Head of Grants | ReliefWeb

Act Change Transform (Act!) is a local Non-Governmental Organization whose mission is to facilitate the empowerment of marginalized people and communities in Kenya and neighboring countries, to become active participants in their development by enabling them to: stand up for their rights; demand good governance in the management of resources; and participate in decision making processes. Act! does this through implementing partners, offering them capacity development, management of grants so that value for money is achieved and providing strategic leadership in national advocacy for the benefit of women, youth, people with disabilities and other marginalized communities.

HEAD OF GRANTS (Ref: ACT/HOG/29/2017):

Job Summary

The Head of Grants will be based in Nairobi and will ensure the proper functioning of the entire grants management function. This will include monitoring the entire grants management process from solicitation through close out and ensuring proper compliance with all donor regulations. He/she will play a leadership role towards supporting Act! and its partners in achieving rigorous financial and grants reporting and management. The incumbent will be in charge of ensuring that the tools and materials Act! uses to deliver effective grants and financial services to its partners are of the highest standard.

Key responsibilities

Specifically, the Head of Grants will be responsible for but not limited to:

Grants Management

• Ensure effective implementation of the grants management policies, rules and procedures that meet industry best practices and ensure full understanding by the grants team as well as compliance of the grants management process at all levels within Act!.


• Develop procedural documents and processes and ensure full understanding of the grants management process at key levels within the institution as well as coordinate grants management systems across programs to ensure high quality and consistency.


• Ensure Act!’s grants management policies in relation to selection of partners are fully adhered to.


• Oversees overall tracking of grants pool while closely monitoring the obligations from donors and grant obligations to recipients/grantees. Ensure that Act! never commits more funds than obligated by donors.


• Ensure that all grant documentation is maintained according to Act! standards and donor policies to the extent they can be fully audited with limited or no adverse findings.


• Ensure that pre-award risk assessments are carried out on each grantee in collaboration with the Capacity Development Team and that decisions are incorporated into grant awards.


• Ensure strong links between the grants management and M&E systems to improve partners reporting and link to Act! requirements.


• Ensure responsible proposal processing and timeliness of responses to agencies.


• Ensure that grant modifications for cost/program changes are completed accurately.


• Coordinate the entire team (Program Management Team, Monitoring & Evaluation and Capacity Development) to ensure the timely and appropriate close-out of issued grants.

Capacity Development Coordination

• Collaborate with the Capacity Development Team to identify priority areas for training of partners and develop strategic interventions to assist partners.


• Coordinate the development of training materials for potential grantees on proposal design and budgeting skills.


• Coordinate with the Capacity Development Team, to organize and facilitate (as necessary) grants management workshops for grantees/partners to provide guidance on good grants management and on compliance with donor regulations.

Monitoring and Reporting (financial and programmatic)

• Monitor grantee advance and liquidation balances closely and ensure timely liquidations.


• Review all payment requests to ensure they meet the standards of allowable, allocable and reasonable.


• Collaborate with the Program Management Team to review program and financial reports from partners to ensure compliance against program description against grant budget.


• Oversee the updating and maintenance of the grant-tracking database. Ensure consistency and accuracy of information. Use the database to produce key reports to support decisions by management.


• Closely monitor obligations from donors and grant obligations to grantees to ensure that Act! never commits more funds than allowable.

Compliance audit coordination

• Monitor partners procedures designed to comply with regulations.


• Liaising with the Compliance Officer as necessary, coordinate the investigation of suspected violations of proper applications.


• Oversee the assistance to grantees to resolve audit problems identified in audit management letters.

Qualification, Experience and Skills:

Academic Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Accounting or related business field. A Master’s degree in the relevant field will be an added advantage

Professional Qualifications

Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPA-K) or ACCA qualifications

Relevant Experience

. Ten years’ experience managing financial administration of major donor grants and contracts.

· At least five years’ experience in administering grants and contracts.

Essential Competencies

· Excellent analytical skills to successfully perform financial reviews and other quantitative analyses.

· Familiarity with major donors’ auditing requirements and demonstrated ability to exercise financial oversight of grant programs.

· Highly proficient in MS Office, spreadsheets and database skills.

· Excellent written and oral communications skills.

· Ability to independently prioritize and successfully perform assigned tasks.