Grants Manager - Based: El Salvador or Guatemala or Honduras

Job Description

BACKGROUND:

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.

IRC assisted families displaced by the civil war in El Salvador from 1982 until 1993, and returned in 2017, following an emergency assessment of organised violence, GBV, migration, and forced displacement. The current IRC Northern Central America (NCA) programme, across El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, has been registered since 2018 as a protection-focused humanitarian response, coordinated with a network of 445 local organizations designed to increase access to information and capacity-strengthening of services for women, girls, survivors of gender-based violence, LGBTQ+, those affected by climate disaster, and the forcibly displaced. All NCA programs draw upon IRC institutional expertise and methodologies developed through experience providing humanitarian support to people affected by crises around the world for over 88 years.

The IRC’s programming is rooted in the centrality of protection principles, whereby protection assessment and analysis informs the design, monitoring and delivery of interventions across sectors to ensure maximum responsiveness, conflict and context sensitivity, and application of both needs and rights-based approaches. IRC implements evidence-based humanitarian protection approaches to support local actors responding to violence, disaster and displacement. Where there are gaps in the delivery of emergency assistance for people identified as most at risk of harm through annual needs assessments, IRC delivers direct services and works to strengthen national systems

Scope of work

This position will be overall responsible for the grants processes. Reporting to the Grants and Partnership Coordinator NCA, she/he will work closely with sector heads, finance and operations on compliance, donor regulations and reporting.

The Grants Manager will assist in the development of donor proposals; seek new donor opportunities, present concept notes and new proposals to different donors; coordinate monthly, quarterly and annual reports; and assist in program design, program implementation and monitoring and evaluation. The Grants Manager is expected to contribute to the harmonization of grant management and procedures and strategies at the country level for program implementation.

Responsibilities

Positioning and Capture Planning:

Develop and lead Northern Central America program growth strategy by leading the development and implementation of the positioning and capture planning strategy.

- Research and analyze donor priorities and meet with donors gather information on to funding opportunities in line with the IRC’s strategic objectives. Build capture plans in preparation for upcoming funding opportunities including the identification of staffing needs. - Design and lead positioning efforts for the IRC in the region. - In coordination with regional leadership and Senior Management Team, meet with donors, UN agencies and NGOs to explore potential partnerships and to build relations, in line with the IRC’s priorities in the region. - Coordinate the development of quality proposals, ensuring good collaboration with Program, M&E, Finance, Operation and the Regional Program Support Team (RPST);

Grants Management and Administration:

- Review donor agreements and coordinate their review with the relevant IRC HQ office. Coordinate and support the team to acquire DOAs prior to grant signatures, as needed. - Ensure that IRC grants or contracts in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are well-administered (including maintenance of comprehensive grant files) and implemented in compliance with the relevant donor regulations and IRC procedures. - Acquire compliance guidance from HQ as needed. - Work with operations, finance and programs department in ensuring that relevant donor guidelines are followed for all grants. - Ensure the submission of high-quality, well-written and timely reports meeting donor and IRC requirements; that reports are coherent and accurate (quarterly, interim or final reports); and that the internal reporting tracker and OTIS reporting info are up to date. - Act as focal point for communications with HQ grants administration and compliance functions in New York and London.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

- Play a leadership role in the design and running of monthly grant monitoring meetings to ensure that grants are implemented in compliance with the IRC and donor regulations, to ensure strong financial management, to ensure the accurate operational openings and closings of grants, and to ensure monitoring and evaluation of programmatic progress. Support the follow-up to action points from these meetings. - Work closely with the M&E team to develop and maintain program monitoring and evaluation tracking tools to ensure all sector indicators report monthly progress. Identify and share gaps with Coordinators. - Contribute to the implementation of the Project Cycle Meetings (PCM) initiative across all grants. - Contribute to the development of strong data collection and monitoring & evaluation plans within each proposal, including well-designed log-frames and indicators, and ensure that project indicators are regularly and systematically monitored and reported on. - As needed, assist field staff in monitoring implementation of activities under grants and contracts.

Other:

- Build grant management capacity of field staff by facilitating trainings, and providing one-on-one follow-up support in report writing, proposal development, budget management, indicator tracking, IRC-specific tools, and other topics as/if needed. - Conduct monitoring visits to field locations, security protocols permitting. - Ensure quality information management related to grants by overseeing the regular maintenance of grant files, reporting calendars, and updating of internal IRC documentation and Grant Unit tools. - Ensure OTIS, Shared Drive and Hard Copy data is up to date for all assigned new proposals and grants. Secure all OTIS approvals for the assigned new proposals prior to submission to the donor. - Act as custodian of documentation of institutional knowledge and program activities in coordination with the sector supervisors and coordinators.

Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in relevant field, Master’s degree preferred. - Significant international work experience in humanitarian or development programs; regional experience preferred. - At least five years of experience working in program management, grants management and proposal/business development/design required. - Demonstrable understanding of project planning and management cycles, and strong program design skills. - Prior knowledge of donor and government regulations (UNHCR, BHA, USAID, ECHO, DFID, SIDA, UNICEF, BPRM, private donors, etc.) required. - Willingness to travel to field sites and the region required. - Demonstrable high-level performance management and team-working skills, with significant experience in leading multiple donors. - Ability to work well under unstable security, administrative, and programmatic pressures. - Professional fluency in spoken and written Spanish; able to communicate concisely and with impact. - Very strong English writing and editing skills. - Strong computer skills. - Flexibility to adapt to changing requirements.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS:

Standards of Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, 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.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances

**Equal Opportunity Employer****: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law