Grants Coordinator

Job Description

IRC started operations in Chad in 2004 to respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by the influx of refugees from Darfur to eastern Chad, with intervention in the Ouré Cassoni refugee camp. Assistance to Sudanese refugees has now expanded to the management of the ten camps in the East and one camp in the West with assistance to refugees and local communities in health, nutrition and water, hygiene and sanitation. In 2012, to respond to drought and food insecurity, IRC expanded its geographic coverage in the Guéra region; IRC is currently working in three health districts Mongo, Mangalmé and Melfi and is providing prevention and treatment of malnutrition to the local population. In May 2016, IRC opened an office in the Lac region to respond to the Boko Haram crisis. IRC implements assistance projects in health, nutrition as well as protection and response to gender-based violence (GBV).

IRC Chad is committed in its 2022 - 2024 Strategic Action Plan, to continue to provide essential humanitarian services in health, nutrition and protection / GBV, while improving the economic well-being and building the resilience of beneficiaries, especially women and girls. IRC Chad will continue to work with and closely support states actors/ ministries for key areas of intervention so that IRC's actions fit into national policies to ensure better ownership of actions taken towards.

Scope of work

The Grants Coordinator, in conjunction with the Deputy Director for Programs (DDP), will provide strategic and operational direction, lead resource mobilization efforts to meet annual growth targets, and support the diversification of revenue from institutional donors and non-traditional funding sources to achieve IRC’s strategic objectives in Chad. He/she will operate as a member of the Senior Leadership and Management Team (SLMT), providing direct support to strategic growth opportunities as well as helping to strengthen Business Development and Grants Compliance-related systems, processes, relationships and staff capacities. Along with two Grants Managers and one Grants and Administration Officer, working under her/his supervision, he/she acts as focal point for proposal development, donor reporting, and information and grants management, including capacity-building efforts, within the portfolio. Reporting to the DDP, the Grants Coordinator provides critical support in programmatic and budgetary monitoring, compliance with donor and internal IRC rules and regulations and other key functions as required.

Main responsibilities:

The Grants Coordinator will maintain competitive positioning for and pursuit of institutional donor resources for IRC Chad, with an emphasis on competitive funding mechanisms. He/she will define, monitor and update the business pipeline and ensure that IRC is best positioned to pursue relevant opportunities. With a core function of leading the production of high quality applications for donor funding, and providing analysis and oversight to ensure compliance with grant specific requirements, this position will also provide specialized assistance in other dimensions of the grants management cycle and communication including:

• Provide guidance and leadership to the SLMT for strategic growth planning

• Serve as a resource for staff of grant funded programs for fiscal and programmatic compliance matters

• Prepare and/or review information and reports for internal and external stakeholders

• Leverage IRC’s competitive position and program results to attract new funding

• Collaborate with functional teams to identify and capture funding opportunities

• Incorporate best practices into growth-related business processes and proposals

• Build relationships with current and prospective donors

• Develop/manage strategic alliances and/or coalitions with other organizations and organize/lead sub-award management

• Monitor donor trends, including corporate and other non-traditional sources

• Lead in capture planning and proposal and concept note development

• Oversee grants management & compliance

• Oversee and ensure quality of documentation of results, reporting and marketing

• Effectively and supportively line manage grants team of three direct reports

Specific responsibilities:

Prepositioning

• Research, analyze and plan for new funding opportunities, competitive intelligence, and IRC Chad’s competitive positioning on a continuous basis within the marketplace in a timely manner

• Support effective internal communication and information management processes to ensure access and use of Business Development (BD) information by relevant stakeholders within the organization, including maintaining an up-to-date opportunities matrix

• Lead the country program’s opportunity pipeline tracking and analysis, including portfolio trends, proposal submissions and performance, and growth projections

• Lead the country program’s functional teams to develop appropriate and effective fundraising and positioning strategies involving donor research and intelligence, product development, marketing, cultivation, and solicitation and stewardship, as needed

• In collaboration with the program team, foster a culture of business development within the country program by contributing to the development and dissemination of standardized BD materials (learning resources, guidelines, tools and templates, and online information) and building capacity of country program staff on their application, through staff mentorship, modeling of good practices, and training

• Support key staff to develop and maintain key relationships with donors and private sector actors with an eye toward opportunity identification, shared value creation, strategic alliance formation, and global brand positioning.

