United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Regional Grants Officer-Maternity Cover

Position: Regional Grants Officer- West Africa, Sahel, CAR

Reports to: Africa Grants Manager

Location: London with overseas travel c 20% of the time**Salary:** £37,000 per annum

Contract: Maternity Cover to 31^st October 2017

Hours: 37.5 hours

BACKGROUND

Over the past 80 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. 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.

The International Rescue Committee UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its headquarters in New York and London. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through 22 regional offices in cities across the United States, the IRC also helps refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

IRC-UK

Our European headquarters, IRC-UK, were established in London in 1997 to support the organisation’s global activities and particularly to diversify its donor base and be able to better advocate with European policy-makers on behalf of the people we serve. Since its establishment IRC-UK has grown rapidly and is now acknowledged for its high quality project management, technical expertise in governance and rights and economic recovery, and innovative thinking on early recovery and gender based violence. The IRC also has offices in Brussels and Geneva.

IRC-UK comprises approximately 70 staff across five departments.

THE AWARDS MANAGEMENT UNIT

The Awards Management Unit (AMU), made up of Pre-Award, Post-Award, Compliance and Operations Teams, leads the International Rescue Committee’s engagement with donors. By closely working with the regional and country offices, it acts as the intermediary between major European statutory donors and field offices. AMU coordinates the reporting and accounting of grants and offers its financial and management expertise to field offices. AMU team members are also contributing to project design, negotiating with partners and are responsible for proposal development and compliance issues. With a deep understanding of the programmatic requirements of the various regions the IRC works in, and shifting donor strategies, AMU is well placed to advocate on key issues on behalf of the IRC. AMU has forged good working relationships across the sector and is regularly called on by the IRC to offer advice and to assist with strategic planning.

Post Award Team Purpose

The AMU’s key objective is to enable the organisation to increase and improve the quantity and quality of support to beneficiaries by ensuring sustained programme funding.

The Post Award Team ensures:

• The successful implementation of IRC European donor contractual requirements and reporting, ensuring compliance, accurate financial information and good quality narratives on programme outputs
• Provide support to country field offices in relation to quality reporting and donor requirements during programme implementation
• Manage delivery of outputs (reports, budget realignments etc.) to European donors
• Ensure good and professional working relationships with European donors.

Substantial growth in portfolio with current donors now requires an increase in capacity and skill sets.

The Purpose of the Role

Regional Grant Officers (RGOs):

• Provide support to country field offices in relation to quality reporting and donor requirements during programme implementation
• Manage the successful implementation of IRC European donor contractual requirements and reporting, ensuring compliance, accurate information and good quality narratives on programme outputs
• Ensure good and professional working relationships with European donors.

Each RGO has a regional portfolio, for which they take responsibility, however the team operates flexibly as required to ensure cover over the entire European donors’ portfolio. Managers and, where necessary, the Head of Grants and Compliance support and manage this wider portfolio management.

Key Working Relationships Report to Africa Grants Manager
Works as part of the wider AMU with close coordination with:

• the Regional Programmes Manager (RPM) covering same geographical region
• field country offices
• regional staff for programme implementation
• finance department on matters of financial management.

Scope and Authority

Authority:

• Has authority to make decisions within the parameters of donor policy and procedures. Any non-routine and complex matters should be referred to their line manager.

Responsibility for Resources:

• Is responsible for the quality of donor budgets and reports, but has no financial budget to manage.
  KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Contribute to Project Cycle Management (50%)

• Manage a regional portfolio of European grants
• Ensure the quality of project implementation
• Review narrative and financial reports; consulting with and ensuring input from relevant technical and financial staff
• Review budget realignments, where necessary
• Monitor projects to ensure progress against objectives and compliance with donor guidelines, including:

o Monitor cash flow and risks on contracts, and advise field where required

o Track expenditure disallowances, ensuring that lessons are learned and fed into operational training

o Review procurement decisions for European grants against donor requirements.

• Review budgets and narratives for (no) cost extensions, with support from the RPM who was involved in proposal development when required
• Guide country field offices in setting up Partnerships with local or international partners, reviewing partnership and sub-award agreements with support from RGO or others as necessary
• Assist country offices with ad-hoc queries on donor compliance issue
• Using reviews effectively ensure lessons learned from finalised projects are feed into the design of follow on or related proposal.
• Maintain tracking systems for grants and other office systems, including inputting raw data into AMU’s tracking systems (grants database).

Build and Maintain High Quality Knowledge Base (30%)

• Provide best practice advice related to European grant management
• Develop training materials and carry out training of IRC field staff on European donor rules, as required
• Develop and maintain of work-processes and checklists for grant implementation and report review, record lessons learnt.

• Participate in donor strategies, taking the lead in grant management related issues around a specific donor or identified topic. Liaise with the International Development Community (10%)

• Represent IRC externally at country specific meetings, and stakeholder networks

• Assist in advocating with European donors for manageable and reasonable rules and regulations.

Other (10%)

• Provide support to the AMU and more generally to IRC-UK staff as required
• Contribute to the strategic planning of AMU and IRC UK

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Skills, knowledge and qualifications

• Degree, preferably in a subject related to IRC’s work (International Relations, Refugee or Migration Studies, Development Studies, Public Policy), or equivalent supporting contextual problem solving
• Knowledge of European institutional donors and their requirements
• Good understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming
• Ability to build good working relationships and work effectively with programme and field staff from a distance
• Experience of writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports and excellent attention to detail
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload
• Able to multi-task and work to tight deadlines
• Good financial management and budgeting skills
• Ability to analyse and synthesise information
• Able to communicate effectively in French, at a minimum able to read and review technical written French
• Excellent communication skills including active listening and verbal and written English
• Good IT skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)
• Ability to work on own initiative, identify systemic issues and propose and develop solutions
• Committed to IRC values and mandate

Experience

• Experience and a good understanding of European institutional donors and their requirements
• Worked in a developing country, preferable in an international NGO context
• Experience in working at a distance and supporting field-based staff
• Experience of writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports and excellent attention to detail

Desirable

• Masters degree, preferably in a subject related to IRC’s work (International Relations, Refugee or Migration Studies, Development Studies, Public Policy), or equivalent
• Advanced Excel skills

To Apply

Please send a CV (two pages maximum) and cover page (two pages maximum) to: applications@rescue-uk.org

Please state clearly in your cover letter:

• Your reasons for applying
• How you meet the person specification, skills and experience specified in the job description
• Where you saw the job advertised
• Current salary

The closing date is: 28^th February 2017

Interviews for this position are due to take place 16^th March 2017

In order to minimise administrative costs, IRC-UK will only contact short-listed candidates.

Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

IRC-UK strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC-UK is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.