Business Development Officer (P)

The Business Development Officer will advance strategic objectives of the Sub Regional Office in Southern Africa by strengthening initiatives, partnerships, resource mobilisation, and institutional positioning. The role involves providing technical guidance, supporting programme and proposal development, and enhancing donor engagement and strategic analyses across the region.

Responsibilities

• Identify and analyse funding opportunities, donor priorities, and strategic entry points to strengthen IOM’s regional funding pipeline by guiding Country Offices and contributing to the prioritisation of resource mobilisation efforts across Southern Africa.
• Coordinate and support the development and review of concept notes, project proposals, and programmes to enhance quality, strategic coherence, and competitiveness, ensuring alignment with IOM frameworks and donor requirements.
• Participate in key briefings, strategic fora, and partnership engagement platforms to support IOM’s engagement with key donors, financial institutions, and partners.
• Identify and prioritise potential strategic partners across the region, support the cultivation of those relationships, and contribute to selected high-level engagements to advance IOM’s positioning, partnerships, and resource mobilisation objectives.
• Provide structured hands-on support to Country Offices to strengthen their business development capacity, including supporting prioritisation of portfolios, identification of programmatic niches, and development of strategic pipelines.
• Coordinate and guide the implementation of Sub Regional Office priority actions on resources mobilization across Country Offices to ensure consistency, accountability, and measurable progress.
• Support the integration of data, evidence, and foresight analysis into business development processes to strengthen strategic decision-making and programme relevance.
• Design and refine guidance, tools, templates, and knowledge products to improve consistency, efficiency, and quality of business development practices across the region.
• Analyse migration, donor, and policy trends to inform Sub Regional Office strategic planning and decision-making, providing regular analytical inputs and recommendations to senior management.
• Perform any other duties as may be assigned.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Political or Social Sciences, Business Administration, International Relations, Law, or a related field from an accredited academic institution with five years of relevant professional experience; or, Bachelor's degree in the above fields with seven years of relevant professional experience.
• Accredited Universities are those listed in the UNESCO World Higher Education Database.
• Solid experience in resource mobilisation, programme development, donor engagement, and advisory support.
• Experience in Project Cycle Management (PCM) and Results-Based Management (RBM).
• Experience in the field of migration issues, including operational and field experience, IOM project development, management, and reporting.
• Experience in liaising with governmental authorities, donors, academia, other national/international institutions and NGOs.
• Strong analytical, drafting, coordination, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Excellent team-building skills with a track record in team coordination and building trust.
• Knowledge of proposal writing as well as IOM project management.
• Knowledge of different donor agreements.
• Knowledge of the project management cycle.
• Fluency in English is required (oral and written).
• Working knowledge of another official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish) is an advantage.
• Proficiency of language(s) required will be specifically evaluated during the selection process, which may include written and/or oral assessments.

Skills

• Resource Mobilization
• Program Development
• Donor Engagement Strategies
• Advisory Support
• Project Cycle Management
• Result-Based Management
• Migration Issues Understanding
• IOM Project Management
• Project Management
• Project Reporting
• Government Liaison
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Proposal Writing
• Donor Agreements
• Team Coordination
• Strategic Analysis
• Drafting
• Team Building

Languages

English