Fluency in both French and English is required for this role.

ORGANIZATIONAL DESCRIPTION:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the largest humanitarian agencies in the world, providing relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict reconstruction support to victims of oppression and violent conflict. IRC has worked for over eight decades and today is involved in over 40 countries across the globe. We address both the immediate, lifesaving needs of conflict affected people in an emergency and the reconstruction needs in post conflict societies. IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and thorough accountability to those we serve. The IRC is an international agency with offices in London, New York, Berlin and Geneva.

IRC’s International Programs focus on various relief, rehabilitation, and development programs for refugees, internally displaced persons and those affected by conflict in different regions worldwide.  Each region is managed by a regional team that oversees the region’s country programs, headed by a Regional Vice President (RVP) and Deputy RD (DRD), and supported by a Regional Grants Director (RGD).  These programs focus on different sectors, including health; water and sanitation; children and youth protection and development; protection; gender-based violence protection; economic development; civil society development; community-driven reconstruction; and refugee camp management.

Background:  

The IRC’s Great Lakes region is one of the IRC’s newest, with the ambition of substantially increasing its portfolio across 4 countries (Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania). 

Where additional support is required by the countries in the region, the Regional Grants and Business Development Coordinator will deploy to work as part of the Grants team in country offices.  She/he may be deployed to act as a temporary grants coordinator, or to provide surge support to assist in the development of proposals as well as donor reports, and to perform general grants management functions during peak periods. The Regional Grants and Business Development Coordinator reports to the RGD and works closely with the Regional Business Development and the Regional Program Support teams as well as country office staff

We hope to find someone who has deep lived experience and cultural understanding of the region and to base this role within or in close proximity of the assigned region. The person will be based at home and have frequent travel to country programs within the region, for in-country assignments

Within the current COVID context, deployment actions may be conducted remotely, unless travel is approved by the RVP.

Major Responsibilities: 

The Grants and Business Development Coordinator will be assigned to support specific country programs and, when deployed, will be responsible for the following:

Proposal Development: 

• Work closely with country programs to support specific proposal development coordination and tasks, such as developing proposal workplans, writing non-technical sections, consolidating and editing written inputs, developing annexes, writing budget narratives, and other tasks as needed, The position will, provide additional bandwidth, or proposal lead, as required  by country programs and the regional team. 
• Facilitate design sessions in coordination with country grants teams with key country program, partners, regional and HQ teams.
• Ensure full partner participation in program design and proposal development (as well as in needs assessment where possible).
• Liaise with the Awards Management Unit’s global Business Development and Regional Program Support Teams to ensure proposals meet internal and donor standards
• When in country and in coordination with RGD and the Senior/Program Development Advisor (S/PDA), support the CD/DDP in the cultivation of donor relationships at the country level, and support country offices with desk research on upcoming BD opportunities, as directed. 
• Where necessary, support the management of partnership responsibilities including partner identification, partner due diligence and partner’s project capacity review (PPCR) in line with the IRC’s partnership management system’s (PEERS) requirements.

Awards Management & Compliance

• Work with country teams to develop donor reports and other award deliverables (including workplans and M&E plans, donor reports and their components) and ensure they are high quality, coherent, accurate and submitted on time in accordance with donor and IRC internal requirements, providing additional bandwidth, or backfilling for country grants staff when needed to support these processes. 
• Manage and/or support agreement and amendment reviews and negotiations,
• Provide technical guidance on donor rules and regulations to country team to ensure compliance,
• Proactively raise potential compliance issues to country team and keep senior management and regional team informed of any projected inabilities to meet contractual obligations and of spend rates/significant budget variances.
• Monitor and support the use of grants management tools such as monthly financial reports, procurement plans, and activity plans amongst program teams to ensure accurate tracking of implementation and timely alerts to potential challenges/obstacles
• Work with the country programs to support realignments and award modification processes; supporting award close out, as needed.
• Where support is required, act as focal point in facilitating the review of donor deliverables and approvals by technical advisors and other relevant persons at HQ 
• Train and support country programs’ grants teams and program staff on donor compliance, report writing, project and budget monitoring, record keeping, and grants management. 
• Support the implementation of IRC’s PEER system across all areas of sub-award management including pre-award (partner’s project capacity review, partner budget review, funding instrument selection, sub-award package reviews, sub-award amendments and ensuring specific donor requirements are captured in sub-award documents) and post- award (partnership project meetings, review and reflection [monitoring] and reports).
• Participate in and support the coordination of internal country programs’ grants meetings/Project Cycle Meetings, as well as donor and partner meetings, as needed

Job Requirements: 

• Degree in international development/affairs, public administration, or related subject
• At least five (5) years’ experience working with international non-governmental organizations in program development, grants management, and/or project management; preferably in Africa 
• Successful experience developing projects, writing proposals, and developing budgets for USG, United Nations, and European donors
• Experience working on business development and grant management in humanitarian/conflict or post-conflict settings 
• Excellent English and French written and verbal communication skills. 
• Enhanced interpersonal skills and ability to work in a diverse team setting 
• Ability and willingness to travel to remote areas (60% of the time)
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize high volumes of work to meet tight deadlines

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

L'IRC considère tous les candidats de manière égale, sur la base du mérite et sans préférence liée à la race, le sexe, la couleur, l'origine nationale, la religion, l'orientation sexuelle, l'âge, l'état matrimonial, le statut d'ancien combattant, les handicaps ou toute autre caractéristique protégée par les lois applicables.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

IRC et les employés de l'IRC doivent adhérer aux valeurs et principes contenus dans le IRC WAY (normes de conduite professionnelle). Ce sont l'Intégrité, le Service, l'Egalité, et la Responsabilité. En conformité avec ces valeurs, IRC opère et fait respecter les politiques sur la protection des bénéficiaires contre l'exploitation et les abus, la protection de l'enfant, le harcèlement sur les lieux de travail, l'intégrité financière, et les représailles.