All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s values. To be dedicated, innovative, inclusive and accountable are attitudes and believes that shall guide our actions and relationships.

1. Background

The Institutional Partnership Officer (IPO) will work in the Partnerships and Policy Department. The Partnerships and Policy Department is responsible for NRC’s strategic relations with institutional donors and private foundations and is the “centre of excellence” on donor/partner relations in NRC, thereby providing support to all Departments, and Regional, Country and Representation Offices in the organization. This includes being responsible for developing relevant global strategies for resource mobilization; developing funding prospects with existing and new donors; further streamlining NRC’s procedures, processes and tools related to resource mobilization and grant management; developing and providing internal training and help-desk support, etc.

The IPO, USA will work under supervision of the Senior Institutional Partnership Adviser (SPA) and in close coordination with the U.S. Grants Finance Adviser (GFA) as part of the U.S. Institutional Partnership (IP) team. The IP team focuses on ensuring that all NRC submissions to the US government and other partners are quality applications in full compliance with donor requirements. This is achieved by providing tools, training, and consultation to NRC program teams (the “help desk” function), and by serving as an intermediary between U.S. government donors and the NRC field teams (the “liaison” function). The position involves frequent contact with NRC’s field teams in conflict-affected countries, and may include opportunities to travel and provide on-site training on complying with US government regulations.

2. Role and Responsibilities

The purpose of the Institutional Partnership Officer is to provide essential support to the SPA and the GFA in building NRC’s capacity to win and implement funding from U.S. government donors, primarily USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). As such, the IPO is responsible for assisting with these donors to ensure good working relations between the donors and NRC, build internal capacity to manage U.S. government funded projects, and maintain a help desk on donor related issues.

Serve as front-line liaison between U.S. government donors and NRC field offices on administrative matters relating to U.S. grants, including programmatic reports, financial reports and fund requests, funding applications and modifications, information requests, and routine updates.
- Track due dates for reports, funding applications, and other document requests, ensuring that all documents are submitted to donors on time. Correspond with NRC field offices to ensure that they are aware of deadlines, and that all required documents are received in a timely manner.
- Relay information and documentation requests from donors to NRC field offices. Provide advice on donor expectations and requirements in proposal and reports.
- Review and upload to grant management portals reports, applications, and other information and documentation – including financial reports, fund requests, budgets and budget narratives - prior to submission to donor to ensure that they are complete, responsive, and compliant with donor requirements for both content and format. Request revisions and/or clarifications from field offices as needed.
Support help desk function to keep NRC field offices informed of U.S. government requirements to apply for and implement U.S. grants.
- Maintain and update donor information pages on NRC SharePoint, ensuring that all templates and guidance documents reflect the most recent rules, regulations, and guidelines.
- Ensure relevant NRC colleagues and units are provided with timely and comprehensive information on donor priorities and concerns.
- Assist with the development of training tools and presentations, employing innovative technology to increase and enhance both synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities.
- Manage correspondence with and respond to inquiries from NRC field staff, including finance managers, grant managers, and regional controllers.
Liaise with other NRC units to assist with resource mobilization and provide support on donor related issues
- Stay updated on NRC ‘s priorities and funding needs, and assist with matching those priorities with funding opportunities through identification, tracking, and sharing of information about new funding opportunities.
Provide administrative support to the IP team, including development and maintenance electronic recordkeeping and filing systems, and workflow tracking tools.

In addition, it is expected that the IPO support and cover for the Grants Finance Adviser and/or Senior Institutional Partnership Adviser as and when needed within her/his capacities.

3. Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position:

Operational engagement with and resource mobilisation from partners: critical interface with Field Operations (FO) and Global Finance.
Help-desk support and capacity building: critical interface with the Country Offices and all other units in NRC related with donor funded projects at FO.

4. Competencies

4.1 Professional competencies

Generic professional competencies for this position:

Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field (e.g., international relations, area studies, public policy, etc.) Master’s Degree preferred.
Professional experience with a humanitarian/development organization and/or U.S. government funding agency, either at head office/capital or field/embassy level.
Knowledge of U.S. government grant regulations and processes, including experience working with USAID and/or U.S. State Department grants and cooperative agreements.
Understanding of basic accounting principles, sufficient to review and analyze grant expenditure reports and fund requests.
Familiarity with grants management processes, including financial aspects.
Documented results in resource mobilization, including with developing proposals and reports to government donors, or similar
A thorough understanding of Project Cycle Management, especially of the logical framework approach.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including negotiation skills and training facilitation basic skills.
A conscientious and structured person with strong planning and administrative skills
Excellent computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite (especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), presentation software, and social media platforms
Excellent English written and oral communication skills, with demonstrated experience communicating in multi-cultural environments
Competency in another NRC official language (Spanish, French, Arabic) a plus

4.2 Behavioural competencies

Planning and delivering results
Working with people
Analytical skills
Computational skills
Attention to detail
Communicating with impact and respect
Coping with change

5. Performance Management

The employee will be accountable for and evaluated on the responsibilities and the competencies, based on NRC’s Performance Management Framework. The following documents will be used for performance reviews: