Grants and Information Manager

This is a replacement 2 year unaccompanied position based in Hargeisa (approx. 70%) with visits to Concern offices in Mogadishu, Baidoa and Nairobi. The Salary Grade 3, €41,108 – €45,676.

You will report to the Programme Quality and Business Development Director and you will directly line manage the Communications & Information Officer.

You will collaborate closely with Programme Coordinators and Managers, Programme Directors, MEAL Coordinator, Finance and Logistics teams, FCRM Manager and Partnership Advisor. You will work closely with HQ Desk Officer (DO) and ensure effective coordination with HQ Technical Advisors. You will also liaise closely with Consortium counterparts on proposals and grant-related matters, ensuring efficient information flow.

Concern has a large, growing and dynamic portfolio of programming in Somalia/Somaliland, covering Community Resilience, Durable Solutions to protracted displacement, Emergency Response and institutional Systems Strengthening, in the sectors of Livelihoods (rural and urban), Health & Nutrition, WASH, Education, Social Protection/Cash Transfers. With an annual budget of over €20m, our key donors include FCDO, EU, ECHO, Irish Aid, Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, German Foreign Office, World Bank, UN, plus Trusts & Foundations grants. The Grants & Information Manager plays a key role in supporting effective management and continued growth of the Country programme grants portfolio.

Start date: September 2024.

Purpose

To lead efficient and quality grants management processes within Concern Somalia/Somaliland, and actively support the growing country programme grants and contracts portfolio, ensuring compliance to internal and donor requirements, supporting and building staff and implementing partner capacity on the same. Key responsibilities include: support to effective management of the donor portfolio, identification of funding opportunities, coordination and oversight of development of quality concept notes, proposals and reports and their timely submission, information and knowledge management to promote learning, ensuring production and appropriate use of materials for external communications to different audiences and promote smooth grant cycle management processes, including oversight of grants management system (GMS) with the HQ desk officer. S/he will take lead on the implementation of the communication and advocacy strategy in collaboration with the Programme Directors.

Responsibilities include:

Grants Management and reporting

• Oversee Concern Somalia/Somaliland’s grants portfolio, keeping respective managers and colleagues informed and updated on donor policies and compliance requirements.
• Set up and facilitate timely grant opening and closure meetings, ensuring participation of programme, finance, logistics and HR colleagues and partners as relevant.
• Maintain the country grants matrix; update and share regularly with programme and finance focal points and HQ Desk Officer (DO), and lead on ensuring timely, accurate, quality reporting to donors.
• Review reports, concept notes and proposals to ensure high quality of content and formatting; liaise with HQ DO and Technical Advisors for inputs and ensure comments are taken on board.
• Keep up to date with relevant donor regulations and provide relevant managers with correct proposal and reporting templates and guide them on specific donor policies and compliance requirements. Lead on drafting of relevant sections of proposals and reports.
• Coordinate with finance team to ensure Grant Owners and team members understand donor grant/contract compliance rules and requirements.
• Coordinate with Finance team to ensure effective and cohesive development and review of financial and narrative reports and proposal budgets
• Be aware of contractual visibility and communications requirements of the different donors and collaborate with programme teams to ensure these are met (as appropriate to context).
• Facilitate the creation of data-sharing arrangements between Concern and other agencies, and ensure compliance with these arrangements.
• Participate in project specific review meetings to keep abreast of progress against contractual deliverables including outputs and outcomes.
• Coordinate with MEAL Manager and Programme Coordinators to ensure grant MEAL obligations are met timely and per donor requirements.
• Represent Concern at donor, consortia and other meetings as required/requested. Document and share information arising with Programme Directors and Grant Owners as relevant.
• Coordinate and contribute to review and development of donor, partner and consortia draft contracts, sub-agreements and amendments.

Programme Development and Funding

• Provide analysis and advice to programme staff on donor funding streams and specific donor funding calls to help contribute to informed decision-making
• Coordinate the Go/No-Go process for in-country decision-making on new funding opportunities
• Work with programme and finance teams to develop cohesive, quality concept notes and proposals, ensuring internal and external deadlines met and technical expertise/knowledge incorporated.
• Arrange and facilitate proposal design processes/programme development meetings, ensuring participation of relevant colleagues from across the different sub-teams, implementing partners and consortia partners as necessary
• Lead in drafting pre- emptive concept notes in collaboration with programme coordinators and managers.
• Maintain a funding tracker to monitor donor pipeline opportunities and, in support of PC/PMs, proactivity identify funding gaps to be filled.
• Lead Country programme grant cycle management processes via GMS, and using grants management quality standard checklists, with support from HQ DO as needed
• Maintain folders on GMS of key organisational information required for proposals, and of all prior proposals submitted, for staff induction, learning and future reference purposes (with DO support).
• Lead development and roll out of the country funding strategies, informed and supported by HQ DO and IFSU as appropriate.
• Support Programme Directors, PCs and PMs to effectively mainstream cross-cutting issues and quality standards.
• As a member of the PQ Unit, support the capture and use of learning to inform adaptive management and future programme development.

