Position Summary:

The Grants and Partnership Manager ensures the quality of and efficient processes for the grants management; and manages the delivery of the IRC UK’s partnership approach and activities under the 36-month AFD-funded grant titled Feminist Solidarity Fund for Girls’ Education (FSF). Through this project, FSF Consortium will support a range of feminist CSOs and WROs working in our 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

Priority will be given to CSOs working with the most marginalised, vulnerable or under-served subgroups of adolescent girls such as those that have experienced violence, those living through multiple crises, those that are marginalized because of their gender identity and sexual orientation.

Key Working Relationships: Position has a dual reporting line to the Director, Grants Operations and Analytics and the FSF Project Deputy Director. Position works closely with other FSF project staff, including the FSF Finance Officer 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.

· Oversee the process of negotiating sub-grant agreements with partners;

· Review and advise on all partner deliverables (including budget, spending and workplan);

· Ensure and coordinate adherence to IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (the ‘PEER System’ or ‘PEERS’) in management of FSF partnerships.

· Co-lead the review of the performance of the partner, of the IRC (including on the basis of partner feedback), and of the partnership, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, fostering ongoing partnerships beyond the sub-award project cycle.

Grants Management

· Ensure that the FSF grant is implemented in compliance with IRC and AFD regulations, as well as maintenance of updated grant files;

· Assist program technical leads, operations staff, and partners with understanding the reporting and other compliance requirements on their grants/sub-grants.

· Manage all reporting deadlines, develop calendars for report development and coordinate report compilation and review;

· Coordinate modifications to any agreements or projects (i.e. indicator changes, budget realignments), as necessary.

· Supports Project Cycle Meetings (PCMs) and act as focal point for communications with Post-Awards team around grants administration and compliance functions

· Coordinate with AFD on grants management, project progress, monitoring and evaluation.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

· A minimum of 3-6 years’ experience working in an NGO and with local community organisation;

· Degree in a related field of study

· Knowledge of AFD regulations and compliance considerations;

· Superior writing and editing skills, previous experience preparing donor reports and for European donors

· The ability to work in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual setting;

· Solid diplomatic and networking skills: the ability to effectively manage a variety of internal and external relationships;

· Proficiency in using Microsoft Office, especially Excel;

· Solid organisational skills with the ability to juggle multiple tasks, set priorities, effectively manage time, and meet deadlines;