Ethiopia: Senior Grants Coordinator

IRC Ethiopia seeks a Senior Grants Coordinator (SGC) who will be responsible for day-to-day oversight and management of the Grants and Partnerships/Sub-grants Units. An individual experienced in proposal development, grants management, and donor reporting and compliance is required for the SGC position, which works across IRC Ethiopia's large, complex, multi-sector country program portfolio. Excellent communication and organizational skills are essential. The SGC reports to the Country Director (CD), with complementary oversight from and a close working relationship with the Deputy Director of Programs (DDP). The position has up to three direct reports (and five indirect reports) and is based in Addis Ababa, but requires travel to the field.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Proposal Development

• Oversee and work with the Grants Unit (currently seven staff) to facilitate quality concept notes and proposals for all IRC Ethiopia programs, including taking the lead on proposal development as needed.
• In the proposal development process, work with the Grants Coordinator(s) to coordinate and support IRC program technical sectors in the development of quality - comprehensive, responsive, and logically constructed - proposal inputs.
• Liaise with operational units (e.g. Finance, Supply Chain, Human Resources) to contribute to proposal inputs in a timely, efficient, and streamlined manner, ensuring they aware of key timelines and deadlines.
• Ensure all key components of funding proposals are identified, understood, and incorporated from beginning of proposal development to submission.
• Carry out quality control review on all funding proposals, and communicate in a timely fashion needs for CD, DDP, and/or additional headquarter staff reviews when required.
• Maintain an in-depth knowledge on donor and government policies and strategies, and document and share internally key information/updates on those policies and strategies.
• Ensure that field, program technical, and operational staff are aware of all relevant donor communication, changes in donor regulations, and relevant meetings or conferences.
• In collaboration with the DDP, investigate and track funding opportunities to maintain/expand existing programming and support new programming aligned with IRC strategic priorities.
• In collaboration with the DDP, ensure proposals are compliant with IRC Ethiopia's 2015-2020 strategy.
• When needed, collaborate with the DDP to source external proposal development support.

Partnerships and Sub-Granting

• Oversee the Partnerships/Sub-grants Unit to ensure timely and quality review and processing of sub-grantee application processes (e.g. partner appraisals, sub-grant funding applications, sub-award agreements).
• Support the Partnership Manager to streamline sub-granting/partnership tools and processes and capacity building trainings.
• Provide regular tracking updates to the CD, DDP, and other key staff on the status of all sub-grant applications, reviews, and awards.

Grants/Sub-Grants Management

• Maintain in-depth knowledge of IRC internal policies, rules and regulations for donor organizations funding IRC Ethiopia projects and their sub-grants, and support field and Addis-level staff in monitoring grants for compliance.
• Liaise with relevant program and operational (e.g. Finance, Supply Chain) teams to ensure timely, efficient, and high-quality grants/sub-grants management.
• Contribute to multi-departmental tracking/monitoring tools and processes when requested to support overall improvements to and streamlining of IRC tracking and reporting systems.
• Ensure grants management tools and resources are streamlined and disseminated to relevant IRC staff in the main and field offices.
• Coordinate among the Grants Unit, technical sectors, operational units, relevant field staff and senior management to recommend and/or work through approaches to grant/budget amendments.
• Liaise with Field Coordinators to ensure grant opening, grant review, and grant closing meetings take place and findings are verified and addressed by relevant parties. Organize and facilitate Addis-based grant opening meetings.
• Ensure sub-grantees are involved in and/or conduct grant opening meetings.
• Ensure sub-grantee monitoring and capacity building schedules are set and followed.
• Ensure key achievements and challenges related to sub-grants are communicated to donors and IRC senior management in a timely manner.
• Ensure documentation of all key grants and sub-grants management meetings and communications.
• Ensure all donor report deadlines are being tracked and reports are submitted by deadline.
• Ensure that field and program technical and operational staff have updated records and documents for all grants and information on changes to donor regulations or relevant communications where applicable.

Capacity Building:

• Provide on-the-job mentoring to Grants and Partnerships/Sub-Grants staff to build their capacity to produce high-quality documents meeting IRC Ethiopia and donor standards; identify capacity building needs of these units and match them with available opportunities within and outside of IRC when applicable/feasible.

Liaison and Special Tasks:

• In collaboration with the DDP, assess the country program's progress toward the 2015-2020 strategy and assemble regular progress reports to the regional office.
• Liaise with government partners, donors, NGOs, and other operational partners in Addis Ababa including through attendance at scheduled and ad hoc meetings and consultations upon the CD's/DDP's request, and represent IRC and IRC's interests by maintaining positive and constructive relations.
• Ensure contributions of the Grants and Partnership Units in delivering IRC's strategic action planning are carried out in a constructive and timely manner.
• Upon request, support the development of various communications materials (e.g. briefing papers, brochures, info sheets, capability statements, posters, others) to improve IRC Ethiopia's program visibility and share information on project successes.
• As needed, act as a liaison with IRC head offices (NY and UK).
• Ensure program proposal, grants, and sub-grants electronic files are organized and up-to-date.
• Supervise and complete special projects as assigned by the CD and/or DDP that may fall outside of this job description.

REQUIREMENTS

• Excellent English writing skills are mandatory and the most important qualification sought for this position.
• Experience writing and coordinating high-value proposals for major donors (USG, UN, EU, etc).
• Experience developing budgets for major donors (USG, UN, EU, etc).
• Program development experience mandatory, including development of key project documents such as logical frameworks, implementation plans, etc.
• Familiarity with major donor rules and regulations; grants management experience mandatory.

• Experience supervising and working closely with diverse teams.

• Masters degree in relevant field from a recognized university with at least five years of relevant work experience; or bachelor's degree in relevant field from a recognized university with at least eight years of relevant work experience.

• Minimum of three years experience in an international NGO in similar role/with similar responsibilities.

Personal specifications:

• Ability to work effectively and efficiently under pressure, long work hours, and high workload.
• Ability to independently organize work and prioritize tasks.
• Self-motivated, honest, highly responsible, and punctual.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=a2F0cmluYW1pbGxlci40NTcyMi4zODMwQGlyYy5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20