Senior Grant Management Coordinator, Malaria Program 180 views0 applications

PATH is a global organization that works to accelerate health equity by bringing together public institutions, businesses, social enterprises, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing health challenges. With expertise in science, health, economics, technology, advocacy, and dozens of other specialties, PATH develops and scales solutions—including vaccines, drugs, devices, diagnostics, and innovative approaches to strengthening health systems worldwide.

Malaria is one of the health programs, which has been receiving funding from development partners on a regular basis. Notably, the Program has been receiving funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria since 2003. It also has been getting additional financial support through US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) since 2008.

The PMI’s grant is being managed and implemented through different implementing partners. On the other hand, the Global Fund grant is being managed and implemented directly by Federal Ministry of Health/National Malaria Program, which in turn creates additional workload to the Program. Because of this lack of effective grant coordination and management has been identified as one of the bottlenecks in timely disbursement and use of the Global Fund by the Program. The problem is becoming very critical and as a result the Program has been forfeiting funding from the Global Fund.

Appreciating the problem concerning grant coordination and management at National Malaria Program, hiring an able person who could effectively coordinate and manages malaria grants is considered the only way forward. Therefore, these terms of reference are prepared for hiring a senior grant management coordinator. The detail is presented as follows.

OBJECTIVES

The general objective of the grant management coordinator is to effectively coordinate and administer malaria program grants as per the grant management manuals/guidelines.

Specific objectives of the incumbent include the following:

• He/she provides technical support in the overall implementation of the grants per the agreement;

•  He/she maintains complete documentation for assigned grants,

• He/she provides information regarding grant agreement terms and conditions for all concerned bodies and ensures compliance;

•  Serves as a primary point of contact for particular grant/s;

•  Plays a key role in monitoring the program and financial progress of the grant throughout the project life.

JOB SUMMARY

He/she will conduct a rapid assessment using agreed tool/s to find out bottlenecks related to effective and efficient coordination and absorption of the GF grant and propose amenable recommendations. In addition, he/she will contribute to the development of grant documents and provide strategic advice on the implementation of Global Fund (GF) and other partners supported by malaria grants, and liaise with sub-grantees at central and sub-national levels. The incumbent works closely with and reports to the National Malaria Elimination Program.

He/she will oversee the GF malaria grant implementation through strengthening processes to ensure key activities are agreed and approved before funds are disbursed to regions, zones and woreda, and other agencies to improve the timeliness of in-country disbursements and subsequent utilization of funds. He/she will regularly monitor grant implementation, assess performance and identify bottlenecks, challenges and solutions to improve grant implementation.  The incumbent will also provide high-level partnership strengthening support between the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and the GF Country Team.

Moreover, he/she will maintain good working relationships with government officials, local and international partners and closely support and follow-up at regional, zonal and lower levels to ensure implementation is happening as planned; and providing guidance and support on how to accelerate implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Coordinates the funding request development and grant-making process for Malaria grant with CCM-Ethiopia, GF Country Team, and other stakeholders.
• Provides technical support to the program and different directorates implementing the grant.
• Liaises between FMOH and sub-grantees in the implementation of GF grants.
• Provides need-based support and coordinates with regional health bureaus (RHBs) and other GF grant implementers’ organizational capacity and proposes capacity enhancement priority needs.
• Leads the grant-making negotiation and implementation as per the GF grant agreements.
• Coordinates with the Partnership and Coordination Directorate of FMOH to ensure alignment of the GF grant with resources from other partners.
• Coordinates and monitors the GF malaria grant implementation across implementing units, i.e. the different directorates within FMOH, agencies, and RHBs.
• Prepares disbursement plan and letter to RHBs and agencies based on the proposed detailed budget or further amendments and provides follow-up support for the implementation.
• Ensures that agreed GF budgets are timely disbursed as per the agreed work plan and supports the implementing units with timely implementation of the activities and utilization of the allocated fund.
• Coordinates the preparation of annual work-plan and signing of MOU with implementing partners.
• Ensures the compliance of health system strengthening related grant implementation with government rules and donor regulations and policies
• Ensures the timely compilation and periodic programmatic, financial, and grant management reports of relevant data from all sources (internal sources, users of the grant fund, and implementing agencies) and compliance with reporting requirements of the GF.
• Follows and facilitates the verification of the biannual reports, annual performance reports, surveys, auditing expenditures, and disbursements.
• Works closely with country coordinating mechanism Ethiopia (CCM/E) Oversight Committee to identify malaria grant implementation bottlenecks and follows up on the implementation of CCM/E decisions and regularly updates the CCM/E Oversight Committee.
• Acts as a focal point in the coordination of regular GF Country Team communications and visits and addresses/coordinates the response for different additional requests coming from GF Country Team or the Local Funding Agent (LFA)
• Participates in monthly grant implementation monitoring meetings chaired by the State Minister for programs with respective grant coordinators and follows up the outcome of the meetings.
• Ascertains the timely external audit of the grant and submission of audit reports to all concerned entities.
• Periodically update the Diseases Prevention and Control Directorate and National Malaria Elimination Program on the status of grant implementation, pending issues, and the way forward.

Required Experience

• Master’s degree in health economics, grant management, project management, financial resource management, or other related fields relevant to the above duties.
• At least 10 years of proven experience related to health grants, donor funding, and program management.
• Experience in managing and coordinating grants from bilateral/ multilateral agencies and Global Fund is a plus.
• Ability to demonstrate in-depth understanding and analytical capacity across issues related to funding management, with a focus on decentralized, evidence-based planning, prioritization, and monitoring.
• Experience working with FMOH, RHBs, and FMOH agencies and a good level of understanding of Ethiopia’s health system.
• Ability to promote teamwork.
• Fluency in English with good communication, writing, and negotiation skills.
• Female applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Ability to work collaboratively with multiple partners and teams at national and sub-national levels.
• Strong interpersonal, Strategic communication, leadership, collaboration, and good listening skills.
• Ability to work independently with minimum supervision.
• Openness to new ideas and willingness to accept different opinions.
• Patience and sense of humor.
• Willingness to travel within the country for extended periods of time.