Position Overview

The Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), hosted by the United Nations Foundation, works with a global network of partners to build an inclusive industry that makes clean cooking accessible to the 2.3 billion people who live each day without it. Established in 2010, CCA is driving consumer demand, mobilizing investment to build a pipeline of scalable businesses, advocating for strong policies and national strategies, and fostering an enabling environment that allows the sector to thrive. Clean cooking transforms lives by improving health, protecting the climate and environment, empowering women, and helping consumers save time and money. In alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Zero Agenda, CCA is working to achieve universal access to clean cooking by 2030.

CCA is seeking a Manager, Strategy and Development to join the Strategy and Development (S&D) team, a small unit reporting to CCA’s Chief Strategy Officer with a mission to enhance the effectiveness of CCA in delivering against its mandate. The S&D team is responsible for several key functions within CCA. The team supports and leads essential internal strategy efforts, such as developing the organization’s Theory of Change and guiding annual strategic planning processes. The team undertakes fundraising efforts by crafting proposals and pitch materials, cultivating key relationships with existing and prospective funders, and ensuring CCA meets all planning, implementation, and reporting requirements of funders.

The S&D team also leads several strategic, high-impact initiatives. From 2020-2022, the S&D team led the Clean Cooking Systems Strategy, a process that engaged over 250 stakeholders in the clean cooking ecosystem to identify priorities for accelerating access to clean cooking and mobilizing collective action. The Clean Cooking Systems Strategy spun out several initiatives currently being implemented by CCA, including the Delivery Units Network, which is managed by the S&D team. The Delivery Units Network is a platform of national Clean Cooking Delivery Units embedded at the highest levels of government to address policy and implementation bottlenecks, facilitate coordination across government, and unlock greater funding and finance for the sector. CCA is currently launching the inaugural cohort of Delivery Units in African countries.

The Manager, Strategy and Development will be responsible for supporting the wide-ranging portfolio of work that falls under both the Strategy and Development functions of the S&D team. CCA is seeking an exceptional, impact-driven professional with a diverse combination of strategy and operational skills.
The ideal candidate will have strong project and time management skills with the ability to independently manage several ongoing tasks to completion. Candidates should have strong analytical and problem-solving skills, be adaptable, and be comfortable operating in ambiguous and complex settings. Candidates should have the ability to scope and complete assigned project work independently, such as drafting policy memos, conducting market and country assessments, and developing concept notes and proposals. Candidates should have a keen ability to distill insights and new ideas. Strong communication skills will be essential to the role. Applicants should be excited to work at the nexus of clean energy transitions, climate change, women’s empowerment, and private sector development to elevate one of the world’s most under-investment development challenges.

This position is based out of the Washington, DC office with the possibility of remote work and may require international travel.

Essential Functions

The Manager will support strategic projects and initiatives managed by the S&D team. The Manager’s portfolio will be defined based on the priorities of the S&D team. Specific activities to include:

• Contribute to the development of the Delivery Units Network and efforts to develop Delivery Units in several African countries, which could specifically include conducting analysis and desk research on country markets, drafting policy memos or other briefs, supporting annual work planning, refining strategy documents, attending high-level meetings and distilling key information, contributing to learning activities, and more;
• Support internal strategic efforts, such as guiding CCA teams to develop their annual planning documents, helping refine the organization’s Theory of Change, developing annual reports, and developing recommendations to refine organizational processes, and more.
• Contribute to the regular strategic planning and budgeting processes of the S&D team.
• Provide logistical support for events, meetings, or other gatherings hosted by the S&D in support of the Delivery Units Network or other special initiatives.
• Support CCA’s Leadership Team by developing agendas and documents for Leadership meetings and preparing inputs from the S&D team.
• Developing talking points for CCA’s Leadership team for high-profile events such as global summits, meetings with Heads of State, and more.
• Other duties as assigned.

