Associate Director, Safe Water Now Africa

About Evidence Action

At Evidence Action, we deliver data-driven interventions that transform lives at an unprecedented scale. We identify neglected global health issues and deploy proven solutions, forging healthier futures for generations.

Our model operationalizes leading academic research (including from Nobel-winning economists). We measure progress and outcomes at every stage to ensure we're making a real impact for people living in poverty and suffering from preventable or treatable health issues. Operating across 9 countries, our team of 800+ has reached over 500 million people, working closely with governments to scale these interventions.

Our Deworm the World program has delivered over 2 billion treatments, significantly reducing worm prevalence and generating more than $23 billion in lifetime productivity gains.

Through Safe Water Now, we've saved the lives of over 15,000 children.

Our Accelerator explores untapped opportunities in global health, testing low-cost interventions with the greatest potential to save and improve lives.

At Evidence Action, your colleagues are your greatest asset. You'll partner with high-caliber colleagues in an environment blending innovation, autonomy, and teamwork. Our team excels in disruptive thinking and believes in rolling up our sleeves to get things done. If you're looking to work flexibly and with purpose, join a team that delivers measurable change for millions.

About the Safe Water Team

Evidence Action's program provides safe drinking water to over 10 million people across rural Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya. Water treatment reduces all-cause child mortality . We deliver safe water in rural settings through two interventions; our Dispensers for Safe Water (DSW) and newly launched In-Line Chlorination (ILC). Over the past two years, we've more than in East and Southern Africa and are exploring expansion into new countries. We are also developing an innovation agenda through our process to create next-generation safe water programs by defining problem statements, identifying solutions and designing creative interventions to test.

We are also launching an ambitious technical assistance program to help the government of India reach 17 million people with safe water, with plans to expand further. This supports India's commitment to expand access to safe water across rural India, a massive effort which has already led to over 140m households receiving household tap connections.

Here, you will play a pivotal role in supporting Safe Water Africa's fundraising and partnership efforts by engaging with donors, contribute to the strategic expansion of Safe Water programs into new countries, oversee the development of strategic directions, drive cost-effectiveness, and create mechanisms for cross-regional and cross-program learning as part of our global team support. You will be supporting the integration of various safe water interventions and developing a playbook for broader policy advocacy. You will report into our Global Director of Safe water and lead a team of four spread across the globe.

Responsibilities

Fundraising and Partnerships

Lead donor outreach and engagement with donors for Safe Water Africa fundraising.

Coordinate work planning around donor relationships, ensuring clear communication, timely reporting, and effective stakeholder management.

Develop fundraising pitches with External Relations support and create high-quality deliverables for external audiences to help support increased funding diversification.

Track and manage a wide range of grant-related activities, including funding commitments, project implementation milestones, reporting deadlines, and donor update meetings.

Strategy, Innovation and Optimization

Develop a sustainability plans by testing alternative options for transition and scale-up.

Provide strategy oversight around the expansion of safe water programming into new countries and support the team to identify programmatic barriers.

Oversee efforts focused on optimization of activities, driving towards greater cost effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of services.

Develop strategic direction for Safe Water in Africa over the next 5 years that builds on a sustainability plan and incorporates innovative approaches as pathway to scale and expansion.

Program Management

Create mechanisms for greater cross-region and cross-program learning through standardized SOPs and guidelines.

Coordinate global team technical and operational support to regional and country teams on Safe Water in current and future geographies.

Support coordination between the Dispensers for Safe Water program and other safe water interventions in the same geographies (including ILC), ensuring synergies and efficiencies.

Develop playbook for 'Safe Water for all' that includes standardized technical guidelines and forms basis for broader policy advocacy for water treatment.

Provide budget oversight for Safe Water Africa activities from global level including partnership with country and regional leadership teams to develop plans and ensure efficient allocation of resources to support the delivery of programmatic objectives.

Safe Water Expansion

Support scoping and piloting in new countries leading to scale up of large new interventions.

Manage efforts to build partnerships with a range of stakeholders for safe water expansion.

Team Development

Empower staff reporting to you, identify areas for growth, and effectively coach their learning.

Maintain and promote a positive and healthy work environment for the staff reporting to you.

Requirements

You have 10 - 15 years experience working in diverse, global contexts; Bachelors degree

You are strategic in thinking and planning and the translation of this into program results; ability to connect the dots on ideas and thinking, turning open ended problems into opportunities for the team and organization

You have a strong capacity for fundraising, including cultivating new relationships and growing existing ones. Ideally, experience in fundraising for large global development programs

You can manage projects through their life cycles, and multiple projects simultaneously, taking into account moving priorities across a matrixed environment

You enjoy building collaborative relationships across teams and navigate complex organizational systems

You can iterate in real time, employ data for decision making, and innovate and pivot to find success.

You have a passion for the mission of Evidence Action and for creating value in international development

You have managed large, multi-country programs in international development in relevant sectors (e.g. WASH, health, nutrition), ideally in a matrixed organization

You enjoy learning new content areas and are able to absorb information and put it into practice

You have experience leading teams in a growth-oriented role, with 5+ years supervising direct reports