Grants Officer

Programme background

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is an international, not-for-profit development agency that seeks to develop and promote sustainable solutions to fight poverty and improve the living conditions of rural communities, with an emphasis on areas with scarce resources.

AKF(Moz) is implementing a project “Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health for Women and Girls in Cabo Delgado” (SPARC), funded by Global Affairs Canada, in seven districts of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. SPARC seeks to improve the quality and access to services related to the prevention of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, improved comprehensive emergency obstetric care services, adolescent health services, family planning and counselling services, unsafe abortion prevention, Sextually Transmitted Infection prevention and management, and the prevention and management of sexual violence. The project will also focus on improving health provider capacity to deliver services, community awareness, and facility infrastructure improvement.

The Position

AKF(Moz) is seeking a Grants Officer, working as a member of its Health team and in collaboration with the organisation’s Grants Management Unit, responsible for day-to-day grants and contract management for the SPARC project, and support in grant compliance. Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, this position works closely with programme objectives are being met in a timely manner and in accordance with donor compliance requirements timely and with standard high quality by all, as well as work with the finance team to ensure transparency, accountability and efficient use of financial resources. The Grants Officer will be responsible for project reporting, in close collaboration with the M&E team.

The Grants Officer will report directly to the SPARC Project Manager, with additional management support from the AKF Partnerships and Grants Manager. He/she will have the active support of AKF(Moz)’s senior Health programme managers as well as the Grants Management Unit, in carrying out their day-to-day work.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities of the Grants Officer will include:

• Responsible for the effective grant management of the SPARC project in close collaboration with programme, operations and finance teams to ensure all programme and reporting milestones are met;
• Develop an understanding of donor policies, regulations, procedures, and compliance requirements and support the project team to comply with donor requirements
• Proactively identify grant compliance risks throughout the portfolio and advise programmes, operations, finance and senior management on necessary corrective actions and next steps.
• Liaise and coordinate with donors to coordinate project deliverables including programme implementation plan, annual work planning and semi-annual reporting;
• Liaise with programme, operations and finance staff to conduct quarterly grants review, to ensure programme implementation and spending are in line with the annual work plan;
• Collaborate with the M&E team to identify progress against the targets and contribute to lesson learning and knowledge sharing through the development of reports and communication material.
• Support the programme team to identify compliance concerns and contribute to the solution by suggesting programmatic adaptations and supporting the approval of changes;
• Undertake regular field monitoring visits to assess progress and identify compliance issues and/or other implementation issues, provide solutions and implement modifications as required;
• Collaborate with the Communications team to develop content reports, briefs and events

Required Qualifications and Experience:

The successful candidate is expected to have:

• An undergraduate degree in international development, public health or a related field (graduate degree preferable);

• A minimum of three (3) years of grant reporting, documentation and programme development experience in the NGO field;

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Portuguese, including for reports, grant-writing, research and presentations;

• Adept with standard technical and computer tools including Microsoft Office;

“The Aga Khan Foundation (Mozambique) respects and complies with the principles of safeguarding protection and action against abuse, harassment and discrimination of its employees, children, beneficiaries, volunteers, vulnerable populations and other people associated with it.”