Position:  Regional Awards and Reporting Officer – Asia and Africa

Location: Africa, Asia, Europe (Remote)

Reports : Directly to Regional Awards Manager (RAM) with functional line to Senior Regional Program Officer (SRPO)

Duration: 12 months

About Relief International: Relief International (RI) is a leading nonprofit organization working in 18 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

RI combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

RI includes four corporate members of the RI alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI- Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure. In addition, RI has country offices registered as affiliates of one of the alliance members in an additional 18 countries.

Key Job Functions:

·         Is a key member of the newly established global Awards Management team (direct reporting line to Regional Awards Manager) and Regional Program team (dotted reporting line to Regional Senior Program Officer or Regional Program Officer).

·         Focal point for all awards processes (grants and contracts) for the Regional Support Office (RSO). This includes serving as primary point of communication between country offices (COs) and Global Support Office (GSO) on new and existing award management processes.

·         Support the Regional Awards Manager in ensuring overall donor compliance of awards among all Country Offices in the Region, providing technical support when requested.

·         Support the Regional Senior Program Officer in the review of donor reports and other contractual deliverables, and assist with their submission (as needed) in respective donor portals.   

Drive award management processes

·         Support in agreement review process for new awards, engaging all necessary RI staff at Country, Region and headquarters levels.

·         Support and co-lead program compliance start-up calls/meetings including developing compliance summaries for new awards. Ensures the readiness for project audits, with a keen eye and special attention to donor compliance.

·         Ensure that required sub-agreements for any sub-grantees under RI are appropriately developed and reviewed

·         Leads the filing system for awards in Award Management unit (AMU) box folders including ensuring audit-ready file management.

·         Participate in portfolio review calls especially ensuring that NCEs (if required) and modifications are triggered in a timely manner

·         Triggers the project setup and modification in RI financial database (Netsuite) under the supervision of the Regional Awards Manager.

·         Participate in regular pre and award close-out call for compliance, including advising on audit readiness, disposition of equipment, other donor requirement and close-out forms sign-off.

·         Works with Awards Management leadership to design, roll out, and maintain the award management system in the Region.

·         Liaise with relevant departments for any Award related issues.

Provide support to compliance oversight

Under the Regional Awards Manager’s delegation, guide the Country Offices (particularly Awards Management Focal Points) on donor regulations at key phases of the award cycle, especially:

• At the proposal development stage, participate in the review of the budget to ensure compliance with the donor’s guidance.
• award obligations and requirements, including donor’s engagements, payment schedules, etc.
• Assist the RAM and SPO to maintain up to date regional Award Tracker (Matrix).
• Provide oversight of country office partner Due Diligence, drafting and review of RI’s partnership and contractual modalities e.g. Teaming Agreement, MOUs and sub-award agreements.
• During implementation, alongside the Regional team, including Program, HR, Operations and Finance staff: review donor compliance, including allowable costs, advise on allocation flexibility within the budget, and advise on procurement in coordination with the Operations team.
• Review the modification requests prior to submission to the donor and process, per RI Internal procedures,  the amendment when received from donor
• Participate to regular Grants Management check-ins with Country Offices together with Regional Program Team and to monthly portfolio/BVA review and advise on compliance issues related to the award status.
• Assist the Country Offices in sub-grantee management to ensure compliance with donor rules and regulations and RI internal procedures, including development of sub-awards, due diligence process, etc.
• Assist the RAM in identifying capacity-building needs related to compliance, in developing training plans and tools, and in implementing them.
• Ensure that RAM is kept informed on all compliance issues affecting the grants.
• Participate in training and other capacity-building events as required by the RAM. 

Provide support to donor reporting and communications

Under the Regional Senior Program Officer’s delegation and request, contribute to high quality and accurate donor reporting and RSO-led communication initiatives. Specifically, the RARO would:

• Provide thorough reviews and copyediting of key donor reports or contractual deliverables, with a keen attention to detail to ensure content is of high quality, accurate, and consistent prior to final submission.
• Provide constructive feedback through the above-mentioned reviews so as to support RI’s teams in the region further develop and improve reporting as needed.
• Ensure timely and accurate submission under respective donors’ dedicated platforms, upon request from and in coordination with the RSPO.
• Assist with reviews and copyediting of RI internal and external communication material content.

Others:

• Works closely with Country teams and other departments to improve, as needed, processes and tools.
• Any other tasks assigned by the line manager.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Bachelor Degree required
• Minimum 2 years’ work experience in grants management for an international organization
• Knowledge and proven experience with US, European, and other international government donors
• Experience tracking award budgets, ensuring donor compliance and timely, accurate spending
• Experience with grants management software/databases
• Excellent English narrative writing and oral skills
• Experience and ability to work within a newly established department and multi-location team
• Excellent communication skills including written and oral communications
• Ability to work well under pressure in a fast-paced team environment
• International work experience in developing countries preferred
• International travel up to 20% required.

RI Values:

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities. We value:

• Inclusiveness
• Transparency and Accountability
• Agility and Innovation
• Collaboration
• Sustainability