Technical Grant Officer / African-European Museum Partnerships (M/W) Full Time NEW

Mission Description

The African-European Museum Partnerships is a new initiative aiming to strengthen EU-Africa and intra-Africa partnerships between museums in Africa and Europe. Within this framework, funded by the European Union, co-financed by France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and implemented by Expertise France and Goethe Institute, the Technical Grant Officer will support the design, launch, implementation follow-up and quality assurance of various grant schemes under the project.

The postholder will contribute to the technical preparation of calls for proposals, the drafting of applicant guidance documents, and the support provided to museums, cultural institutions, civil society organizations, universities and other eligible actors in developing strong and relevant proposals. The Technical Grant Officer will also support the technical review and evaluation of proposals, the follow-up of grant implementation, the quality review of technical and narrative reporting, and the documentation of lessons learned and good practices.

The position requires a combination of grant management experience, technical understanding of the heritage and museum field, and the ability to support results-based project design, reporting and learning in complex institutional and multi-country environments.

The Technical Grant Officer will report to the Project Manager and work in close collaboration with the Deputy Project Manager, the Collections and Exhibitions Lead, the Administrative and Financial Grant Officer, and the Expertise France Country Support Office in Ethiopia (especially the finance, procurement and logistical teams).

Key responsibilities include:

1. Design and management of calls for proposals

• Contribute to the operationalization of grant schemes in line with the project’s objectives, pillars and implementation priorities.
• Lead the preparation and launch of calls for proposals in coordination with the project management team and relevant technical leads.
• Draft, revise and structure call documentation, including guidelines for applicants, concept note and proposal templates, evaluation grids, reporting templates and clarification notes.
• Ensure compliance with donor rules and procedures.
• Act as the focal point for applicants during the call process and support the management of clarification requests, briefing sessions and information meetings.
• Lead the development and refinement of technical evaluation tools, scoring grids, assessment frameworks and coordination of evaluation and selection committees.
• Provide technical inputs to evaluation reports, assessment notes and recommendation documents for selection committees.

2. Technical support to applicants and grantees

• Support museums, cultural institutions and partner organisations in strengthening the quality, relevance and feasibility of their proposals.
• Ensure that technical support remains consistent, transparent and aligned with donor rules and internal procedures.
• Contribute to the preparation and delivery of capacity support sessions for applicants and grantees throughout the grant cycle
• Provide technical guidance to potential applicants to help them understand the objectives, priorities, requirements and expected standards of the calls for proposals.
• Support museums, cultural institutions and partner organisations in strengthening the quality, relevance and feasibility of their proposals.

3. Operational steering of the grant portfolio

• Oversee the operational management of all grants awarded under the project, with the project management team.
• Supervise grant contracting and ensure proper documentation and archiving of grant agreements, with the other Grant Officer.
• Support the technical follow-up of grant-funded actions throughout implementation, in close coordination with the project team and the Administrative and Financial Grant Officer.
• Coordinate with relevant technical leads to ensure proper follow-up of outputs, outcomes and implementation challenges across the grant portfolio.
• Review technical reports to assess quality, implementation progress, coherence with approved work plans and evidence of results.
• Support grantees in refining results frameworks, indicators, implementation plans and technical deliverables where needed.
• Provide guidance to beneficiaries on administrative, financial, and procedural requirements.
• Contribute to the consolidation of technical information for internal reporting, donor reporting and implementation monitoring.

4. MEAL Coordination and Knowledge Management

• Contribute to the tracking of results, indicators and implementation progress across grant-funded actions, in line with the project’s monitoring and reporting framework.
• Support the documentation of lessons learned, good practices, innovative approaches and implementation bottlenecks, and produce synthesis notes and analytical inputs to inform adaptive management and capitalisation.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of grant tools, call design, support methodologies and reporting practices based on implementation experience.
• Coordinate, as needed, with technical experts, finance, procurement and headquarters teams, and contribute to internal knowledge sharing on grants, partnerships and sectoral learning.
• Ensure proper documentation, traceability and archiving of technical grant-related information, and support the preparation of technical inputs for reviews, evaluations and audits where relevant.

