Senior Writer, Proposals & Reports (Public) job at One Acre Fund

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

About the Role

By 2030 our organization will serve 10 million farm families annually. This growth will be fuelled by fundraising, and at One Acre Fund our fundraising relies on industry-leading grant writing. We employ a dedicated 15+-person writing team that drafts clear, data-driven, and farmer-centric proposals and reports.

We are looking for a skilled grant writer and project manager, with a depth of experience with bilateral and multilateral funding mechanisms, to join our public fundraising team. You will report to the Public Fundraising Team Lead and immediately take on a portfolio of high-value reports and proposals while stepping into a leadership role within the team, acting as a strategic deputy to the team lead.

Responsibilities

• Write grant proposals and reports. You will partner with our fundraisers to design and draft writing through a collaborative process.
• Writing is always tailored to donor interests and the plans/results of our program, with each piece offering new ideas, challenges, and opportunities for creativity.
• As we highly value our current funders, we work very hard to provide them with compelling, accurate, and transparent reports about the progress and results of our field programs.
• Manage complex projects. You will oversee all stages of each writing project - managing work plans, coordinating input from multiple stakeholders (including gathering information from our field team, building budgets with our finance team, and communicating with donors), and taking ownership over the end product.
• Provide strategic and leadership support. You will support the public fundraising team led by managing high-priority ad-hoc projects, donor relationship management support, and data stewardship.
• Invest in program fluency. You will develop and sustain a deep working knowledge of One Acre Fund's operating context, model, results, and future plans. For individual projects, you will also often conduct additional research into potential donors or specific aspects of our work.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• Minimum 5 - 7+ years of total professional experience, including 3+ years of relevant experience in high-stakes grant writing or technical proposal development. Ideal candidates have an international development or social enterprise background, with proven ability to navigate complex institutional bureaucracies and data-heavy reporting.
• Strong communication skills. At its core, this position is about communicating complex ideas in simple prose, both written and verbal; we are looking for candidates who can demonstrate their ability to do so.
• Genuine interest in international development or agriculture. We are seeking someone with a demonstrated connection to or passion for international development or agriculture. You are genuinely interested and passionate about providing an opportunity to rural smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Fluency in English required.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Program countries or EU countries where we already have a presence (France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium).

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Nigeria, France, the UK, the Netherlands, & Belgium

• Write grant proposals and reports. You will partner with our fundraisers to design and draft writing through a collaborative process.
• Writing is always tailored to donor interests and the plans/results of our program, with each piece offering new ideas, challenges, and opportunities for creativity.
• As we highly value our current funders, we work very hard to provide them with compelling, accurate, and transparent reports about the progress and results of our field programs.
• Manage complex projects. You will oversee all stages of each writing project - managing work plans, coordinating input from multiple stakeholders (including gathering information from our field team, building budgets with our finance team, and communicating with donors), and taking ownership over the end product.
• Provide strategic and leadership support. You will support the public fundraising team led by managing high-priority ad-hoc projects, donor relationship management support, and data stewardship.
• Invest in program fluency. You will develop and sustain a deep working knowledge of One Acre Fund's operating context, model, results, and future plans. For individual projects, you will also often conduct additional research into potential donors or specific aspects of our work.

• Strong communication skills.
• Ability to communicate complex ideas in simple prose, both written and verbal.
• Proven ability to navigate complex institutional bureaucracies and data-heavy reporting.

• Minimum 5 - 7+ years of total professional experience.
• 3+ years of relevant experience in high-stakes grant writing or technical proposal development.
• Ideal candidates have an international development or social enterprise background.
• Fluency in English required.