Solidarity & Support Programme Assistant- Francophone

Position Overview

The Solidarity & Support Programme Assistant assists in the timely financial and technical response to interventions and needs of women’s rights activists and organizations with the aim of advancing women’s human rights on the continent with a specific focus on Francophone African region. The incumbent will support in the awarding of grants to Women Human Rights Organizations/WHRDs and maintain relation with grantees, Advisors and African Women Human Rights Defenders, mainly directed towards amplifying the voices and agency of feminist-led CSOs and adolescent girls to subvert gender-related social norms that hinder girls’ participation in education and promote girls’ social inclusion and empowerment.

Specific Responsibilities

• Act as the initial interface with the grantees and provide prompt and suitable communication with the applicants;
• Review of grant requests up to the point of preparing checklists for the grantmaking team to review by ensuring that they are line with the stipulated Funder obligations, with a focus on bolstering the voices and agency of feminist-led CSOs and adolescent girls to subvert gender-related social norms that hinder girls’ participation in education;
• Correspondence with grantees, advisors and fiscal sponsors including feminist-led CSOs working on girls’ education;
• Seeking opinions and working with formal/informal advisors and endorsers on grant proposals;
• Data entry of all inquiries, requests and grant awards on the grantmaking database, Salesforce;
• Completing due diligence research of potential grantees;
• Completion and filing of grant related paperwork;
• Assisting with grant making activity reports;
• Preparing Country related context analysis and grantmaking reports as assigned;
• Carrying out research for outreach missions and other UAF-Africa purposes as assigned;
• Assisting in preparations and logistics for outreach and networking missions;
• Where applicable, language translation of grant requests and communication material within all UAF-Africa programmes;
• Performing any other duties as may be assigned by the Programme Officer and or Coordinator.
• Provide translation support; French to English/English to French (through direct supervision) to other portfolios as and when requested.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, Women Studies, Political Sciences, International Development, Development, Law or other relevant fields.

Skills and Experience

• 2- 3 years’ experience in grantmaking processes is required;
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to multi task;
• Demonstrate high levels of integrity and confidentiality
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Good time management skills and ability to produce quality work with minimal supervision
• Teamwork and ability to work in diverse teams.
• Flexibility and willingness to travel on the African continent and beyond as and when required;
• An understanding of gender equality and women’s rights issues, particularly in politically unstable and post conflict African settings;
• Familiarity with the women’s rights development needs in Africa;
• Passionate about UAF-Africa’s mission, committed to teamwork, and achieving results and building effective teams;
• Excellent inter-personal, public speaking, writing and negotiation skills;
• Experience working in a virtual work environment an added advantage;
• Experience working with Salesforce or any other grantmaking software tool is an added advantage;
• Flexible and willing to perform other tasks as assigned, in a fast-paced, team-oriented work environment;
• UAF-Africa is a part of a global UAF-Sisterhood network and staff are expected to occasionally work collaboratively with UAF-Sister Funds.

Work Environment

This is a regional position that involves some national, regional and international travel. UAF-Africa is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate in its hiring practices. In order to build the strongest possible workforce, UAF-Africa actively seeks a diverse applicant pool. The Fund is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. The position will be based in the selected candidates Francophone African country of resident.