Principal Grants Management Officer at Universities Fund (UF)

Qualifications, Skills and Experience Required:

Academic qualifications

1. A Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Statistics, Accounting, Law, Commerce, Project Management, social sciences or any related discipline;
2. A Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Statistics, Accounting, Commerce, Project Management or any related discipline is an added advantage;

Professional Qualifications / Membership to professional bodies

1. Management course lasting not less four (4) weeks is an added advantage
2. Professional qualification and membership with relevant body where applicable

Previous relevant work experience required.

1. At least ten (8) years’ work experience in related duties; 
2. Three (3) of which must have been at a management position.

Functional Skills:

• Communication skills
• Credit management skills
• Customer Relationship Management
• Strategic Stakeholders Engagement
• Performance Management
• IT proficiency
• Presentation skills
• Analytical skills
• Negotiation skills

Responsibilities:

The job holder is responsible for coordinating timely and equitable annual processing and disbursement of funds to public universities and conditional grants of over Kshs. 47 Billion. Coordinating technical and strategic reporting through strategic stakeholder engagement, business intelligence, quality assurance for informed decision making, while ensuring business growth in alignment to the institution’s strategic objectives.

Managerial / Supervisory Responsibilities

1. Supervising the screening and reviewing of grant proposals of over Kshs 47 Billion for eligibility;
2. Supervising the development of response to the grant’s applicants of over Kshs 47 billion;
3. Ensuring validation of data for grant awards;
4. Supervising the of reviewing draft letters of awards and contracts for grants;
5. Following up on approved grants to ensure they are disbursed;
6. Supervising the development and maintaining of an interactive database of grants;
7. Supervising monitoring and evaluation of grants disbursed;
8. Engage in preparation and implementation of the department’s budget to ensure implementation of the budget provision;
9. Reviewing indents for making calls for grant proposals;
10. Supervising screening and reviewing of grant proposals for eligibility;
11. Supervising development and maintenance of an interactive database of grants;
12. Coordinating the monitoring and evaluation of grants disbursed;
13. Ensuring compliance with requirements of grant award contract;
14. Supervising the developing of the agenda on grants management;
15. Implementation of the trustees decisions on research Grant Management;
16. Supervising the field research evaluation activities;
17. Participating in identifying stakeholders for consultations and engagement;

Operational Responsibilities / Tasks

1. Preparing indents for calls,
2. Reviewing and implementing of quality operations standards, risk management and compliance in every delivery channel through adherence to set policies and procedures and holistic corporate governance;
3. Developing and maintaining a database of reviewers;
4. Developing performance targets for the division;
5. Preparing the budget and work plan for the division.
6. Implementation technical and strategic initiatives through business intelligence reporting, quality assurance and big data analytics for informed decision making;
7. Establishment of the minimum discipline differentiated remuneration for academic staff of universities, which shall be fair and globally competitive, and advise the government accordingly;
8. Implementation of departmental annual action plan to ensure alignment to the institution’s strategic plan;
9. Identifying and resolving of all internal and external audit issues for compliance to set procedures and guidelines;
10. Implementation of departmental data integrity, quality and reliability for informed and timely decision making;
11. Preparing timely and accurate responses to external correspondences to enhance service delivery;
12. Developing a transparent and fair criteria for allocation of funds to universities;
13. Preparing of the management paper on recommendations for grants, bursaries, scholarships;
14. Conducting research in consultation with the public universities to establish the relevance of the factors that inform the differentiated unit cost for the programmes offered;
15. Conducting research in consultation with the public universities to establish the relevance of the discipline differentiated remuneration for academic staff of universities;
16. Periodically reviewing and re-evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of departmental policies and procedures;
17. Formulating of inter-departmental SLAs to enhance service delivery; and
18. Participating in departmental and Management meetings to drive the department’s agenda.

Financial Responsibility

• Implementing the approved annual public universities disbursement and conditional grants to private universities   of over Kshs.47 Billion;
• Implementing and monitoring the approved divisional budget, procurement plan and work plan;

 Responsibility for Physical Assets

1. Responsible for physical assets assigned by the institution;
2. Coordinate the oversight for all the physical assets;

 Problem Solving; 

The job holder will be required to solve the following type of problems;

1. Complex and open-ended problems in all the universities and other areas of the Government on the funding of universities.
2. Solutions will often be arrived at through the stewardship of a project team, involve significant research.
3. Problems are complex, requiring significant research and creative thinking. Consultations will be required.

Communication

The job holder will need to understand the following information to discharge his/her mandate:

1. Detailed written/email instructions or requests from universities, students, the Ministry of Education on matters of university education financing;
2. Detailed donor reports;
3. Writing Universities Fund internal policy documents as well as university funding policies;
4. Financial reports, in-depth technical reports, proposals or project briefs affecting the universities, the Ministry of Education and National Treasury;
5. High level proposals on the Universities Fund’s strategic direction on financing of universities;
6. High level written proposals or presentations to the Assistant Director Grants Management;
7. Written proposals or presentations aimed at changing practices within or across division;

Decision Making/ Job Influence: 

1. Contributes to strategic decisions that influence the direction of Universities Funding with long-term effects;
2. Manages linkages, collaborations and interactions with various arms of government such as parliament, ministries, county and constituency heads, development partners and other stakeholders on matters higher education financing;
3. Allocation of work to staff of the division