Grants Coordinator
Closing date:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
IRC
Kenya is the primary provider of health services in Kakuma and Hagadera
(Dadaab) Refugee Camps, including clinical services, maternal and newborn care,
nutrition and immunization services for children and pregnant and lactating
women, community health outreach, and HIV-AIDS & TB prevention and care.
IRC’s office in Lodwar, Turkana County, serves local communities through
livelihoods support programming, support to VSLAs and women’s and girl’s safe
spaces, and efforts aimed at preventing and responding to gender-based
violence. In Nairobi and Kajiado counties, IRC supports urban refugees and
vulnerable populations through its Economic Recovery and Development (ERD)
programming, as well as through protection and advocacy. As of June 2021, IRC
initiated nutrition and women’s protection and empowerment (WPE) programming in
West Pokot County, in collaboration with local partners.
SCOPE OF WORK
IRC
Kenya seeks a Grants Coordinator who will be responsible for day-to-day
oversight and management of the Grants and Partnership Unit, ensuring
cohesiveness across the team. The Grants Coordinator should be an individual
experienced in business/proposal development, grants management, donor
reporting, and compliance with the demonstrated skills to work across IRC
Kenya’s large, multi-sector country program portfolio and escalate issues, as
needed, to the Senior Management Team (SMT) for timely review and/or
discussion. Excellent communication and organizational skills are essential in
this role. The Grants Coordinator will be the focal point for in-country donor
correspondence and coordination of proposal and report submissions. In
addition, the Grants Coordinator will coordinate and manage any donor due
diligence requests on behalf of the country program, and in coordination with
the East Africa regional grants team, as needed.
Currently,
IRC Kenya’s grants portfolio consists largely of funding from UNHCR, BPRM,
ECHO, GFFO and private foundations. One of IRC Kenya’s near-term strategic aims
is to increase the number of local partners with whom the country program works
and collaborates.
The
Grants Coordinator will report to the Deputy Director for Grants and
Accountability (DDGA). The Grants Coordinator will have supervisory
responsibility for the following: one Grants Manager, one Grants and
Partnership Manager, two Princeton in Africa (PiAf) Fellows, including a Grants
and Reporting Fellow and a Grants and Communications Fellow. They will work
collaboratively with all members of the Grants and Partnership Unit, as well as
the country program’s technical coordinators (TCs), the Monitoring, Evaluation,
Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator, finance team, and operations
team. The position is based in Nairobi and occasional travel to field sites and
refugee camps may be required.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Business
Development
- Research and maintain information on donor
strategies and funding opportunities at the national level, in conjunction
with the program coordinators.
- Maintain an in-depth knowledge of donor and
Government of Kenya (GoK) policies, priorities, and strategies, and
document and share internally key information/updates on such.
- Schedule ‘go/no-go’ meetings with senior staff in
response to solicitations for proposals, and quickly communicate and
document decisions made regarding current funding opportunities.
Proposal
Development
- Ensure that the IRC’s processes and system for
managing proposal development in collaboration with programs, finance, and
operations departments is understood and respected, and results in timely
and quality submissions.
- Develop internal workplans for proposal development
in coordination with all stakeholders, ensuring that roles and
responsibilities are clearly defined and communicated to all staff
involved.
- Support the (Sr.) Grants Manager(s) to coordinate
proposal development ‘kick-off’ meetings, and lead program design/ logical
framework development meetings with the relevant grants, program, and MEAL
staff, including DDP, to ensure internal alignment on targets, indicators,
outputs, and outcomes.
- Lead the proposal development process in
coordination with DDP, sector/technical coordinators, field-based manages,
MEAL staff, and the finance and operations teams to ensure submission of
quality proposals.
- Liaise with HQ regional Awards Management Unit
(AMU), grants units, technical units, and other functional departments to
ensure proposals meet internal standards and are donor compliant.
- Ensure all new project proposals are developed in
accordance with the Kenya program’s Strategic Action Plan (SAP), in
compliance with IRC and donors’ rules and regulations, and meet internal
standards.
- Act as focal point with donors in-country for the
proposal and report submissions, as needed.
Compliance
- Maintain in-depth knowledge of IRC internal policies
and donor rules and regulations pertaining to IRC Kenya funding, and
support Nairobi- and site-based staff in monitoring grants and sub-grants
for compliance throughout the project implementation period.
- Review donor agreements, amendments, and
modifications and coordinate their review with the relevant IRC HQ office.
