Job Vacancies at International Rescue Committee

Job Description

• The IRC’s Airbel Impact Lab designs, tests, and scales life-changing, cost-effective solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. By applying deep technical expertise and field experience with a range of skills from the behavioural sciences, human-centered design, research, and multi-disciplinary problem-solving in humanitarian contexts, we work to develop breakthrough solutions that combine creativity and precision, flexibility and expertise, and a desire to think afresh with the experience and reputation of a large-scale implementing organisation.
• IRC is the lead organisation in the FCDO-funded “Ensuring Quality Access and Learning (EQUAL) for Mothers and Newborns in Conflict-Affected Contexts Consortium”, which runs until April 2026. The objective of the project is to produce rigorous, operationally relevant research and evidence to improve Maternal and Neonatal Health (MNH) in low-income, conflict-affected contexts. The project aims to produce evidence that is accessible to decision-makers influencing strategic investment, policy and programming to improve MNH, at the national and global level. EQUAL is conducting research in Nigeria, DRC, South Sudan and Somalia. 

Major responsibilities

• The EQUAL Research Programme Coordinator supports overall contract management and sub-contractor management for the EQUAL project, working closely with the Project Management Team, Research Directors, and consortium partners to deliver an ambitious programme of research, research uptake and capacity sharing activities. The role involves liaising with multiple research and programme specialist units within IRC, as well as IRC country offices, consortium partners, and FCDO to deliver the project in a high-quality, effective, and efficient manner. A significant focus of the position is to ensure that the project meets the high standards and requirements of FCDO commercial contracts by supporting IRC and the consortium partners to meet their compliance and reporting requirements.

Project Management

•  Develop and/or refine project management systems and guidance documents to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability across consortium activities; regularly assess the use of project tools and processes to adapt and improve as needed.
•  Work closely with others in the EQUAL PMU to track consortium progress on key deliverables using workplans and financial forecasts; develop and communicate mitigations for areas that are off track. 
•  Manage and update the partner-specific and consortium-level workplans; meet with key stakeholders from IRC and partners to ensure programme quality controls are in place, and provide analyses for senior management decision-making. 
•  Maintain the project risk register and systems to assess risks throughout project lifecycle.
•  Maintain comprehensive and standardized electronic files for the project, and ensure project team and partners have access to relevant records.

EQUAL consortium partner subcontract management, coordination and compliance

•  Collaborate with partners to develop workplans and monitoring plans.
•  Manage communication with partners for issues related to implementation against workplans, subcontracts, reporting, and regular meetings.
•  Coordinate due diligence, compliance checks, subcontract amendments, and other subcontract management processes according to guidance from IRC’s Awards Management Unit.
•  Maintain an in-depth knowledge of FCDO policies and support partners on contractual compliance.
•  Identify partner capacity strengthening needs and help to address these needs, which could include areas such as FCDO commercial contract compliance, project management, and risk management.
•  Work with IRC’s Awards Management Unit to ensure that partners’ responsibilities for donor compliance are tracked and evaluated and that updates on contract performance are communicated in a timely and professional manner to appropriate stakeholders.

Reporting

•  Lead coordination for FCDO quarterly reports, including but not limited to developing report templates, communicating deadlines, and providing timely feedback for IRC and partner teams.
•  Identify, document and communicate areas of improvement for donor reporting.
•  Prepare annual reports and documents according to contract requirements for submission to FCDO; coordinate response to other donor inquiries as needed.  
•  Support the EQUAL Finance Controller to obtain additional financial report inputs and documents from consortium partners, as needed.

Key Working Relationships

•  Position reports to: EQUAL Deputy Project Director
•  Position directly supervises: N/A
•  Internal contacts: EQUAL consortium staff, Research and Innovation department teams, Health Technical Unit teams, Awards Management Unit staff, and IRC country office staff.
•  External contacts: Researchers, finance and grants teams from partner organisations in the consortium.

Minimum Requirements

•  At least 5 years of professional experience with demonstrated project management skills, including developing project management documents and tools such as workplans.
•  Demonstrated experience of partnership management.
•  Working knowledge of FCDO commercial contract T&Cs and compliance requirements is preferred.
•  Excellent critical thinking skills to problem-solve independently.
•  Excellent organizational skills: the ability to multi-task, learn quickly, and work independently and productively in a fast-paced environment.
•  Excellent interpersonal and communication skills: the ability to effectively collaborate with and motivate a variety of people in a multi-cultural environment.
•  Excellent digital literacy: MS Word, Excel, and web-based project management tools (e.g., Asana). Proficiency in Excel strongly preferred.
•  Dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion and a passion for IRC’s mission.
•  Excellent written English, including the ability to synthesise information and draft high-quality reports.
•  Professional fluency in French is preferred.

