Our purpose is to unlock value in Africa. We use our analytical capabilities to improve decision-making and, through better decisions, to unlock substantial value for our clients and society. While we are the largest economics-based consulting firm in Africa, we use a large number of techniques and approaches to achieve clarity for decision-makers. We wor...

Associate – Business Development & Project Coordination (12 Month Fixed) (Africa)

We are looking for an organised, analytically minded Associate to play a central role in shaping the proposals and projects that drive our Social Sectors Financing portfolio within the Human Development practice. This is a hybrid role that sits at the intersection of strategy and delivery — well suited to someone who enjoys structuring complex ideas into compelling outputs and holding multidisciplinary teams to a high professional bar.

The Social Sectors Financing portfolio works on some of the most consequential questions in development: how governments and donors finance health, education, social protection, and nutrition; how scarce public resources can be deployed more effectively; and how new financing instruments can mobilise resources at the scale these challenges demand. Your role is to help us win this work and deliver it well.

On the business development side, you will support the preparation of proposals, expressions of interest, and concept notes for governments, foundations, UN agencies, and bilateral partners. You will coordinate inputs across technical contributors, help shape narratives and workplans, support budget development, and ensure that submissions are coherent, sharp, and deadline-ready. Strong proposals are won on substance and craft — you will be central to both.

On the delivery side, you will support the coordination of selected live projects: tracking deliverables and timelines, managing internal workflows, quality-assuring client-facing outputs, and helping ensure that engagements run smoothly from kick-off to close. You will work alongside senior colleagues with deep sectoral expertise and gain genuine exposure to how complex international development projects are actually run.

This is a role for someone who takes pride in the quality of their work, brings calm under deadline pressure, and wants to build a meaningful career at the intersection of consulting craft and social impact. Beyond the immediate scope, the role offers strong exposure to the commercial and strategic dimensions of consulting — perspective that sets up well for future progression in the practice.

In this role, you will:

• Own the coordination of proposal processes end-to-end — from initial scoping through to submission — for bids to governments, foundations, UN agencies, and bilateral donors across health, education, social protection, and nutrition.
• Draft, structure, and edit proposal content, including technical narratives, workplans, team biographies, and supporting annexes, ensuring submissions are clear, compelling, and tightly aligned to client requirements.
• Support budget development in collaboration with senior colleagues and finance, contributing to commercially sound and donor-compliant submissions.
• Coordinate live projects — tracking deliverables, managing internal workflows, monitoring timelines, and supporting the quality of client-facing outputs.
• Build and maintain the systems that keep a busy portfolio running well: opportunity pipelines, proposal trackers, partner databases, and project documentation.
• Engage constructively with senior colleagues, partners, and clients, representing the practice professionally in coordination conversations.

REQUIREMENTS

3–5 years of relevant professional experience in development consulting, advisory, international development, or a similar environment.

Demonstrated experience contributing to proposal development — drafting technical sections, coordinating inputs, supporting workplans or budgets, or managing submission processes for donor or government bids.

Strong writing and structuring skills, with the ability to produce clear, well-organised, and persuasive content under deadline pressure.

Proven ability to coordinate multiple contributors and manage parallel workstreams without dropping the ball.

High attention to detail and strong organisational instincts.

Ability to work independently while engaging constructively with senior colleagues across a multidisciplinary team.

Genuine interest in social sector policy and financing (health, education, social protection, nutrition, or related fields). Deep technical specialisation is not required.

A Master's degree in public policy, economics, international development, public health, or a related field is desirable but not required. Strong relevant professional experience will be equally valued.

Advantageous

• Experience working with UN agencies, foundations, or bilateral donors.
• Familiarity with donor proposal formats, logical frameworks, and results frameworks.
• Experience supporting project management, including tracking budgets and deliverables.
• Background or strong interest in public health nutrition.
• Working proficiency in French

• Own the coordination of proposal processes end-to-end — from initial scoping through to submission — for bids to governments, foundations, UN agencies, and bilateral donors across health, education, social protection, and nutrition.
• Draft, structure, and edit proposal content, including technical narratives, workplans, team biographies, and supporting annexes, ensuring submissions are clear, compelling, and tightly aligned to client requirements.
• Support budget development in collaboration with senior colleagues and finance, contributing to commercially sound and donor-compliant submissions.
• Coordinate live projects — tracking deliverables, managing internal workflows, monitoring timelines, and supporting the quality of client-facing outputs.
• Build and maintain the systems that keep a busy portfolio running well: opportunity pipelines, proposal trackers, partner databases, and project documentation.
• Engage constructively with senior colleagues, partners, and clients, representing the practice professionally in coordination conversations.

• Strong writing and structuring skills
• Ability to produce clear, well-organised, and persuasive content under deadline pressure
• Proven ability to coordinate multiple contributors and manage parallel workstreams
• High attention to detail
• Strong organisational instincts
• Ability to work independently
• Constructively engage with senior colleagues
• Genuine interest in social sector policy and financing
• Working proficiency in French (Advantageous)

• 3–5 years of relevant professional experience in development consulting, advisory, international development, or a similar environment.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to proposal development — drafting technical sections, coordinating inputs, supporting workplans or budgets, or managing submission processes for donor or government bids.
• A Master's degree in public policy, economics, international development, public health, or a related field is desirable but not required. Strong relevant professional experience will be equally valued.
• Experience working with UN agencies, foundations, or bilateral donors (Advantageous).
• Familiarity with donor proposal formats, logical frameworks, and results frameworks (Advantageous).
• Experience supporting project management, including tracking budgets and deliverables (Advantageous).
• Background or strong interest in public health nutrition (Advantageous).