Organisation Overview:

About Self Help Africa:

Established in 1984, Self Help Africa is an international development organisation that works through agriculture and agri-enterprise development to address hunger, poverty, social inequality and the impacts of climate change.

We believe that equitable economic development is key to lifting communities out of long-term poverty, empowering them to take control of their futures and improving their quality of life.

Our current five-year organisation strategy, defines our mission as the alleviation of hunger, poverty, social inequality and the impact of climate change through community led, market-based and enterprise-focused approaches, so that people can have access to nutritious food, clean water, decent employment and incomes, while sustaining natural resources.

Our three core values are:

• Impact: We are accountable, ambitious and committed to systemic change.
• Innovation: We are agile, creative and enterprising in an ever-changing World.
• Community: We are inclusive, honest and have integrity in our relationships.

Job Purpose:

The Emerging Funds Advisor identifies and applies for emerging and innovative funding instruments, including but not limited to impact investment funds, blended / climate / biodiversity / carbon finance models, and corporate social responsibility programmes, that mobilise capital and drive sustainable impact for SHA programmes. This role helps shape and deliver new approaches to funding that can unlock transformational change at scale. The Emerging Funds Advisor works across the organisation to ensure it is operationally ready for innovative finance and can design programmes that are structured for investment finance, results orientated, transparent for investor oversight and scalable.

The post holder identifies opportunities and coordinates proposal/bid development processes that can attract private investors, corporates and other entities, supports effective programme management and reporting, ensures compliance with investor or donor requirements, networks within the impact and climate financing sectors, builds relationships, and shares learning and impact with stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

Proposal development

• Identify, research and advise on emerging financing opportunities such as blended finance, inclusive insurance, carbon/biodiversity markets and impact investment funds.
• Lead proposal development for targeted investing instruments, and coordinate cross-organisational teams, including country teams, technical and M&E advisors to respond to opportunities.
• Develop and oversee proposal development timetables; coordinate inputs; refine team contributions; provide quality assurance on fit with donor priorities; ensure budgets have programmatic coherence; ensure compliance with internal review and approval procedures; ensure timely submission of narrative and budgets; and follow up with investors/donors for feedback.
• Work closely with programmes colleagues in all countries of operation to design projects, contribute to the assessment, research and design of projects for specific donor funding opportunities.

Investor Strategy and Compliance

• Maintain up-to-date information on emerging funding trends, guidelines, priorities, strategies, and regulations, and champion those across the organisation to ensure compliance when submitting proposals and during project implementation. Participate in relevant training to expand investor knowledge.
• Lead contract reviews with target investors, ensuring compliance with internal SHA processes, with a focus on financing models and their alignment with SHA finance systems.
• Working with SHA country and finance teams, ensure donor/investor contract terms are flowed down to any sub-grantees engaged in project delivery to ensure compliance.
• Maintain SHA information on donor database.  

Relationship Management

• Actively lead relationships with partners/investors to build effective long-term partnerships.
• Network and cultivate contacts; engage in events; liaising with colleagues across the organisation to coordinate meetings and briefings; and writing capacity statements/quality statements for target investors. 
• Work with teams to ensure SHA is well positioned for non-traditional, emerging funding instruments.
• Participate in peer networking events, impact investing summits or others via BOND and Dóchas, to build network with partners.

Programme Management, Reporting & Learning

• Lead on grant coordination of the portfolio of assigned projects and reporting requirements, liaising with country programmes and technical advisors;
• Work with country teams to monitor project performance for assigned donors against cost/quality/time and provide support where needed to address issues.
• Support grant oversight management meetings for high value and strategic grants.
• Support the quality assurance process of reporting, including ensuring reports and documents required by the investors/donors are accurate, of high quality and submitted on time, working closely with colleagues across the organization.
• Review project narrative reports, results reports, and monitor expenditure. Coordinate report reviews by Global Office colleagues.
• Coordinate learning, impact stories and case studies, both in terms of proposal development and project delivery, for assigned donors, for reporting, communication and organisational learning purposes.
• Lead communities of practice in relation to assigned donors to share learning across the organisation.
• Report on donor relationship, pipelines and projects to senior management and board. 

Miscellaneous

• Add and maintain investor opportunities and project records, donor records, files and time records in the organisation’s management information system, Salesforce.
• Support country teams to maintain funding opportunities and project records on Salesforce
• Provide surge support to other Global Programme Department colleagues, especially the Donor Advisor roles during peak times, taking on reporting or proposal development for other donors as needed.
• Support both ongoing and new projects within the Programmes team as directed by the Director of International Programmes.
• Any ad hoc duties as required.

Key Relationships:

Internal

• Head of Global Programmes (Line Manager)
• Donor Advisors
• Global Programmes Department staff
• Country Directors, Heads of Programmes and Project Managers
• Global and Country Office Finance staff
• Director of International Programmes
• Head of Impact, Strategy and Policy
• Technical and M&E Advisors
• Carbon Coordinator
• Fundraising Department staff

External

• Investors
• Donors
• Partners (NGOs, private sector, academic institutions)

Knowledge, Experience and Other Requirements:

Essential

• Demonstrable experience in leading the design, execution, and management of innovative finance models such as impact investment, carbon credits and inclusive insurance.
• Experience securing funding from non-traditional donors such as climate funds, corporates, and social responsibility programmes.
• Demonstrable experience in market research and analysis, communicating the potential impact in a clear and compelling way, and applying learnings to drive strategy and project development.
• Excellent relationship management skills, and the ability to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders in a global environment.
• Excellent written skills, and the ability to turn complex information into proposals and reports.
• Self-motivated, proactive and driven individual, confident when presenting to potential donors, partners and management, meeting tight deadlines and working under pressure.
• Knowledge of emerging funding trends, climate financing, carbon generation or similar.
• Ability to analyse data, solve problems and take corrective action
• Strong numeracy ability, with ability to understand complex budgets
• Ability to work as part of an international team across cultures
• Ability and willingness to travel when required

How to Apply:

Full Job Description here.

Please upload your CV and Cover Letter outlining your suitability for the role here.

The Deadline for Receiving applications is Monday 25th May 2026 at 5pm

Self Help Africa is an Equal Opportunities Employer:

All candidates offered a job with Self Help Africa will be expected to sign Self Help Africa’s Safeguarding Policies and Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.  Specific roles may require Police/DBS/ vetting.

Important information:

Self Help Africa is an international development charity and is committed to the safeguarding of all those who we come into contact with or through our work. We are committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour relating to our work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and we are committed to promoting the welfare of children and the people we aim to assist with whom Self Help Africa engages. Self Help Africa expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment and uphold the values and behaviours outlined in the Code of Conduct and Child and Adult Safeguarding Policy. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us. Recruitment to all roles in Self Help Africa will include, and be subject to, a criminal records self-declaration, references, and other pre-employment checks, which may include police and qualifications checking. Self Help Africa is committed to the principles of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and will request information from previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse or sexual harassment during employment. By submitting an application, the applicant confirms her/his understanding of these recruitment procedures. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Self Help Africa is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking.

Research shows that women and those from marginalised ethnic groups are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single requirement. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align with every criteria described, we encourage you to apply anyway, you could be exactly what we need!

Self Help Africa is an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.