Danielle Skidmore Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, Gb

Senior Programme Manager for a $7m USAID programme focusing on executive leadership and coaching for senior professionals in the humanitarian sector.

I was the bid lead for UK funding in West and Central Africa and the Middle East, working with country offices and technical teams to design programmes and ensure bids are developed to a high technical standard while liaising with donors or consortium leads throughout the process where relevant.Bid Manager: Responsible for working on project design and leading all bids within my portfolio. Ensuring the proposal is written to a very high quality and budgets are accurate. I was responsible for ensuring the logframe and budget are developed to a high standard and are a reflection of the narrative/technical proposal. I was responsible for the final submission of the bid and preparing an after action review with the relevant country office to enable learnings going forward. Task management: Working with colleagues on donor engagement strategies in-country and offer support on various tasks as and when requested. During bids, I task managed the bid team including technical leads to ensure a high quality proposal is developed in a timely way.Pipeline development: Responsible for building the pipeline for the countries in my portfolio, both from UK donors and in-country donors. This included attending networking events, building relationships with donors and building relationships with other INGOs whom we could potentially partner with. Plan International UK Deployments:Ukraine Crisis Response – BDM, Warsaw. I was the contract and partnerships manager in Warsaw, with line management responsibilities in country. I led the team through due diligence of partners, as well as developing technical narratives, logframes and budgets. I wrote Partnership Agreements that were favourable to both Plan and partners, and I delegated tasks accordingly among the team. I was responsible for DEC reporting as well as various proposals including for UNHCR. I received excellent feedback from my colleagues on my ability to manage upwards and lead colleagues where necessary.

I was responsible for the day-to-day management of two large FCDO-funded consortia projects – ACCESS (SRHR in Uganda) and PROTECT (Kenya and Myanmar). I built my knowledge of FCDO contracting, including compliance around digital funds, visibility, PSEAH, and the supplier code of conduct. I led contract negotiation and ensured the terms were favourable to Internews. Project Management: I came to the role once the programme was designed but I helped re-design narratives, logframes and budgets, I identified problems, either before they arose or as quickly as possible, I held regular meetings with field teams and partners and I worked closely with the MEAL team to build monitoring frameworks and tools. Following the coup in Myanmar I was instrumental in redesigning the programme, channelling funds into Kenya to ensure no underspend and liaising with FCDO and our internal security team. Financial Management: I was responsible for the budget for both projects amounting to just under £5m. I managed a monthly forecast and worked directly with field staff to align our workplan with our budget. I managed underspends and overspends and was responsible for planning the LoE for relevant staff members by identifying areas where technical or programme support is required, ensuring availability and building ToRs where relevant. I was responsible for leading the subcontracting and sub-granting of consultants and partners throughout the project, ensuring enough funding is provided by Internews to allow for successful implementation. I was also responsible for all financial reports.Implementation: A large part of Internews’ work is done alongside partners and I developed the scope of work and budget ensuring input from local partners. I also developed terms of reference and budgets for consultants. I worked on budgeting; workplans; identifying, assessing and mitigating risks; recruitment; troubleshooting and compliance. I was also hands on in the recruitment of project staff.

I worked as part of the Grants, Contracts & Compliance team at Internews providing compliance support to colleagues on our own internal policies and for institutional donors. I was responsible for ensuring large-scale procurements adhered to internal and donor policy, providing support and reviews throughout the process. I trained field staff in donor compliance and procurement processes and provided ad hoc support on both areas continuously. I continued to support the team as I moved to another role within Internews and committed to a lengthy handover with my replacement.

London, United Kingdom

Contract manager for institutional funding for humanitarian crises in AfricaResponsible for donor compliance, internal compliance, contract management, proposal and report writing and monitoring budgets and expenditureSix months as Programme Development Officer based in Goma including field visits to emergency projects, meeting with donors and partners, responding rapidly to crises and securing funding for emergencies, including protracted emergencies. Budget monitoring was also a key part of the job.

I was part of the Programmes team and responsible for identifying new funders, aligning grants with project needs and managing various accounts. I worked closely with all departments and closely with the CEO, for whom I have written documents to be shared with Trustees, donors and staff. I actively and successfully recruited new donors to our networks who have raised funds through various events.

Master Of Laws (Ll.M.), International Human Rights Law

B.A. (Hons), Humanities In Philosophical And Theological Studies