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Job Description

• Under IRC Kenya’s 2022 – 2024 Strategic Action Plan (SAP), the Country Program made a commitment to increase the amount of funding to local partners to 8% of the operating budget by FY24. It also committed to developing seven Strategic Partnerships with local actors, five of which should be women-led or focused. At the half-way point of the current SAP, Kenya has made significant progress towards these goals including identifying five new partners that are in the process of being brought on board under various grants. However, there is still much progress to be made particularly when it comes to speeding up onboarding processes and management of partners during implementation, as well as around the identification of strategic partners.
• The Kenya Country Program is seeking an intern based in Nairobi to support the Grants and Partnership Officer and work collaboratively with all members of the Grants Unit, as well as with technical coordinators, monitoring, and evaluation (M&E), and the finance and operations teams. They will assist to coordinate and manage the sub-award lifecycle in accordance with the IRC’s Partnership for Excellence and Equality System (PEERS), including conducting due diligence, ensuring partners understand applicable donor regulations, and managing receipt and review of partners’ deliverables. They will also contribute to overall grants management efforts and work to ensure adherence to donor regulations and compliance across grants and sites.
• S/He will be a key member of IRC Kenya’s Grants Unit and will report to the Grants and Partnership Officer and occasionally required travel to field sites (partner visits) and refugee camps.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Contribute towards identification of local partners/organizations, and maintain clear, accessible documentation of identified organizations.
• Support in the partner vetting process through implementation of PEERS framework including carrying out partner capacity review, partner identity and background checks.
• Assist in preparing and/or review solicitations and requests for proposals from Program team(s) before publishing to ensure compliance with IRC policy and donor rules and regulations.
•  Contribute towards drafting of agreement, populating monitoring and reporting schedule and review of partner proposal documents.
• Assist in ensuring sub-grant related administrative processes and procedures are standardized and consistently implemented throughout the project cycle, such as for disbursements, reporting and monitoring.
• Assist in maintaining the sub-grants tracker for all partnership/sub-grant agreements including basic sub-grant details, funds disbursed, and liquidations received.
• Support partners throughout the partners proposal development, provide tools and guidance where relevant and collate feedback for review.
• Assist in ensuring partners remain apprised of grant report due dates and submission dates for partner inputs are kept updated on IRC’s internal tracking sheets.
• Assist in supporting all partners in report submissions and file in the Grants Unit’s Box folder system, and maintain hard copy files of report submissions, as appropriate.

Administrative/Other

• Support in keeping an accurate and up-to-date sub-awards Filing system on the Shared Drive (Box), on OTIS and in hard copy folders in order to ensure grant documents are easily accessible for the day-to-day work of the Grants team and for internal and external audit purposes.
• Support other program initiatives / work streams / task as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences/International development/Communication. Background and prior experience in Finance/Accounts is a plus.
• Experience working in grants within the humanitarian sector is an added advantage.
• Familiarity with program design, budgeting, grants, and report writing.
• Excellent interpersonal, cultural and diplomatic skills; Friendly and constructive approach in managing work relations and addressing challenges.
• Demonstrated strong writing and revision skills in English (both in terms of content structauring and copy-editing)
• Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel), Outlook, Internet (browsers and Skype), PDF manipulation
• Highly organized and detail-oriented
• Able and willing to learn and work with teams based in Nairobi, Kakuma, Lodwar, and Dadaab
• Able and willing to work under stress and with tight deadlines.
• Able and willing to work in a multicultural context as a respectful team player.

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The Purpose of the Role 

• The Partnerships Officer is a key position supporting the Technical Excellence team to develop and manage strong partnerships with a wide variety of partners in line with IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS) policy and donor regulations. 

