Grants Officer – National Position

Grants Officer – National Position

Reporting to: Award & Partnership Manager

Location: Amman, Jordan with frequent travel to Syria

ABOUT Relief International

Relief International (RI) is a leading nonprofit organization working in 16 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 includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.

About our Programs

RI is active in 16 countries around the world, including some of the most fragile: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen. Often, RI is the only organization providing assistance to highly vulnerable communities.

• RI employs 7,000+ staff and auxiliary workers
• 97% of staff are in-country nationals
• We only have some 90 ex-pat staff out of 7,000+
• RI spent $125 million in 2019 on our programs.

RI invests in four broad program sectors: Economic Opportunity, Education, Health, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). We design our programs to incorporate The RI Way: local participation, integrated programming, the development of civic skills, and partnerships including with local NGOs, governments, and the private sector.

RI supports solutions that reinforce and improve upon existing in-country systems. Where such systems do not exist or are chronically underperforming, RI’s crisis response lays the foundation for long-term, sustainable change.

Position Summary:

The Grants Officer will be an integral member of the Grants Unit at RI WoS. The award Unit serves as the facilitator for grants management processes in country and ensures compliance with donor requirements at all stages of the project lifecycle. The award Unit’s responsibilities include, but not limited to, ensuring timely and quality facilitating grant opening and closeout processes, advising on donor rules and regulations, maintaining grants related information and files, coordinating proposal development processes, capacity building of staff and implementing partners, and developing internal and external communication materials. Reporting to the Award & Partnership Manager, the Grants Officer will provide support in all areas of the Award Unit’s work, with detailed responsibilities described below.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

Grants and Compliance

• In coordination with the Awards and Partnership Manager, provide guidance to the country office on donor regulations at key phases of the award cycle:
• During proposal development and report development stages support Grants and Report Writing Manager to ensure the prepared packages are in compliance with donor grant requirements.
• At the award opening stage support Awards and Partnership Manager to ensure clarity of award obligations and requirements across departments and Hubs by means of organizing project kick off meetings, that address setting up deliverables, such as reporting schedule, payments schedule, and other special requirements, etc.
• During award implementation stage, in coordination with Awards and Partnership Manager, maintain grant filing system, facilitate monthly Grant Review Meetings, and organize compliance refresher sessions, ensuring proper documentation of minutes of meetings and action points.
• At the award closeout stage follow up on close out requirements, including audit readiness, disposition plan, and other donor requirements.
• In coordination the Awards and Partnership Manager and other relevant functions (Program, Finance, Procurement, and HR) support facilitating donor audit, spot-checks, monitoring visits, and follow up on the implementation of recommendations.
• Support Awards and Partnership Manager in updating and reviewing the Syria Country Awards Matrix, the Monthly Portfolio Review and the regular Grant Monitoring Tools (project mobilization tool, project implementation tool that consolidate spending plans, procurement plans, activity plans, etc.), ensuring compliance, accurate tracking of implementation status, and generating timely alerts on potential challenges/obstacles.
• In coordination with the Hubs’ focal points, Amman-based technical focal points for programs and support and provide support on the preparation of award modifications and amendments.
• Support in drafting various requests to donors such as reprogramming of activities, requests for assets procurement, loss reports. etc.
• Any other task requested by the line manager

Partnership Management

• Support Awards and Partnership Manager in facilitating grant management meetings with partner throughout award opening, award implementation and award close out stages.
• Contribute to the process of reviewing/revising partnership manual for RI Syria.
• Support teams with the Enhanced Due Diligence process for partnership using RI-developed tools and processes.
• In coordination with the hubs’ leadership, Amman-based technical advisors and focal points for programs and support, lead the process of Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) and Due Diligence (DD) for partners, and drafting/reviewing of sub-award agreements, modifications, and other contractual documents.

Training and capacity building

• Support in providing training and capacity building (remotely and in person through field visits) to grants/partnership focal points in the hubs on all grants management tools.
• Contribute in capacity building of all staff on RI award/grant management tools/forms (remotely and in person through field visits).
• Conduct regular capacity building sessions on donor compliance to RI staff and partners.
• Ensure that all staff are aware of and integrate the RI program framework into all programs.
• Information management
• Distribute and share with all RI staff copies of all grant-related post award documentation (modified proposal package and budgets, donor approval on notifications and changes, templates, and tools, etc.) related to their specific programs. Ensure comprehensive grant files are maintained up to date and are available for use.
• Distribute and share donor and RI regulations-existing and new as they become available.

Safeguarding

• Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.
• Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, ensure all people who come into contact with Relief International are as safe as possible.

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS REQUIREMENTS

This position will require a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

• Graduate degree in development studies, social sciences, or related field preferred;
• Fluent writing skills in English and ability to proofread and edit documents;
• Excellent listening skills in English and ability to take detailed meeting minutes and capture critical discussions and action points;
• At least three years of work experience in relief or development programs, preferably with an international non-governmental organization;
• Understanding of donor reporting, grants management, and program development processes;
• Familiarity with the rules and regulations of major institutional donors such as ECHO, USAID/OFDA, US State Department, etc.;
• Excellent critical thinking skills and ability to exercise good judgment and solve problems quickly and effectively;
• Strong inter-personal communication skills and ability to work well in a team and in a multi-cultural setting;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Flexibility, optimism, and a sense of humor are assets and highly valued.

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

Relief International is committed to protecting our staff and the communities we work with from abuse and harm including sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and sexual harassment. All staff are expected to abide by our Code of Conduct. RI Has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behavior that violates its code of conduct, including sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse, as well as lack of integrity, corruption, and fraud. RI also adheres to strict safeguarding