Jobs at International Rescue Committee

• The Program and Award Officer is responsible for providing awards and partnerships management and operational support to country programs as well as to the regional unit. This role supports the Program and Award Advisor and country programs in their efforts to ensure successful implementation of IRC’s donor award requirements and reporting, ensuring basic compliance, accurate financial information, and good quality narratives on program outputs. The position entails the potential for limited in-country or remote support to country program Grants and Partnerships teams and/or regional teams. While the Program and Award Officer will work across East Africa’s donor portfolio, this role will support a particular on US Government, UN and other US managed portfolio of awards as agreed with the line manager.

Scope and Authority

• No direct reports

Key Working Relationships

• Reports to Program and Award Advisor. Works closely with Director Award Management, all Regional Program and Award Support team members, and across all teams within Awards Management Unit, Crisis Response Recovery and Development Department, Global Partnerships and Philanthropy, and other key departments within IRC.

Key Accountabilities
Award Management and Compliance (60%)

• Support the Program and Awards Advisors and country programs in the management of the award portfolio for the region.
• Review, edit, and provide substantive feedback on donor narrative and financial reports, coordinating with and ensuring input from relevant staff prior to donor submission and submit reports in a timely manner.
• Assist Program and Award Advisor to provide key programmatic and awards related communications to donors.
• Assist Program and Award Advisor in the preparation, review, and submissions of new award agreements and award modifications, including liaising with various departments to obtain signed approvals and helping to complete modification packages.
• Support budget realignments and award amendments/modifications, where necessary.
• Collaborate with Program and Award Advisor in review of sub-award and partnership packages, including sub-award proposals, sub-award agreements and modifications, as well as collaboration agreements and MOUs, ensuring compliance with donor requirements and IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS).
• Assist Program and Award Advisor with the development and review of program proposals as necessary.
• Support monitoring projects to ensure progress against objectives and compliance with donor guidelines.
• Assist country offices with ad-hoc queries on donor compliance issues.
• In collaboration with Program and Award Support colleagues, track and document lessons learned from finalized projects and ensure they are fed into the program development team.
• Inform and refer high level compliance matters to Program and Award Advisors and Director, Awards Management for consultation with the Compliance and Policy team.
• Stay informed about programmatic issues and security and political developments in the region and how they might affect program implementation.
• Maintain and communicate an accurate record of award deliverables to country program grants teams on a regular basis.
• Maintain the region’s award filing system at HQ and update on a regular basis regional trackers, including awards trackers – as specified by region.
• Work with Program and Award Advisor and country office grants staff to ensure that award opportunities on OTIS (internal web-based grants management system) are up to date.
• Provide ad-hoc trainings and technical assistance to grants and partnerships staff on IRC systems, awards management processes, and donor compliance, as necessary. This includes assisting country offices with the use of IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS).
• Keep IATI data up to date on a quarterly basis for relevant donors, as required.

Coordination (20%)

• Maintain a strong relationship with the regional team members – reporting on a regular basis and copying them on relevant communications through an established communications protocol.
• Maintain a strong relationship with all AMU teams and other departments to ensure the use of all templates, guidance, policies and procedures established by AMU, and for participation in AMU work groups or work streams, as needed.
• Maintain strong relationship with country program awards teams offering regular support on reporting and compliance issues, in coordination with Program and Award Advisors.
• Assist with the organization and note taking of conferences, workshops and meetings as requested.
• Liaise with support departments and other teams outside of AMU as needed in order to provide the best support to country offices.
• Provide additional operational support as needed and requested.

Capacity Building and Training (10%)

• Assist in the development and maintenance of work-processes and checklists for award implementation and report review.
• Assist in the development of training materials and facilitate trainings.

Other Responsibilities (10%)

• Provide coverage for key program/support functions remotely and in-country as requested, to assist with short-term gaps and emergency support.
• Provide short term cover when Program and Award Advisors are absent supported by their line manager as needed.
• Attend internal (and where appropriate external) IRC trainings as available on donor, compliance and awards management, PEERS, or other relevant subjects to the role.

