Senior Business Development and Planning Officer

Gaber Yebego Adragot Dirjit (GABER) is a locally registered, not-for-profit civil society organization established in 2022. We operate in Ezha Woreda, Gurage Zone, Central Ethiopia Region, implementing integrated development programs in water, health, education, livelihoods, and social transformation. As we launch our ambitious Five-Year Strategic Plan (2026–2030), we are seeking a dynamic and results-oriented professional to join our team.

Job Purpose:

The Coordinator will lead GABER’s resource mobilization, fundraising, donor engagement, and proposal development functions. The position directly supports our Strategic Plan’s target, including securing at least two new institutional donors and expanding diaspora and member contributions.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement GABER’s fundraising/resource mobilization strategy.
• Identify institutional donors and maintain a comprehensive database of funding opportunities.
• Research, track, and coordinate the development of high-quality concept notes and proposals (targeting at least 3 major proposals annually).
• Coordinate proposal development with technical, finance, and program teams for donor budgets and reporting.
• Develop donor-specific capability statements and fundraising materials.
• Coordinate fundraising campaigns targeting GABER members, Ezha based Idirs, diaspora (specifically GSG-NA), the private sector and other supporters.
• Maintain a proposal/donor reporting calendar and support the preparation of donor reports and success stories.
• Map potential private-sector, academic, and NGO partnerships and networks, facilitating MoUs as appropriate.
• Maintain a database of donor contacts, submissions, outcomes, follow-ups and commitments.
• Support GABER's visibility and communication activities relevant to resource mobilization and fundraising.
• Carryout relevant tasks to be assigned by the Board and the Executive Director, as needed.

The Opportunity 

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and overall management of the ECHO project, ensuring the effective delivery of programme objectives, quality standards, and donor commitments.
• Lead project planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, learning, and reporting activities to ensure timely and high-quality programme outcomes.
• Oversee project performance tracking, data management, assessments, and evidence generation to support informed decision-making and continuous programme improvement.
• Manage project budgets, work plans, financial performance, and resource allocation in compliance with donor requirements and organisational policies.
• Lead and support multidisciplinary teams, fostering a high-performance culture, accountability, collaboration, and staff development.
• Coordinate emergency preparedness, needs assessments, response interventions, and proposal development to strengthen programme impact and resource mobilisation.
• Ensure the integrated implementation of multi-sectoral interventions, including WASH, Child Protection, Education, GBV, Shelter, and NFI programming.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with government authorities, donors, UN agencies, NGOs, and other key stakeholders to enhance coordination and programme effectiveness.
• Promote knowledge management, documentation of best practices, organisational learning, and capacity strengthening across project teams and partners.
• Ensure full compliance with donor regulations, humanitarian standards, safeguarding commitments, and organisational policies throughout project implementation.

Safeguarding Children and Program Participants (Safeguarding) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI)

• Understands and puts into practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding and GEI policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), ensuring that concerns are reported and managed per the appropriate procedures.
• Ensures that all staff in the unit/function/department are properly inducted on and understand their role in upholding Plan International’s safeguarding and GEI policies;
• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in day-to-day work.
• Ensures that Plan Ethiopia contributes to Plan International’s global efforts to ensure safeguarding and GEI, including making sure that relevant reporting and data are submitted.

 JOB VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT 

The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union Ethiopia (NABU Ethiopia) 

Position Title: Director of Finance and Operations (DFO) 
Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (with travel to regional and project offices as required) 
Employment Type: Full-time 
Application Deadline: November 30, 2026 
Starting Date: 1^st January 2027 

About NABU Ethiopia 

The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union Ethiopia (NABU Ethiopia) is a local, non-profit civil society organization established in January 2023 as the Ethiopian successor of NABU e.V. Germany, which operated in the country from 2006–2022. Drawing on more than 16 years of experience, NABU Ethiopia continues to promote biodiversity conservation, climate protection, and sustainable development initiatives tailored to Ethiopia’s ecological and socio-economic context.  

NABU Ethiopia operates through a decentralized structure comprising the Head Office, Regional offices, and Project offices. The organization currently implements various projects across Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and Southwest Ethiopia Peoples' Regions, with 86 employees.  

Position summary:  

 Position Purpose: The Director of Finance and Operations (DFO) is a senior management position responsible for providing organization-wide leadership and oversight of finance, human resources, administration, procurement, logistics, assets, and operations. 

The DFO is established to strengthen NABU Ethiopia's financial sustainability, internal controls, HR management, operational efficiency, accountability, compliance, and organizational performance, and to lead the organizational changes required to support current and future growth. 