Key Working Relationships

•  Reports to the Senior Partnership Coordinator with no management responsibilities
•  Works as part of the wider GOAT team in close coordination with:

 Internal

• Technical Excellence Units
• AMU Program and Grant Support team
• Programme Development Advisors covering same portfolio
• Compliance & Policy team
• Finance department on matters of financial management
• Country Program Partnership staff

 External

• Partner Organizations

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES 

• Promote Effective Partnerships
•  Promote and apply the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results system (PEERS).
•  Contribute to building a strong understanding of PEERS throughout the Technical Excellence team, and to ensuring that IRC’s partnership principles, skills and approaches are applied by staff across programs and projects with partners.
•  Facilitate systematic partner feedback on IRC’s management of the partnership relationship, including the documentation of, and response to partner feedback. 

Partnership Agreement Management

•  Conduct & coordinate Partner Identity and Background Review (Vetting) processes, including completion of the report.
•  Review Partners’ submitted proposals and budgets and support key technical and finance staff in this task before Project Lead sign off.
•  Coordinate and co-lead Partnership Capacity Analysis (PCA) processes, including contributing to and facilitating the collaborative risk analysis and management.
•  Coordinate with project leads to agree/review appropriate partnership agreement type and draft agreement, taking into account the due diligence outcomes and specific project and donor requirements.
•  Liaising with HQ for approvals and/or review of documents and agreements.
•  Support and co-lead Partnership Project Opening, Review and Closing Meetings, together with the relevant team members.
•  Coordinate and participate in timely and effective partner program, finance, and compliance monitoring, and work with the technical leads and finance staff to address any project performance issues.
•  Coordinate narrative reporting processes and liaise with finance on finance reporting processes, including review and feedback, ensuring that appropriate checklists are completed.
•  Coordinate any partner support as identified during the PCA or implementation.
•  Coordinate with Finance to ensure timely transfer of payments to partners.
•  Draft and process sub-awards modifications in a timely manner ensuring that the relevant IRC units (in-country and at the HQ) provide their inputs and approve the modification.
•  Maintain complete and organized partnership files for each partner.
•  Maintain up to date Partnership Tracker/Monitoring Schedule
•  Lead the completion of the Partnership Review Memorandum process to review the performance of the partners, of the IRC (including on the basis of partner feedback), and of the partnership, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, fostering ongoing partnerships beyond the sub-award project cycle.
•  Lead on all partnership agreement closeout processes.
•  Support Program Leads in communications of partners’ results to relevant stakeholders.

Strategy and Program Approach

•  Collaborate with project and technical leads to ensure a culture of mutual capacity sharing approaches and learning, so that IRC can learn from unique partners practices and innovations.
•  Identify opportunities for mentoring and/or coaching follow up activities at the partner organizational and individual levels.
•  Lead in capacity sharing monitoring, evaluating, learning and periodic reporting, including documenting successful capacity sharing methods that can be scaled.
•  Promote a culture of mutual learning and good partnership among all partners and IRC.

Other duties

•  Travel to IRC locations around the world to undertake capacity building, training, and monitoring, as applicable. 
•  Update internal systems for data management, including OTIS, awards trackers, and financial management systems. 
•  Contribute to GOAT/Unit work plan and delivery of specific projects, as assigned.
•  Liaise with other IRC departments and teams.
•  Proactively disseminate the services provided by GOAT.

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential:
Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

•  Understanding and practical experience of project management principles throughout the full project lifecycle (positioning to closeout), including budgeting and financial reporting.
•  Excellent communication, influencing and interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively manage a variety of relationships in a multicultural environment.
•  Strong diplomatic skills, including the ability to tailor language to different audiences and needs.
•  Demonstrated ability to collaborate equally effectively with colleagues in ‘remote’ and diverse teams.
•  Strong attention to detail to ensure own work, and work of others is of a consistent high quality in a fast-paced, demanding environment.
•  Solid organisational skills; detail-oriented; ability to multi-task and prioritise tasks, and to learn quickly.
•  Ability to work autonomously and under remote management.
•  Good IT skills (Word, Excel, Outlook).
•  Ability to travel internationally.
•  Fluency in English required.

Experience:

•  At least 3-6 years’ experience in grant/contract management including business development.
•  Experience in managing different types of partnerships including local and international organizations, government, and private sector.  
•  IRC PEERs experience is preferred.
•  Demonstrable solid experience of key institutional funding, regulations and procedures, including with regards to commercial contracts and sub-contracting
•  Developed understanding of business and partnering standards required to create a high performing and accountable environment.
•  Experience of working with and supporting technical experts in the development of partnerships
•  Experience in building and maintaining relationships with senior staff across different teams and functions, including those based in other countries.