Institutional Partnership Advisor

Save the Children Finland (Pelastakaa Lapset – Rädda Barnen) is a Finnish NGO founded in 1922. We save children's lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential. We work to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Across all of our work, we pursue several core values: accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity and integrity.

The goal of Save the Children Finland’s (SCF) International Programme (IP) unit is to contribute to the realisation of the rights of a child in its targeted operational areas, and the world at large. This contribution will be made through the implementation of thematic programmes that are based on the detection of local rights violations as identified by child rights situation analyses, extensive in-house experience gained from the management of previous programmes in similar fields of work, and the piloting of new, innovative ideas. The focus areas of the SCF International Programmes are Child Sensitive Social Protection, Child Protection and Food Security as well as progressively increased attention to emergency response and disaster-risk reduction.

We are now seeking a new Institutional Partnership Advisor to our International Programmes Unit.

Job purpose:

Institutional Partnership Advisor (PA) has an overall responsibility for SCF’s relationship with given institutional donors on a national and international level. The job holder leads on the strategic engagement with key donors and partners and works proactively to establish, maintain, and develop the relationship with relevant institutional donors. This role contributes with donor knowledge to ensure quality in programme activities as well as revenue to Save the Children's programmes and activities globally. The job holder works closely with partners and creates a good understanding of their challenges, visions, goals, and strategies and how these can be matched to SCF’s and SCI’s strategic priorities. The job holder explores and has an active dialogue about possible collaboration and new business development together with colleagues in Finland and at the Country, Member and Regional offices.

The role includes some travelling in program countries. In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

Main responsibilities

• Leads the identification of new funding opportunities for the assigned donor/s and ensures SCF capitalises strategic available funding opportunities from the donor as per SCF donor engagement strategy and Go No Go decisions
• Responsible for following up key donors’ priorities and communicating donor policy changes within SCF and with relevant country offices (CO)’s.
• Leads the development of SCF UNICEF, AfDB and WB account strategies and targets with support from Head of Institutional Partnerships and implements those strategies.
• Responsible for strategic donor engagement, including supporting CO in developing and implementing specific donor engagement strategies. Contributes to joint planning of country-specific donor engagement. Identifies and coordinates advocacy opportunities and efforts in liaison with the Advocacy Advisor.
• Leads negotiations with donors on specific funding and contract formulations.
• Provides expertise to SCF staff concerning donor requirements and compliance of assigned donor/s, shares knowledge and provides capacity-building support for programme managers and other SCF staff with responsibilities for assigned donor awards. Provides capacity-building support on donor compliance, proposal development, reporting etc. for SCI country offices.
• Acts as SCF representative in SCI donor account management forums and contributes to the development of SCI’s donor accounts and strategies through close cooperation with colleagues from other SC members and country offices.
• Liaises with relevant stakeholders related to assigned donors and represents SCF at key meetings and events organized by the donor
• Other tasks as assigned by the line manager.

Qualifications and experience required

• Masters level university degree
• Proven track record in working with international cooperation and civil society, good understanding of issues related to global development
• More than 7 years of experience in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development and/or humanitarian projects
• Proven skills in proposal development and reporting across major institutional donors, especially of our key accounts
• Knowledge in UNICEF, AfDB and/or WB -specific donor compliance incl. budget rules, regulations, guidance, trends, and practices.
• Proven track record of fundraising success and strategic partnership development
• Fluency in English is a must and good knowledge of French highly desired (spoken and written)
• Good analytical and problem-solving skills with a strong attention to detail
• Networking - credibility to lobby, influence and represent Save the Children Finland at all levels
• Previous experience in working with child rights and human rights preferred
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles

We offer you

• Possibility to work in an international NGO, who is known for its work on enhancing child rights in Finland and globally
• An interesting working environment, with a multicultural team, where you can utilize your experience and further develop your expertise
• Possibility to support the fulfillment of child rights globally and advance our strategic partnerships with key institutional partners
• Permanent contract
• Flexible working arrangements. Based in Helsinki or remotely.

Kindly indicate your salary request in your application.

Deadline of applications

29 September 2022

More information

More information from Päivi Anttila (Head of Institutional Partnerships) telephone enquiries +358 40 8239463 on Thursday 22 September 2022 at 10-13 am (EEST).