AFD Grants & Partnerships Coordinator

Background/IRC Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. 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. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Position Summary:

The Grants and Partnership Manager contributes to the quality and efficient project implementation and manages the delivery of the IRC’s partnership approach and activities under the 36-month French Development Agency (AFD) funded project. IGNITE (Inspiring Girls and Grass-Roots Networks for Inclusive and Transformative education) project delivered by four Consortium partner organisations led by the IRC supports feminist CSOs and Women Rights organisations in 7 target countries and/or at a regional level to accelerate gender equality in and through education. These include:

• CSOs providing direct support to girls and their families to remove individual-, family- and community-level barriers to education.
• CSOs working directly with schools and other sub-national institutions to improve the quality of support for adolescent girls in school as well as access to education for out-of-school girls.
• And, CSOs conducting research and/or advocacy to advance the rights of girls, including access to education

The position will provide ongoing support and management for successful award and partnerships management throughout the implementation of the IGNITE project, along with promoting a strong knowledge-culture of award and risk management practices, including but not limited to: quality assurance of AFD deliverables such as narrative, financial and audit reports; guidance on compliance and IRC systems, partnerships and grants-making management.

Key Working Relationships: Position will report to IGNITE Project Director. Position works closely with other IGNITE project team staff, including the Finance Coordinator and Technical Advisors.

Key Accountabilities:

Partnership Management

• Lead partner vetting and due diligence process in line with IRC’s policies and standards and support collaborative risk management and project design;
• Lead and oversee the contractual process of issuing partnerships agreements with the three partners and future amendments;
• Review and advise on all partner deliverables (including budget, spending and scope/workplan);
• Coordinate the processes for donor reporting to ensure that reports are high quality, delivered on time and supported by auditable records.
• Ensure and coordinate adherence to IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (the ‘PEER System’ or ‘PEERS’) in monitoring and management of the FSF consortium partners;
• Co-lead the review of the performance of the partners, of the IRC (including on the basis of partner feedback), and of the partnerships, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, fostering ongoing partnerships beyond the sub-award project cycle.
• Establish an IGNITE compliant grants database to ensure timely and correct execution of all grant agreements. Maintain grants register and regularly update based on project progress and discussions with project team, partners and other stakeholders. Develop action plans with project staff to support partner’s performance.
• Facilitate regular grant management meetings with IGNITE team and consortium partners to track and monitor budgets, expenditure, required training and support, ongoing capacity assessments and mitigation strategies.
• Provide attentive monitoring and proactive support to all grantees throughout implementation.
• Support all functions to ensure donor requirements are understood and complied with.

Grants-making

• In close collaboration with IGNITE Project Director and Finance Co-ordinator, provide quality inputs, reviews, ongoing guidance, monitoring and coordination of the grants-making activities in the IGNITE project working closely with the three consortium partners leading the grants-making activities.

Project Award Management

• Lead the development and implementation of project/award management in line with IRC internal award policies, procedures, templates and best practice and AFD requirements;
• Provide advice to IGNITE Project Director and other members of the project team, operations staff, and consortium partners to ensure the project is managed and monitored in accordance with developed standards, managed risks and issues, ensure reporting and other donor and compliance requirements are met;
• Support Project Director on the management of IGNITE AFD deliverables (e.g.no objections, amendments etc.);
• Support the partners on IGNITE reporting deliverables (narrative and financial)
• Support modifications to any agreements or projects (i.e. indicator changes, budget realignments), as necessary;
• Organize and lead internal Project Cycle Meetings (PCMs) and act as focal point for communications with project team around award management and compliance functions;
• Serve as main point of contact and liaise with AFD on award management, compliance and regulations, and maintain regular communication (in French);
• Liaise with IRC Award Management Unit, compliance, partnerships, procurement, finance and other departments whenever needed;
• Communicate and facilitate discussions at wider IRC level to proactively address and document risks, issues, gather feedback and identify trends that can inform future AFD funded awards/projects.
• Ensure proper closeout of all grants
• Support the finance team on monitoring of award budgets, phasing, and forecasting.

Project management

• Assist the IGNITE Director with project administration, travel, organization of events and meetings and reporting.

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties assigned by the IGNITE Project Director within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

• Must have the experience working in an (I)NGO and/or local organization.
• Experience in working with and supporting project and technical experts in complex project set ups and delivery;
• proven track record in working on multi-country/regional projects;
• Experience in working in consortia including local/national NGOs;
• Experience in supporting inception/implementation and closeout phases in complex projects
• Solid writing and editing skills;
• Experience in drafting and reviewing financial reports and proposals;
• Demonstrate solid experience and knowledge of AFD funding, regulations and procedures;
• Experience in donor liaison and in providing advice and best practice on award/grant management;
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual setting;
• Solid diplomatic and networking skills;
• Ability to effectively manage a variety of internal and external Stakeholders;
• Proficiency in using Microsoft Office and Excel;
• Solid organizational skills with the ability to juggle multiple tasks, set priorities, effectively manage time, and meet deadlines;
• Ability to travel internationally approximately 20% of the time;
• English and French fluency required.

All IRC staff are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and the IRC country employment policies.

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