Grants Manager – Afghanistan

Location:

Position Location:

Description

Position: Grants Manager

Reports to: Deputy Country Director -DCD

Location :  Kabul, Afghanistan

About RI:                  

Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in 20 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships, and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

RI believes that gender equality is a basic right for all people, and it is critical to directly address gender-based discrimination and promote gender equality in order to ensure sustainable development.

Position Summary:

The Grants Manager is responsible for leading efficient and quality program grants management processes, and actively overseeing the contracts portfolio and ensuring compliance to internal and donor requirements. Key responsibilities include: management of the donor portfolio, identification of funding opportunities, coordination and oversight of development of quality proposals and reports and their timely submission, information and knowledge management to promote learning, ensuring production and appropriate use of materials for external communications to different audiences. The Grants Manager will also represent RI-Afghanistan at key donor and external coordination meetings in consultation with the CD and DCD, and facilitate internal programme reviews and workshops.

Position Responsibilities and Duties:

The Grants Manager’s specific responsibilities are as follows:

Grants Management (45%)

·  Oversee development of a diverse range of proposals and progress reports, such as financial highlights, program and country overviews, produced by the Grants Management team.

·  Develop and manage effective processes and tools to enhance RI-Afghanistan’s grant effectiveness, including but not limited to:

o   Communicating and collaborating with key internal stakeholders

oManaging inputs and deliverables from all team members to ensure high quality materials are developed and deadlines are met

o   Ensuring effective and timely communication of program progress

oDevelop content and manage resources to deliver compelling communications for donors that convey RI-Afghanistan’s and programs on time. Assemble program data and stories from the field for donor reporting

·Drive the proposal and progress report development process for strategic donors. Work with the DCD, and Finance Manager

to generate proposal narrative, budgets and financial reports

·Liaise with RI’s global and regional support offices to ensure timely award and grant amendment processing

·Support the program team throughout the entire grant/project lifecycle. This includes:

o   Work with the DCD to support mobilization of projects prior to award signature

o   Support recruitment and procurement planning with program teams during mobilization and regular project/BVA reviews;

o   Support the facilitation of grant opening meetings, quarterly grant review meetings, and grant close out meetings in collaboration with the Finance Manager and DCD;

o   Coordinate the development of sub-grant agreements and any subsequent modifications;

o   Lead, follow up, and coordinate the timely close out of grant contracts.

Reporting (40%)

· Work closely with the DCD to develop standard reporting templates, and a reporting calendar for all report submissions (establishing clear internal and external deadlines);

·  Share a monthly reporting dashboard with reporting templates that will support timely submission of donor reports and other contractual deliverables;

· Must possess strong communication skills and should be confident meeting and engaging with donors along with the DCD;

·Keep RI’s internal grant tracker updated with all relevant milestones, the status of grant amendments and/or extensions, and ensure essential documents are uploaded properly;

·Support the back up of important program documentation to RI’s internal server (Box) for Afghanistan Programs. This includes BVA review session meeting notes, spend down plans and work plans for all grants, and other project documentation;

•      Develop capacity strengthening plan for field-level program and operations staff;
•          Develop and roll out training and job aids to field teams.

Qualifications & requirements:

This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

· B.A required, Master’s degree preferred; academic or equivalent work experience in international development, humanitarian studies, etc.

·   Minimum of 5 years working experience as Grants and Reporting Lead in complex humanitarian settings, with knowledge of integrated Health, WASH Nutrition FSL and Protection programming

·  Wide experience in effective strategic level communication and coordination with national partners, central and local authorities, NGO partners, UN agencies and other relevant stakeholders

·       In-depth knowledge of international development programming

·       An understanding of the operating context in the South Sudan (preferred)

·       Excellent writing and research skills and computer literacy, including previous donor report writing experience

·       Demonstrated ability to coordinate complex activities, meet deadlines, and exercise sound judgment

·       Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team or independently

·       Fluency in English and strong English writing skills are required

·    Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, stressful environment. Must be flexible, willing to perform other duties and work irregular hours

·       Excellent time management skills and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail

·       Excellent interpersonal, communication, public speaking, and strategic planning skill

·       Demonstrable experience in capacity development

·       Strong people management skills.

RI Values:
We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence.  We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

·       Inclusiveness

·       Transparency and Accountability

·       Agility and Innovation

·       Collaboration

·       Sustainability