Information and Communications Management

• Act as the country programme’s Digital Workplace Coordinator, updating and maintaining Somalia’s information on the organizational intranet
• Produce and promote guidelines for use of the country GMS and Sharepoint, and track status to ensure clear and complete documentation of grants and programme documents are accessible to colleagues in all Somalia/Somaliland offices.
• Implement and update the country’s Communications and Advocacy Strategy and Plan, updating in-country social media channels regularly, track posts and upload content to internal database at HQ.
• Coordinate with PCs, PMs and MEAL team to ensure collection and proactive use of beneficiary case studies, photos, field reports and other information to demonstrate effectively to different audiences the achievements (and challenges) of programmes implemented.
• Review materials to ensure quality and adherence to Dochas Code of Conduct and other guidelines, and liaise with CD, PD and DO for correct level sign off.
• Ensure production of quarterly (or as agreed) Programme Updates, Newsletters, Briefing Papers and information Packs for distribution to donors, clusters, working groups, supporters etc.
• Lead production, compilation and editing of country programme Annual Report and internal updates/reports for PD and CD; develop versions for dissemination to relevant country stakeholders.
• Support documentation of key Country level internal meetings and workshops with clear and concise minutes and action points.
• Represent Concern at cluster coordination meetings and thematic working groups as requested.

Human Resource Management and Capacity Development

• Line manage the Communications & Information Officer and support their on-going professional development
• Support identification of needs for capacity building within individuals and teams, including local partners: source opportunities and, where relevant, directly lead training to build capacities in grants compliance, report writing, proposal development, documentation, case studies, and other relevant topics as agreed with Line Manager.
• As a member of the country team, actively promote compliance with Concern’s Programme Participants’ Protection Policy, the Code of Conduct and all associated policies, as well as the CHS and country Accountability Plan

Required Skills and Experience

Essential

• Educated to degree level in International Development, Humanitarian Action or another relevant discipline.
• At least four years INGO experience, including at least two years working in a grants management role.
• Familiarity with key humanitarian and development donors, and their specific reporting and compliance requirements (e.g. ECHO, EU, FCDO, OFDA, USAID, Irish Aid, UN, World Bank, etc.)
• Understanding of mobilising funding from and maintaining relationships with Foundation donors.
• Significant experience of leading proposal development and strong familiarity with proposal and reporting formats of various donors.
• Ability to thrive and act independently in a high-pressured, results-focused, dynamic environment.
• Fluent spoken/written English language skills; proven excellent report and proposal writing ability.
• High attention to detail in reviewing and inputting to reports, proposals and other documents.
• Solid experience supporting the development of budgets and ability to review expenditure against narrative reports.
• Experience identifying and documenting lessons learned, development of quality case studies and/or other communication resources for different audiences.
• Highly organised, with experience developing work-plans and tracking tools.
• Strong computer skills, particularly Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
• Working knowledge of monitoring and evaluation processes and tools.
• Good networking abilities, strong interpersonal communication and presentation skills, ideally in multicultural contexts and with colleagues/partners/stakeholders at different levels.
• Team player, flexible and capable of working effectively collaborative with colleagues from different backgrounds.
• Willingness to travel regularly to (and sometimes spend extended periods) within Somaliland and in Mogadishu, Baidoa and Nairobi.

Desirable

• Postgraduate degree in a relevant discipline.
• Knowledge of main institutional donor priorities for programming in Somalia and/or Horn of Africa.
• Programmatic experience and/or knowledge of some of the following approaches and sectors: Emergency Response, Resilience, Durable Solutions, Health, Nutrition, Urban/Rural livelihoods, NRM, DRR, Education, WASH
• Demonstrated commitment to learning and using learning to strengthen practice.
• Understanding of and commitment to principles of accountability, equality (esp. Gender), centrality of protection, and conflict sensitivity
• Professional knowledge of quality standards (e.g. CHS, Red Cross Code of Conduct, SPHERE); able to support colleagues in their use.
• Experience working in a consortia arrangement and/or with local implementing partners.
• Facilitation and/or training experience; keenness and ability to build capacity of colleagues (in e.g. in donor requirements, proposal/report writing, critical analysis, quality standards, comms materials).
• Willing to take on new responsibilities, within reason and if needed, especially in emergency scale- up.
• Experience working in an insecure and volatile environment, ideally in the Horn of Africa.
• Experience working in Somalia/Somaliland would be a distinct advantage

How to apply

Application submission

All applications to be submitted through the Concern website at Concern Careers tendersglobal.net Grants & Information Manager . CVs should not exceed 4 pages, and must be accompanied by a cover letter (max 1 page) highlighting fit to the above criteria. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the position may be confirmed before the closing date, if a strong candidate is identified.

Female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.