The Manager will provide ongoing support to fundraising efforts, donor relationships management, and meeting donor compliance requirements. Specific activities to include:

• Track Requests for Proposals and other funding opportunities, review funding criteria for eligibility and relevance and make recommendations to guide decision-making within CCA on which opportunities to prioritize.
• Develop or aggregate materials used for fundraising, including pitch decks, proposals, concept notes, and/or other relevant documents.
• Support and coordinate donor outreach and communications, including drafting correspondence, materials, agendas, talking points, and briefings for CCA senior leadership and for CCA donor interactions and scheduling calls.
• Maintain a strong understanding of donor compliance requirements and ensure CCA teams are meeting reporting and other requirements in a timely manner.
• Maintain a database with existing and prospective donor profiles, including details on each funder’s priorities, touchpoints, relevant funding envelope, and other key details.
• Coordinate closely with other CCA teams to secure quality inputs required for any of the above activities and provide guidance to CCA teams in their fundraising efforts.
• Leading introductory calls with prospective donors.
• Other duties as assigned.

The Manager will oversee operational tasks that enable the success of the larger S&D team. Specific activities to include:

• Maintain a database of all files and documents related to S&D projects and work.
• Support securing sponsorships for the Clean Cooking Forum.
• Serve as liaison to the CCA Operations team on relevant issues including for agreements and contracts.
• Maintain working knowledge of the UNF agreement process (for both contracts and grants), and when to utilize the proper templates accordingly.
• Attend training sessions provided by UNF’s contracts team to maintain and keep up to date with UNF’s current policies and procedures.
• Maintain a strong knowledge of UNF’s systems to be able to process and track agreements, extract information, and prepare reports. Draft and review agreements and maintaining an understanding of all agreement terms and applicable flow-downs, consulting with UNF’s finance/contracts team as needed.
• Review the work of consultants commissioned by the S&D team to ensure deliverables are insightful and high-quality, and ensure all deliverables meet contracting requirements.
• Provides coordination and support functions to the Strategy and Development team as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Selection Criteria

• ​​Bachelor’s degree required.
• Five or more years of applicable work experience.
• Demonstrated interest and experience in strategic planning, with a preference for at least 2 years of strategy or management consulting experience or another strategy-focused role.
• Analytical, with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to conduct rapid research and analysis and synthesize insights that contribute to larger decision-making.
• Comfortable in complex and ambiguous environments, with the ability to develop work plans and outputs that bring clarity and structure to the team.
• Exceptional operations and project coordination skills, with a preference for project management experience
• Ability to independently develop and execute work plans and mobilize colleagues in service of these work plans.
• Solutions-oriented and able to proactively manage and advance multiple tasks and responsibilities in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
• Attention to detail and strong organizational skills, with the ability to keep meticulously well-organized files, documents, databases, and more.
• Problem-solver with a proactive, no-task-is-too-small nature who takes initiative.
• Demonstrated familiarity with donor and partner relationships.
• Team-oriented, supportive work style, and able to work independently.
• Excellent communicator, able to synthesize and convey complex information clearly.
• International affairs and development and/or knowledge of the international nonprofit sector is desirable.
• Energetic and positive attitude.
• Proficiency in Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint), with particular emphasis on ability to create compelling and professional PowerPoint materials.
• Ability to learn new systems and collaboration platforms efficiently.

Benefits & Compensation

For full-time, U.S. benefit eligible employees, UNF offers an excellent range of benefits, including:

• a choice between two health plans through UnitedHealthcare (PPO or HDHP with HSA)
• dental insurance
• vision insurance
• flexible spending accounts
• 403b retirement savings plan with a generous matching contribution
• group term and supplemental life insurance
• short-term disability
• long-term disability
• health club discounts
• commuter subsidy
• back-up care
• employee assistance program

Additionally, all benefit eligible employees have 12 paid holidays, 20 vacation days, 10 sick days, 3 personal days, and 8 weeks of family leave care.