GRANTS AND CONTRACTS MANAGER 181 views0 applications

CARE International is a global force and a partner of choice within a worldwide movement dedicated to ending poverty. We are known everywhere for our unshakable commitment to the dignity of people. CARE partners contribute to the empowerment of the most marginalized and vulnerable rural women and girls to exercise their rights. CARE in South Sudan is currently working with four key pillars, Economic Empowerment; Increasing Resilience; Inclusive Governance and Women’s Voices and Rights. The country program has operations spread across the country with a head office in Juba.

JOB SUMMARY

The primary role of the Grants and Contracts Manager position is to lead, manage and direct overall Grants and Contracts Management function of CARE International in South Sudan, making links between program, administration, and finance teams. The most critical elements of the job requirements are to ensure timely and accurate financial reporting to donors on main grants as well as adequate management of sub grants to partners, ensuring that all operational aspects are in compliance with CARE Financial and Donor grant compliance regulations and budgetary requirements. The Grants and Contracts Manager will actively participate in the country office efforts to proactively seek new funding opportunities, working to ensure that program and finance teams are supported during proposal development to develop accurate budgets that contribute their fair share to the Country Office Shared Project Costs (SPC) The Grants and Contracts Manager will provide timely reports to Budget Holders on grants and sub grants expenditures and provide analysis on program implementation timeline vs. expenditure. With support from the Finance Manager, the Grants and Contract Manager will provide training and ongoing technical support to program staff and partners on compliance with terms and conditions of donor grants and our own sub grants management policy. The post holder will support program staff to request Fund Codes (FCs), Project IDs (PIDs) and set up grants and subgrants correctly in Peoplesoft, the Country Office’s financial system.

H/She is responsible for producing accurate and high quality financial reports; identifies problems or issues that play adversely against CO performance in financial management and recommends appropriate solutions to the Finance Manager, Program / Project teams as well as Interpret and implement donor polices & procedures

The Grants and Contracts Manager also manages the CO’s subgrantee portfolio and ensures Due Diligence Assessment is conducted for all new and existing subs in line with CARE USA Policy. H/She works with project teams to prepare the capacity improvement and monitoring plans for all subs, drafts subgrantee agreements for review by the Finance Manager and DCD-Finance & Ops.

This role reports the Country Finance Manager.

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Award and Sub-award Management

Award start up and set up

• Review the draft donor agreements for all new and existing awards, ensure understanding of relevant donor rules & regulations by finance staff, project managers, and other key stakeholders.
• Work with CMPs in developing and signing of IPIAs ensuring that that the terms and conditions are understood by the CO team & partners
• Support the project team on donor agreement modifications and submit modifications to SSC for updating in the grant’s management module.
• Manage award and subaward setup process with SSC within the prescribed timeframe after signing the donor agreements (FC/PID and AID set up)
• Disseminate to appropriate staff new FC/PID/Activity ID/ for the new awards and sub grants or any changes
• Develop and maintain the CO grants tracker to monitor project milestones and ensure deadlines on reporting are not missed by the CO team.

Subgrantee selection and Monitoring

• Ensuring that assessments of organizational capacity and due diligence have been carried out for all potential & current partners in the country in accordance with the sub agreement management policy, ensure results are documented and submitted to DMC for approval.
• Ensure capacity improvements plans are prepared and executed by the relevant grants staff in the CO and results are documented and filed.
• Assess training and development needs of partners and conduct capacity building as necessary
• In conjunction with program teams, develop the subgrantee monitoring plan and ensure the plan is adhered to and results of monitoring are documented and shared with DMC and project managers for further action.
• Review the sub grantee agreement modifications, ensure they are accurately done and in line with the donor provisions and CARE policy
• Maintain a sub grants tracker for funds disbursed and liquidations received. An aging analysis of the remaining funds should be prepared monthly.

Project Implementation

• Prepare of monthly variance reports (Portfolio Analysis report) for all awards in the CO for submission to the Finance Manager to monitor the financial and spending progress of all awards.
• Participate in Project Review meetings and provide input into the grant’s management process

Project close out

• Grants Close out- Support the project managers in preparing for the grants close out processes (final audit, evaluations, disposal of assets)
• Review project commitments ate ensure accruals are done before closure of the project

Ensure all outstanding receivable /payable after project closure are received from the donor /paid back to the donor

2. Budgeting and Forecasting

• Lead in developing proposal budgets and budget narratives, ensuring alignment with CARE and donor requirements (e.g., allowability, allocability, reasonableness and accuracy of cost matching, program income issues, etc.).
• Support the Finance Manager in development of CO budget guidelines and coordinates the preparation of annual budgets, consolidation, including forecasts and future years budgets.
• Participation in proposals development workshops and meeting to get knowledge of project or program at early stage
• Verify the proposal budget to ensure accuracy on unit costs, formulas, etc. before it is finalized to be shared with CARE Managements for approval and submission to the donor.
• Take lead in project Budget revision as requested by the donor

3. Financial Reporting

• Prepare the monthly budget utilization report (Portfolio Analysis report) highlighting important information such as inception expenditures, contract balance, spending ratio on individual budget
• Analyze the expenditure reports and provide narrative comments such line and summary on key possible threats and any proposed action.
• Liaise with Budget Holders and provide recommendation to address any donor budget overspending /under spending. Critically examine expenditure reports with budget holders and provide recommendations to address under spending, overspending or unusual expenditure in relation to project phases.
• Ensure timely and accurate preparation and submission of all donor reports as per the donor reporting template and schedule
• Support the Finance Manager in the preparation of monthly financial management reports, e.g., COMFORT, Master Budget, etc.
• Ensure preparation of reconciliation between Project Costing and General Ledger Ensure that any required reclassification between budget lines is executed.
• Review the monthly Budget, Grants and Contracts (BGC) Log report prepared by SSC and ensure action is taken on all exceptions noted in the report before next report.
• Review reconciliation of Grants Receivables/Payable Balance (GRP) balance received from SSC and validate the outstanding balance due or receivable from donor.
• Prepare quarterly Subgrantee dashboard reports for submission to DMC

4. Team Management and Capacity Building

• Supervise, coach and mentor awards and subgrants officers, ensuring high performance, accountability to meet deadlines and quality standards, and progressive skills strengthening
• Manages, coaches and trains direct reports
• Support the Finance Manager (continuing refresher) training to CARE and partner staff to ensure all award terms and conditions are understood and implemented properly

5. Audit

• Keep track of donor audit schedules and requirements, work with internal and external auditors providing all required information to support audit processes and respond to audit queries and recommendations.
• Support the Finance Manager in the CARE’s annual financial audit and Uniform Guidance audit as required.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, business, or a related discipline
• Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, or other relevant accounting profession certification
• At least 7 years grants management experience; At least three years’ experience working with major donor budgeting and reporting requirements.
• Three years’ experience managing / supervising teams
• Thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting and grants and contract management processes
• Excellent knowledge of finance software applications and Microsoft Office including advanced expertise with Excel
• Good understanding of relevant donor policies & procedures e.g. USG, EU, UN
• Excellent facilitation skills to conduct training sessions for small, medium, and large sized groups.
• Solid analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to maintain customer focus while handling multiple priorities
• Ability to quickly learn new systems, processes and procedures and adapt local practices to global standards
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English.
• Core competencies include – Integrity; Problem Solving; Planning and Organization; Excellence; Attention to detail; Negotiation; Performance Management; Teamwork and team building; Ability to support and train local and international staff

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