Regional Partnerships and Compliance Officer

Location: In one of the following RAI Europe countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Serbia, UK

BACKGROUND
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, IRC offers life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in more than 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Working in partnership with local civil society, government and private sector actors is fundamental to the International Rescue Committee’s mission to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. Effective local partnerships are central to the IRC’s strategic ambitions in Strategy100, resulting in more effective, responsive and durable assistance that reaches more people and produces better outcomes for the people we serve. Investing in local civil society organizations (CSOs) and government entities recognizes those organizations not only as allies in achieving outcomes, but also as catalysts and drivers of change. The Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (the ‘PEER System’ or ‘PEERS’) is the IRC’s authoritative source of policy, process, guidance and tools for working in partnership.
SCOPE OF WORK

The Regional Partnerships Officer will provide support to RAI Europe country offices and to the Regional Program Support Team in the areas of 1. Partner scoping, identification and selection; administration and monitoring of sub grants with local civil society organizations and public entities, and in line with PEERS (70%) standards and processes; 2. Administering and managing a portfolio of grants in line with donor guidelines and IRC business processes including keeping online platforms, information and documentation management tools up to date (20%); and 3. Business development (10%). SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES**
Specific responsibilities of the position will include

Partnerships support (approximately 70%)
• Support country offices in carrying out partner vetting and ensuring due diligence processes are carried out in line with PEERS standards
• Support country offices in organizing partnership meetings (scheduling, note taking, presentation prep, agenda)
• Support country offices with setting up or maintaining partnership / sub award trackers
• Support drafting of partnership agreements, amendments and other PEERS required partnership documentation in line with PEERS processes and standards
• Support review of partner inputs including technical narratives and budgets
• Support partner communication, including acting as focal point for partner relations as required
• Support RAI Europe country offices to build nascent partnership relationships with civil society organizations, government entities and private sector actors, as well as with networks, including through research, outreach to partners and identification of partnership opportunities, and contributing to keeping the Europe partner database up to date
• PEERS Alignment – support the alignment of PEERS instruments to local legal contexts and languages (i.e. editing, formatting documents)
• Support successful delivery of the Strategy100 partnership ambition, in collaboration with other RAM team members
• Contribute to collection of partnership lessons learned including on implementation of PEERS policies, processes and tools
• Support fostering and promotion of effective capacity sharing and systems strengthening approaches across RAI Europe country programs, including effective project support across other organizational functions as needed (finance, SC, HR)
• Support interaction with RAI Europe partners to promote accountability and solicit guidance with respect to IRC’s role and partnership practices

Grant management and Compliance (approximately 20%)
• Support country offices (where needed) and RPST with setting up or maintaining BD/Grants & partnership trackers as required
• Contribute to the analysis of funding and grants trends within the region through information compilation, preparation, and analysis
• Draft internal documents in line with agreed processes including but not limited to secondment and collaboration agreements, internal GIAs and match agreements
• Support RGA in maintaining secondment tracker, match funding tracker and other specific components of the regional teams information systems
• Support RGA in development of Europe Grant management and compliance training modules, including PEERS
• Support information management for the RAI Europe regional team, including maintaining and organizing the regional grants filing system
• Support the RPST on complex compliance issues as requested
• Other ad hoc support for grants management as required, including report reviews, supporting modifications to existing grants and other tasks
• General administrative support the Resource Acquisition and Management team including liaising with other IRC HQ units, conference/workshop planning, managing platform subscriptions and other duties as assigned

Business development (approximately 10%)
• Support business development for RAI Europe region

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
• Position Reports to the Regional Grants Advisor, RAI Europe, with a dotted line to the Senior Program Officer
• Position liaises closely with country office grants and partnerships staff, other members of the RAM team and regional finance, as well as with partners externally

Professional Standards
The IRC and IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Global Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

1. Bachelor’s degree in business management / administration, organizational development, economics, or another related field required.
2. Minimum of two years’ experience in a grants and / or partnerships administration and management support position
3. Experience in and demonstrated knowledge of the Europe Region essential.
4. Experience in supporting monitoring and evaluation systems for partnerships
5. Experience in supporting administration of EU funded grants in Europe, including under DG Home, DG Justice, DG Employ and other internal EU funding streams preferred
6. Fluency in English, with excellent writing skills is essential
7. Knowledge of other European languages where IRC operates would be a distinct advantage (German, Greek, Italian)
8. Collaborative, team management style; ability to work well in diverse, multi-cultural team settings.
9. Exceptional interpersonal and communications skills.
10. Right to work in the EU

Professional Standards
The IRC and IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Global Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability. IRC is an equal opportunity employer.