Grants and Partnerships Manager (Maternity Cover)

IRC Poland: On 8 February 2022 three IRC staff arrived in Poland to initiate scoping of local and national actors in Warsaw, Lublin, and Rzeszow as well as across the Western, Central, and Eastern regions in Ukraine. When on 24 February Russian troops entered eastern Ukraine with the aim of toppling the government led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and conflict-affected individuals started fleeing to neighboring countries, the IRC established a presence in Poland to build partnerships with local state, civil society, and private sector actors to respond to needs of arriving refugees. As of April 26, over 5.3 million people have fled Ukraine seeking safety with nearly 50% (2.9 million) of those displaced fleeing to Poland.

Reports indicate almost all arrivals in Poland are women and children, including those that are unaccompanied and separated, as well as older persons. IRC Poland’s goal is to ensure the survival of emergency-affected people in a way that enables their safety, dignity, and empowerment. Working in the program areas of economic recovery and development and safety, the IRC will accomplish this by working to see that 1) People affected by the war in Ukraine are able to meet their immediate and basic needs with safety and dignity and avoid harmful coping mechanisms and 2) People affected by the war in Ukraine are protected and supported to recover from the consequences of violence and displacement through equitable access to services and information.

JOB OVERVIEW:

Job Overview

The Grants and Partnerships Manager is a key position supporting the Poland Country Program. With the overall objective of achieving high-quality and compliant programming, the main goal of this position is to adequately supporting the management a partnership and grants portfolio in Poland. The Grants and Partnerships Manager will coordinate the daily management of prime and sub awards under their management and invest in their sustainable growth for the Poland portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

GRANTS (40%)

Grants management

-Support the use of grant/project management tools (grants snapshots and grants tracker, etc.) to ensure accurate tracking of opportunities, reporting and programmatic adjustments through the project life cycle.

-Maintain up-to-date, comprehensive database of donor guidelines relevant to the program portfolio, including support to local partners.

-Support the Grants and Partnership Coordinator with close monitoring of grants and partnerships results and spending and flagging concerns in a timely manner.

-As requested, work closely with other departments to proactively support any other grants management processes across the portfolio.

-Provide support to the Grants and partnership officer to maintaining and updating the IRC’s Opportunity Tracking & Implementation System (OTIS).

-Provide support to the Grants and partnership officer to maintaining and updating online information management and filing systems, ensuring all relevant documentation and key communications are appropriately filed both for IRC and partner grants.

-Ensure IRC colleagues have access to relevant records and information.

Project Cycle Management (PCM)

-Developing and maintaining the schedule for PCM meetings per IRC standards,

-Acting as country program focal point for PCM guidance,

-Organize, prepare and independently facilitate relevant PCM meetings, write meeting notes, and follow up on action points with relevant departments.

-Conduct training of relevant staff and partners on proposal development, PCM and reporting.

Reporting

-Lead the timely coordination, writing, revision and dissemination of high-quality reports to donors, including partner reports.

-Support the Grants and Partnership Coordinator to ensure that information on all donor communications, changes in regulations, and meetings or events are disseminated as needed.

-Facilitate the producing of lessons learned reports via working with communications and MEAL, and program staff.

Proposal development and fundraising

-Conduct research and information gathering to proposal design and business development.

-Support coordinate process around proposal development, including writing and reviewing relevant sections and working with relevant departments.

-Support the Grants and Partnership Coordinator to maintain a clear  track of all donor engagement, new opportunities, pipeline and submissions.

-Support development of external communication tools as relevant for donor visits/meetings on IRC Poland as a whole and IRC Poland programs in particular

-Identify and support in the development of donor opportunities and relationships nationally.

Coordination and Communication

-Ensuring proper review of donor facing materials, including proposals and reports, by HQ, TAs, MEAL, DDP/CD etc.

-lead the communication with country program staff or partnerships regarding any changes to awards, including proposal approvals, amendment approvals, D1 updates, or key donor needs,

-Keeping written publications and internal planning files aligned to IRC branding guidelines, and

-Support coordinating donor meetings and preparing written ad-hoc updates for donors, particularly those for critical context shifts

Donor and IRC compliance

-Cascade the guidance on donor regulations during both proposal development as well as upon award start-up,

-Facilitate the creation and maintaining of a compliance cheat sheet that is accessible to all staff with key award considerations based on the agreement, and

-Support responding to compliance queries, coordinating with the grants and partnership coordinator and HQ regional grants team as needed for complex cases

PARTNERSHIPS (60%)

Promote Effective Partnerships

-Promote and apply the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS).