Coordinate and support the team to obtain DOAs, as required, prior to
grant signatures, as needed.
Grants
Reporting
- Ensure all donor report deadlines and submissions
are being accurately tracked in the country program’s excel-based Grants
Tracking Sheet (GTS) and in OTIS (IRC’s Opportunity Tracking Information
System), as required.
- Work collaboratively with the Grants and Partnership
Unit to ensure donor reports are submitted on-time, providing support as
needed, in report coordination and collation. Review reports prior to
submission for coherence and accuracy, ensuring high-quality,
well-written, and timely reports meeting donor and IRC requirements.
- Coordinate information on beneficiary numbers and
indicator targets achieved with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability
and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator for reporting purposes and keep abreast of
progress against targets/indicators
- Lead capacity development of Program and Grants
staff to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge on how to write
donor reports, working toward strengthening writing and style formulation.
General
Grants Management
- Ensure grants management tools and resources are
streamlined and disseminated to relevant IRC staff in the main and field
offices.
- Regularly review the Grants Tracking Sheet (GTS) and
other information management systems to ensure they are up to date and
accurate.
- Ensure that field team’s programs and operational
staff have updated grant records and documents for all grants and that
they are timely provided information on changes to donor regulations or
relevant communications, where applicable.
- Coordinate with site and programs teams to ensure
visibility requirements are met on-time and properly documented.
- Ensure Project Cycle Meetings (PCM) are regularly
conducted for all current grants and that they are documented, and action
points are disseminated and followed-up in a timely manner.
- Coordinate among the Grants and Partnership Unit,
technical sectors, operational units, relevant field staff and senior
management to recommend and/or work through approaches to grant/budget
amendments/modifications.
- Monitor burn rates via monthly budget versus actual (BVA)
meetings; ensure timely follow-up of action items surfaced at meetings and
escalate issues, as needed, for resolution and successful implementation
of programs.
Partnership
- Support the Grants and Partnership Manager to
achieve timely and quality review and processing of partner vetting,
assessments, proposals, and agreements, while streamlining the application
of IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS)
tools and processes.
- Ensure IRC Kenya’s partnership and sub-grants tracking
tools are maintained and are up-to-date, and be able to provide updates to
the SMT and other key staff on the status of all partner/sub-grant
applications, reviews, and awards across sectors and sites.
- Ensure key achievements and challenges related to
partnership and sub-grants are communicated to donors and IRC senior
management in a timely manner.
Qualifications
- BA degree required; Master’s degree in Accounting,
Economics, International Affairs, Social Sciences, or STEM (Science,
Technology and Math) strongly preferred.
REQUIRED EXPERIENCE & COMPETENCIES
- At least five years of experience working in program
management, grants management and proposal/business development/design
required.
- Experience supervising and working closely with
diverse teams.
- Proven staff management experience required, and
strong capacity to mentor and build capacity of staff.
- Knowledge of UN (UNHCR/UNICEF/UNFPA/WHO), US
(USAID/BHA/CDC), EU (ECHO/EC) and UK (FCDO) donor regulations, procedures,
and requirements. Familiarity with major donor rules and regulations;
grants management experience mandatory.
- Proven ability to develop winning proposals to
public- and private-sector donors. Program development experience
mandatory, including development of key project documents such as logical
frameworks, implementation plans, etc.
- Fluent English skills (written and verbal) required.
High quality copywriting and editing skills.
- Excellent organizational skills, time management,
ability to determine and juggle multiple priorities, and attention to
detail are critical.
- Possess strong communication skills and the ability
to work in a multi-cultural context as a flexible and respectful team
player – patience, cultural sensitivity, and application of contextual
understanding in day-to-day work is required.
- Willingness to travel to the field sites and refugee
camps in Kenya, as needed.
- High-level of knowledge and practice with Word,
Excel, Outlook, etc. required.
Standards of Professional Conduct: The
IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the
IRC Way – Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In
accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on
Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding,
Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating
Trafficking in Persons and several others.
Gender Equality: IRC
is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer
benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our
workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and
other supportive benefits and allowance.**
Kenyan nationals are encouraged to apply.
International allowances are not available for this position. Salary and
employee benefits are compliant to the Kenyan NGO Sector.
IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and
considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex,
color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status,
veteran status or disability.
Disclaimer:
Please take note that International Rescue
Committee (IRC) does not ask for any fees in connection with its recruitment
processes.
Kindly click below link
to apply
https://rescue.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/20486?c=rescue