Grants Officer at Creative Associates International

Creative Associates International provides outstanding, on-the-ground development services and forges partnerships to deliver sustainable solutions to global challenges. Its experts focus on building inclusive educational systems, transitioning communities from conflict to peace, developing sustainable economic growth, engaging youth, promoting transparent elections and more. Creative is recognized for its ability to quickly adapt and excel in conflict and post-conflict environments.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Grants Officer

Location: Adamawa

Background
Creative Associates International (Creative) is a dynamic and fast-growing professional services firm that specializes in international development in the areas of education, democratic transitions and stabilization in post-conflict environments. Based in Washington, DC, the firm has a field presence in 30 countries worldwide with a strong and diverse portfolio that includes global contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other clients including the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Defense. The firm has earned a solid reputation among its clients and missions worldwide and is well-regarded by competitors and partners alike.

Program Description

• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has contracted Creative Associates International to implement the Northeast Connection activity to strengthen the resilience of communities vulnerable to violent extremist infiltration and conflict. By targeting communities not yet under the control of violent extremist organizations (VEOs), this activity will seize the opportunity to mitigate the grievances that make communities vulnerable to violent extremism, while building social cohesion within and across communities in northeast Nigeria.
• In addition to helping northeastern Nigerians create a stronger foundation against the violent extremist and conflict threats, the activity is designed to develop local capacity to respond to emerging threats. In order to enable flexible and adaptive management of the activity in a complex environment, the activity includes a focused effort on research and analysis of the threats and coordination around programmatic opportunities and responses.

Position Summary

• The Grants Officer (GO) is responsible for supporting a distinct portfolio of program activities. This includes developing grant ideas in collaboration with the Program Team, supporting and monitoring grant implementation, closing grants and maintaining all required electronic and paper files.
• The GO will closely coordinate with Senior Grants Officer, Program Managers, and the Program Team to ensure that projects are developed and implemented in a manner that advances project goals and current strategy objectives. This position is based in Maiduguri.

Reporting & Supervision:

• The GO in Mubi reports to the Senior Grants Officer in Yola, and work in collaboration with the Nigeria Program Manager in Maiduguri and Damaturu.

Primary Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Manage all aspects of assigned grant portfolio throughout all stages of project development, implementation, and closure. Manage associated timelines and donor reporting requirements for individual grant activities. Maintain internal trackers, such as the grant status and closing trackers. Monitor grant portfolio pipeline of financial commitments and disbursements.
• Serve as a key point of contact for information on related project issues, coordination with partner organizations and sociopolitical and development trends.
• Develop project ideas in coordination with Program Manager and Program Team.
• Manage strategy objectives/action plan for assigned grant portfolio.
• Draft project ideas with estimated budgets and present them in internal reviews.
• Prepare potential activities in grant database incorporating project objectives, activities, deliverables, monitoring and evaluation plan, media plan, budget, and timeline.
• Ensure compliance with donor and organizational policies, procedures, and regulations, throughout activity implementation. Ensure thorough, audit-compliant documentation. 
• Monitor project progress against the approved project implementation timeline; identify delays and work closely with Program Team to ensure projects stay on track.
• Track overall project development and identify trends to document success stories and lessons learned.
• Engage in overall political analysis, impact assessment, and participate in strategy development to advance the project goals.
• Review and contribute to Final Evaluation Reports and prepare project documents for close-out.
• Coordinate with staff in all departments to complete assigned tasks; engage in regular coordination with Program, Procurement and Finance units to quickly resolve implementation issues.
• Travel to project sites for follow up/support on activity implementation, as needed.
• Perform other tasks, as assigned by the Senior Grants officer

Required Skills & Qualifications

• University degree in Public Administration, Economics, Finance, Business Management or a related field is required.
• Three (3) years of experience in grants management is required.
• Minimum of five (5) years of general working experience is required.
• Prior experience with internationally funded projects is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience reviewing and negotiating budgets, reviewing financial reports, preparing for and monitoring audits of grantees, and file management.
• Proficiency at using Microsoft office software: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. is required.
• Ability to work under pressure and efficiently handle multiple tasks.
• Ability to work under own initiative or as a part of a team.
• Experience of working in a conflict environment is a plus.
• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Fluency in Hausa and one of the languages spoken in North-East Nigeria is preferable Kanuri.

Application Closing Date
3rd May, 2021.