Grants Manager

Background:

The Justice Center for Legal Aid (JCLA) was founded in 2008 on the belief that legal protection should be a basic right accessible by all, regardless of their economic vulnerability. Our intervention relies on three main pillars: Prevention through legal awareness, Response through legal services and Advocacy for institutional change .

The Purpose of the Role :

• Manage and supervise the Grants Management Unit, assigning tasks to team members, provide guidance and evaluate their performance.
• Lead the fundraising process by identifying grants and projects in alignment with the organization’s strategy, programs, and needs.
• Continuously update and maintain the database of current and potential donors, along with funding opportunities for JCLA’s programs and services, while ensuring all relevant data and information are accurately recorded and are up to date.
• Implement and manage self-assessment /due diligence processes required by donors, ensuring compliance with each donor’s specific requirements and tools.
• Oversee and participate in the development of project proposals, ensuring timely submission, preparing all necessary supporting documents, developing work plans, and coordinating with donors to refine proposals and plans in line with project goals and the organization’s strategy and programs.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director and the Financial Manager, and relevant program staff to design projects, develop key performance indicators (KPIs), and to approve implementation plans and budgets.
• Review draft agreements and contracts with donors to ensure alignment with initial agreements and that they serve the organization’s interests and operational needs.
• Supervise the submission process of foreign funding approval requests, review and follow up on required documents until a Cabinet decision is made, and inform all relevant parties of any updates.
• Maintain, update and organize all project documents including technical documents, plans, budget and regulatory guidelines, in accordance with established procedures, and ensure approved copies are continuously shared with relevant units.
• Coordinate and organize project kickoff meetings to explain project plans, activities, tasks and assign responsibilities across units. Clarify donor and funding requirements, including but not limited to, visibility and publicity, expenditure, and procurement guidelines.
• Organize and coordinate project update meetings, oversee the documentation of proceedings, disseminate updates and ensure compliance.
• Update monitoring tools with the latest information based on project developments.
• Manage and supervise the Grants Management Unit, assigning tasks to team members, provide guidance and evaluate their performance.
• Lead the fundraising process by identifying grants and projects in alignment with the organization’s strategy, programs, and needs.
• Continuously update and maintain the database of current and potential donors, along with funding opportunities for JCLA’s programs and services, while ensuring all relevant data and information are accurately recorded and are up to date.
• Implement and manage self-assessment /due diligence processes required by donors, ensuring compliance with each donor’s specific requirements and tools.
• Oversee and participate in the development of project proposals, ensuring timely submission, preparing all necessary supporting documents, developing work plans, and coordinating with donors to refine proposals and plans in line with project goals and the organization’s strategy and programs.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director and the Financial Manager, and relevant program staff to design projects, develop key performance indicators (KPIs), and to approve implementation plans and budgets.
• Review draft agreements and contracts with donors to ensure alignment with initial agreements and that they serve the organization’s interests and operational needs.
• Supervise the submission process of foreign funding approval requests, review and follow up on required documents until a Cabinet decision is made, and inform all relevant parties of any updates.
• Maintain, update and organize all project documents including technical documents, plans, budget and regulatory guidelines, in accordance with established procedures, and ensure approved copies are continuously shared with relevant units.
• Coordinate and organize project kickoff meetings to explain project plans, activities, tasks and assign responsibilities across units. Clarify donor and funding requirements, including but not limited to, visibility and publicity, expenditure, and procurement guidelines.
• Organize and coordinate project update meetings, oversee the documentation of proceedings, disseminate updates and ensure compliance.
• Update monitoring tools with the latest information based on project developments.
• Approve internal evaluation and reporting forms and tools, to be used by different units regarding project progress on a regular basis
• Closely coordinate with the Finance Manager to monitor project spending limits and levels for each project, while ensuring compliance with deadlines for reports and final deliverables submission to donors and governmental entities.
• Monitor the progress and workflow of ongoing projects, ensuring that projects and donor requirements related to completion and delivery timelines are met.
• Collaborate with program managers to document challenges, bottlenecks and success in implementation, and develop a response plan for any issue or challenge that may arise.
• Track requests for payment, ensuring that the grant agreement requirements for each payment request are met. Coordinate the submission and follow-up of payment requests in collaboration with the finance department.
• Participate in managing sub-grants provided by the organization to partner organizations, from the project conceptualization phase through its closure.
• Guide team members of the Grants Management Unit, assign tasks, monitor the unit’s progress, review drafts of reports and statistics, and approve them before submission to donors and governmental entities.
• Maintain a comprehensive statistical database of all programs and units, including services, activities carried out by the organization, based on reports submitted regularly by the different units to the Grants Unit.
• Oversee the implementation of project impact measurement activities in accordance with donor requirements and/or project implementation plans, ensuring clear evaluation of activities and outcomes.
• Perform any other related tasks assigned by the line manager.

Practical Experience:

• At least 8 years of experience in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), proposal writing and project design, with a minimum of 3 years in a supervisory role

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (preferably a Master’s degree) in Management, Project Management, Industrial Engineering, or any other related field.
• Preferably, hold a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

Skills:

• Fluency in Arabic and English
• Leadership skills, management skills and supervisory skills
• Verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work under pressure and ability to distribute tasks and workload effectively
• Microsoft 365 proficiency (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and cloud-based productivity solutions like OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.)