United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Regional Grants Officer - Asia, Caucasus, Middle East and North Africa
Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 30 Sep 2013
Reports to: Senior Grants Manager
Location: London
Salary: Competitive plus contributory pension
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
BACKGROUND
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading humanitarian relief organisations. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people survive, recover and rebuild their lives. The IRC delivers emergency aid, protects children, provides health care, prevents and responds to violence against women and girls, safeguards human rights and helps to kick-start economic recovery. Working in more than 40 countries, the IRC has restored hope and opportunity to many millions of people.
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.
The IRC’s global headquarters are in New York. Our European headquarters – IRC-UK - were established in London in 1997 to support the organisation’s global activities and particularly to diversify its donor base and be able to better advocate with European policy-makers on behalf of the people we serve. IRC-UK comprises approximately 40 staff across five departments. The International Programmes Team (IPT) currently comprises 14 staff: Director, IPT Assistant, Senior Grants Manager, Regional Grant Officers and six Regional Programme Managers (RPMs).
JOB PURPOSE
The International Programmes Team’s key objective is to enable the organisation to increase and improve the quantity and quality of support to beneficiaries by ensuring sustained programme funding. Regional Grant Officers (RGOs) are central to this work. RGOs:
• Provide support to country field offices in relation to quality reporting and donor requirements during programme implementation
• Manage the successful implementation of IRC European donor contractual requirements and reporting, ensuring compliance, accurate information and good quality narratives on programme outputs
• Ensure good and professional working relationships with European donors.
WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
• Report to the Senior Grants Manager
• Works as part of the wider IPT team Close coordination with:
• the RPM covering same geographical region
• field country offices
• regional staff for programme implementation
• finance department on matters of financial management.
TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
A. Contribute to Project Cycle Management
• Managing a regional portfolio of European grants (currently – Asia, Caucasus, Middle East and North Africa); responsible for ensuring quality project implementation
• Reviewing narrative and financial reports; consulting with and ensuring input from relevant technical and financial staff
• Monitoring projects to ensure progress against objectives and compliance with donor guidelines, including:
o Monitor cash flow and risks on contracts, and advise field where required
o Track expenditure disallowances, ensuring that lessons are learned and fed into operational training
o Review procurement decisions for European grants against donor requirements.
• Ensuring lessons learned from finalised projects are feed into the design of follow on or related proposal.
B. Build and Maintain High Quality Knowledge Base
• Providing best practice advice related to European grant management
• Assisting in developing training materials and occasionally carrying out training of IRC field staff on European donor rules
• Assisting in the development and maintenance of work-processes and checklists for grant implementation and report review
• Participating in donor strategies, taking the lead in grant management related issues around a specific donor or identified topic.
C. Liaise with the International Development Community
• Representing IRC externally at country specific meetings, and stakeholder networks
• Assisting in advocating with European donors for manageable and reasonable rules and regulations.
D. Other
• Maintaining tracking systems for grants and other office systems, including inputting raw data into IPT’s tracking systems (grants database)
• Providing support to the IPT and more generally to IRC-UK staff as required
• Contributing to the strategic planning of IPT and IRC UK
• When timely, working with Regional Programme Managers on developing new proposals, by the RPM’s.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential qualifications, skills and experience
• Experience and a good understanding of European institutional donors and their requirements
• Good understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming
• Experience in working at a distance and supporting field-based staff
• Experience of writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports and excellent attention to detail
• Good financial management and budgeting skills
• Ability to analyse and synthesise information
• Excellent communication skills including active listening and verbal and written English
• Good IT skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)
• Ability to work on own initiative and collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload
• Self motivated, flexible and adaptable to the needs of the team and organisation
• Committed to IRC values and mandate
Desirable qualifications, skills and experience
• Degree in a subject related to IRC’s work
• Worked in a developing country, preferable in a international NGO context
• Able to communicate effectively in French
• Advanced excel
How to apply:
To apply, please send your CV (two page max) and a cover letter describing:
• Your reasons for applying
• Your relevant skills and experience and how you meet the person specification for this position
• Where you saw the job advertised
• Current salary
Please send to: applications@rescue-uk.org
The closing date is: 10am Monday 30th September 2013 (GMT)
In order to minimise administrative costs, IRC-UK will only contact short-listed candidates.
Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.
IRC-UK strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC-UK is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.
