Partnerships Manager, East Africa
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AI Summary
Water Mission is a Christian engineering nonprofit that builds safe water solutions for people in developing countries, refugee camps, and disaster areas. Since 2001, Water Mission has served more than 8 million people in 60 countries, sharing safe water and the message of God’s love. Working at Water Mission is as much a calling as it is a career, and we are searching for people with the courage, passion, and drive to help us change the world. Read more about our Statement of Faith and Our Christian Mission.
What is the Opportunity?
The Partnerships Manager, East Africa (PMEA) is an execution-focused role responsible for deepening and sustaining Water Mission's partner relationships across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. Working under the Director of Country Partnerships, the PMEA serves as the operational engine of the East Africa partnerships function — owning relationship cultivation, partner stewardship, and the active coordination of Country Directors (CDs) in strategic partner engagements. The successful candidate will be a self-starter with strong relational instincts, excellent follow-through, and the cross-cultural fluency to represent Water Mission credibly across a diverse partner landscape. This role is designed as a distinct mid-level position reporting to the Director of Country Partnerships. This position will be based in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, or Malawi.
Job Responsibilities:
Mission Driven
- Maintain a strong Christian witness and model servant leadership to colleagues, partners, the communities we serve, and the public.
- Engage and participate in prayer before and after team meetings.
- Lead and participate in biblically based staff devotions.
- Promote and fulfill the Mission and Vision of Water Mission through words, actions, and initiatives.
- Work with staff to foster an environment of honoring God as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ through word and deed.
Partner Relationship Cultivation
The PMEA will take the lead on building and maintaining a portfolio of active funding and programmatic partnerships across the East Africa region. The full partner mix — UN agencies, government ministries, foundations, corporates, and NGOs — falls within scope. Specifically, he/she will:
- Identify and develop new partner leads across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi, generating a pipeline for both programmatic and funding opportunities.
- Conduct outreach to prospective partners, managing early-stage relationship development through to active engagement.
- Maintain a strong Christian witness to colleagues, vendors, donors, charitable beneficiaries, and the general public.
- Effectively communicate the mission, scope, and programmatic capabilities of Water Mission to a variety of audiences and partner types.
- Monitor the regional partner landscape to identify emerging funding opportunities, shifting priorities, and new entry points for engagement.
Country Director Engagement Coordination
A core and distinctive responsibility of this role is ensuring that Country Directors across Water Mission's East Africa offices are actively integrated into key partner relationships, and that those engagements lead to tangible outcomes. He/she will:
- Identify and flag partnership opportunities that warrant Country Director involvement, proactively scheduling and coordinating joint partner engagements.
- Brief and prepare Country Directors ahead of partner meetings: providing relevant context, talking points, and strategic framing to maximize the value of each engagement.
- Own follow-up after CD-led or CD-attended partner meetings, ensuring that action items, next steps, and relationship touchpoints are captured and executed.
- Serve as the connective tissue between the Global Partnerships team and CDs in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi, facilitating consistent information flow and aligned messaging.
- Collaborate with Country Directors to identify in-country opportunities that can be elevated to the partnerships pipeline.
Partner Stewardship
The PMEA will be responsible for the ongoing stewardship of Water Mission's active partner relationships in the region, keeping partners informed, engaged, and feeling genuinely valued. He/she will:
- Proactively provide timely and appropriate touchpoints to existing partners, ensuring consistent communication aligned with each partner's preferences and relationship stage.
- Track all partner interactions, commitments, and engagement histories accurately in CRM systems (Virtuous or equivalent), maintaining data integrity and reporting readiness.
- Support the development of stewardship materials, updates, and reports that demonstrate program impact and reinforce partner commitment.
- Monitor partner satisfaction and flag any risks to relationships early, escalating as appropriate.
- Ensure acquisition targets, stewardship plans, and budget goals are accurately tracked and reported.
Proposal and Opportunity Support
While proposal development is not the primary focus of this role, the PMEA will provide targeted support to funding initiatives where his/her partner knowledge and regional relationships add value. He/she will:
- Monitor and flag grant and funding opportunities relevant to the East Africa portfolio.
- Support proposal development processes by contributing partner context, relationship history, and regional knowledge.
- Coordinate with program teams in-country to align partner expectations with programmatic capacity and technical design.
- Support key funding initiatives and special opportunities as directed, including global Water Mission priorities.
Other duties as assigned.
Job Requirements:
- Personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Alignment with Water Mission's Statement of Faith and core values of Love, Excellence, and Integrity.
- 4–6 years of relevant experience in partnership management, donor relations, or institutional fundraising, with demonstrated results.
- Proven ability to manage multiple relationships and workstreams independently, with strong attention to follow-through.
- Experience working with or alongside Country Directors, program leads, or senior stakeholders in a coordinating or supporting capacity.
- Cross-cultural communication experience, particularly within an East African context.
- Familiarity with the full partner landscape: UN agencies, bilateral donors, foundations, government ministries, corporates, and NGOs.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to clearly articulate ideas and tailor messaging to diverse audiences.
- Bachelor's degree required; additional education preferred, ideally in marketing, communications, international development, or a related field.
- Proficiency with CRM or partner tracking systems a plus.
- Excellent PowerPoint and presentation skills.
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively across a distributed team.
- Home internet bandwidth is sufficient to support video conferencing and remote collaboration.
- Ability to travel within East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi) up to one week, 2-4 times per year.
- Ability to travel internationally to the U.S. office or elsewhere.
- Commitment to ending the global water crisis.
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