IFRC Senior Grant Management Officer Job in Nairobi Kenya

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Job Title: Senior Grant Management Officer
Duty Station: Zone Office Nairobi
 Immediate Supervisor’s Title: Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Coordinator

Organizational Context: The Secretariat of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is organized into four Business groups in Geneva and five Business Groups in the field, namely the Zone Offices for Africa, Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The Africa Zone Business Group is organized through regional representations covering the National Societies in Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, West Coast, Sahel and Central Africa as well as country representations in Ethiopia, Sudan, Republic of South Sudan, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia and Zimbabwe.

Job Purpose: Reporting to the Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Coordinator, the Senior Grant Management Officer is a member of the Africa Zone Resource Mobilization team and is responsible for ensuring the overall coordination and efficient management of all grants from institutional partners/donors received by the IFRC Secretariat, on behalf of Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies in Africa.

The Senior Grant Management Officer works closely with the Zone Finance Unit and Zone Planning Monitoring Evaluation & Reporting Unit, as well as with the Zone Programme Managers. 
He/she also works closely with the five regional offices in Africa (East Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa, West Coast Africa and Sahel regions), as well as with the country offices (in Mali, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe), and with the Strategic Partnerships Unit in the IFRC Secretariat in Geneva.

In Africa, the IFRC Secretariat receives funding from a wide variety of institutional partners/donors each year: the EU including DG ECHO, various governments (British, Irish, Japanese, Swedish, etc.), African Development Bank, UN Agencies and other multilateral organizations, to support the work of Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies in Africa. 

It is anticipated that the volume of funding from multilateral organizations will increase in the coming years.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Provide grant management support on all matters related to funding received by the IFRC Secretariat from institutional partners/donors in Africa (for example, from African Development Bank, governments, EU, UN agencies and other multilateral organizations). Coordinate and manage grants received from selected  institutional partners/donors for the Africa Zone – including submission of concept notes and proposals to partners/donors, monitoring of expenditures, provision of all reports required, and ensuring all payments are made. Provide support and advice to regional and country offices in preparation of concept notes and funding proposals, review all proposals ensuring technical inputs and providing quality assurance, and ensuring that all funding proposals are submitted to partners/donors on time in close cooperation with the Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Coordinator and the RM Officers in the regions. In the case of EU, DG ECHO and USAID, ensure that the proposals are submitted to the Strategic Partnerships Unit in Geneva, for onward transmission to EU, DG ECHO, USAID, etc.  In addition, provide advice on grant regulations and framework agreements, as needed.Maintain a zone-wide tracking system for proposals, keeping track of all current calls for proposals, all proposals under preparation, deadlines for submission, and once proposals are submitted, expected dates of responses from partners/donors on funding decisions. In addition maintain a tracking system for all current grants from all institutional partners/donors, including information on reporting requirements and payment schedules.Work with the Senior RM Officers responsible for pledge management to ensure that all funding from institutional partners/donors is correctly entered in the funding plans for emergency appeals and development programmes, and into the pledge management system (including timeframes, dates of reports due and payments due), and if any amendments to grant timeframes are made, that these are entered into the pledge management system.On a monthly basis, together with the Zone Finance Unit, monitor the expenditure of all grants from institutional donors (EU/DG ECHO, USAID and other government funding, African Development Bank etc.), and monitor that expenditure is in compliance with grant regulations and any agreements signed, and send alerts to country/regional offices if expenditure is not on track. If there will be delays in implementation of projects, ensure that partners/donors are informed.Work closely with the Planning Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting (PMER) and Finance at country/regional/zone levels, to ensure that all reports, interim and final, are prepared on time according to contract requirements, provide quality control, and ensure that all reports are submitted on a timely basis to partners/donors (in the case of EU/DG ECHO and USAID that they are submitted through the Strategic Partnerships Unit at the Secretariat in Geneva). Follow up with regional/country offices and zone programmes, on any questions received back from partners/donors related to proposals or reports, and ensure that information requested is forwarded back to partners/donors in an efficient way.  In addition, ensure that all payments from institutional partners/donors are processed in a timely way in close cooperation with finance.Establish and maintain a system for storage for all current and new grant proposals and reports (either on the new CRM system or on SharePoint), to ensure accessibility to all the Zone Resource Mobilization Team, and all regional/country offices and zone programme managers.Provide training in grant management, including in proposal writing and reporting, to National Society and IFRC Secretariat staff, as requested by regional/country offices; provide coaching and mentoring, guidelines and checklists, and share examples of best practice in proposals and reports.Undertake additional tasks as requested by the Resource Mobilization Coordinator, Africa Zone.Duties applicable to all staffActively work towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goalsAbide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principlesPerform any other work related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line managerUniversity degree in relevant field Relevant professional training courses (Red Cross/Red Crescent related, humanitarian and development sector, management)Minimum 5 years of similar professional experienceExperience and proven track record in grant management (including EU and government funding)Experience/knowledge in pledge management, planning, reporting systems and financial management.Experience/knowledge in building and maintaining strategic relationships with external partners.Red Cross Red Crescent work experienceStrong knowledge of grant processes and guidelinesAnalytical skillsTraining and presentation skillsPractical command of project management and reporting systemsExcellent relationship building skills; ability to build and strengthen internal and external networks, and establish effective partnerships, with National SocietiesSelf-supporting in computers (MS Office, Internet, excel, word etc.)Fluently spoken and written EnglishGood command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic)Collaboration and TeamworkCreativity and InnovationCommunicationJudgement and Decision MakingNational Society and Customer RelationsBuilding TrustEmpowering OthersSubmission of applications:

Applications should be submitted by email to hr.easternafrica@ifrc.org; to be received not later than 13th June 2014.

Kindly note that due to the large volumes of applications received;

Only e-mail applications will be accepted
Only short listed candidates will be contacted.