Grants Coordinator - Maternity Cover

Roles and Responsibilities:

The purpose of the Grants Coordinator position is to provide essential grant management support to the GM and HoP in delivering quality programmes in line with the NRC Country Office (CO) strategy, Project Cycle Management and Plan of Action. 

General responsibilities 

• Adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures and consideration of NRC global and regional strategies when executing functions related to this role

• Develop and maintain overview of all grants, donor requirements, rules and regulations, and internal and external deadlines, including proper filing of grant documents (including through the grants database – on Cycles dashboard and internal file trees)

• Coordinate the development of donor applications and reports, as well as ensuring donor compliance and quality control

• Contribute to the development and revision of funding proposals, budgets and donor reports

Specific responsibilities 

Proposal Development

• Support in developing/and or reviewing concept notes and grants proposals in collaboration with Core Competency (CC) Specialists Advisers. 

• Contribute to the creation of an evaluation tool to benchmark the quality of proposals and reports, guide future processes, and identify areas for improvement, including current Grants Tracker.

• Support the GM and HoP with drafting fundraising strategy and gap analysis.

Due Diligence Assessments, Grant Agreements, and Partnerships

• Support in the oversight and review the signature of grants agreements including those for implementing partners. 

• Support on NRC Ethiopia’s due diligence assessment when and as required by an existing or new donor;

• Support on organisational assessments of Partners as per NRC’s Grants Management procedures;

Oversight of internal Grants Management Processes

• Grants Management Cycle. Support in overseeing and ensuring efficiency, quality and smooth running of the entire grants cycle management, harmonizing approaches and ensuring adequate feedback is provided for the continued development of grants function 

• Support on the coordination with the Regional Office on all Country Office Grants 

• Establish and improve systems and tools in line with PCM. Create tools to simplify the processes of proposals and reporting. 

Donor compliance, reporting, and capacity building

• Maintain overview of all grants, donor requirements, rules and regulations, and internal and external deadlines, including filing of grant documents (using the grants database - forthcoming) 

• Be familiar with all NRC organisational and donor portfolio compliance requirements and ensure high quality management of grants through meeting of KPIs and deadlines;

• Support and advise programme colleagues with queries related to donor compliance on grants within portfolio;

• Coordinate with other departments (i.e. programmes, finance, M&E) to ensure all documentation required is ready and available for audits (e.g. vouchers, distribution lists);

• Coordinate with Area Managers in the close out of grants, including project close-out meetings;

General Administration

• Document, analyze, and share learning from proposal and reporting processes, and compliance with donor rules and regulations. Contribute to continuously improve internal grant management systems and processes. 

• Ensure all documentation required to be kept by donors is available within the Grants department by maintaining high standard information management/filing systems;

1. 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. 

a. Professional competencies 

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

Generic professional competencies for this position: 

• Between 3-5 years of relevant experience within field of expertise
• Relevant experience from the project management in the humanitarian sector
• Experience from working with humanitarian and development donors
• Good understanding of donor rules and regulations 
• Skills and experience in report and proposal writing

• Strong communication, coordination and interpersonal skills 

• Strong analytical skills (data and financial)

• Ability to mediate in high-stress scenarios with competing interest 

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English 

• Above average computer skills

Context related skills, knowledge and experience (shall be adapted to the specific position): 

• Knowledge of the context in Ethiopia
• Knowledge of Amharic considered an asset 
• Ethiopian nationals and females are strongly encouraged to apply
• Between 3-5 years of relevant experience in programme development, management, fundraising and design in the humanitarian sector, preferably with refugee/IDP-related emergencies; 
• Graduate Degree in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Finance and Accounting preferable
• 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 Ethiopia 
• 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 

 Behavioral competencies 

• Planning and delivering results

• Managing resources to optimize results

• Influencing

• Handling insecure environments

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Geneva leads NRC’s representation with the IASC and UN agencies, and coordinates donor engagement with the UN and Swiss donors. NRC strives to assist and protect vulnerable and displaced people during crises, especially in situations of conflict. Established in 1946, NRC is an independent, humanitarian, non-profit, non-governmental organisation working in around 31 countries with approximately 14’000 staff. NRC employs a rights based approach, challenging those with responsibility to uphold the rights of displaced people set out within national and International Laws. NRC endeavors to secure the acceptance of local stakeholders for activities and is committed to the principles of humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality.

NRC seeks to engage with all relevant actors in order to promote the full respect for the rights of displaced and vulnerable people; secure and maintain access for humanitarian operations and promote the achievement of durable solutions. NRC Geneva, with the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), are NRC’s primary presence in Geneva.