Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, August 09 2023, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
About the job
Who We Are
At Vibrant Village Foundation (VVF), we are driven by a mission to support rural communities in underserved regions to achieve self-sufficiency and thrive. Vibrant Village Foundation is a private family foundation with roots in Portland, Oregon, USA, but our reach extends to Africa and Central & South America. We make grants to non-profit organizations dedicated to community development and directly manage programs from our offices in Ghana and Kenya.

Our Approach
We provide unrestricted, long-term funding combined with support beyond funding to local organizations, so they can deliver quality programs while also tending to their organizational capacity priorities. Our focus is on supporting our partners to have the financial resources, capacity, and autonomy to pursue their mission and make a difference in their communities. We believe healthy and connected organizations deliver greater impact. Rather than act as direct capacity builders, we serve as connectors, facilitators, and advocates for our partners. Our team, defined by values of trust, people-centeredness, fairness, justice, and humility, consists of diverse members and representation from our partner regions.

Your Role
As a valued member of our Global Team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and implementing our grantmaking and partnership strategy in East and Southern Africa, in alignment with our mission, values, and theory of change. Reporting to the Executive Director, you will collaborate closely with other Regional Directors and the Director of Operations.
Your key responsibilities will include conducting outreach and due diligence of prospective grant partners, overseeing and monitoring partnerships in your portfolio, and providing support beyond funding. The amount of time dedicated to portfolio development vs. monitoring and support beyond funding will depend on the maturity and size of each regional portfolio. You will manage a diverse portfolio, currently comprised of 18 grant partners in East & Southern Africa, the majority located in Malawi, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, with a few in Kenya and Tanzania.

Location: Flexible. To be based in Malawi, Kenya, or Uganda with frequent travel across the region (25-35% of the year) and occasional travel to the US. This would be a work-from-home position, with the flexibility to consider other workspace options (shared office space, for example), if desired.
Position Type: Full-time, paid in local currency. You must have a work permit for where you’re based.

Key Responsibilities
ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY AND IMPACT (10%)
• Contribute to refining the Foundation's global grant making and partnership strategy, in alignment with our mission, values, and theory of change, under the leadership of the Executive Director.

GRANTMAKING AND PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION (80%)
Partnership Portfolio Management
• Implement our grantmaking and partnership strategy in East & Southern Africa.
• Build and maintain trusting relationships with grant partners with regular communication and engagement to support their local networks and collective goals.

New Partner Identification and Due Diligence
• Lead outreach initiatives and site visits to build a strong pipeline of locally-led grant partners, identifying potential growth opportunities.
• Compile insights and data to support funding recommendations shared with the team.
• Lead the initial due diligence and annual review of potential and existing grant partners.

Monitoring & Evaluation
• Conduct site visits to deepen our understanding of the operating context and monitor partners' program implementation activities.
• Review, analyze, and summarize findings from grant partners’ reports and share learnings.
• Manage occasional external program evaluations and consultant contracts.
• Track reporting, and update the grant management system.

Support Beyond Grant Funding (SbF)
• Shape and refine the Foundation’s global strategy to Support beyond Funding (SbF) with the global team through thoughtful listening of partners’ needs and understanding of their local contexts.
• Lead the implementation of SbF initiatives in East & Southern Africa, in line with our global strategy.
• Support grant partners in strengthening their organizations and networks.

Grant making Process
• Manage the overall grant award process for existing and new regional partners.
• Contribute to the ongoing improvement of our grant making processes and tools, including internal grant making procedures for staff, funding and partnership guides for partners, and other grant making-related templates and documentation.

COMMUNICATIONS, COLLABORATION, LEARNING & SHARING (10%)
• Stay informed on the social sector trends and advise the team on potential opportunities that will amplify our presence, networks, and impact.
• Work with our grant partners to share lessons learned.
• Represent the Foundation at external events (conferences, meetings, and forums) by conveying a clear vision of the organization’s vision, mission, and goals.

Does This Sound Like You?
• Passion & Commitment: You have a deep-seated passion for and genuine commitment to amplifying the potential of leaders and communities in East & Southern Africa.
• Regional Understanding: You have lived experience in East & Southern Africa and possess at least 5 years of experience in understanding the local context, especially in rural communities.
• Interpersonal & Communication Skills: Ability to skillfully communicate, collaborate, and problem-solve in a multicultural environment, both with local partners and as a member of a global team. Professional working proficiency (both verbal and written) in English is required.
• Analytical Prowess: You possess excellent analytical skills and have the ability to collect and analyze data to shape strategic thinking, planning, and recommendations.
• Go-getter Approach: You have a track record of achievement of directly delivering results autonomously on global teams, without always being able to delegate to team members.
• Specialized Experience: You have 5+ years of social sector experience in areas like poverty alleviation, WASH, conservation agriculture, health, education, climate change, or livelihoods.



Education Requirement: No Requirements

Job Experience: No Requirements

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months:

Level of Education:

Job application procedure

How to Apply: Shortlist www.shortlist.net   is our exclusive recruitment partner for this role. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is closed, though early applications are strongly encouraged. If you believe you meet the attributes and skills above, please send a brief email with your updated CV to: Michael Pierson (Associate Partner) at michael@shortlist.net  cc Deesha Dutta (Senior Talent Consultant) at deesha@shortlist.net.  If interested please click on the link to apply.


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