Democratic Republic of the Congo: Grants Coordinator

The International Rescue Committee is one of the largest providers of relief and development assistance in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a projected annual budget of approximately US$ 30 million and around 400 staff. The IRC implements programs in the sectors of health, governance & community development, women's protection & empowerment, education, and emergency response through a network of field offices and a range of institutional and community partnerships in four of the country's provinces.

S COPE

IRC DRC currently has a portfolio comprised of 20-30 projects requiring the development and submission of approximately 100 donor reports annually. The Grants Unit is currently composed of two Grants Managers and a Grants Coordinator, who supervises the Grants Managers. The Grants Coordinator is the focal point for proposal development and donor reporting in the DRC. The Grants Coordinator also supports programmatic and budgetary monitoring, compliance with donors and internal IRC rules and regulations. The Grants Team works closely with the Kinshasa-based Senior Program Coordinators, Kinshasa-based support staff and the provincial heads of offices. This position will be based in Kinshasa with travel to the East of the DRC. The Grants Coordinator reports to the Deputy Director of Programs (DDP).

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

RESPONSIBILITIES

1 Ensure quality and timely proposal submissions and support opportunity identification

• Ensure that the IRC DRC system for handling proposal developments with management, programs, finance and operations departments is followed and results in the timely and quality submissions and is understood and respected;
• Support the Deputy Director Programs and Country Director in searching new funding opportunities, maintaining good relations with current donors, and updating the IRC DRC Fundraising Strategy;
• Coordinate and complete proposal revisions, cost extension requests and NCE requests as needed;

• Lead the development of proposals for submission to donors in coordination with sector leads and the finance and operations teams. Including:

• Analyzing requests for proposals

• Contribute to Go / No Go decisions on new opportunities. Document these decisions

• Organizing and managing the use of timelines, templates and guidelines for proposals

• Organizing proposal development meetings

• Assisting with aligning proposal logical frameworks with the Outcomes and Evidence Framework

• Liaising with programs and finance staff regarding proposal writing and budgeting

• Writing or compiling and managing review of proposals

• Consolidating budget inputs and linking to the donor format for onward review by the Finance Controller and Regional Finance Controller

• Packaging proposals for submission

  1 Maintain positive and constructive relationships with donors, in-country and abroad

• C ommunicate donor queries to relevant team members in a timely manner and ensure that they are addressed ;

• Perform liaison or representation requirements with donors as the need arises and/or in the absence of regular IRC donor focal points;

• Enhance the country office profile among donors / stakeholders by maintaining country-wide and sector-specific fact sheets in both English and French. Coordinate the development of IRC DRC Annual Reports.

  1 Compliance Monitoring

• Ensure that a broad and deep understanding of the policies and grant agreements in the grant portfolio as well as IRC regulations and procedures is developed and maintained by the Grants Team.

• Train relevant program and support staff in these same areas with the support of the Grants Managers;

• Review donor reports produced by Grants Managers for accuracy, quality and compliance with donor requirements. This may involve substantial editing, translation and contributing to writing (in both French and English);

• Backstop Grants Managers as needed in order to ensure the timely submission of reports;

• Work with the Grants Team to ensure the management of the project lifecycle in accordance with IRC procedures by coordinating and participating in Grants Opening Meetings, Grants Review Meetings and Grant Closing Meetings.

• Offer advice to Grant Team members and other IRC DRC staff (senior management, finance, procurement, etc.) on resolving compliance issues. Flag unresolved compliance / implementation issues to senior management;

  1 Information Management

• Ensure that the IRC grants information management and filing system (OTIS) is respected and all donor contractual documents, reports, key correspondence etc. are appropriately filed and up-to-date;

• Lead management of the online Budget vs. Actual (BvA) system in line with country office procedures. This includes managing monthly BvA tracking, meetings and action points.

REQUIRED SKILLS / EXPERIENCE

• Good communicator with strong organizational, time management and analytical skills
• Attention to detail
• Excellent inter-personal, cultural and diplomatic skills
• Fluency in both French and English, spoken and written, is essential
• Superior proposal / report writing and editing skills. At least three years of previous experience preparing donor reports and proposals for USG and European donors with experience submitting proposals as part of a consortium (as lead agency or sub)
• Ability to meet juggle competing priorities, meet demanding deadlines and work under pressure
• Strong computer skills: must be competent in the use of Windows MS office programs (Word, Excel), email programs, etc.
• Prior professional experience, preferably in Africa in a post-conflict and/or conflict setting;
• Demonstrated experience in donor liaison;
• Demonstrated supervisory skills;
• Technical expertise in one of the following areas would be advantageous: health, protection / GBV, education, WASH, emergency response or governance;
• Knowledge of donor regulations (in particular World Bank, DFID & USAID) and experience developing large proposals (over 2 million USD) for these donors and / or overseeing reporting / compliance on grants funded by these donors is required.

Specific Security Situation/Housing:

The designated base location for this position is Kinshasa. Crime and theft are common in Kinshasa so there is limited freedom of movement. Civil conflict is ongoing in parts of the Eastern DRC and Kinshasa can be prone to civil unrest. Strict adherence to security guidelines is required of all IRC staff. The Grants Coordinator will be housed in individual housing. This position is NOT accompanied.

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=a2F0cmluYW1pbGxlci41MzUyMC4zODMwQGlyYy5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20