Grants and Partnership Specialist

The Purpose of the position

To ensure the overall grant and partnership management of the ForAfrika South Sudan. S/he will oversee grant contracts and budgets for the grantees, pre-award assessments, capacity building, grant audits, subsequent amendments/re-appropriation of budget, and follow-ups with grantees and all consortium partners. S/he will work with the consortium finance team and review the capacities of consortium partners, identify gaps and build capacities.

Key Responsibilities:

Grants Management Responsibilities Include But Are Not Limited To

• Develop the grants management program with the input and oversight of the Director of Finance and Grants.
• Prepare competitive solicitations (requests for proposals)-Expression of Interest (EOI)
• Manage and oversee the full award cycle for grants, including conducting market research, ensuring technical requirements are accurately captured in the solicitations, responding to questions, organizing, and leading technical evaluation committee and cost reasonableness reviews, preparing approval documents, assisting technical leads with implementation management
• Leading the review of technical and financial proposals from local NGOs/CBOs, including negotiating annual budgets, and reviewing grantee financial expenditure reports for accuracy and adherence to the SOW and budget.
• Coordinate with the technical team to ensure high-quality and high-impact technical approaches are used by the grantees, and that deliverables stay on track
• Develop a database of all grantees and partnerships
• Monitor implementation and progress of grantees, together with technical teams, via frequent collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) feedback loops and a remote help desk
• Ensures timely financial disbursements and compliance with financial management policies
• Maintains robust financial management filing system, including accurate tracking of finances and ensuring an audit trail for all necessary grantee documentation.
• Contribute to regular results reporting for grantees’ activities, including providing required information for annual and quarterly reports, as well as other work planning and monitoring, and evaluation reports.
• Performs other grantee or related tasks from time to time as assigned by Supervisor.

Partnership Management Responsibilities Include But Are Not Limited To

• Engage different stakeholders including national and municipal governments, international donor/development partners, project partners, civil society organizations, and populations (including vulnerable populations) to identify and prioritize gaps within the programming priority and service delivery or enabling environments that can be addressed through a grants program
• Identifies and collaborates with stakeholders including local government authorities at different levels on issues related to sub-grantees.
• Lead capacity-building activities: identify needs and develop individual institutional development plans for grantees
• Oversee activities with local partners related to strengthening the enabling environment component
• Contribute to and provide inputs for the annual work plan, required project reports, baseline data, tools, and indicators for collection/sharing, of lessons learned.
• Liaise regularly with the Director of Finance and Grants and other senior technical staff to ensure coordination and synergies across all project components.

Required Qualifications:

• Qualified accountant or master’s degree in finance or 10 years of experience in a related discipline • At least 5 to 7 years of experience in managing grants and partnerships. • Good technical accounting skills – Experience in managing partner organizations in financial planning, bookkeeping practice and principle, knowledge of internal controls, general ledger, cash management and reconciliations, payroll processing, and, taxation. Experience in financial reporting, measurement, and analysis. • Experience with rules and regulations for non-profit organizations. Knowledge of donor financial reporting and donor procurement procedures, Experience working in multiple foreign currencies. • Financial and Information Technology Systems – Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office, Excel particularly. Use of accounting software, SUN Accounts system preferred