-Contribute to building a strong understanding of PEERS throughout the Poland Country Program through the provision of information to relevant departments and organization of relevant capacity-building activities, to ensure that IRC’s partnership principles, skills, and approaches are applied by staff across programs and projects with partners.

-Facilitate systematic partner feedback on IRC’s management of the partnership relationship, including the documentation of, and response to partner feedback.

Partnership Management

-Help Country Program in the assessment of the CSO landscape and mapping and engaging appropriate and diverse partners (including QNGOs, LTGs, diaspora led organizations, INGOs, etc.).

-Supervise the partnership vetting and due diligence processes with relevant departments.

-Ensure that the partners project proposals are compliant with IRC and donor standards.

-Lead the overall management of all partnerships in the designated portfolio and support the Partnership Working Group with facilitation and coordination of all partnership management processes to ensure well-planned, timely, coordinated, and coherent partnership management on the CP level.

-Support the CP in the facilitation of Partnership Project Opening, review and Closing Meetings.

-Coordinate partners’ narrative and finance reporting processes, ensuring that relevant departments provide timely and appropriate feedback.

-Act as the IRC Poland focal point and main contact for partnerships, communicating information with the team and escalating questions or concerns as needed.

-Support the Grants and partnership officer in maintain complete and organized partnership files according to PEERS requirements for each partner and regularly update Partnership Project Tracker / Monitoring Schedule.

-In compliance with PEERS, overview the process sub-award agreements and agreement modifications on IRC’s Opportunity Tracking Information System (OTIS) in a timely manner, ensuring that the relevant IRC units (in-country and at the HQ) provide their inputs and approvals.

-Support the Partnership Working Group to ensure that the Monitoring Visits to the partners are planned timely and effectively.

-Ensure that the partner support plans are implemented in line with the Partnership Agreements and monitor the engagement of the partners in the implementation of PA Special Conditions.

-In collaboration with the Partnership Working Group, ensuring that the close out of partnership projects are performed in alignment with PEERS and Partnership Agreements compliance requirements.

-Perform other relevant tasks within the Grants and Partnership Department, as agreed with the Grants and Partnerships Coordinator.

Minimum Qualifications:

Mandatory:

·BA degree or equivalent in International Development or Affairs, Finance, Business or related field; Advanced degree a plus – or equivalent work experience

·Minimum of 5 years’ of professional experience with I/NGOs or local/international public institutions

·Demonstrated successful experience working with partners

·Knowledge of key donor rules and regulations European context

·Highly organized, close attention to detail, and ability to effectively prioritize tasks in a fluid environment

·Ability to work well independently but also coordinate with other teams

·Willingness to travel to field offices and partner locations in Poland.

·Professional fluency in spoken and written English, and Polish; able to communicate concisely.

·Strong experience with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint Excel, and Outlook

·Strong organizational and time-management skills; proven ability to prioritize and deliver on time

·Ability to manage competing priorities, meet demanding deadlines and work under pressure in unstable security environments

·Excellent verbal and written communication skills as well as, an overall ability to be clear and concise in all communications

·Excellent inter-personal and intercultural skills

·Ability to work both independently and in a dynamic, cross-functional global team structure

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Grants and Partnerships Coordinator

Position directly supervises: Grants and Partnerships Officer

Other Internal and/or external contacts: the position regularly corresponds and attends meetings with external and internal audiences, thus a strong ability to communicate and maintain positive working relationships is highly desirable for this position.

Internal: Technical Coordinators, Partnerships Department Staff, Finance team, Supply Chain team, etc.

External: IRC’s partners, Local donors, public and private stakeholders.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Standard Responsibilities:

All IRC employees have a responsibility to Promote and actively participate in initiatives and efforts to build team engagement, inclusion and cohesion in IRC Poland and to Foster ongoing learning, honest dialogue and reflection to strengthen safeguarding and to promote IRC values and adherence to IRC policies