Grants Coordinator Full Time

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their lives. The IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. We began work in Ethiopia since 2000 and currently implementing emergency and development programs in health, water and sanitation, economic recovery and development (ERD), women’s protection and empowerment, education, child protection, and multi-sectoral emergency response.

The IRC has a focus on narrowing the gender gap in humanitarian aid and ensuring that we contribute to gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in both our programs and operations by working to establish a context where our clients (including those from minority groups) enjoy the same rights and opportunities as well as an equal access to services. The IRC also has a strong commitment to creating an equitable and inclusive culture, where safeguarding is upheld in our workplace and programs. We are determined to protect our clients and staff from safeguarding violations through prevention and, where misconduct is alleged, to address it without fear or favor.

Job Overview: 

The Grants Coordinator supervises the Grants team and provide grants development, grant management, budgeting and compliance support to the Ethiopia Country program. The Grants Coordinator reports directly to the Senior Grants Coordinator, who oversees the entire Grants Department and reports to the Deputy Director of the Grants and Partnership Unit. In the current structure, the Grants Coordinator is tasked with overseeing post-award management, directly supervising three direct reports and indirectly supervising four additional staff members.

The Grants Coordinator is responsible for tracking, documenting, and filing grant-related documents for program continuity as per the IRC internal guidelines/systems and is responsible for coordinating the timely submission of all donor reports at high quality. Additionally, she/he assists or leads in the development of proposals and budget realignment and project revisions. This position is based in Addis Ababa but occasional trips to field sites are required. The person will also work collaboratively with the Grants and Partnership Unit members, the technical coordinators, operations team, and the finance team. The IRC Ethiopia is made of grants mostly from BHA, BPRM, EU, GAVI, OCHA, SIDA, UNHCR, WFP and private foundations.

Major Responsibilities Include: 

Grants Management

• Coordinate all reporting for the full grants’ portfolio ensuring quality control of reports, coordinating HQ reviews and approvals before submission to the donor. This includes sending out the reporting tracker  to team members bi-monthly on all reports due in the coming 90 days.
• Oversees all government reporting requirements are met.
• Ensure all Project Cycle Meetings (PCM) are set up using the latest PCM guidance, where possible in the field. Where needed coordinate with the Field Coordinator to ensure monthly BvA meetings are held and support follow-up actions to resolve grant challenges.
• Ensure project start up is done according to the Start Projects On Time (SPOT) SOP.
• Oversees MOU/LOUs are initiated and signed promptly.
• Ensure that grants are implemented in compliance with IRC and relevant donor regulations.
• Ensure the Active Grants and Reporting Tracker and other information management systems and the grants filing on Box and OTIS are up to date.
• Monthly monitor burn rates and implementation progress and flag grant underperformance and compliance issues to relevant Field Coordinators, Program Coordinators and the Senior Management Team.
• Lead and timely submit any grants realignments or revisions, including technical and budget narrative updates, budget realignments.

Business Development/Proposal Development

• Coordinate and oversee new proposal development (including budget development) for the recurrent grant proposals, following the donor compliance guidelines, working with and gathering input from technical coordinators, technical advisors, the Finance Department, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation staff, and the Regional Unit. This includes facilitating design meetings where needed as per IRCs Project Design Meeting guidelines.
• Ensure accurate review of new proposals (including budget) prior to timely ET Finance, HQ and donor submission this includes OTIS workflows are up to date.
• Collaborate closely with IRC NY, UK, Sweden and Germany to ensure proposals meet internal standards, apply IRC’s Outcomes Evidence Framework (OEF), are in line with IRC Ethiopia’s Strategic Action Plan (SAP) and are donor compliant.

Capacity Building

• Lead capacity development of relevant country program staff to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge on how to write donor reports and donor compliance
• Provide orientation and on-the-job training to the Grants team members.
• Undertake regular 1 to 1 meeting with grants team members under his/her supervision and follow-up action points.

Liaison and Special Tasks

• Act as a focal point for donor communications. Communicate with donors and attend donor meetings in order to share IRC’s accomplishments as well as to stay up-to-date on the latest donor developments and requirements.
• Coordinate that all visibility requirements for the grants in the portfolio are met in a timely manner and accurately documented.
• Complete special projects as assigned by the Sr Grants Coordinator that may fall outside the job description and backstop the Sr Grants Coordinator, as needed.
• Perform tasks and take the responsibility on behalf of the Sr Grants Coordinator when absent

Safeguarding Responsibilities: – 

• Promote and actively participate in initiatives and efforts to build team engagement, inclusion and cohesion in IRC [team/office]
• Foster ongoing learning, honest dialogue and reflection to strengthen safeguarding and to promote IRC values and adherence to IRC policies