Institutional Funding and Compliance Manager at Trócaire

Trócaire is one of Ireland’s leading INGO’s, having over 40 years’ of experience in International Development. Trócaire works through local partners and being the development arm of the Catholic Church in Ireland is a member of worldwide networks such as Caritas and CIDSE. This is an exciting time in the history of the organisation as we continue to roll out our most recent strategic plan 2016-2020 and begin planning for beyond this period.

Trócaire has been working in Kenya for over 30 years and established an office in Nairobi in 1994. Working with over twenty-five local partner organisations, Trócaire takes a rights based approach while focusing on Equitable Access to and use of Resources, Women’s Empowerment and the Protection of Human Dignity in Humanitarian Crisis. (Organisational Strategic Plan-CSP: 2016-20). The Trócaire Kenya country programme is built on a model that integrates a change process from micro to meso to macro levels through working with strong local partners, a commitment to capacity building, clear advocacy priorities, high levels of financial oversight and holistic programme design to bring about social change.

The role of the Institutional Funding and Compliance Manager will be to increase and diversify the funding (institutional and private) base of the country programme in line with the organisational and country institutional funding strategies, increase the profile of Trócaire with potential donors, support the programme team in the development of well-designed projects and programmes for submission to institutional donors consistent with Trócaire’s organisational and Country Strategic Plans, and to support programme staff in the management of funding grants/contracts in Kenya through building the capacity of programme staff and partners to manage existing and future institutional funding contracts.

For the candidate with the required experience and passion for the role, Trócaire offers a competitive package of salary and benefits .

Reporting to the Director of Programmes this is a fixed term for 2 years and is based in Nairobi. The incumbent will manage a team of two professionals (Grants Officer and Grants Assistant ) who will support the delivery of the key duties and responsibilities outlined below.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

