Job Title:  Development Specialist  

Organisation: Imagine Her

Duty Station: Seguku, Wakiso, Uganda

Reports to: Team Leader

About the Company:

Economic mobility for rural women and youth is a catalyst for enhancing household well-being, driving improved family incomes, improving food security, advancing children’s health and education, and empowering women with greater decision-making authority. These improvements collectively contribute to a higher standard of living for the entire family, foster community resilience, and create ripple effects beyond the household.

However, significant barriers persist, such as limited access to resources, economic dependency, and entrenched gender norms within rural communities, thus affecting its realization. In Uganda, 87% of the population depends on a small working segment, placing immense pressure on them for survival1. Young rural women and youth are disproportionately affected; 52% of women and 45% of rural youth aged 18-30 are classified as NEET (Not in employment, education, or training). Without access to skills, capital, and sustainable livelihoods, they remain trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, undermining individual potential and collective progress.

The situation is further exacerbated for rural women engaged in agriculture or small-scale enterprises as they face systemic barriers to participating fully in the formal supply chain. These perpetuate gender inequalities and poverty.

Imagine Her prepares rural young women and youth in Uganda to become thriving social entrepreneurs through our Social Enterprise & Innovation Program, which accessibly provides them with robust innovation skillsets through social entrepreneurship, design and system thinking, investment readiness training, and access to essential resources: patient returnable capital and tailored business development support to improve their economic mobility and allow them to lead economically independent lives. By 2030, we aim to scale and measurably impact 12,000 young women and youth.

Job Summary:   The Development Specialist will drive Imagine Her’s growth by executing a strategic fundraising and development plan aligned with the organization’s growth objectives. Working closely with the Team Leader and cross-functional teams, this role manages and expands the current partnerships, spearheading new business development opportunities primarily geared toward securing resources to support our growth.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Development Strategy Execution: Support refning and implementing a comprehensive development and fundraising strategy aligned with Imagine Her’s growth goals.
• Business Development: In collaboration with the Team Leader, External Relations and Program teams take the strategic lead in;
  • Managing, growing, and sustaining the current funder relationships
  • New business development: Identify new funding opportunities and diversify the funding pool from foundations to include multilateral and corporate opportunities through results-based prospecting and cultivation
  • Craft high-quality grant proposals and other fundraising materials that align with the specific focus and priorities of prospective and existing funders

Compliance and Reporting

• Manage a fundraising system (Salesforce) to support relationship management and partner reporting.
• Collaborate with the Knowledge and Impact team to assess program effectiveness, ensuring that outcomes are documented and shared with funders.
• Collaborate with the Knowledge and Impact and Programs teams to develop high-quality funder reports.
• Ensure that all due diligence processes for partnership are effectively implemented.
• Collaborate with teams to understand funder requirements and expectations, ensuring seamless coordination in implementing grant agreements.

Others

• Work closely with the  Communications & External Relations Associate to develop and publish op-eds and other  communication materials to showcase the organization’s impact.
• Collaborate with the Communications & External Relations Associate to attend, participate in, and represent the organization at high-value events.

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, Non-profit Management, Business, or a related field.
• Preferably 2-4 years of experience in the related field.
• Exceptional communication, both written and verbal, negotiation, and relationship-building abilities
• Passion and knowledge in the sectors of social entrepreneurship, rural young women and youth economic development, climate change, agribusiness, and early childhood.
• Self-starter with strong organizational skills, a collaborative mindset, and a deep commitment to Imagine Her’s mission and values.
• Familiarity with CRM systems, donor databases (Salesforce), and other digital fundraising tools
• High levels of agility

Why Imagine Her

At Imagine Her, you will be part of a mission-driven local team dedicated to creating transformative change in rural Uganda through market-based solutions led by those who the market always views as only end-consumers and powerless. We o er a supportive, innovative environment and the opportunity to make a tangible impact in the lives of young women and youth as guided by our core values;

• Servant leadership with delight: We strive to serve with empathy, stewardship, and self-awareness with utmost joy. We acknowledge that people are our greatest asset, and our communities are at the forefront of everything we do. We are conscious of the vital role we have to play in ensuring that we lead with clear-headedness. We pursue and portray servant leadership in our decisions and how we make them, the quality of support and service we o er, and ensuring that we build trust, active listening, accountability, and growth.
• Diversity & Equity. We foster a culture of uniqueness, creativity, and understanding while respecting our differences. We are a perfect blend of people from various walks of life with expertise, talents, and capabilities, all united by a shared purpose—impact and the best results. We constantly incorporate best practices that support our authentic selves to increase our team’s engagement and sense of belonging while creating new ideas and problem-solving, leading to a competitive advantage.
• Our solutions are community-driven and owned. We actively listen to the community, allowing them to identify challenges and create innovative solutions using available resources. We acknowledge that we can not succeed in isolation. We work as a community of team members with inadequacies. Therefore, expressing our vulnerability to each other strengthens us in finding solutions to the pressing challenges we face as an organization and those we serve.
• We constantly seek new knowledge and resources to provide evidence-based, sustainable solutions. We are resolutely positive: We see our glass as half-full, not half-empty, and we continually strive to improve our work through continuous experiments and investment in learning.

Please submit your resume and cover letter to people@i-her.org