IRC Grants Coordinator Job (Short-Term)

IRC Kenya is the primary provider of health services in Kakuma and Hagadera (Dadaab) Refugee Camps, including clinical services, maternal and newborn care, nutrition and immunization services for children and pregnant and lactating women, community health outreach, and HIV-AIDS & TB prevention and care. IRC’s office in Lodwar, Turkana County, serves local communities through livelihoods support programming, support to VSLAs and women’s and girl’s safe spaces, and efforts aimed at preventing and responding to gender-based violence. In Nairobi and Kajiado counties, IRC supports urban refugees and vulnerable populations through its Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) programming, as well as through protection and advocacy. As of June 2021, IRC initiated nutrition and women’s protection and empowerment (WPE) programming in West Pokot County, in collaboration with local partners.

Scope of work

IRC Kenya seeks a Grants Coordinator who will be responsible for day-to-day oversight and management of the Grants and Partnership Unit, ensuring cohesiveness across the team. The Grants Coordinator should be an individual experienced in business/proposal development, grants management, donor reporting, and compliance with the demonstrated skills to work across IRC Kenya’s large, multi-sector country program portfolio and escalate issues, as needed, to the Senior Management Team (SMT) for timely review and/or discussion. Excellent communication and organizational skills are essential in this role. The Grants Coordinator will be the focal point for in-country donor correspondence and coordination of proposal and report submissions. In addition, the Grants Coordinator will coordinate and manage any donor due diligence requests on behalf of the country program, and in coordination with the East Africa regional grants team, as needed.

Currently, IRC Kenya’s grants portfolio consists largely of funding from UNHCR, BPRM, ECHO, GFFO and private foundations. One of IRC Kenya’s near-term strategic aims is to increase the number of local partners with whom the country program works and collaborates.

The Grants Coordinator will initially report to the Deputy Director for Grants and Accountability (DDGA), and then to the Country Director (CD) as recruitment for a DDGA is underway. The Grants Coordinator will have supervisory responsibility for the following: a (Sr.) Grants Manager, a Grants and Partnership Manager, two Princeton in Africa (PiAf) Fellows, including a Grants and Reporting Fellow and a Grants and Communications Fellow. They will work collaboratively with all members of the Grants and Partnership Unit, as well as the country program’s technical coordinators (TCs), the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator, finance team, and operations team. The position is based in Nairobi (or remote) and occasional travel to field sites and refugee camps may be required.

Responsibilities

1. Business Development

• Research and maintain information on donor strategies and funding opportunities at the national level, in conjunction with the program coordinators.

• Maintain an in-depth knowledge of donor and Government of Kenya (GoK) policies, priorities, and strategies, and document and share internally key information/updates on such.

• Schedule ‘go/no-go’ meetings with senior staff in response to solicitations for proposals, and quickly communicate and document decisions made regarding current funding opportunities.

2. Proposal Development

• Ensure that the IRC’s processes and system for managing proposal development in collaboration with programs, finance, and operations departments is understood and respected, and results in timely and quality submissions.

• Develop internal workplans for proposal development in coordination with all stakeholders, ensuring that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and communicated to all staff involved.

• Support the (Sr.) Grants Manager(s) to coordinate proposal development ‘kick-off’ meetings, and lead program design/ logical framework development meetings with the relevant grants, program, and MEAL staff, including DDP, to ensure internal alignment on targets, indicators, outputs, and outcomes.

• Lead the proposal development process in coordination with DDP, sector/technical coordinators, field-based manages, MEAL staff, and the finance and operations teams to ensure submission of quality proposals.

• Liaise with HQ regional Awards Management Unit (AMU), grants units, technical units, and other functional departments to ensure proposals meet internal standards and are donor compliant.

• Ensure all new project proposals are developed in accordance with the Kenya program’s Strategic Action Plan (SAP), in compliance with IRC and donors’ rules and regulations, and meet internal standards.

• Act as focal point with donors in-country for the proposal and report submissions, as needed.

