Temporary Business Support Officer I (Grants) at International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology - ICIPE

TEMPORARY BUSINESS SUPPORT OFFICER I (GRANTS) (Ref. No. NRS/486/042022)

icipe seeks trecruit a Temporary Business Support Officer I (Grants) for its Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF). The position is tenable in Nairobi at the icipe Duduville campus. This is a nationally recruited position. A competitive compensation package will be offered tthe right candidate. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Overall purpose of the job

The Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) is the flagship program of the African Government led Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET). It aims taddress the human resource gap in the fields of applied sciences, engineering, and technology (ASET) by training high quality PhD and post-doctoral scholars and building research and innovation capacities in those fields in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The program is designed in three complementary windows, which provide scholarships for PhD training with parallel support tAfrican Host Universities tenable them deliver high quality PhD graduates (Window 1) and competitive grants for research (Window 2) and innovation (Window 3). Tdate, RSIF has awarded 27 research and innovation grants tnine (9) selected African Host Universities located in six sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Currently, the following key activities are being implemented under Window 2 and 3 of the program:

• The contracting of approved 13 grants under the 2nd Call for Research and Innovation grants,
• Award notification and contracting of seven (7) RSIF/MozSkills grants,
• Implementation of key activities in the grantee technical capacity building action plan
• Publishing of various Calls for Proposals (JIRA and 2nd Call for RSIF/MozSkills). Teffectively support the implementation of these activities, the RCU hereby is seeking for a temporary staff for a period of six months period from April 2022, renewable subject tfunds availability and needs.

Specific Duties

The position holder will have the responsibility of ensuring effective, transparent, outcome-oriented grants award process, grantee reporting and overall follow up of actions tensure quality implementation of RSIF grant awardees. Specific tasks tbe implemented include:

• Work closely with the Research and Innovations Grants officer tsupport the award and contracting of proposals selected under the Mozambique grant Call for Proposals and other Research and Innovation Grants Call for Proposals that will be published during the period such as JIRA and 2nd Round MozSkills Grants)
• Support the implementation of the grantee technical capacity building action plan including the preparation and implementation of;
• Institutional Innovation Capacity Building Program Grants (ICBP) Grants technical workshop
•  University-Industry engagement meeting on the side-lines of the RSIF Conference
• Organize quarterly review meetings, webinars, grants management training and other capacity building activities targeting grantees
•  Participate in grantee monitoring visits with other team members (finance and M&E)
• Review narrative technical reports from partners, analyse key issues from the reports and providing feedback loop tinform program implementation.
• Work closely with the communications team tsupport dissemination of relevant materials tshowcase progress and impact of the research and innovation projects.
• Participate in relevant meetings with grantees and the RSIF team.
• Perform any other tasks as assigned by the BA Program Manager or RSIF Manager.

Requirements/Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Project management, Business Administration, Agriculture, or related field
• At least 1 year’s working experience in coordination, project management or grant management in a donor funding environment. Experience handling research and innovation programs will be an added advantage.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office suite.
• Strong writing and communication skills.

Core Competencies

• Excellent attention tdetail.
• Ability thandle multiple tasks and tight deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability twork effectively with stakeholders at all levels.