Institutional partnerships Officer

Organization Overview

Tostan is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Dakar, Senegal, currently operating in five West African countries. At the strategic level, the organization is committed to continuing to develop its core competency of empowering education, and to document and scale the sustainable impact it creates on a range of issues. Tostan’s flagship model, the three-year Community Empowerment Program (CEP) has already reached thousands of communities in West and East Africa since 1991. Results in governance, education, health, economic empowerment and the environment are currently being monitored, and Tostan is particularly proud to have played an important role in the large-scale empowerment of women and girls and in community abandonment of harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage. As part of its strategic engagement plan 2023-2030, Tostan focuses on strategic scaling. The organization is developing new implementation strategies to support community leadership by unlocking broader systemic changes at the regional level. It also creates new models for sharing and replicating its programs with other development partners and expands its capacity to share Tostan’s global approach to support and influence a range of local and global audiences. For more information, please visit : www.tostan.org

Position Description

Tostan’s resource development efforts are at a crucial juncture, and it is a particularly exciting time to join the team. As Tostan continues to launch and roll out its new strategy to 2030, there is enormous opportunity to build relationships with new funding partners, and to strengthen links with existing supporters. The Institutional partnerships Officer will be responsible for supporting the functioning of Tostan’s resource development teams in researching, developing, and sustaining funding partnerships with potential institutional and philanthropic partners. The role will involve working with multiple different teams internally, particularly including the key sub-teams of the Partnerships team (Communications, Influencing, and Resource Development team).

Duties/Responsibilities

Support the management of a balanced portfolio of funding

• Lead online systematic research for new partner prospects, identifying partners that are well-aligned thematically, operationally, and in terms of values
• Research and analyze relevant global sector trends and specific strategic partner priorities and interests
• Lead account management of assigned accounts from solicitation phase (initial contact) through to renewal
• Prepare quality and timely proposals and reporting, liaising with relevant teams (Programs, National Coordinators, Finance, Grant management (GPS) etc.) in both English and French

External relationship management

• Foster strong relationships with strategic and long-term institutional prospects
• Support the onboarding of new funding partnerships including conducting robust due diligence
• Engage with and represent in Tostan’s networks and stakeholder groups as necessary

Internal coordination

• Support the coordination across the Resource Development Team (RDT) including with the Institutional Partnerships team and the Philanthropy team to ensure transparent and aligned working practices e.g. RDT team regular and special meetings (typically bi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, and annual retreats), special discussions of specific partners and potential partners
• Ensure that cross-team working practices are visible, rational, and effective, including with Grant Management (GPS), Comms, Influencing, Finance, and Programs
• Contribute to working groups to advance the way Tostan addresses key thematic issues from a donor perspective e.g. climate change, gender, safeguarding etc.

Systems, resources, and processes

• Develop, improve and maintain effective systems, resources and processes to support Tostan in becoming a more effective fundraising organization
• Ensure effective knowledge management including updated databases (Salesforce)
• Support the development of resources to enable more efficient proposal formation in English and French

Team development

• Monitor Key Performance indicators on a monthly and quarterly basis
• Support the work planning process and strategic development for 2024 ● Support other ad hoc tasks for the department as required

Key Relationships

Direct line Manager : Head of Institutional Partnerships

Supports : Senior Advisor (Institutional Partnerships), Head of Philanthropy, Partnerships Advisor,

Partnerships Officer, Partnerships team members

Localisation: Thies, Senegal

Key qualifications required:

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree required;
• Liberal arts or similar advanced degree in relevant discipline preferred.

Language skills:

• Fluency in French (oral and written) is required;
• Fluency in English (oral and written) is required (C2 level).

Knowledge and Experience:

• 3-5 years in business development with successful track record in corporate and institutional fundraising, proposal writing, grant writing, or communications;
• A very high standard placed on English language writing
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel
• Strong computer literacy and skill in using the internet for research ● Experience working with CRMs and databases (incl. Salesforce)

Soft skills (characteristics)

• Enjoy working within a small NGO environment that is mission-driven
• Comfortable working independently and in a team environment
• A team player with a willingness to support team members;
• Must be able to work under pressure at times to handle a wide variety of activities;
• Solutions orientated;
• Very strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build relations with diverse stakeholders.

Type of contract: local contract