3. Compliance

• Maintain in-depth knowledge of IRC internal policies and donor rules and regulations pertaining to IRC Kenya funding, and support Nairobi- and site-based staff in monitoring grants and sub-grants for compliance throughout the project implementation period.

• Review donor agreements, amendments, and modifications and coordinate their review with the relevant IRC HQ office. Coordinate and support the team to obtain DOAs, as required, prior to grant signatures, as needed.

4. Grants Reporting

• Ensure all donor report deadlines and submissions are being accurately tracked in the country program’s excel-based Grants Tracking Sheet (GTS) and in OTIS (IRC’s Opportunity Tracking Information System), as required.

• Work collaboratively with the Grants and Partnership Unit to ensure donor reports are submitted on-time, providing support as needed, in report coordination and collation. Review reports prior to submission for coherence and accuracy, ensuring high-quality, well-written, and timely reports meeting donor and IRC requirements.

• Coordinate information on beneficiary numbers and indicator targets achieved with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator for reporting purposes and keep abreast of progress against targets/indicators

• Lead capacity development of Program and Grants staff to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge on how to write donor reports, working toward strengthening writing and style formulation.

5. General Grants Management

• Ensure grants management tools and resources are streamlined and disseminated to relevant IRC staff in the main and field offices.

• Regularly review the Grants Tracking Sheet (GTS) and other information management systems to ensure they are up to date and accurate.

• Ensure that field team’s programs and operational staff have updated grant records and documents for all grants and that they are timely provided information on changes to donor regulations or relevant communications, where applicable.

• Coordinate with site and programs teams to ensure visibility requirements are met on-time and properly documented.

• Ensure Project Cycle Meetings (PCM) are regularly conducted for all current grants and that they are documented, and action points are disseminated and followed-up in a timely manner.

• Coordinate among the Grants and Partnership Unit, technical sectors, operational units, relevant field staff and senior management to recommend and/or work through approaches to grant/budget amendments/modifications.

• Monitor burn rates via monthly budget versus actual (BVA) meetings; ensure timely follow-up of action items surfaced at meetings and escalate issues, as needed, for resolution and successful implementation of programs.

6. Partnership

• Support the Grants and Partnership Manager to achieve timely and quality review and processing of partner vetting, assessments, proposals, and agreements, while streamlining the application of IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS) tools and processes.

• Ensure IRC Kenya’s partnership and sub-grants tracking tools are maintained and are up-to-date, and be able to provide updates to the SMT and other key staff on the status of all partner/sub-grant applications, reviews, and awards across sectors and sites.

• Ensure key achievements and challenges related to partnership and sub-grants are communicated to donors and IRC senior management in a timely manner.

Required qualifications

• BA degree required; Master’s degree in Accounting, Economics, International Affairs, Social Sciences, or STEM (Science, Technology and Math) strongly preferred.

Required experience & competencies

• At least five years of experience working in program management, grants management and proposal/business development/design required.

• Experience supervising and working closely with diverse teams.

• Proven staff management experience required, and strong capacity to mentor and build capacity of staff.

• Knowledge of UN (UNHCR/UNICEF/UNFPA/WHO), US (USAID/BHA/CDC), EU (ECHO/EC) and UK (FCDO) donor regulations, procedures, and requirements. Familiarity with major donor rules and regulations; grants management experience mandatory.

• Proven ability to develop winning proposals to public- and private-sector donors. Program development experience mandatory, including development of key project documents such as logical frameworks, implementation plans, etc.

• Fluent English skills (written and verbal) required. High quality copywriting and editing skills.

• Excellent organizational skills, time management, ability to determine and juggle multiple priorities, and attention to detail are critical.

• Possess strong communication skills and the ability to work in a multi-cultural context as a flexible and respectful team player – patience, cultural sensitivity, and application of contextual understanding in day-to-day work is required.

• Willingness to travel to the field sites and refugee camps in Kenya, as needed.

• High-level of knowledge and practice with Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. required.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. 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.

The IRC is an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.