Grants Management Coordinator at the Danish Refugee Council (DRC)

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a Danish international non-governmental organisation, which promotes and supports durable solutions to the problems faced by refugees and internally displaced people all over the world. DRC is present in more than 30 conflict territories around the world assisting displaced people with shelter, food, income-generating activities, and a wide range of other assistance. It is of utmost importance for DRC to work in compliance with the DRC Accountability and Quality Management system and national legislations. Smooth, reliable and effective operational systems are preconditions for DRC to maintain its position as a trustworthy and reliable partner for our donors and an accountable organisation towards our beneficiaries.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Grants Management Coordinator

Location: Abuja with frequent travels to field sites
Supervised by: Programme Development and Quality Manager
Reporting to: Programme Development and Quality Manager
Employment Period: 12 months with possibility of extension
Type of Contract (Expat/National/Trainee): National

Background

• Danish Refugee Council (DRC), and its safety unit, has had an operational presence in Nigeria since 2015. DRC Nigeria is the largest DRC country mission in the West Africa region and one of the largest DRC country missions globally. Currently, DRC delivers life-saving assistance and protection to vulnerable, conflict-affected populations including internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities in the areas of armed violence reduction, humanitarian mine action, livelihoods, food security, protection, shelter and non-food items (NFI) and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in 30+ Local Government Areas (LGAs) across Northeast (Borno, Adamawa States) and Northwest (Sokoto, Zamfara States) Nigeria.  
• The Grants Management Coordinator is a key position in the Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) to ensure programme implementation complies with donors’ rules and the organization’s standard, is highly qualitative, and evidence based.
• The Grants Management Coordinator is responsible for leading the Grants Unit and provides technical support to the Progamme Development and Quality Manager (PDQM) in proposal development and quality assurance (DRC’s Project Cycle Management – PCM). The Grants Management Coordinator closely coordinates with his/her Regional Office (RO) and HQ counterparts whenever needed.
• This role has a country focus and provides institutionalized support and/or technical guidance to DRC Program Teams in donor compliance and Project Cycle Management.

Duties and Responsibilities
Grants management & proposal development:

• Lead in coordinating, scheduling, facilitating, and follow up of monthly grant meetings. Draft, finalize, and share agenda and relevant documents, ensuring action points from meetings are monitored.
• In coordination with Programme, Finance, HR, and Area Offices, organize and facilitate grant opening, review, and close-out meetings, providing presentations on important contractual stipulations, donor compliance, and deadlines.
• Develop and maintain up-to-date and in-depth knowledge of donor and government policies and support implementing teams to ensure full compliance
• Ensure timely and accurate maintenance of grant files on DRC’s SharePoint, Insite, along with accurate and timely maintenance of the Grants Management System (GMS) on Dynamics in line with country office compliance.
• Coordinate and facilitate technical and financial revisions to donors for ongoing projects, including budget realignments. If needed, provide review for grammar and consistency across submission documents.
• With the support of PDQM, develop, update, streamline, and disseminate grants management tools and resources to build the country office’s capacity to comply with DRC’s Project Cycle Management (PCM), grant management guidelines and donor regulations. 
• Support the PDQM to plan and coordinate the development of high-quality project proposals, including narratives, budgets, budget narratives, work plans, staffing lists, and other required annexes.

Reporting:

• Send monthly grant reminders to teams detailing upcoming deadlines, reporting requirements including templates, and internal review timelines.
• Lead donor reporting processes by coordinating, compiling, editing and providing feedback to ensure the development of high-quality narratives and timely submissions, complying with donor reporting requirements.
• Review and edit reports for quality and consistency, ensuring compliance with donor reporting requirements. Ensure all donor submissions are documented.
• Design and facilitate the implementation of programme quality tools, including reporting processes and responsibilities.
• In close collaboration with Programme and MEAL teams, support documentation of lessons learnt, best practices and proven innovations in programme design, implementation, monitoring and reporting to improve programme design and implementation strategy.

Partnership management:

• Support the management and facilitation of partner sub-awards including communication, report coordination, and monitoring of partner spending to ensure compliance within the financial stipulations of the sub-award.
• Facilitating partner assessment process and drafting, finalizing and sharing minimum set of documents for successful partnership management.
• Draft, review and provide support in the negotiation of project agreements, including sub-agreements (INGOs), teaming agreements and memoranda of understanding
• Support the programme and support team in partner capacity strengthening with particular focus on grant management as well as donor regulations and relationships.

Other:

• Prepare necessary documentation, such as reports, presentations and organizational documentation, to share with DRC stakeholders, including briefings for DRC staff and external entities requesting information on DRC’s programmes
• Liaise with Finance colleagues on monthly budget follow-ups (BFUs) and expenditure levels of active grants.
• Support Finance in the closing out of grants in a timely manner.
• Work with colleagues to identify and find solutions to compliance-related issues or findings.
• Identify areas and provide solutions to improve operational efficiencies in related areas.
• In addition to the above, the Grants Management Coordinator may be asked to carry out other duties requested by the PDQM but always in the scope of this job description.

Qualifications
Desirable:

• Master’s Degree in a field related to Humanitarian Work, Political Science, International Development, Economics or other relevant fields.
• Hausa (fluent) desirable

Required:

• 3-5 years of international grant management within development/humanitarian sector
• Excellent knowledge of donor rules, regulations, and procedures of donors including but not limited to US and European donors, EU funding mechanisms, and UN agencies.
• Proven experience in successfully submitting reporting packages.
• Proven experience in capacity strengthening and training of staff and partners.
• Bachelor’s degree in a field related to humanitarian work, political science, international development, economics or other relevant fields. 
• Full professional proficiency in English with the capacity to produce well-written products for formal reporting and communication.
• Strong organization and planning skills, with excellent attention to detail.
• Broad understanding of donor rules and regulations
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Able to meet deadlines while managing and prioritizing competing demands.
• Problem analysis and solutions-oriented way of working.
• Able to quickly research, learn and disseminate new knowledge and information.
• Able to communicate clearly and in a timely manner.
• Able to adapt quickly, with an openness to learn and ask questions.

Required Skills & Qualities:

• Core Comptencies of DRC:
  • Striving for excellence
  • Collaboration
  • Taking the lead
  • Communication
  • Demonstrating Integrity
• Ability to work in a multinational and multicultural environment.
• Excellent writing, proof-reading, and communication skills
• Excellent organizational and multi-tasking skills
• Strong ability to adapt, take initiative and work in a multicultural environment.
• Interest for humanitarian sector and donor’s environment
• Listening, analytical and synthesis skills
• Excellent communication skills, as well as patience and politeness
• Exemplary sense of ethics in the workplace

General Regulations

• The employee shall follow DRC instructions on safety, confidentiality, and ethical guidelines, including the Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Accountability Framework.
• The employee should not engage in any other paid activity during the DRC contract period without prior authorization.
• The employee should not engage in any activity that could harm the DRC or the implementation of any project during the DRC contract period.
• The employee should not give interviews to the media or publish project-related photos or other material without prior authorization.
• The employee shall return all borrowed equipment for the project to DRC after the end of the contract period or upon request.

Salary & Benefits
Non-Management G

Application Closing Date
11th September, 2024 at midnight (GMT-time).

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online