Closing date: January 29, 2021
Organisational
Profile
Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa) is a feminist, pan-African, Rapid Response Fund committed to transforming power relations through resourcing African feminists and womn human rights defenders and their formations as an act of solidarity. Recognising the need to move resources rapidly on a continent where opportunities and threats arise and decline quickly, UAF-Africa uses a Rapid Response Grant making mechanism to support unanticipated, time sensitive, innovative and unique initiatives that promote woman’s agency in peace and political participation, social and economic power building as well as natural resources governance and stewardship.
The Fund works to support African Womn Human Rights Defenders (AWHRDs), particularly in the feminist and womn’s rights movements, in their actions, which enable them to support and sustain themselves, each other and their work before, during and after urgent situations.UAF-Africa mobilises resources from a broad base of international and
increasingly local funders committed to protecting and advancing womn’s rights
and feminist agendas in Africa. Our primary purpose is to provide funding to
AWHRDs and their groups, organisations and the movements to help them prepare
for and navigate urgent situations with appropriate actions. This puts them in
the position to support and sustain themselves, each other and their work
during and after the urgent circumstances they find themselves.
UAF-Africa is registered in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Operating as a virtual
organisation, the Fund boasts of strategic physical presence in East
Africa: Nairobi, Kenya and Kampala,
Uganda; North Africa: Cairo,
Egypt; Central Africa: Bujumbura,
Burundi and Yaounde, Cameroon; Southern
Africa: Harare, Zimbabwe; Antananarivo,
Madagascar and West Africa: Abuja,
Nigeria, Cotonou, Benin and Dakar, Senegal.
Position
Overview
The Grants
Administrator will be responsible for coordinating the
administrative management, and closeout of sub-grants awarded and other
programmatic investments made by the Fund. The Grants Administrator will ensure
that UAF-Africa’s grant-making and related payment processes, documents, and
procedures are carried out professionally, efficiently, and on schedule. The
Administrator will report directly to the Finance & Operations Director.
Specific
Responsibilities
Grantmaking
(and Programme Investments)
· Provide administrative support for grants process throughout all stages
including receiving, assessing, tracking and eventual payment of the grants;
· Guide the grantmaking portfolio and other related offices on budget
preparation and formatting;
· Review proposed grantmaking budgets to ensure conformity with
UAF-Africa’s policies and procedures, workplan targets and funding agreements;
· Maintain and updates accurate administrative and financial grants data on
salesforce and other pertinent platforms for ease of retrieval and report
generation;
· Assist with required research pertinent to grant due diligence, ongoing
review, and close-out analyses;
· Provide support to grantees in completing the grant notification
documents thus ensuring transfers do not face unnecessary details;
· Confirm that submitted documentation from grantees following the grant
awards are complete and meets all the Fund’s requirements;
· Keep grantees informed on the status of the grant awards;
· Initiate the payment instructions at the bank for all grants awarded
after verifying the underlying documents to support the payment;
· Work collaboratively with Finance to ensure complete and timely payment,
and accurate records of the grants expenditure;
· Confirm with all beneficiaries that they received the funds;
· Identify opportunities to optimize the existing grant workflow, collaborating
with colleagues to implement while ensuring continued quality and timeliness
across all aspects of the grant cycle.
Programme
Support
· Deal with funds transmission email and telephone enquiries from
applicants and potential applicants;
· Assist the Grantmaking & Finance functions in the preparation of
Fund-related reports for Heads of programmes and funding partners;
· Assist in updating the grantmaking database. Generate data & reports
from the database as a source of information for complementary portfolios;
· Maintain relationships with the Salesforce software provider; and
coordinate with the Fund’s IT function to maintain/update software;
· Other duties that may be assigned in line with UAF-Africa’s objectives.
Qualifications
Masters Degree in Finance, Business Studies, Accounting, Economics, Project
Management or any other related academic background;
Qualifications in Social Science, Political Sciences, Gender studies,
International Development or experience working for women oriented organisations
with sound understanding on the socio-political issues around women and gender
issues.
Skills
and Experience
· Minimum of 5 years’ relevant work experience working in or with
organisations in Africa, preferably womn’s rights or social justice oriented
organisations;
· Addresses unforeseen situations seeking advice and direction from
supervisor, as required;
· Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust data
discrepancies;
· Ability to perform detailed work, frequently of a confidential nature
and/or to handle a large volume of work systematically, optimally and
accurately;
· Excellent written and verbal communications in English. French and
Kiswahili linguistic abilities would be plus;
· Some knowledge and understanding of womn’s human rights issues in Africa;
· Passionate about UAF-Africa’s mission, committed to teamwork, and
achieving results; including a commitment to trust-based transformative
grantmaking, community-led development, and grassroots movement building;
· Experience working in a virtual set up with seamless task coordination,
managing multiple deadlines;
· Strong analytical, presentation, planning and organisational skills;
· Self-starter and proactive, with an ability to make decisions under
conditions of uncertainty;
· Proven experience working effectively in a cross-cultural team;
· Flexible and willing to perform other tasks as assigned, in a fast-paced,
team-oriented work environment;
· UAF-Africa is a part of a global UAF-Sisterhood network and staff are
expected to occasionally work collaboratively with UAF-Sister Funds.
Work
Environment
This is a regional position that involves some national, regional and
international travel. UAF-Africa is an equal opportunity employer that does not
discriminate in its hiring practices. In order to build the strongest possible
workforce, UAF-Africa actively seeks a diverse applicant pool. The Fund is
committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. The position
is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
How to
Apply
Please submit a cover
letter, and CV to jobs@uaf-africa.org with “Grants Administrator” in the subject
line. No phone calls please.