Grants and Compliance Officer

INTERSOS is an independent humanitarian organization that assists the victims of natural disasters, armed conflicts and exclusion. Its activities are based on the principles of solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, respect for diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable people.

Terms of reference

Job Title: Grants and Compliance Officer

Code: SR-53-9244

Duty station: Damascus, with frequent field visits to other bases

Starting date: 20/02/2024

Contract duration: 31/07/24 – with possibility of extension

Reporting to: Country Programme Coordinator

Type of duty station: Non-family duty station

General context of the project

As the Syrian crisis enters its thirteenth year, the scale, severity and complexity of humanitarian needs has reached its highest. With a population of 22.1 million inhabitants, Syria counts 16.7 million People in Need (PiN) in 2024, which represents an increase of 8% of PiN compared to 2023. Such deterioration of the humanitarian situation is related to multiple factors: protracted hostilities hampering humanitarian access and causing/sustaining displacement, where an escalation of active conflict and military operations was reported across multiple frontlines and in different areas across the country in the second half of 2023; direct and indirect consequences of the earthquakes that hit northern Syria in February 2023, which caused almost 5,900 death, more than 12,800 people injured and at least 265,000 displaced, extensively damaged essential infrastructures (e.g. homes, hospitals, schools, water systems, etc.) that had already been weakened by the conflict, disrupted essential food production and livelihoods – especially in rural areas, and led to widespread psychological distress and trauma; worsening economic crisis, with spiraling inflation, currency collapse, severe fuel shortage, and increasing reliance on humanitarian assistance; and continued erosion of basic service capacities due to almost none development investments. This multifaceted crisis sees self-sustained patterns of vulnerability, affecting disproportionately those most in need, where the inability of families and communities to meet their most basic needs has driven them to adopt negative coping strategies leading to extreme vulnerability. In particular, children and women are bearing the brunt of the conflict and are exposed to serious protection risks, experiencing persisting violence and abuse, including physical, psychological and sexual violence, neglect, as well as subjection to the worst forms of child labor.

General purpose of the position

• Ensure quality support to pre- and post-award grants and partnership functions.
• Support teams on donors’ compliance, reporting, proposal development, and information management, including for local partners.
• Provide administrative support to the grants team and assist with the overall management of the grants and portfolio.

Main responsibilities and tasks

• Manage procedures and systems to support the grants management with attention to the optimizations to increase effectiveness and accountability of programmes
• Support in each institutional donors projects proposal writing focusing on the programmes, financial and logistics requirements, proposal consistency among all components and compliance with the donors guidelines
• Monitor expenditures and financial procedures on institutional grants to guarantee the respect of donors’ requirements and compliance
• Support the preparation of budget amendments and variations to be submitted to donors’
• Upload and archive projects documentation on drive and on INTERSOS Management Platform (IMP)
• Maintain an up-to-date comprehensive DB of donors guidelines relevant to the mission. Maintain and update comprehensive online information management and filing systems, ensuring all relevant documentation and key communications are appropriately filed both for INTERSOS and partner grants
• Ensure colleagues have access to relevant records and information
• Support the use of grants/projects management tools to ensure accurate tracking of opportunities, reporting and programmatic adjustments through the project life cycle
• Support the Country Programme Coordinator with close monitoring and reporting on institutional and private grants spending and share concerns timely
• Assist with research and information gathering relative to proposal designs and development
• Perform monitoring visits and trainings related to the donors rules where required
• Ensure that information on donors communications, changes in regulations and meetings or events are disseminated
• As needed assist with daily administrative tasks including organizing online files, recording, and distributing meeting notes, setting up partnership meetings etc.
• Check reports and project documentation accuracy and prepare all the documentation to be provided to donors and related to reporting, and ensuring consistency among all components of the report, including financial and logistics.
• Perform other duties as may be assigned by the Country Programme Coordinator

Required profile and experience

Education

BA in International Affairs, Development, International Political Economy or other relevant field

Professional Experience

2 years of relevant work experience in grants or administrative departments preferably in the humanitarian sector

Professional Requirements

• Proposal writing knowledge
• Familiarity with international donors is preferred (including DG ECHO, AICS, OCHA)
• Strong writing and editing skills in English with close attention to detail
• Essential computer literacy (word, excel and internet)

Languages

• Fluency in English is required
• Fluency in Italian is an important asset

Personal requirements

• Good organizational skills
• Teamwork and cooperation
• Behavioural flexibility
• Results and quality orientation
• Understanding of humanitarian operations principles, standards and best practices
• Commitment to INTERSOS principles