5. Financial and administrative oversight

• Oversee the financial forecast of the grants, in discussion with the beneficiaries and the project’s team.
• Supervise the review of narrative and financial reports submitted by beneficiaries, according to Expertise France’s internal procedure.
• Oversee the preparation of payment requests and disbursements in coordination with finance teams.
• Create tools to be adapted to the project’s needs.

6. Compliance, risk management, and audit support

• Ensure alignment with donor regulations and internal procedures.
• Contribute to internal control mechanisms and risk mitigation strategies.
• Support preparation for audits, verifications, and external evaluations.
• Ensure proper documentation, traceability, and archiving of grant-related information.

Project or context description

The African-European Museum Partnerships is the result of a process that started in 2022 Berlin among a group of African and European museum directors who shared the assessment that too few formats existed for African and European museums to interact, share knowledge and set up partnerships that transcend bilateral cooperation. In April 2023, 60 African and European museum directors from 28 African and 12 European countries gathered at an international forum in Dakar. Via the Dakar Declaration, the signatories expressed their shared ambition to strengthen partnerships between museums in Africa and Europe.

The “African-European Museum Partnerships” Initiative has three pillars – exhibitions, collections, and empowerment – and aims to achieve the following two results:

1. Strengthen EU-Africa and intra-Africa cultural cooperation and promote intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity across the continent.

2. Protect and promote African cultural heritage to become a vector for social cohesion, stability, cultural tourism, jobs and sustainable growth.

Target groups are mainly African and European museums, museum professionals, universities and specialized training organisations or initiatives. Beneficiaries include youth, schools, communities of origin and diaspora communities, civil society, artists, public sector entities (e.g. ministries of culture, education, tourism, foreign affairs), and private sector actors.

This Initiative will place partnership and co-creation at the centre of its activities with the implementation of two governance bodies: an African-European Strategic Steer and an African-European Advisory Board to foster a genuine Team Africa Europe Approach. The innovative governance and implementation approach aims to ensure that the ambition of the partnership will remain in line with the vision set by the African and European museum directors signing the Dakar Declaration of 2023.

The initiative has a budget of EUR 19,9M, financed by the European Commission and including additional contributions by EU Member States Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Implementing partners are the Goethe Institute (GI) and Expertise France (EF). A Technical Assistance team supports the coherence of the implementation work across all activities.

Italy has joined the African-European Museum Partnerships, pursuing the same objectives, by a parallel project entitled “Strengthening African-Italian Museum Partnerships”. This initiative concentrates on the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Its budget of an additional EUR 4M is implemented by the Italian cooperation agency (AICS).

Expertise France

Expertise France is the public agency for the design and implementation of international technical cooperation projects.

Expertise France engineers and implements capacity-building projects, mobilizes technical expertise and acts as a project integrator, bringing together public expertise and private know-how.

The agency works closely with French public institutions, as well as with the European Union, to meet the needs of partner countries wishing to enhance the quality of their public policies to meet these challenges. More specifically, the agency coordinates and implements projects of national or regional scope in the main areas of public action:

• Democratic, economic and financial governance
• Peace, stability and security;
• Climate, biodiversity and sustainable development;
• Health and human development.

The aim of this call for applications is to recruit a Technical Grant Officer. The candidate must meet the following requirements:

• University Master’s degree or equivalent in Heritage or Museum Studies, Arts and Culture Management, Development Studies, Economics, International Relations, or another relevant field.
• Strong experience (at least 5 years) of relevant experience in grant management, project development, programme coordination or technical support to grant-funded actions.
• Strong understanding of Sub-Saharan African cultural, institutional and partnership environments;
• Proven experience working on internationally funded programs, particularly EU-funded and EU members states funded projects and grant-based mechanisms;
• Excellent knowledge of either English or French (a working knowledge of the other would be an advantage).
• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team and with diverse partners.
• Experience in supporting the design of calls for proposals, applicant guidance, proposal review, and/or grant implementation follow-up.
• Demonstrated experience in the culture, heritage, museum, creative industries, civil society or related sectors.
• Strong understanding of project cycle management and grants processes.
• Ability to draft clear and technically robust guidelines, templates, assessment tools and synthesis documents.
• Familiarity with monitoring frameworks, indicators, narrative reporting and learning processes.
• Sound understanding of donor compliance principles and institutional procedures.