Capture Planning and Proposal and Concept Note Development

• Provide BD skills and capacity to guide and/or lead teams in opportunity analysis, capture planning, proposal preparation, proposal development, proposal review, and after action review

• Assist or lead proposal development including traveling to field sites to work directly with program staff on proposal development as requested

• Draft high quality donor proposals and other grant documentation both as a lead writer and in collaboration with the Technical Coordinators, Program Managers and Technical Advisors, ensuring that IRC’s Strategy Action Plan (SAP) priorities, and budgeting for M&E and other relevant guidelines are incorporated into proposals and projects

• Provide internal reviews of technical and cost applications prepared by other staff, reviewing for clarity, responsiveness, presentation, and compliance, in coordination with the program and operations teams

• Manage the submission approval process through IRC’s electronic award management database (OTIS) and coordinate revisions of proposal components based on HQ feedback

Grants Management & Compliance:

• Develop and modify policies/procedures/systems in accordance with donors’ regulations and organizational needs and objectives

• Develop and maintain grants management tools, such as funding trackers, reporting calendars, templates, and compliance guideline documents; and ensure the team is aware of these timelines

• Support in roll out of the IRC’s Project Cycle Meetings (PCM) approach, including ensuring grant/project opening, implementation and closing meetings take place in a timely manner

• Support production of donor reports and ensure that reports are of high quality and submitted on time

• Assist in preparations for external monitoring visits, reviews, and audits, and cross-site evaluations and participate as appropriate

• Build grant management capacity of field staff by facilitating training, and providing one-on-one follow up support, in report writing, proposal development and other topics as needed

• With support from IRC’s HQ grants staff, address donor compliance questions from IRC Chad program and finance staff to ensure compliance with donor regulations

• Assist the Program and Operations team in preparing, reviewing and modifying memoranda of understanding and contracts of grant agreements, liaising with relevant HQ departments, as needed

• Establish and maintain electronic and hard copy files for each grant-funded project to be used for tracking and reporting purposes

• Conduct routine compliance reviews of grant programs

Documentation of Results, Reporting and Communication:

• Work with relevant staff (Technical Coordinators and Communication and Advocacy Officer) to leverage IRC programmatic and operational results for marketing, positioning, and direct fundraising purposes, including maintaining data on past performance and organization capacity, publications and dissemination, and donor visits

• Participate in quarterly program reviews and evaluations to ensure systematic documentation of program best practices and lessons learned by program staff, maintain a centralized system with access by all staff and disseminate as appropriate.

• Conceptualize and oversee the production of appropriate marketing materials for the IRC Chad portfolio in collaboration with program and operations staff (this is likely to include the Annual Report, project and country fact sheets, sectoral and/or geographic focus brochures, past performance documentation, and others)

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field and applicable experience in nonprofit governance, administration, grants management, including BD and compliance

• 5 years of experience in a grant management role, preferably with an NGO

• Prior grants management experience and familiarity with USG (USAID/BHA, BPRM), European (FCDO, ECHO, SIDA, AFD, EuropeAid), and UN (UNHCR, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP, CHF) donor regulations, procedures and requirements

• Demonstrated experience with coordinating funding proposals and progress reports from institutional and private donors

• Ability to efficiently deal with competing priorities

• Excellent oral and written communications skills and demonstrated ability to produce and edit documents under deadline pressure

• Working knowledge of budget development and management

• Experience working in a multi-cultural setting and preferably in Africa

• Competence with Windows, Microsoft Office

• Ability to work in unstable security environments

Language Skills: Excellent written and oral French and English skills.

Working environment:

Security: The Grant Coordinator will be based in N'Djamena (yellow phase) with frequent travel to the field.

Accommodation: The Grant Coordinator will be provided with shared accommodation in N'Djamena.

This position is unaccompanied.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation

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Qualifications