The DFO reports to and will work closely with the Executive Director who is responsible for overall organizational leadership, strategy, external representation, and final decision-making within the authority delegated by the Board. Another critical relationship will be the Administration and Finance Head (AFH), who will report to the DFO, and is responsible for day-to-day management of finance and administration.  

 Key Duties and Responsibilities of the DFO 

A. Leadership, Systems and Organizational Performance 

• Provide strategic leadership and overall direction for NABU Ethiopia's finance, HR, administration, logistics, and operational systems. 
• Develop, review, and oversee implementation of organization-wide policies, procedures, standards, controls, and systems for finance, HR, procurement, administration, logistics, assets, vehicles, and operations. 
• Ensure that systems are appropriate for NABU Ethiopia's decentralized structure, ACSO framework, multiple projects, regional offices, donor requirements, and anticipated organizational growth. 
• Identify systemic weaknesses and lead timely corrective action and organizational change. 
• Establish clear reporting lines, delegation of authority, performance standards, and accountability mechanisms across Head Office, regional offices, and projects.  

B. Finance, Budget and Financial Oversight 

• Provide overall leadership and oversight of organizational and project financial management and ensure reliable, timely, transparent, and decision-useful financial information. 
• Establish standards for project accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, cost allocation, bank-account management, internal controls, and financial documentation. 
• Oversee preparation, consolidation, monitoring, and revision of organizational and project budgets. 
• Review financial performance, budget variances, cash flow, financial risks, and compliance and ensure appropriate corrective action. 
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws, tax requirements, accounting standards, donor requirements, project agreements, and organizational policies. 
• Provide technical leadership in complex accounting, taxation, financial, audit, and contractual matters and lead their resolution where required. 

C. Human Resources 

• Provide strategic leadership for NABU Ethiopia's human-resource management. 
• Enhance and oversee organization-wide HR policies and systems covering workforce planning, recruitment, remuneration, performance management, staff development, employee relations, disciplinary matters, and separation. 
• Ensure effective staff performance management, capacity development, and appropriate staffing structures. 
• Lead the resolution of significant HR issues, grievances, disciplinary matters, performance problems, and employee relations issues. 
• Ensure compliance with applicable employment legislation and organizational HR policies.  

D. Administration, Procurement and Operations 

• Provide overall leadership for administration, procurement, logistics, and operational systems. 
• Establish standards for procurement, vehicles, drivers, travel, accommodation, office infrastructure, supplies, facilities, inventory, and asset management. 
• Oversee the effective, economical, transparent, and accountable management of organizational assets, vehicles, facilities, and operational resources. 
• Ensure that Head Office and regional offices have appropriate administrative and operational systems and infrastructure to support program implementation. 

E. Decentralized Operations 

• Establish organization-wide standards while allowing appropriate operational flexibility for regional offices and projects including thresholds for approval.  
• Oversee the effectiveness of regional finance and administration systems and ensure compliance with organizational standards. 
• Establish appropriate mechanisms for coordination, reporting, escalation, and performance monitoring between Head Office, regional offices, and projects. 
• Ensure that project-specific contractual and donor requirements are appropriately incorporated into organizational financial and operational systems. 

F. Risk, Audit and Compliance 

• Establish and oversee systems for risk management, internal controls, compliance, and fraud prevention. 
• Oversee audits and ensure timely follow-up and implementation of audit recommendations. 
• Ensure significant financial, HR, operational, and compliance risks are identified, reported, and addressed. 
• Lead the development and maintenance of a formal organizational risk register. 

 G. Management and Change Leadership 

• Supervise the Administration and Finance Head and provide direction to relevant finance, HR, administration, and operations personnel. 
• Provide regular reports and advice to the Executive Director on financial performance, HR, operational performance, risks, compliance, and organizational capacity. 
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives and ensure that agreed improvements are implemented. 
• Build the capacity and performance of finance, HR, administration, and operations staff. 
• Support the Executive Director by taking responsibility for resolving finance, HR, administrative, and operational matters within the DFO's mandate, thereby allowing the Executive Director to focus on strategic organizational priorities, partnerships, fundraising, and conservation leadership.  

DFO Authority Boundary 

• The DFO exercises authority delegated by the Executive Director and shall operate within the approved organizational policies, budget, governance documents, and delegation-of-authority framework. 
• The DFO may review, approve, recommend, or authorize financial, HR, procurement, administrative, and operational matters within delegated limits. 
• Matters requiring strategic organizational decisions, exceeding delegated authority, or reserved for the Board shall be referred to the Executive Director or Board as appropriate. 
• The DFO shall not normally direct project implementation, technical conservation activities, or programmatic decisions. Regional and project management remain responsible for projects/program implementation within approved plans, budgets, policies, and delegated authority.