Regional Grants Assistant – West Africa

BACKGROUND

Over the past 80 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

The International Rescue Committee UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its headquarters in New York and London. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

IRC UK

IRC UK was established in 1997 to support the organisation’s global activities and particularly to diversify its donor base and be able to better advocate with policymakers on behalf of the people we serve. Since its establishment IRC UK has grown rapidly and now comprises approximately 170 staff.**

The Awards Management Unit (AMU)

Established in January 2016, the Awards Management Unit (AMU) is a global unit with the responsibility for identifying, securing, and managing all funding from statutory/government donors. The unit is organized into five pillars: Strategic Partnerships, Programme and Grant Support, Compliance and Policy, Programme Development, and Training.

The AMU is a bridge between donors and country programs: providing expert technical advice to the country teams, while maintaining portfolio-level visibility to ensure consistency and compliance, and manage risk. This unit ensures that donor compliance policies and procedures are implemented consistently, and supports all staff working across the grants management cycle for all restricted funding from global government sources.

The Purpose of the Role

In the West Africa Region (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone) IRC responds to acute and longer-term needs with integrated programs that improve health and safety, prioritize children’s education, foster economic wellbeing, and empower communities to regain control over their lives.

The Regional Grants Assistant (RGA) supports the Regional Grants Advisors in their efforts to ensure successful implementation of IRC European donor award requirements and reporting, ensuring basic compliance, accurate financial information and good quality narratives on programme outputs.

Based in London, the Regional Grants Assistant works under the coordinated supervision of the three Regional Grants Advisors.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Award Management

· Support the RGAdvisors in the management of the European award portfolio for West Africa

· Support the review of narrative and financial reports; consulting with and ensuring input from relevant staff

· Support budget realignments and grant amendments/modifications, where necessary

· Support the RGAdvisors to monitor projects to ensure progress against objectives and compliance with donor guidelines

· Assist the country offices with use of the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS) – working with partners

· Assist country offices with ad-hoc queries on donor compliance issues

· Track and document lessons learned from finalised projects and ensure they are fed into the programme development team

· Refer high level compliance matters to Regional Grants Advisors and Director, Awards Management – West Africa for consultation with the Compliance team

· Stay informed about programmatic issues and security and political developments in the region and how they might affect program implementation

· Maintain all trackers and reporting schedules

· Support country offices in maintenance of IRC’s grant management system, OTIS.

· Review financial codes (T1s) and liaise with country grants staff and HQ Finance to have accurate financial code T1s issues

· Support AFD and other French donor work globally, including the processing of hard copy documents

· Maintain grant files

Coordination

• Maintain a strong relationship with the regional team members – reporting on a regular basis and copying them on relevant communications – through an established communications protocol
• Maintain a strong relationship with all AMU pillars to ensure the use of all templates, guidance, policies and procedures established by AMU, and for participation in AMU work groups or work streams, as needed
• Maintain strong relationship with country program grants teams offering regular support on reporting and compliance issues, in coordination with RGAdvisors
• Liaise with support departments and other teams outside of AMU as needed in order to provide the best support to country offices

Capacity Building and Training

• Assist in the development and maintenance of work-processes and checklists for grant implementation and report review
• Assist in the development of training materials

Other

· Provide coverage for key program/support functions remotely and in-country as requested, to assist with short-term gaps and emergency support

• Provide back-up support when Regional Grants Advisors are absent
• Assist with the organization and note taking of conferences, workshops and meetings as requested

· Other duties as assigned by supervisor

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

· Understanding of European institutional donors and their requirements, experience working with European donors preferred

· Understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming

· Ability to work collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload

· Able to multi-task and work to tight deadlines

· Excellent communication skills including active listening and verbal and written English

· Solid organizational skills, detail oriented, ability to multi task and prioritize tasks, and to learn quickly

· Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; the ability to successfully and effectively liaise with people within and across departments in a multi-cultural environment

· Both a team player and independent performer in a very fast paced environment

· A flexible work attitude and a calm manner

· Experience writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports and excellent attention to detail

• Fluency in French and English.
• Good IT skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)