The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting IDPs, refugees and various institutions in the country notably the government, community based organizations, the civil society and the private sector. The current program portfolio in Uganda includes health and nutrition, support to persons with specific needs (PSNs) including case management, legal assistance to refugees, prevention and response to gender-based violence, and economic recovery and development. The IRC has a country office in Kampala and field offices in Amudat, Imvepi, Isingiro, Kitgum, Kyegegwa, Lamwo, Moroto and Yumbe, as well as an urban office in Nsambya within Kampala.
Currently, IRC Uganda manages 14 sub-awards with five local NGOs and six international NGOs, with funding from UNHCR, PRM, UNFPA, ECHO, Stichting Vluchteling and the LEGO Foundation.
Job Overview
The Partnership Coordinator will support the Uganda Country Program in its strategic management and oversight of its robust partnerships across the country. The Partnership Coordinator will facilitate the Uganda team’s delivery of high quality partnerships that are strategic for IRC, compliant with IRC and donor requirements in order to provide quality services and outcomes for the communities we serve. Working in close collaboration with the programs, grants and operations departments, the Partnership Coordinator will oversee all steps in the partnership management lifecycle ensuring that partnerships are considered in the overall project cycle management.
With the support of the senior management team, the Partnership Coordinator will also be a leader in building and promoting a culture, attitudes and values conducive to collaborative partnerships among the team, based on a clear and shared understanding of IRC's role and approach, and core partnership principles. The Partnership Coordinator will report directly to the Deputy Director of Programs (DDP), with management-in-partnership with the Deputy Director of Operations. The Partnership Coordinator is based in Kampala, with travel to the field sites.
Major Responsibilities:
Partnership Strategy
Form and chair the Partnership Working Group to promote a coherent, strategic and coordinated approach to local partnerships in IRC Uganda.
Oversee the partnership management operating procedures for IRC Uganda that set out efficient and responsive processes, delineate clear roles and responsibilities, and articulate IRC Uganda’s strategic approach to partnerships.
Take forward initiatives to enhance local partnerships in consultation with senior management and program staff; support further development of local partner capacity development, approaches and processes.
Work with the IRC Uganda country leadership team to ensure that the Country Strategic Action Plan appropriately leverages the opportunities that collaborative partnerships offer to deliver better outcomes.
In collaboration with the technical coordinators and program coordinator for quality and learning, identify key stakeholders for effective programming through stakeholder analysis and social network analysis.
Promote an effective analysis of local stakeholders and an appropriate identification of IRC’s role.
Participate in Go/No-Go discussions to promote program approaches and design that are consistent with the SAP.
Ensure the Actor Mapping is up-to-date and accessible to all programs.
Support the incorporation of appropriate partnership related language in all the steps of the IRC project cycle.
Sub-Award Management
Oversee, facilitate and coordinate all aspects of sub-award life cycle management, from partner identification, due-diligence, agreement development, start-up, implementation, monitoring through to close-out, coordinating all program, operations and finance components.
Oversee the pre-award due diligence process with respect to all new sub-awards, including through appropriate vetting, analysis of risks associated with the award, and the identification and implementation of appropriate measures to mitigate those risks, working with other departments as appropriate.
Oversee the effective start-up of sub-awards, including the timely development and delivery of partnership agreements and sub-award opening meetings with partners.
Maintain accurate and up to date records for all sub-awards in line with IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS), IRC’s finance policy and donor regulations.
Ensure timely and correct submission of all partner programmatic narrative and financial reports in accordance with PEERS requirements. Financial reports should be reviewed in conjunction with programmatic reports, sighed off by IRC program staff to ensure consistency in programmatic objectives and financial spending.
Actively participate in project cycle meetings, including project opening meetings, project implementation meetings and project closing meetings, to share sub-award spending and share key monitoring information and learning.
Facilitate collaborative review and reflection (monitoring) of project with partners, including progress against objectives and donor compliance, and develop monitoring tools as needed, and that key monitoring information and learning are documented.
Participate in regular partner monitoring visits to ensure that partners operate in compliance with IRC and donor sub-grantee regulations.
Provide updates on partners/sub-grants and ensure any issues are communicated in a timely and professional manner to appropriate stakeholders.
Capacity Building/Strengthening
Provide on the job capacity building to programs, grants, finance and operations staff on IRC’s PEERS and donor partnership rules and regulations where relevant.
Ensure all issues identified in the assessment phase are addressed through project support plans and that these are implemented in a timely and effective manner.
Oversee the maintenance and coordination of partner program, finance and compliance monitoring schedules and coordinate support for partners to address any concerns or issues that may arise. Ensure response and support plans are implemented.
Provide and/or facilitate targeted sub-award and partnership management trainings, refresher trainings and ongoing support on partnership management and compliance for key partners and IRC staff.
Collaborate with technical coordinators to integrate technical capacity strengthening approaches with organizational development support as appropriate.
Ensure that the budget for capacity strengthening that is not limited to project support is incorporated in donor budgets.
Develop tools that can be used by IRC staff when supporting the partner’s capacity strengthening plans.
Culture of Effective and Respectful Partnerships
Ensure and champion robust partner relationship management characterized by the core partnership principles.
Promote meaningful collaboration with partners throughout the project life-cycle, from assessment and issue identification through design, monitoring, adaptation and closure, consistent with the partner responsiveness Good and Great Standards.
Ensure appropriate proactive and reactive communications and engagement with IRC partners through regularly scheduled partnership management meetings.
KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
Position reports to: Deputy Director of Programs, with management-in-partnership with the Deputy Director of Operations
Direct reporting: N/A
Other internal contacts: County Director, Finance Controller, HR Coordinator, Grants Coordinator, MEAL Coordinator, Technical Coordinators, Supply Chain Coordinator, Program Coordinator for Quality and Learning, HQ and regional grants/compliance teams
