Strategic Partnership Manager - Africa

Ipas; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Ipas is seeking a Strategic Partnership Manager to strengthen resource mobilization and grow our partnership portfolio in Africa. The role focuses on identifying institutional donors, foundations, and corporate partners aligned with reproductive justice and Ipas’s mission.

You will develop donor engagement plans, draft compelling materials, and support proposals, budgets, and results frameworks while collaborating across the Ipas Network and ensuring adherence to our standards.

Qualifications

• Ten or more years’ work experience managing programs and projects.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• Experience in business development, fundraising, or proposal development for NGOs or mission-driven organizations.
• Strong understanding of institutional donor environments, including bilateral and multilateral agencies, foundations, and partnership or consortium approaches.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and French.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines, coordinate across teams, and deliver high-quality products with minimal supervision.
• Proven history of developing competitive proposals and donor-facing materials, including complex budgets and results frameworks or log frames.
• Subject-matter expertise in sexual and reproductive health and rights and reproductive justice, and/or international experience.
• Deep commitment to reproductive justice, human rights, gender equity, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Responsibilities

• Map priority foundations, institutional funders, corporate partners, and strategic implementing partners aligned with Ipas’s mission.
• Analyze funder priorities, eligibility, timelines, typical award size, indirect cost expectations, compliance considerations, and relationship pathways.
• Identify and track requests for proposals, calls for proposals, invitations, and relationship-led opportunities, and maintain an up-to-date pipeline tracker.
• Support go/no-go decisions through fit assessments, competitiveness analysis, and risk and feasibility review, including deadlines, staffing, partnership needs, cost share, and indirect rate constraints.
• Develop donor and partner engagement plans for priority prospects, including objectives, messages, decision-makers, and follow-up actions.
• Draft and refine positioning materials, including capability statements, one-pagers, brief slide decks, project summaries, and boilerplate language.
• Build Ipas Network intelligence on key trends and opportunities in Africa.
• Work with the Communications Service Node to contribute to external communications through the Ipas website, newsletters, and social media.
• Prepare talking points, briefing notes, and agendas for external meetings; when requested, participate in meetings, capture next steps, and support follow-up.
• Advise on partnership strategy, including lead versus sub-award roles, consortium roles, negotiation points, partner mapping, and outreach.
• Work with the Development Service Node to report quarterly and annually on fundraising efforts and results and participate in annual management cycle activities.

Skills

Business development

Fundraising

Proposal development

Donor environments

Project management

English & French

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

This is a remote position. Compensation for this position will be determined by the prevailing market rate in the employee’s country in addition to Ipas’s own pay philosophy and other factors, such as the employee’s experience level and expertise.

Candidates based in the following countries are eligible to apply: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya/Alliance locations, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia.

Ipas seeks a Strategic Partnership Manager to strengthen resource mobilization and the partnership portfolio in Africa. The manager will identify, cultivate, and expand a pipeline of institutional donors, foundations, corporate partners, and strategic collaborators whose priorities align with Ipas’s mission and values.

The role will provide targeted business development support for high-value funding opportunities, deepen engagement with priority donors and partners, and contribute to compelling donor-facing materials, including expressions of interest, concept notes, proposals, budgets, presentations, results frameworks, and partnership strategies.

The Strategic Partnership Manager will demonstrate a strong commitment to reproductive justice, including human rights, abortion rights, gender equity, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The role will collaborate across the Ipas Network and promote shared leadership, trust, and inclusive, non-hierarchical approaches to learning and collaboration, while supporting effective stewardship of donor resources and adherence to Ipas’s mission, values, and standards.

Primary Responsibilities:

1. Opportunity Pipeline Development and Donor/Partner Intelligence

• Map priority foundations, institutional funders, corporate partners, and strategic implementing partners aligned with Ipas’s mission and work.

• Analyze funder priorities, eligibility, timelines, typical award size, indirect cost expectations, compliance considerations, and relationship pathways.

• Identify and track requests for proposals, calls for proposals, invitations, and relationship-led opportunities, and maintain an up-to-date pipeline tracker.

• Support go/no-go decisions through fit assessments, competitiveness analysis, and risk and feasibility review, including deadlines, staffing, partnership needs, cost share, and indirect rate constraints.

2. External Relations and Resource Mobilization Support

• Develop donor and partner engagement plans for priority prospects, including objectives, messages, decision-makers, and follow-up actions.

• Draft and refine positioning materials, including capability statements, one-pagers, brief slide decks, project summaries, and boilerplate language.

• Build Ipas Network intelligence on key trends and opportunities in Africa.

• Work with the Communications Service Node to contribute to external communications through the Ipas website, newsletters, and social media.

• Prepare talking points, briefing notes, and agendas for external meetings; when requested, participate in meetings, capture next steps, and support follow-up.

• Advise on partnership strategy, including lead versus sub-award roles, consortium roles, negotiation points, partner mapping, and outreach.

• Work with the Development Service Node to report quarterly and annually on fundraising efforts and results and participate in annual management cycle activities.

3. Proposal Development, Review, and Quality Assurance

• Support donor-facing submissions, including expressions of interest, concept notes, and full proposals, in coordination with internal teams and partners.

• Develop and review technical narratives for compliance, clarity, and responsiveness to donor evaluation criteria.

• Support required annexes, including results frameworks or log frames, workplans, monitoring, evaluation and learning plans, risk matrices, and staffing plans.

• Coordinate with finance counterparts to develop and quality-check budgets and budget narratives for alignment with the technical approach and donor cost rules.

• Provide structured written feedback through tracked comments or review memos and participate in review meetings to agree on revisions and next steps.

Minimum Requirements:

• Ten or more years’ work experience managing programs and projects with increasing complexity and responsibility

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field

• Demonstrated experience in business development, fundraising, and/or proposal development for NGOs, social enterprises, or mission-driven organizations.

• Strong understanding of institutional donor environments, including bilateral and multilateral agencies, foundations, and partnership or consortium approaches.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and French.

• Ability to manage multiple deadlines, coordinate across teams, and deliver high-quality products with minimal supervision.

• Proven record of developing competitive proposals and donor-facing products, including complex budgets and results frameworks or log frames.

• Subject-matter expertise in sexual and reproductive health and rights and reproductive justice, and/or experience working internationally.

• Deep commitment to reproductive justice, human rights, abortion rights, gender equity, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Commitment to shared leadership, trust, and inclusive, non-hierarchical ways of working.

Travel & Work Environment

• Regular travel within Africa and to strategic hubs, in accordance with Ipas travel policies.

• Virtual collaboration with colleagues across the Ipas Network and across time zones.

• Weekly written progress updates and biweekly virtual check-ins with the Director of Development and relevant staff.

• Deliverables submitted electronically in editable formats, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, unless otherwise agreed.

Ipas is strongly committed to providing a work environment that is free from all forms of harassment, discrimination, and inequity. We recruit, employ, train, promote, and compensate our personnel without regard to race, age, sex, religion, national origin, color, creed, ancestry, citizenship, caste, ethnicity, regional identity, tribal identity, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic protected by law or outlined by Ipas policy. Ipas acknowledges that these personal characteristics may differ in different contexts.