The Grants Coordinator oversees the production of timely, high quality project proposals, amendment requests and reports for submission to donors; provides program and support teams with advice on compliance with donor and IRC regulations; is responsible for management of contract documents in soft and hard copy and supports the mission to increase the visibility of IRC in Mali.
Major Responsibilities:
- Coordinate the overall IRC Mali Grant Management Process through effective channels of internal and external communications
- Support opportunity identification and perform monitoring and analysis of donor strategies
- Ensure timely submission of high quality proposals working closely with management, programs, finance and operations departments
- Directly supervise and mentor the Grants Manager
- Lead grants opening, review, and closing meetings
- Maintain a broad and deep understanding of donor policies, regulations and procedures and build this knowledge among programs and operations team members
- Work with program and M&E staff to ensure quality reports are responsive to internal and donor needs
- Provide liaison or representation to donors as the need arises and/or in the absence of regular donor focal points
- Liaise with HQs (Europe and NY) for proposals and grants related issues
- Provide trainings to Country Office and Field staff on grants related topics
- Ensure information management and filing system (hard and soft copies) are properly maintained
- Support the Country Director/ Deputy Country Director of Programs (DDP) with in-country representation and acts as an information/communication focal point so as to highlight IRC Mali’s successes inside and outside Mali.
The Grants Coordinator’s work will be divided into five primary areas of work: Proposals, Reporting and Grants follow-up ; Donor Compliance ; staff development and Visibility/Communication and Information management.
Proposals:
- Coordinate the development of proposals for new projects by working with program staff and Grants manager and ensuring proper review at the HQ level.
- Review budgets, write budget narratives, edit proposals, and ensure proper OTIS procedures are followed.
- Liaise with NY and Europe grant units in order to ensure proposals meet internal standards, apply IRC Program Framework principles and are donor compliant
- Participate in all internal program strategy meetings with senior management team
- Participate in meetings with in-country donor representatives to discuss ongoing and future programs
Reporting and Grants Follow-up:
- Review all narrative reports before submission to the donor.
- Ensure that reports to donors are submitted on time; that reports are coherent and accurate (quarterly, interim or final reports);
- Ensure that monthly (internal) activity reports are written, validated and filed according to a fixed schedule.
- Monitor and support the use of management tools such as FM01, Budget vs. Actual (BVA), purchasing, for the proper monitoring and the successful implementation of programs and early warning in case of obstacles or challenges;
- Lead Grant Opening, Review, and Closing meetings, as well as monthly/regular grants review meetings which include representation from each unit (finance, programs, logistics) and ensure proper follow up of issues raised and action points decided during these meetings;
- Provide final proofreading for all English-language narrative reports
Donor Compliance:
- Act as focal point with donors in-country on grants management issues for ongoing, past, and potential future projects.
- Review donor agreements and coordinate their review with the relevant IRC HQ office.
- Ensure that grants are implemented in compliance with IRC and relevant donor regulations
- Maintain and update all hard- and soft-copy grant files related to proposals.
- Ensure that partnership and sub-grant related administrative processes and procedures are consistently implemented throughout the program, including pre-award compliance checks, agreements, and disbursements and reporting.
Staff development
- Ensure the ongoing capacity building of international and national staff;
- Ensure respect for IRC HR policies during the recruitment process;
- Provide timely and quality performance feedback (through one-on-one meetings) and evaluations;
- Promote the IRC Way with all supervisees.
- Support field implementation teams through trainings and refreshers on technical approaches and methodologies relating to reporting, Grants follow-up and donor compliance.
Visibility/Communication and information management:
- To distribute and share with all IRC staff all documentation (grant proposals, reports, budget etc) related to their specific programs.
- To act as an information resource on Mali. In connection with the Deputy Country Director, be able to provide informative and varied articles from several sources regarding the current political, socio-economic situation in the country.
- Attend donor meetings or other relevant meetings (including Cluster/sector meetings) on request of the Deputy Country Director of Programs.
- Support the Country Director to aggressively seek funding opportunities on the national level, in conjunction with headquarters level (regional unit and technical units).
- Create communications documents (briefing papers, media stories) for use in-country and outside Mali that highlight IRC Mali’s accomplishments as a whole, in specific sectors, and in specific projects.
- On a quarterly basis, liaise with the IRC NY external relations team to create a calendar of IRC and external media stories highlighting IRC Mali’s successes.
Qualifications
- Masters degree or equivalent in international affairs, development or related subject
- At least 2 years of experience working in grants management and proposal/business development/design
- International experience with preference in Africa
- Prior knowledge of donor regulations (UNICEF, OFDA, USAID, ECHO, DFID, SIDA, etc)
- Previous successful experience developing projects , writing proposals and reports for public donors
- Good communicator with strong organizational, time management and analytical skills
- Excellent inter-personal, cultural and diplomatic skills
- Strong writing and editing skills with close attention to detail
- Flexibility to adapt to changing requirements
- Strong capacity to mentor and build capacity of staff
- Ability to juggle competing priorities, meet demanding deadlines and work under pressure in unstable security environments
- Strong computer skills
- Fluency in English and French, spoken and written, is essential
- IRC experience is an asset
More Information
- Job City Bamako
