Proposal Writer

About us

RET International is an independent, impartial, non-partisan, non-for-profit organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 2000 by Mrs Sadako Ogata (former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).

RET is committed to working in emergencies, in protracted crises, and in fragile contexts to alleviate the deepest sufferings, build people’s resilience and enhance their self-reliance.

We believe we are amongst the leading NGOs to provide tailor-made solutions and relevant programs to bridge the gaps and respond to the real needs and challenges of the communities. We aim to provoke significant positive change, enabling particularly vulnerable youth and young women to take control of their lives and fulfill their social and economic rights.

We stand with people, with refugees, returnees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), alongside the host communities adopting the fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.

Impact

Since our founding in 2000, we have worked in more than 32 countries, implementing more than 405 projects to help our program participants overcome multi-dimensional adversities.

We have helped refugee adolescents and youth in refugee camps; we have assisted communities from Asia, Afri-ca, and the Americas made vulnerable by displacement, violence, armed conflict, and disasters. We have provided a broad diversity of programs aimed at protecting and building the resilience of youth and women affected by crises.

Providing multi-dimensional solutions and building the capacity of, particularly, youth and women has always been our core commitment.

RET’s extensive presence in the field has positively impacted the lives of just over 2 million participants, 55% of whom are women. 12,500 youth leaders have trained and managed nearly 430 tertiary education scholarships, paving the way to more peaceful and stable communities by empowering a generation of young people to become actors of positive social change. Our actions have also led to constructing, renovating, and equipping over 1,600 schools and women’s centres, training more than 30,000 educators, and improving the proficiency of numerous local and, even, national education administrations.

In all, RET has indirectly reached over 20 million beneficiaries.

Scope of Work

Under the framework of the RET’s efforts in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Region, the Proposal Writer role is to support the LAC Bureau – Strategic Planning & Technical Direction in the development of proposals and concept notes for development programming.

The proposal writer will be responsible for provide co-leadership in the proposal development and process and directly write the proposal together with the relevant cross-functional RET team, including: Technical, M&E, Programmes, Operations, and others.

The Proposal Writer is also expected to work closely with the Country Office Proposals Management Team to ensure that proposals and concept notes are developed in compliance with donor requirements.

Location

The Proposal Writer could be based in RET’s LAC Bureau located in Panama City or work under the home office modality.

Specific tasks may include:

The Proposal Writer will join a formulation team and will support the following tasks:

• Review the call for proposals identify and disseminate key proposal requirements and instructions to members of the proposal development team
• Develop and co-monitor proposal schedules and outlines together with respective RET proposals development team members.
• Write proposal contents (executive summary, management and staffing, strategic approaches, past performance, annexes, etc.) including weaving text from different writers.
• Synthesize raw content from multiple sources into a coherent and complete narrative.
• Edit the proposals content, focusing on improving readability through sentence shortening, redundancy removal, rearranging sentences to improve transitions, and clarifying evidence and references.
• Coordinate, edit and incorporate the input of other team members (including feedback from Sub-grantees and Partners) into the proposals.
• Edit and proofread proposals for grammar, style, and formatting.
• Participate in proposal design and review sessions with other proposals development team members.
• Ensure the logic of the intervention throughout the proposal.
• Review and guarantee the consistency of proposals narratives, log frames, workplans, narrative budgets and other relevant annexes
• Deliver quality full proposals packages against a tight schedule
• Ensure final submission is compliant with donor regulations and instructions delivered in the call for proposals and guidelines.
• Perform other related duties as required

Experience and skills required

• Strong academic credentials, including a university degree in Humanities, International, Social/Political Sciences and Master degree in Humanitarian Action related field from an accredited academic institution.
• 3 to 5 years of relevant professional experience as a lead or writer of approved proposals for U.S. government agencies for funding. Especially in migration, refugee, and/or associated topics.
• Demonstrable experience that he/she has prepared 3 or more proposals simultaneously.
• Demonstrable competence writing winning proposals greater than $2 million.
• High level of proficiency in English (Level C2 or mother tongue) and Spanish, both verbal and written.
• High level of proficiency in MS Office applications.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to understand and write about humanitarian sectors and related topics.
• Proven technical writing skills and track record of creating compelling clear and succinct documents.
• Strong attention to detail including grammar punctuation and syntax.
• Excellent research and analytical skills for funding opportunities
• Ability to understand the RET’s mission properly
• An understanding of how US and EU donors’ agencies work.
• Ability to work calmly under pressure in a quick changing context
• Exceptional organizational skills and an ability to manage competing priorities under tight deadlines.
• Ability and willingness to radically modify work schedules and practices, if necessary.
• Being well-versed with Office 360 applications.

Type of contract and duration:

• Professional Services Contract.
• 3 months (Renewable).
• Immediate availability

Work Culture

RET seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our key humanitarian principles: (1) humanity (2) impartiality (3) neutrality (4) independence, in addition to RET values: (1) commitment and transparency (2) innovation & adaptability (3) diversity & equity.

Selection of candidates is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting inclusion & diversity, and fairness.

You will be joining an international alliance with 400-1,300 team members from around 40 countries. That is to say almost 100% of RET staff in each country of operations are citizens of that country or of neighboring countries. RET creates a positive impact on local employment and professional development through access to knowledge management, essential technical expertise, good/best practices, and lessons learned, as well as through training and building proficiency and skill sets of local staff.