Participate in special projects and/or additional duties as needed, and in agreement with the Program and Award Advisor. This could include, but is not limited to:

• Being the first point of contact for country programs
• Supporting with negotiation of contracts
• Taking a lead on developing training
• Serving as the focal point for regional donors on certain awards

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential
Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Understanding of institutional donors and their requirements; experience working with USAID, PRM, and other U.S. Government donors as well as UN donors.
• Good understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload
• Ability to multi-task and work to tight deadlines
• Excellent communication skills including active listening and verbal and written English
• Solid organizational skills, detail oriented, ability to multi-task and prioritize tasks, and to learn quickly
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, the ability to successfully and effectively liaise with people within and across departments in a multi-cultural environment
• Ability to proactively take initiative and ownership for their scope of responsibilities with minimal prompting needed from others
• Both a team player and independent performer in a very fast paced environment
• A flexible work attitude and a calm manner
• Fluency in English
• Good IT skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)

Experience

• 2+ years' experience in working in the humanitarian sector, particularly with donors such as USAID, PRM, and the UN
• 2+ years experience writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports and excellent attention to detail
• In-country experience preferred, regional experience in particular
• Experience working in the region desirable, particularly in one of the countries in which the IRC is currently operating

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Major Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and direction to People & Culture function across Central Africa region; responsible for ensuring high quality delivery of P&C programs and operations to drive achievement of IRC’s goals.
• Work closely with P&C and program leadership teams to transform region's approach to culture, talent, and the overall employee experience.
• Reinforce and model a culture that prioritises providing all employees with a safe, respectful, and supportive workplace, one that fosters empathy, inclusiveness, and a sense of belonging; where each individual feels valued and protected from any harm, and able to deliver their very best work in support of our clients.
• Ensure that key progress, barriers and enablers for commitments related to Gender Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (GEDI), Safeguarding (SG) and Duty of Care (DoC) are part of regular regional leadership dialogue and action
• Ensure best practices and legal compliance for critical enabling operations e.g. recruitment, employee relations, compensation & benefits, and data reporting & analysis are in place and work holistically with other functions.
• Partner with HQ Learning & Development Unit to deliver and lead strategic L&D programs, such as Succession Planning and Talent Dialogues. Serve as a strategic partner by understanding regional learning needs and providing advice and counsel regarding adapting programs for the regional contexts
• Partner with the HQ Organizational Development team to enhance organizational health of the region and country programs including but not limited to implementing optimal P&C structures
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and measurement of impact in the region, supported by people analytics and data driven decision making by regional and country leadership
• Support the development and achievement of the Country Program P&C priorities and foster two-way links with the global P&C strategy
• Manage highly sensitive employee relations, wellbeing, and other complex matters
• Lead, empower and mentor team, including communicating clear expectations, co-creating performance objectives, providing regular and timely constructive performance feedback, and supporting their overall well-being and professional aspirations.
• Travel to regional locations as and when needed to provide in-person leadership, support, technical trainings and/or management of special projects

Key Working Relationships

• Position Reports to: Dual reporting line to RVP Central Africa region and Senior P&C Director, CRRD
• Direct Reports: six Country P&C Leads, Regional Duty of Care Advisor, Regional GEDI Director, Regional Safeguarding Advisor, Regional Coordinator. Note that all direct reports have dual reporting lines to technical or geographic leadership.

Key Internal Relationships:

• CRRD P&C Leadership Team
• Regional Leadership Team, Country Directors, CRRD colleagues across multiple roles
• Global leaders in the areas of GEDI, Safeguarding and DOC (dual solid reporting lines)
• Global P&C team across all the HQ functional teams and at the regional and country level
• Key External Relationships: INGO counterparts; legal counsel; P&C associations and networks

Desired Experience and Skills

• Fifteen+ years of progressive professional P&C-related experience, preferably in the humanitarian sector, with a minimum of 5 years at a regional level where extensive demands, complexity, and delivery were core to the role
• Experience supporting groups of 1,000+ employees at multiple organizational levels, cultures and locations within a regional or global environment
• A consistent role model for the IRC culture we seek to provide for all colleagues: respectful, encouraging, empathetic, and inclusive; Genuine commitment to fostering equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace, with experience in establishing a supportive environment for under-represented groups and accelerating their professional development
• Broad knowledge and experience across the spectrum of People & Culture proficiencies e.g. organisational change, GEDI, SG, talent management, employee experience, workforce planning, employee relations, etc
• A strong understanding of social justice issues and power dynamics, and experience in effecting organizational change that is innovative and does not cause harm, particularly around feminism, anti-racism, and inclusivity
• Excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management
• Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; outstanding business acumen, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills required
• Superb inter-personal, written and verbal communication skills with ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments
• Fluency in English and French
• Ability to travel globally up to 25% of the time, occasionally on short notice

Closing date

18 Mar 2024