Regional Grants Advisor

Over the past 80 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

The International Rescue Committee UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its headquarters in New York and London. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through over 20 regional offices in cities across the United States, the IRC also helps refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient.

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.

IRC-UK

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. Since its establishment IRC-UK has grown rapidly and is now acknowledged for its high quality project management, technical expertise in governance and rights and economic recovery, and innovative thinking on early recovery and gender based violence. The IRC also has offices in Berlin, Bonn, Brussels and Geneva.

IRC-UK comprises approximately 100 staff across five departments.

The Global Awards Management Unit (AMU)

EstablishedinJanuary2016,theGlobalAwardsManagementUnit(AMU)isaglobalunitspanning New York, Washington DC, London, Nairobi and Amman. It has responsibility for identifying, securing and managing all funding from statutory donors. TheUnitisorganizedintofivedirectorates:Donor Relations&Analytics;Programme & Grants Support;ComplianceandPolicy;Business Development;andTraining&CurriculumDesign.

TheGlobalAMUisa bridgebetweendonorsandthefield:providingexpert technicaladvice to the field,whilemaintaining portfolio-levelvisibility to ensure consistencyandcompliance, and manage risk.The AMUensuresthatdonorcompliancepoliciesand procedures are implementedconsistently, andsupportsallstaffworkingacrossthegrantsmanagementcycleforall restrictedfundingfrom global government sources. The unit operates within a matrix management system across the teams intheUSandtheUK,drivingfunctionalintegrationbetweenallrelevantunitsandstaff,in collaboration with the Vice President of the Global AMU and the Senior Vice President for Europe in relation to overarching issues with European donors. The matrix management structure ensures that AMU staff support the Europe strategy and work towards the pursuit of new opportunities, while IRC-UK maintains accountability for European funding.

The Purpose of the Role

As Regional Grants Advisor (RGA) you play a vital role within a regional team that supervises a specific region.

The RGA focuses primarily on the successful implementation of IRC European donor award requirements and reporting, ensuring basic compliance, accurate financial information and good quality narratives on programme outputs.

As RGA you must also build and ensure strong, professional working relationships with donors. You will work closely with the Regional Grants Director (RGD) to strengthen the capacity of field offices to manage, implement and report on Grants. RGAs also represent IRC to policy makers, donors and other audiences.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Grants Management (50%)

• Manage the European grants portfolio for the West Africa
• Review and provide substantive feedback on reports; consulting with and ensuring input from relevant technical and financial staff
• Support budget realignments and grant amendments/modifications
• Maintain day-to-day communication with donors and country program grants staff
• Monitor projects to ensure progress against objectives and compliance with donor guidelines
• In coordination with the compliance team, guide country offices in managing partnerships with local or international partners, ensuring that IRC’s sub-award management policies are being followed
• Assist country offices with ad-hoc queries on donor compliance issues. Refer non-routine and high level compliance matters to the RGD and Compliance team
• Assist the compliance team in advocating with European donors for manageable and reasonable rules and regulations
• Ensure lessons learned from finalised projects are fed into the programme development team
• Stay informed about programmatic issues and security & political developments in the region and how they might affect program implementation
• Ensure country programmes follow internal IRC policies and procedures (e.g. OTIS, PEERs)
• Travel to provide additional support to or cover short-term gaps for grants teams in the field.

Capacity Building and Training (20%)

• Provide best practice advice related to grant management
• In coordination with the RGD, develop and maintain work-processes and checklists for grant implementation and report review, as well as record lessons learned

Coordination and Supervision (20%)

• Maintain a strong relationship with regional staff
• Maintain a strong relationship with the AMU Deputy Vice President and all AMU pillars to ensure the use of all templates, guidance, policies and procedures established by AMU
• Maintain a strong relationship with field grants teams, offering regular support
• Liaise with support departments and other teams outside of AMU as needed in order to provide the best support to country offices
• Supervise where relevant a Regional Grants Assistant in carrying out necessary functions as they relate to country program support and donor liaison
• Coordinate with the Program Officers in New York and RGAs for other regions for information sharing and to establish a coherent program support and backstopping function between headquarters and the field.

Other (10%)

• Assist in the roll-out of AMU and Crisis Response Recovery & Development (CRRD) wide initiatives, as requested
• Represent IRC externally at country specific meetings, and stakeholder networks
• Contribute to IRC Europe strategy
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor

Essential

Experience:

• Experience with and a good understanding of European institutional donors and their requirements.
• Experience in working at a distance and supporting field-based staff
• Experience writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports and excellent attention to detail

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Degree, preferably in a subject related to IRC’s work (International Relations, Refugee or Migration Studies, Development Studies, Public Policy) or equivalent experience
• Fluency in French
• Good understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload
• Good financial management and budgeting skills
• Ability to analyse and synthesise information
• Solid organizational skills; detail-oriented; ability to multi-task and prioritize tasks, and to learn quickly.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills: the ability to successfully and effectively liaise with people within and across departments in a multi-cultural environment.
• Both a team player and an independent performer in a very fast paced environment
• Flexible work attitude and a calm manner
• Ability to work on own initiative
• Good IT skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)

Desirable:

• German or Arabic language skills desired
• International work experience in a developing country a plus
• Understanding of UN or US donors a plus.

Closing date for applications is 16^th September 2019 at 9am

Interviews will take place on the 3^rd and 4^th October 2019

Candidates must have the right to work in the UK

IRC-UK is committed to equality of opportunity and non discrimination for all applicants and employees. IRC-UK seeks to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious belief, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. IRC-UK welcomes applications from all candidates, including refugees who have the right to work in the UK.

If you have any questions or need assistance with the online recruitment process, please contact the UK HR team at applications@rescue-uk.org 

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