pictures of the mission;
8. Follow, contribute to, draft and disseminate position papers, statements, reports and releases on Acted’s engagements and humanitarian advocacy, in line with Acted’s in country and global strategy as well as positioning, in close collaboration with the country director as well as HQ communication and programme departments.
9. Key Performance Indicators

For example, the key performance indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs to evaluate their success at reaching targets.

• % Annual budget increase/decrease of the mission as compared to previous year
• Number of active strategic partnerships and % change as compared to previous year.
• Number of technical documents (sector strategies, methodologies and approaches, tools) produced.
• % success rate of proposals.
• % of proposals submitted in a timely manner.
• Number of donors and core areas of intervention in portfolio and % change as compared to the previous year or prior to arrival.
• % of successful audits conducted by Turkish Authorities
• Number of advocacy papers drafted and/or contributed to during the past 6/12 months;

1. QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business Management or a related field
• Fluent in English and Turkish (written and spoken)
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• At least 5 years of work experience in project development
• At least 3 years work experience with an INGO in an emergency and/or development setting
• Ability to work under pressure in a high-pace environment
• Good organisational and prioritization skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel, and Publisher
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Strong analytical skills
• He/ She should have Turkish citizenship