Consultancy - Grants and Contracts at International Potato Center

The position: Grants and Contracts Consultant will report directly to the Head of Grants and Contracts in HQ, will have the Regional Director for SSA as co-supervisor, and will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. The position will be on a temporary approximate 3.5-month fixed term consultancy contract.

Duties and Accountabilities: The primary objective of this position will be to manage SSA specific assigned Regional Grants and Contracts portfolio; ensuring that projects comply with donor and CGIAR requirements, procedures and guidelines in the post award phases of the CIP project life cycle.

• Assist with the management of the SSA regional portfolio of awards (donor, prime, sub recipient), MOUs, and CGIAR Hosting Agreements as G&C’s contact point, acting as a representative of the G&C HQ unit, in coordination with the SSA Regional Director, Program leaders, Project Managers and regional staff.
• Support the review of all funding and partner award transactions, in collaboration with other functional areas such as program, finance, intellectual property, administration, and/or HR for their approval and signature.
• Support the drafting, negotiating and approval-for-signature (as defined in the Delegation of Authority) of partner sub-recipient agreements and technical collaboration MOUs.
• Ensures adherence to applicable delegation of authority policies, as they relate to signatory delegation of authority powers and thresholds.
• Participate in meeting with HQ stakeholders to ensure communication on contractual aspects of projects, identify issues requiring action and ensure follow-through on deliverables.
• Maintain an up-to-date database and repository of all SSA regional signed awards, MOUs, and HA in OCS.
• Support the HQ technical reporting function by ensuring timely follow up with SSA Principal Investigators on submission deadlines and response to donor queries.
• Participate in project life cycle reviews and meetings on behalf of the G&C SSA function (PNM meeting, startup meeting, closeout meeting).

Selection Criteria:

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, business or related field. Preferably with post graduate studies.
• Relevant eight years of experience drafting and negotiating funding awards, with at least two multinational development organizations. Focus on agricultural research is a plus.
• Proven expertise of leading large funding initiatives, knowledge of USAID and other donor rules and regulations preferred.
• Knowledge of USAID ADS Chapter 303 and ADS 308 Awards to Public International Organizations is a plus.
• Project Management Certification is desirable.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple or tight deadlines and projects.
• Excellent critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills.
• Partnership management skills.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English.
• Willingness to travel.

Conditions: The consultancy will be for a period of four months.