POSITION: Grants Manager
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Monrovia, Liberia
GRADE: 10
POSITION REPORTS TO: Director of Finance and Operations
Position is open to Liberian Nationals Only
The USAID Good Governance Activity (GGA) will support the Government of Liberia (GOL) in building a well-functioning governance system with effective DRM and fiscal decentralization, budget transparency, and local governance frameworks. An Integrated Governance Systems Approach will serve to facilitate synergies across the Activity’s three objectives:
- Domestic Resource Mobilization improved; the Activity will prepare the GOL to analyze potential tax policy reports, implement the transition from GST to VAT and other tax administration improvement and enable greater fiscal decentralization
- Budget Transparency Improved; the Activity will increase the GOL’s systems for budget and financial reporting and sharing to work towards greater measures for fiscal transparency
- Local Development and Service Delivery Improved; the Activity will help the GOL continue building local systems and local governments’ core competencies to improve the functionality of Country Service Centers and the counties as a whole.
1. Objectives of the assignment
S/he will advise and assist in the design, development, and oversight of grants management policies, procedures and practices. S/he will provide policy guidance and interpretation for staff as well as grantees, and analyze and evaluate grant applications, proposals, and awards to ensure adherence to grants management policies. S/he will also ensure proper negotiation of the terms and conditions for grants and views and analyze budget estimates for allowability, allocability, reasonableness and consistency.
2. Tasks & Responsibilities
Management
- Responsible for providing training, guidance, and direction to project grants staff on planning, implementation, and compliance of grant policies, procedures, and instructions.
- Directly supervise Grants Officer
- Use the FOM to ensure that policies, procedures, and/or practices are being met.
- Responsible for ensuring documentation requirements are met with various departments i.e. technical, grants, and finance.
Planning and Implementation
- Oversees grants management in coordination with the Grants Team.
- In collaboration with the COP, develops and implements the use of the GGA grants manual.
- Participates in work planning and activity planning to align the grants program with overall project activities.
- Leads the development of timeline and details required for any activities needing grants; conduct market search and price analysis in coordination with technical staff.
- Coordinates with staff requesting grants to prepare Request for Applications (RFAs) to solicit applications and assess the capacity and readiness of potential grantees.
- Manages the evaluation and selection committee process for grantees.
- Prepares the required approvals to ensure compliance with internal and external contract and policy requirements.
- Prepares grant agreements and amendments, explaining terms, conditions, roles, and responsibilities. Ensures that identified weaknesses in initial grantee assessments and related requirements are incorporated into the agreements explicitly/clearly with the required monitoring and actions on the part of the grantee.
- Organizes kickoff meetings and apprises grantees of the responsibilities, requirements and policies and procedures to be followed during the life of the grant.
- Ensures post award grant management in accordance with relevant regulations and generates reports of status of grant activities, such as forecasting payment, inventory, amendments, close outs, and sector specific data (i.e. monthly and quarterly reporting).
- Coordinates with Finance and Technical Teams to ensure on-time deliverables, payments, and cash flow requests by monitoring milestones and payment schedules.
Compliance
- Provides training, guidance, and direction to project staff on planning, implementation, and compliance of grants policies, procedures, and instructions, specifically their role in the process.
- Reviews grants for completeness and appropriateness with the work plan.
- Ensures all required documentation is uploaded in the grants database TAMIS.
- Reviews grant milestones and requests for payments against grant agreements to ensure compliance.
- Trains on and enforces policies and procedures to prevent improprieties, intentional and unintentional.
- Leads the audit of grant files no less than annually.
- Other tasks as assigned.
3. Qualifications
- A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Economics, Governance, Public Policy, or other relevant field
- At least five years professional experience in grants management of donor funds
- Demonstrated excellent oral, written and interpersonal skills
- Fluency in English with excellent writing skills.
- Knowledge of decentralization and governance topics in Liberia is a plus
- Ability to communicate/collaborate effectively across teams, cultures, including with team members based in other countries and time zones.
Women and persons of minority groups are encouraged to apply!
How to apply
Interested candidates are invited to apply via this link: https://fs23.formsite.com/OLJTgx/irjepeypu1/index