• Institutional Funding Strategy 25%
  • Lead the review and implementation of Trócaire’s country funding strategy, in line with country programme needs and external funding opportunities.
  • Lead and advise on the development of good quality and well-designed funding proposals for submission to institutional and private donors. This will involve linking in with the Global Partnerships and Funding team in HQ in terms of quality assurance and ensuring value for money, cost recovery etc.
  • Advise the Director of Programmes on donor funding streams which match with priorities, projects and programmes and take the lead in structuring the approach towards making a funding application.
  • Pro-actively identify opportunities for securing institutional funding from in-country donors, embassies and trust funds. This will involve close liaison with global partnerships and funding staff in Trócaire’s head office.
  • Present all funding opportunities relevant to the Kenya programme to CMT using an existing Bid/No Bid tool.
  • Keep up-to-date with donor policy developments and trends, in the development and humanitarian sectors; in-country, regionally, and more generally, and represent Trócaire in funding review groups/networks, as appropriate
  • Cultivate business relationships with external stakeholders and potential partners for large scale or strategic funding opportunities, either as a prime or sub-recipient in joint ventures and as agreed with the CMT (Country Management Team)
  • Provide regular updates to the CMT on the status of the funding portfolio and key trends to monitor.
  • Participate in key donor meetings, when necessary, to foster long-term collaboration and engagement.
  • Explore and test potential private sector partnerships as agreed by Country Management Team
  • Pro-actively seek donor intelligence on prospective new opportunities or partnerships.
  • Ensure key contacts, required formats and donor strategies are kept up-to-date at the country office level.
  • Ensure information on our IF strategy, Bid/No Bid processes etc. are kept up to date on our internal information management system Salesforce
• Grants Management & Compliance (40%)
  • Keep up to date with donor regulations and communicate effectively with relevant team members, ensuring links with HQ in terms of global donor strategies and updates on regulations.
  • Guide programme staff in the management of contracts for all institutional grants ensuring compliance throughout a grant cycle
  • Track all existing grants and work closely with the relevant team members to ensure all deadlines are met for forecasting, reports, baselines, evaluations etc.
  • Ensure information on current grants is kept up-to-date on the internal information management system Salesforce
  • Support programme staff and lead where required, in the preparation of high quality reports for submission to donors in a timely manner. This will involve close liaison and joint working with institutional funding staff in Trócaire head office.
  • Take the lead on communication with the grant managers/donors as agreed with the DoP.
  • Support programme staff and partners in preparing contract amendment documentation for donors such as the EC, Irish Aid, and others, ensuring HQ is aware of and has oversight of any contract amendments.
  • Perform quality and administrative checks on narrative and financial reporting for institutionally funded programmes.
  • Work with programme and finance teams to develop efficient financial tracking and reporting systems for all institutional grants.
  • Keep all relevant head office staff informed about the progress of contracts through the programme cycle.
  • In coordination with Finance staff, take responsibility for monitoring and ensuring compliance with donor rules and requirements on budgets.
  • Ensure all grant files are maintained and organized for planning and preparation of donor reports and project monitoring, and ensuring everything is accurately recorded on Salesforce.
  • Together with programme staff, design and participate in grant inception meetings, grant review meetings, and grant close out meetings.
• Communications and Visibility (20%)
  • Support the development of a communications strategy for the Trócaire Kenya Office that increases the profile of the Kenya programme within Trócaire; responds to the communications needs of Trócaire HQ; and increases the profile of the Trócaire programme in-country – particularly with potential donors.
  • Manage the implementation of this strategy
  • Ensure that all communications/visibility requirements of active grants are implemented and lead on the development and review of visibility material as required.
  • Ensure that all communications/visibility material developed follows Trócaire guidelines and is signed off at CD level.
• Capacity Building (10%)
  • Provide training for staff and partners entering into new institutional donor contracts, including compliance with regulations on financial management, procurement, audit, reporting, visibility and communications.
  • Advise and support programme teams on building the capacities of partners to handle complex contractual compliance issues
  • Advise and support programme teams on how to comply with evaluation, audit and expenditure verification requirements, and provide quality assurance on the maintenance of project files.
• Internal and external representation (5%)
  • Support the CMT to strengthen existing contacts with donors in country and in the region and support programme staff and management to establish and build new donor contacts.
  • Represent Trócaire's work both internally and externally as agreed with the Director of Programmes/Country Director
  • Work with wider team and partners ensuring that effective communication channels are in place, and that funding-related issues are addressed in a timely manner.

Person Specification – Essential Requirements

Qualification

At least a Masters level education in development studies or a relevant subject

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience working in the development and humanitarian sector
• Demonstrable experience of development and humanitarian programming. particular
• Minimum 3 years’ experience managing business development processes including , donor mapping , donor engagement, bid development and writing for major donors including the European Union (DevCo and ECHO), Irish Aid, UK DFID, other European Governments, UN, US Government funding (USAID, State Depts.), and other relevant trusts/foundations.
• Demonstrable experience of managing grants co financed by the donors such as: European Union (DevCo and ECHO), Irish Aid, UK DFID, other European Governments, UN, US Government funding (USAID, State Depts.), and other relevant trusts/foundations.
• Demonstrable use of Management Information Systems (MIS) and / or Grants Management System (GMS)
• Working with partner organisations.
• Training/capacity building in a multi-cultural environment

Skills

• In depth knowledge of contractual requirements of donors and grant management
• Excellent budget analysis and budget development skills.
• Experience of working with partners and good understanding of partnership approach
• Excellent facilitation & capacity building skills and experience of applying them when working with individual partners or groups of partners
• Excellent written, oral skills

Qualities

• Dynamic and willing to take initiative
• A team player but also willing and able to work with minimal supervision
• Capacity to be flexible and adaptable to changing contexts and priorities
• Deep commitment to social justice.
• Ability to work under pressure and to deadlines.
• Patient and pays high degree of attention to detail.
• Understanding of, and empathy with, the role of the Catholic Church in development
• All offers of employment with Trócaire may be subject to Police clearance.

All new hires are required to complete a Self-Declaration Form and sign up to our Code of Behaviour contained in our Safeguarding Children Policy. For additional information please consult the Human Resources Department.