Programme Development Manager (Maternity Cover)

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Programme Development Manager (Maternity Cover)

Location: London, Nairobi, Kampala, Bishkek (other locations will be considered in countries where Saferworld has a presence)

Reporting to: Funding Team Co-Leader

Type of Position: National – must have right to work in country of application

Salary range and Grade: Grade F (in line with national salary scale) UK salary: £43,800 per annum

Contract terms and hours: Fixed Term Contract- 12 months (starting May 2026). Standard working week is 37.5 hours

Background

Saferworld is an independent international organisation working to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives. We work with people affected by conflict to improve their safety and sense of security and conduct wider research and analysis. We use this evidence and learning to improve local, national and international policies and practices that can help build lasting peace. Our priority is people – we believe in a world where everyone can lead peaceful, fulfilling lives, free from fear and insecurity. We work in over 10 countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Saferworld works in equal partnership with civil society actors across the countries where we operate, ensuring partners take a leading and strategic role in designing, implementing, and evaluating programmes.

The Programme Development Manager sits within the Funding Team. The role is fundamentally programme-focused, meaning the Programme Development Manager is expected to lead and support programme design and co-creation with partners, ensuring that proposals and projects are high quality, locally informed, responsive to our partners’ priorities, and aligned with Saferworld’s strategic objectives. The team is committed to supporting colleagues and partners in programme co-design and development, budget development, donor engagement, contract negotiations, and influencing and shaping the wider sector.

Saferworld’s income is secured primarily from statutory and institutional donors; however, securing funding to support our partners in conflict-affected countries and allow for more flexible programming increasingly requires a more diverse funding base. The Programme Development Manager will support efforts to identify and secure funds from statutory donors, trusts and foundations, and other non-traditional funding mechanisms.

Saferworld is committed to providing a safe and trusted environment that safeguards our staff, partners and communities. Our organisational integrity is derived from the values and principles that underpin and guide our work.

Job purpose

The Programme Development Manager will support a portfolio of Saferworld’s teams in co-designing and mobilising funding for peace, security and justice programmes alongside Saferworld’s partners. The successful applicant will have a focus of 3-4 countries, which will be decided based on the candidate’s experience and preference. Working closely with Regional Directors, Country Managers, and programme and grant management colleagues, the post-holder will lead on: coordinating and facilitating programme co-design processes (including taking the lead in facilitating co-design, processes, drafting high quality concept notes and proposals, theories of change, logical models, risk matrixes and budgets); developing and supporting the implementation of long-term country funding strategies and donor engagement strategies; and supporting new donor engagement and sustaining relationships with current donors. The post-holder will be responsible for managing funding portfolios across institutional and non-institutional donors in our programmes.

The post-holder will have a successful track record in developing programmes and leading new business development efforts with institutional donors such as Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the European Union (EU), UN agencies and European Governments such as Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Additional experience in mobilising resource from trusts and foundations and other non-traditional funding mechanisms is desirable.

Strong applicants will have proven programme experience, such as in project management or programme support, which equips them to lead and inform high-quality programme design. They will be skilled in coordinating complex processes, facilitating participatory co-creation with partners, and ensuring proposals are robust, contextually relevant, and strategically aligned.

Key areas of responsibility

Programme design and proposal development

• Work with country teams and partners to make informed go/no go decisions on calls for proposals and invitations to submit funding applications.
• Lead participatory, partner-centred programme co-design and development of programme concept notes and proposals that link to Saferworld’s organisational theory of change and enable delivery of country strategies. This includes coordinating across teams, facilitating locally informed ideas from country teams and partners, and leading the drafting of high-quality funding applications (including narratives, budgets, theories of change, MEL frameworks and risk matrices).
• Ensure programme design and proposal development processes are non-extractive and non-hierarchical, in line with Saferworld’s values and guidelines, including meaningful partner leadership throughout the full design cycle, participatory budget development, equitable budget sharing, and transparent communication of donor requirements and obligations.
• Ensure strong gender and conflict analysis, informed by local partner knowledge and contextual expertise, is integrated into programme design and proposal development.
• Provide guidance and capacity strengthening to country teams and partners on donor policies, strategies and funding opportunities, supporting high-quality programme design and proposal development through coaching, joint drafting and shared reflection.
• Diversify funding sources within country portfolios by identifying and scoping relevant trusts and foundations and non-traditional donors, with a focus on flexible, long-term funding suited to locally led approaches.
• Support due diligence processes when entering into partnerships with INGOs and new or deepened funding relationships with donors, ensuring processes are proportionate, transparent and partnership-focused.

Strategic development

• Support country teams and partners, where appropriate, to develop, plan and implement resource mobilisation plans to fund country strategies, including coordinating efforts to cultivate and maintain strong donor relationships.
• Oversee a portfolio of donors, tracking strategic priorities and opportunities for engagement, and work with country teams and partners to cultivate and influence donor relationships, including advocating for less top-down and less hierarchical funding approaches, greater flexibility, and increased funding flowing directly to local partners and civil society actors.
• Monitor country resource mobilisation plans and analyse fundraising performance, including proposal success rates, while conducting learning on the effectiveness and quality of programme co-design and partnership processes.
• Ensure cross-organisational collaboration by working closely with colleagues across the Funding Team to align country and regional resource mobilisation plans with global donor outreach and cultivation efforts.
• Keep up to date with donor policy developments and funding trends, maintaining relevant funding intelligence to inform country strategies and organisational positioning.
• Participate in and support negotiations with donors related to new and/or existing grants, advocating for flexible, equitable and partnership-friendly terms wherever possible.

