Senior Regional Grants & Partnerships Manager – PlayMatters 47 views

Background of IRC:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities that support them, as well as with those who remain within their homes and communities. At-work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. IRC reaches over a million children annually with education and child protection programs in 25 countries around the world.

The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian international NGOs, provides relief, rehabilitation and development support to vulnerable people and communities over 30 countries. We began work in Ethiopia in 2000 in response to severe drought in Ethiopia’s Somali region and are currently providing assistance to Ethiopians and refugees in six regions in Ethiopia, 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.

PlayMatters is a US $100M investment, led by the IRC, which aims to reimagine childhood for 800,000 children across Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania through play-based learning. Now in its second year, the project is re-defining education and cultivate a generation of lifelong learners. PlayMatters is inspired by LEGO Foundation’s call to challenge the status quo and offer children the quality education they deserve. PlayMatters is being delivered by a diverse consortium with a track record of thinking and delivering differently. We bring three distinct characteristics:

Outcomes:

Everything we do is fueled by the social, emotional, cognitive, physical, creative and resilience outcomes we seek. We know learning happens when children are at the center and teachers, parents and the system surrounding them embrace children’s agency and have not only skills and resources, but the motivation to drive change.

Research and Learning:

Effective delivery requires both rigor and a big heart. With LEGO Foundation, PlayMatters will generate scientific evidence that can transform our understanding of play and learning for refugees in East Africa and around the world.

Thought leadership:

The LEGO Foundation Humanitarian Initiative offers an opportunity to deliver and comes with the responsibility to lead. Our consortium’s members have a record of mobilizing others.

Reporting to the Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator- PlayMatters , the Senior Regional Grants & Partnerships Manager- PlayMatters will be an important member of the regional project team (RPT), based in Ethiopia, and supporting grants and partnerships management for the project.

Job Overview/Summary: 

• The Sr. Regional Grants & Partnerships Manager- PlayMatters supports the Grants, Partnerships & Coordination Department to achieve compliant, effective grants and partnership management of the PlayMatters consortium. Key functions include supporting regional reporting, monitoring, material development, compliance training, etc.
• This role critically supports regional oversight of implementation in Ethiopia (as majority of the RPT are based in Kampala), including leading regional award management of the US $15M PlayMatters Emergency Response Mechanism (PM ERM), which is an important component of the project that provides life-saving education services to vulnerable children and their families throughout Ethiopia through both direct service delivery and partnerships.

Major responsibilities include:

Award & Partnership Management:

• Maintain a broad and deep understanding of donor policies, regulations, and procedures, supporting Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator to provide relevant guidance to consortium, leading advisement to Ethiopia’s PM ERM team. Ensure that the PM ERM is well-administered and implemented in compliance with relevant donor regulations and IRC procedures (e.g., legal expectations, IRC PEERS policy, etc.).
• Support internal and external reporting with programs and finance teams, ensuring high-quality, well-written and timely reports meeting donor and IRC requirements. For the PM ERM, manage reporting timelines and processes, including developing and communicating timelines, providing reporting support/follow-up when needed, coordinating internal reviews and partner responses/revisions, and escalating major issues to Regional SMT.
• Support Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator to develop, review, and amend donor, partnership, service, and collaboration agreements/amendments. Notify Regional SMT if any amendments are needed for PM ERM as implementation evolves.
• Work with Ethiopia’s PM ERM team to institute grant management tools and processes for the ERM, ensuring coherence with larger mechanisms in place for the larger project.
• Support Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator to develop and review annual project planning documents, including budgets, workplans, technical narratives and milestones, and targets. Lead PM ERM planning components.
• Obtain mandatory donor approval for all downstream partners operating under the PM ERM, ensuring compliance with prime award and proposal expectations.
• Support preparations for audits in collaboration with finance, AMU and OGC departments.
• Support overall financial management of project, including review and processing of financial realignment and payment requests. Provide detailed support to budgeting exercises.
• Lead regional knowledge management of PM ERM, including keeping hard and soft copy grant files up to date (both internal and external drives). Support Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator with knowledge management of overall project.
• Support with routine technical and financial/compliance monitoring and evaluation of consortium partners and IRC country programs. Includes coordinating timelines, travel, and expectations of RPT and consortium teams. Help with documentation and communication of achievements, lessons learned, challenges, and changes needed.

Consortium Capacity Building

• Support building consortium’s capacity in grants, compliance, and partnership skills. Includes on-boarding of new staff, routine re-fresher trainings, as well as development of unique trainings for dynamic needs identified as the project evolves.
• Help build capacity of RPT and Ethiopia’s PM ERM team to utilize effective partnership approaches and consortium grants management tools.
• Promote constructive, collegial teamwork between programming staff and operational support staff in execution of project.

Other Duties:

• Proactively identify risks throughout the portfolio, with specific responsibility for the PM ERM, and raise to the Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator- PlayMatters.
• Support Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator- PlayMatters to develop relevant communications materials, updates, and presentations for donors, senior leadership, or other external bodies (e.g., local stakeholders) in collaboration with the Communications and Technical Departments.
• Support donor communications, such as responding to requests for information, and assist with coordinating donor visits.
• Research and be informed about programmatic issues, as well as security and political developments in the region. Support in ensuring donor remains up to date on any developments which may impact implementation, with specific focus in Ethiopia.
• Perform other duties as required by the Regional Grants & Partnerships Coordinator- PlayMatters.

• At least 2-5 years of experience in program and grants management at an international NGO or similar organization.
• Positive, helpful attitude and willingness to learn new skills is essential. Must be excellent coordinator and great teammate; this role collaborates across department and ability to influence colleagues, often without line management.
• Exceptional organizational skills; experience with establishment and implementation of grants management software and tools.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully work in a fast-paced environment, within and across departments/functions and develop positive relationships with locally and remote based staff
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills.
• Flexibility and adaptability to adjust plans for the realities of working across multiple time zones and cultural contexts.
• Excellent computer skills: MS Word, Excel, file sharing and database software.
• Ability and willingness to travel (up to 25%).
• Experience working in conflict and crisis settings and knowledge of humanitarian programming is preferred.
• Self-directed, able to independently set priorities and solve problems with minimal guidance
• Understanding of IRC grants systems and policies (e.g., OTIS and PEERS, etc.) and experience implementing grants in an IRC country program is a plus.