Grants Officer at International Rescue Committee

Summary of Responsibilities:

This position will be placed within the IRC Somalia Grants Unit. The IRC Somalia Grants Unit acts as the formal coordination point between IRC departments, including programs, operations, finance and global headquarters.

Under the direct supervision of the Grants & Budgets Manager, the Grants officer will primarily support the IRC Somalia Grants Unit with managing Somalia portfolio and support the Grants team with program cycle management. This includes leading standard grant specific meetings, reporting, and budget monitoring, as well as, implementing partner communications. Organization, flexibility and initiative are all key attributes to this position as it often involves independently solving unique issues as they occur while managing competing deadlines.

Job Key Responsibilities:

1. Grant Management

Donor Reporting

• Track and manage hard donor deadlines regularly and maintain communications with donors
• Work with sector coordinators to receive progress updates on individual grants and projects
• Draft and edit monthly, quarterly, and annual reports on projects
• Send weekly updates to country office staff to coordinate timely reporting

HQ liaison

• Send regular updates to regional and HQ grants staff on country office grants
• Participate in bi-weekly calls with HQ/UK staff to update on existing grants and new developments
• Keep HQ and regional staff up-to-date by sharing new agreements, amendments, submitted reports and proposals, etc.

Grant Tracking

• Organize and maintain information on grants, sectors, programs, and individual projects
• Keep documents up-to-date on country office portfolio, ending and beginning grants, etc

2. Budget Tracking and Coordination

• Hold Grant Opening, Closing, and Check-in meetings, bringing together all relevant staff, sometimes at Nairobi and field-levels, to go over financial, procurement, and reporting needs
• Track budget vs. actual spending of grants monthly; coordinate with staff at field and Nairobi-level to resolve budgetary issues, track spending and budget allocations, hold field BVA meetings and keep the field Managers and Coordinators updated on their operations spending
• Hold meetings as necessary to ensure necessary spending and adherence to donor agreement

3. Proposal Development

• Assist with drafting programmatic proposals, with support from sector coordinators
• Coordinate with field staff to ensure clear lines of communication regarding programmatic design at the field level
• Work with donor to understand any revisions to proposal/programs necessary; revise proposals accordingly, sometimes with support of sector coordinators.

4. Grant Liaison with external partners

• Act as a liaison for the grants team within the various coordination mechanisms for Somalia as required, with the support of the sector coordinators and senior management
• Attend coordination meetings when required and share the information with management.

5. Training and capacity building

• Provide support for training and capacity building to all IRC and local partners staff on program reporting and IRC program specific documents.

Professional Standards:

• IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Global Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field ( International affairs, development, project management) with strong record of academic performance
• At least 1 years of international work experience in the Horn of Africa region
• Experience in grants management or program development
• Working knowledge of USG (USAID/OFDA), European (ECHO, SV), DFID and UN donor regulations, procedures and compliance requirements
• Professional report writing experience for major donors, including: ECHO, USAID/OFDA, UNICEF, UNHCR, SV and private funders.
• In-depth understanding of grants management procedures the grants cycle, procurement and financial best practices is a strong advantage
• Fluent in English, preferably conversational in a second UN language
• Knowledge of the Somali language and context is a strong advantage, but not required
• Able to work well both within a team and independently, in a challenging and fast-moving multicultural environment.
• Good communicator with strong organizational, time management and analytical skills
• Excellent computer skills and competency in Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to determine priorities and meet multiple deadlines
• Willingness to travel frequently to Somalia
• International allowances are not available for this position