Grants Manager at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the shelter, emergency food security, and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Grants Manager

Job Identification Number: 5835
Locations: Maiduguri, Borno
Job Schedule: Full time
Job Category: Donor relations
Reports to: Head of Programmes
Supervision of: Grants Coordinator/s
Travel: % 40%
Duration and type of contract: 12 Months

Role and Responsibilities

• The purpose of the Grants Manager position is to provide essential grant management support to the Head of Programme in delivering quality programmes in line with the NRC Country Strategy, PCM and Plan of Action.
• The Grants Manager will contribute to achieving high-quality programming by ensuring effective grants management including, compliance requirements, reporting, timely and quality proposal development, and internal and external communication.
• S/he ensures NRC programme/support teams are fully informed of relevant donor compliance regulations and NRC procedures, manages donor and other external reporting and coordinates grant revisions.
• S/he also supports donor communication by ensuring effective channels of internal and external communications relating to grants are established and respected.
• The Grants Manager supports the development of proposals and opportunity identification, as required.

Generic Responsibilities

• These responsibilities shall be the same for all positions with the same title. The responsibilities shall be short and essential.
• Details belong in the Work and Development plan.
• Adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures
• Line management of Grants Coordinators, including the development of the staff members, if applicable
• Develop and maintain an overview of all grants, donor requirements, rules and regulations, and internal and external deadlines, including the filing of grant documents (including through the grants database - forthcoming)
• Coordinate the development of donor applications and reports, as well as ensure donor compliance and quality control
• Contribute to the development and revision of funding proposals, budgets and donor reports
• Be updated on donor priorities and track and share relevant calls for proposals
• The document, analyze, and share learning from the proposal and reporting process, and compliance with donor rules and regulations
• Contribute to continuously improving internal grant management systems
• Provide an internal help-desk on donor-related issues, including organising and deliver training in donor rules and regulations, as well as proposal and report writing
• Coordinate the development and distribution of internal reports
• Contribute to PCM training and usage of the NRC PCM framework in the CO as delegated by the Head of Programme
• Support external donor audits
• Represent with relevant partners and donors as delegated

Specific Responsibilities:

• These responsibilities shall be adapted to the particularities of the job location and context, phase of operation, strategic focus and type of intervention.
• This section shall be revised whenever a new employee is hired or the context changes significantly.

Proposal Development:

• Build positive working relationships with other teams in the Country Office to coordinate and support the development of high-quality proposals using relevant NRC Grant Management tools and guidance (Go/ No-go checklist, proposal development calendar, procurement plan, internal budgeting tool);
• Coordinate proposal development for NRC Nigeria’s portfolio of donors;
• Work closely with budget holders, programme teams, and finance as well as other stakeholders to compile an accurate proposal budget and assess whether all necessary costs have been included.

Grant Agreement:

• Review donor contracts, flag any points that might challenge NRC’s procedures, and support contract negotiations;
• Work with the finance team to support/advise them in the development of internal budgeting tools and communication with field offices on allocated budget;
• Together with the Grants Coordinator, summarise in writing, key reporting and compliance requirements (compliance checklist) including potential issues for Grant Opening Meetings;
• Coordinate with the head of programmes, respective budget holders and finance in order to ensure budgets are correctly allocated and aligned;
• Work with the relevant Area Manager/ CCS/PMs to ensure Grant Opening Meetings are arranged and take place within 30 days of the grant being activated.

Donor Reporting and Monitoring:

• Coordinate the finalisation of donor reports ensuring consistency between narrative and financial reports and that they meet quality standards;
• Highlight critical financial issues such as under/overspends to Head of Programmes, finance and Budget Holders, and follow up;
• Provide technical support to relevant CCS/PMs and Budget Holders on monitoring issues and budget revising (if required);
• Collaborate with the finance team to ensure donor budget lines as per the contract are in line with the financial system (i.e. amounts have not changed as a result of new income instalments at different rates being received);
• Monitor grant payment schedules and income requests for respective portfolios, working closely with finance to ensure this is done in a timely manner;
• In collaboration with the Head of Programmes, Media and Communications Coordinator, contribute to the development of country factsheets and other relevant information pieces for donor visits/meetings.

Donor Compliance:

• Be familiar with all NRC organizational and donor portfolio compliance requirements and ensure high-quality management of grants through the meeting of KPIs and deadlines;
• Support and advise programme colleagues with queries related to donor compliance on grants within a portfolio;
• Work with other departments (i.e. programmes, finance, M&E, Compliance Coordinator) to ensure all documentation required is ready and available for audits (e.g. vouchers, distribution lists)
• Coordinate Close Out of grants in the respective portfolio;
• Assist in training and capacity building related to NRC Grants Management/donor compliance as required.

General Administration:

• Ensure all documentation required to be kept by donors is available within the Grants department by maintaining high standard information management/filing systems;
• Visit Regional and/or field offices to support with capacity building of staff and partners and monitoring purposes;
• Support the Grants Coordinators to ensure correct and up-to-date maintenance of Grants Tracker.
• Any other tasks delegated by the HoP.

Critical interfaces:

• By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:
• Project planning: CC Specialists, Finance, M&E, Head of Programme, Country Director, Regional Programme Advisor, Institutional Partnership Advisors
• Implementation: Area Manager, CC Project Managers, M&E Manager

Scale and Scope of the Position:

• Staff: 2 Grants Coordinator
• Stakeholders: Donors, local NGOs, governmental bodies, and others as delegated.
• Information: Intranet, Share Drive
• Legal or  compliance: Donor compliance

Qualifications / Competencies

• Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results.
• They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

Professional competencies:

• These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

Generic professional competencies:

• Post Graduate Degree in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Finance or Accounting;
• Minimum of 4 years of experience from a grants management position in a humanitarian/recovery context
• Experience from working with humanitarian and development donors
• Good knowledge of humanitarian donor guidelines and procedures
• Documented skills in formulation of project proposals and reports
• Detail-oriented and strong organizational skills
• Communication skills
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal
• Context/ Specific skills, knowledge and experience:
• Knowledge of the context in Nigeria preferred
• Minimum 4 years of relevant experience in programme development, management, fundraising and design in the humanitarian sector, preferably with refugee/IDP-related emergencies;
• Previous experience in the compilation of donor proposals and reports;
• Strong analytical skills (data and financial);
• Knowledge of donor rules and regulations;
• Knowledge of the political situation in Nigeria
• Proficiency in the use of Word and Excel;
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal;
• Strong communication, coordination and interpersonal skills
• Ability to mediate in high-stress scenarios with competing interest

Behavioural competencies:

• These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job.
• NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies and the following are essential for this position:
  • Planning and delivering results
  • Managing resources to optimize results
  • Influencing
  • Ability to work under pressure and with limited supervision
  • Culturally sensitive and coping with a changing environment
  • Handling insecure environments.

Performance Management

• The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies, in accordance with the NRC Performance Management Manual.
• The following documents will be used for performance reviews:
  • The Job Description
  • The Work and Development Plan
  • The Mid-term/End-of-trial Period Performance Review Template
  • The End-term Performance Review Template
  • The NRC Competency Framework.

Application Closing Date
1st August, 2022 (21:00).

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here for more details (Doc)