Senior Grants Coordinator (Internal Only)

Job Description

Job Overview:

The Senior Grants Coordinator (SGC) is responsible for day-to-day oversight and management of the Grants Unit. The SGC is experienced in grants management, proposal development, high quality donor reporting and has ample knowledge of the required donor compliance guidelines (e.g. EUD, USG, UN-agencies, Irish Aid, GAVI, Lego Foundation). The SGC works across IRC Ethiopia’s large, complex, multi-sector country program portfolio with excellent communication and organizational skills. The SGC reports to the Deputy Director for Grants and Partnerships (DDGP) and has up to three direct reports (and six indirect reports) and is based in Addis Ababa but requires travel to the field.

Major Responsibilities:

Grants/Sub-Grants Management

- Maintain in-depth knowledge of IRC internal policies, rules and regulations for donor organizations funding IRC Ethiopia projects and their sub-grants, and support field and Addis-level staff in monitoring grants for compliance. - Liaise with relevant program and operational (e.g. Finance, Supply Chain) teams to ensure timely, efficient, and high-quality grants/sub-grants management. - Ensure timely submission of any grants realignments or revisions, including budget realignments. - Ensure grants management tools and resources are streamlined and disseminated to relevant IRC staff in the main and field offices. - Coordinate among the Grants Unit, technical sectors, operational units, relevant field staff and senior management to recommend and/or work through approaches to grant/budget amendments. - Ensure Project Cycle Meetings are held according to the IRC guidelines. - Ensure documentation of all key grants and sub-grants management meetings and communications. - Ensure all donor report deadlines are being tracked and high-quality reports are submitted by deadline. - Ensure that field and program technical and operational staff have updated records and documents for all grants and information on changes to donor regulations or relevant communications where applicable. - Oversees regular field monitoring trips/ field project cycle meetings of the Grants team. - Escalate any red flags related to Grants implementation to the SMT.

Business Development/Proposal Development

- Oversees and work with the Grants Unit (currently eight staff) to facilitate quality concept notes and proposals for all IRC Ethiopia programs for the recurrent proposals, including taking the lead on proposal development as needed. This includes the coordination of technical narrative, budgets and budget narratives. - Oversees and ensures a smooth budgeting process in close collaboration with the Finance Department. - Supports and manages as needed large strategic proposals. - In the proposal development process, work with all relevant departments within IRC Ethiopia and IRC HQ/Regional offices to coordinate and support IRC program technical sectors in the development of quality – comprehensive, responsive, and logically constructed – proposal inputs. - Liaise with operational units (e.g. Finance, Supply Chain, Human Resources) to contribute to proposal inputs in a timely, efficient, and streamlined manner, ensuring they are aware of key timelines and deadlines. - Maintain an in-depth knowledge on donor and government policies and strategies, and document and share internally key information/updates on those policies and strategies. - Ensure that field, program technical, and operational staff are aware of all relevant donor communication, changes in donor regulations, and relevant meetings or conferences. - In collaboration with the DDGP, ensure proposals are compliant with IRC Ethiopia’s Strategic Plan. - Lead liaison with headquarters-based focal points during the proposal development phase. - With the guidance of the DDGP, represent the IRC with donors and partner organizations.

Partnerships and Sub-Granting

- Acts as Partnerships Compliance Approver for sub-grants <100k USD as per the revised IRC guidelines.

Capacity Building:

- Provide on-the-job mentoring to grants and technical staff to build their capacity to produce high-quality documents (e.g. concept notes/proposals/donor reports) meeting IRC Ethiopia and donor standards.

Liaison and Special Tasks:

- Ensure contributions of the Grants Unit in delivering IRC’s strategic action planning are carried out in a constructive and timely manner. - Upon request, support the development of various communications materials (e.g. briefing papers, brochures, info sheets, capability statements, posters, others) to improve IRC Ethiopia's program visibility and share information on project successes. - Supervise and complete special projects as assigned by the CD and/or DP that may fall outside of this job description.

Safeguarding Responsibilities: -

- Promote and actively participate in initiatives and efforts to build team engagement, inclusion and cohesion in IRC [team/office] - Foster ongoing learning, honest dialogue and reflection to strengthen safeguarding and to promote IRC values and adherence to IRC policies.

Qualifications

Educational Requirements:

- Masters degree in relevant field from a recognized university with at least four years of relevant work experience; or bachelor’s degree in relevant field from a recognized university with at least six years of relevant work experience.

Preferred experience & skills:

- Experience supervising and working closely with diverse teams. - Familiarity with major donor rules and regulations; grants management experience mandatory. - Experience writing and coordinating high-value proposals for major donors (USG, UN, EU, etc). - Experience developing budgets for major donors (USG, UN, EU, etc). - Program development experience is mandatory, including development of key project documents such as logical frameworks, implementation plans, etc. - Minimum of three years’ experience in an international NGO in similar role/with similar responsibilities. - Ability to work effectively and efficiently under pressure, long work hours, and high workload. - Ability to independently organize work and prioritize tasks. - Self-motivated, honest, highly responsible, and punctual. - Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Language Skills:

- Excellent English writing skills are mandatory and the most important qualification sought for this position.

IRC is an equal employment 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 or disability.

IRC strives to build a diverse and inclusive team at all levels who as individuals, and as a group, embody our culture statement creating a working environment characterized by critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity for us to achieve our aspirations as a team and deliver the best possible services to our clients.