External representation

• Represent Saferworld at relevant donor conferences, seminars and other fundraising events, actively promoting Saferworld’s partnership-centred and locally led approach to programme design.

• Engage with the wider NGO and fundraising community, particularly on funding trends related to locally led peacebuilding, co-design, equitable partnerships and shifting power within the aid system.

  Key working relationships

• Regional directors, country managers and country teams – working together on programme design, proposal development, and the development of resources mobilisation plans to enable the implementation of country and regional strategies.

• Programme support – working closely together to ensure proposal development and programme design is of the utmost quality and in line with organisational approaches to partnership, gender, climate, MEL and advocacy.

• Colleagues in the fundraising team – regularly coordinating to ensure country and regional resource mobilisation plans are connected to global outreach and donor cultivation plans, ensure approaches to institutional and non-institutional donors are coordinated with other parts of the organisation and leverage donor research support, support global efforts to diversify Saferworld funding basis in collaboration with Saferworld affiliate offices in the US and Brussels.

• Colleagues in the finance team – working collaboratively to develop programme budgets, ensuring effective cost recovery and budget sharing with partners.

• Colleagues in the policy team - ensuring linkages between donor trends and policy developments, and supporting the integration of policy insights into programme design and resource mobilisation approaches.

Scope and accountability

Decision-making and limits of authority: Lead effective programme development and co-design processes; develop fundraising plans and ensure programme impact and quality in the proposals written.

The post-holder is expected to show considerable leadership within the organisation and a high level of analytical thinking, creative thinking and problem-solving capacities. This includes developing systems and processes to meet new needs; identifying and applying appropriate programme design approaches; collecting and analysing a range of information from different sources; and developing new ideas and approaches to design and securing funding from statutory and institutional donors.

*Financial resources :*N/A

*Other resources :*Responsible for cross-regional and organisational information-sharing and lesson learning on fundraising areas.

People management : Technical supervision’ and ‘supervision and oversight’ responsibilities may be assigned to this post-holder, including but not limited to consultancies and/or dotted line management of staff. Within the team, line management of programme design coordinators, officers or interns may be a possibility.

Legal, regulatory and compliance responsibility : Supporting internal and donor compliance as part of programme design and proposal development support to country programmes.

Person specification

Knowledge and Experience

Essential:

• Demonstrable experience of co-designing, developing and implementing international development programmes – preferably in conflict-affected contexts – that bring about community-led programme change, and policy and practice change. Experience of designing peacebuilding, security and justice, and/or conflict prevention programmes is an asset.
• Experience leading collaborative design processes alongside civil society partners and a strong understanding of partner-led approaches in programme design.
• Demonstrable experience of writing successful funding proposals – including developing theories of change, MEL frameworks, risk matrixes and complex budgets.
• Proven experience of financial design, including programme budgeting and development of budget narratives.
• Demonstrable experience of leading programme design sessions/workshops including developing and remotely managing processes to write successful concept notes and proposals while building and managing relationships, including remotely, with country offices and/or local partners.
• Demonstrable experience in building and maintaining relationships with donors, and understanding of donor requirements, particularly for donors relevant to Saferworld such as GAC, the FCDO, EU, UN agencies and Sida (among others).
• Demonstrable experience of working with teams and partners in ways that reflect the principles of power-sharing, solidarity and accompaniment.
• Experience in mainstreaming gender-sensitivity/responsiveness/transformation in programme design and proposal development.

Desirable:

• Proven experience in programme management or programme support roles, including planning, coordinating, and monitoring projects, which informs and strengthens high-quality programme design.
• Experience in mobilising resources from trusts and foundations and non-traditional donors.
• Strong understanding of key political, development and humanitarian trends and debates on, and/or experience working in, focus countries/regions for Saferworld, particularly linked to conflict prevention, peacebuilding, development, governance, and security and justice.

Skills/Abilities

• Excellent written and spoken English; knowledge of a second language is desirable (such as Russian, Arabic, or Swahili).
• Ability to work flexibly, independently and on own initiative.
• Experience in developing strategies, and translating strategy into practice.
• Ability to negotiate and understand priorities of colleagues, applying a problem-solving supportive approach.
• Excellent communication skills, with clear strategies for working remotely with colleagues and partners, including experience of communicating effectively across cultures and with diverse audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines, multiple priorities, and prioritise and manage workload.
• Excellent participatory workshop facilitation skills.

Personal qualities

• Self-motivated and persistent in the face of complex challenges.
• Able to manage multiple and complex priorities at once and prioritise work to deliver on objectives effectively.
• Personable, empathetic and able to develop excellent working relationships and collaborate with staff around the world.
• Commitment to and compliance with Saferworld’s safeguarding principles.
• Commitment to gender equality, respect and value equality and diversity, and understanding of how this applies to own area of work.
• Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Saferworld.

Other requirements:

• Willingness to travel (dependent on security assessments and project funding and aligned to our aim of working differently and reduce environmental impact).

How to apply

Application process:

• Apply through our vacancy portal on our Saferworld Programme Development Manager (Maternity Cover)
• Send your CV and a covering letter (maximum two pages) addressing the person specification and why you feel your experience matches the requirements of the role. AI should be used responsibly and for minimal support. Any applications showing heavy use of AI will be rejected.

Deadline for applications: 20th January 2026 Interviews: to be held the week commencing 26th January