Proposal & Report Writer

Background:

ActionAid is responding to the humanitarian crises in Turkiye and Syria which has been classified as a Red Alert in the ActionAid Federation due to the escalating death toll of more than 50,000, with over 100,000 people injured and thousands still buried in the rubble in Türkiye and Syria. The earthquake has further exacerbated the situation for the 4.2M people in northwest Syria that were already relying on humanitarian assistance and suffering the consequences of the 12-year war.

Building on ActionAid’s existing partnerships and alliances in Turkiye and Syria, we are supporting a local partner-led humanitarian response focusing on providing immediate humanitarian relief, shelter, food and NFIs, emergency medical care, psychosocial first aid and creating safe spaces for women and girls to prevent and protect against gender-based violence.

ActionAin Arab Region (AAAR) is leading this response on behalf of the Federation with ActionAid International Humanitarian and Resilience Team (IHART) in line with ActionAid’s internal emergency classification policy.

In line with ActionAid’s humanitarian signature, target groups include the most vulnerable people, women, girls and young people.

Job Title: Proposal & Report Writer.

Directorate/Cluster: Fundraising.

Contract Type : Fixed term – 18 months

Location : Remote

Grade and Salary: C

Role Overview:

Develop proposals for prospects and donors, deliver effective report writing, and embed knowledge management processes on donor funded projects, helping to secure income and retain donors that fund ActionAid’s response to the Turkiye-Syria earthquake.

Proposal development :

• Collaborate with program staff, partners, and stakeholders to ensure proposals align with their priorities and strategies.
• Develop and write funding proposals, concept notes and information pieces in line with funding priorities identified through the response plan.
• Work with partners and ActionAid affiliates and associates on bespoke proposals, identify gaps in information, review project logic, and assist in developing comprehensive project budgets aligned to donor compliance requirements.
• Coordinate with relevant departments, such as finance and monitoring and evaluation, to ensure proposals meet organizational standards and requirements.
• Ensure that programme activities, staffing costs and operational support is clearly budgeted and cost recovered in line with the global emergency response and resilience budget for the purposes of fundraising and cost recovery.
• Develop strong and productive working relationships with partners and staff across the ActionAid Federation, to assist in developing coherent and compelling proposals, budgets and reports.
• Share proposal and report writing best practice with the partners and ActionAid Arab Region team.
• Stay current on best practices, policies, and guidelines related to humanitarian response and incorporate them into proposals and reports as appropriate.
• Source and write compelling case studies and human interest stories as part of project reporting, and ensure these are shared for wider use across the ActionAid Federation in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Ensure ActionAid fundraisers can effectively communicate funding needs to their donor markets through regular information pieces and written updates.
• Ensure all communications are produced in line with ActionAid Arab Region’s brand.
• Support the development of concept notes and proposals which support the generation of wider strategic income to ActionAid Arab Region, dependent on capacity.

Reporting:

• Establish reporting schedules for new projects, applying appropriate donor compliance processes and tools to ensure these are set up and managed to the highest standards.
• Carry out regular monitoring of projects and feedback to ActionAid affiliates/donor leads at quarterly grant management meetings.
• Fulfil reporting commitments of these grants – producing narrative, detailed log frames, and accurate financial reports on time and to a high standard.
• Draft timely and accurate situation reports that document program progress, challenges, and results.
• Collect and analyze data and feedback from program staff, beneficiaries, and partners to inform report content and recommendations.
• Develop and produce high-quality reports and infographics that effectively communicate the organization’s activities and impact to stakeholders
• Work closely with involved staff to gather data, create visualizations, and develop infographics and reporting strategies that support the organization’s goals and objectives
• Co-deliver capacity building and inception workshops, where required, in order to ensure delivery partners and ActionAid can deliver on donor grant commitments.

Develop information and knowledge systems:

• Improve the partners and ActionAid Arab Region team practices around saving and sharing project information.
• Support the partners and ActionAid Arab Region in the design and roll out of templates and training around proposal development, reporting, budgets and programme management.
• Embed and improve programme management systems within partners and ActionAid Arab Region.
• Ensure donor communications systems and processes are up to date, (e.g. ActionAid’s contract management system), identify areas for improvement and proactively lead on their development.

PERSON SPECIFICATIONS:

**Education and Qualifications :**Any Relevant Degree

Essential Skills, Knowledge & Experience :

• A proven track record in writing successful fundraising proposals and securing significant donations from major institutional donors (e.g. ECHO, UFCDO, AECID, UN agencies, DANIDA and other humanitarian donors) and other major philanthropies.
• Ability to translate technical programme information into compelling reports for different audiences.
• Experience of developing proposals (including log frames) using complex project information, specifically ensuring there is a good project logic, objectives are SMART and outcomes realistic.
• A good understanding of humanitarian, recovery and resilience programmes, including terminology and language.
• Ability to review existing team systems and processes and innovate to improve team efficiency.
• Proven ability to prioritise and manage a varied workload, taking initiative and meeting deadlines.
• Proven experience in supporting the management of large, restricted grants including working with multiple teams in their implementation, tracking progress and producing compelling reports.
• Ability to manage financial information relating to project budgets, query inaccuracies and present this information in an understandable and appropriate way.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills – ability to communicate well across a range of people regionally and internationally.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.

Desirable:

• A track record in writing successful fundraising proposals and securing donations from Gulf-based donors.

Language requirements :

• Excellent command of the English language both verbal and written.
• Fluent Arabic speaker.