Senior Advisor, GAC Framework

Background

International Rescue Committee is among the world’s leading nonprofit humanitarian relief and development organizations. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC’s mission is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. The organization is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through 26 regional offices in cities across the United States, we also help refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient.

We’re striving to build an organization that is a supportive, kind and inspiring place to work. We encourage bold leadership, innovation, creative partnerships and accountability to those we serve.

Having worked extensively with Canadian institutional partners over a number of years, IRC is establishing a presence in Canada and aims to strengthen its global mission through expanding its engagement with Canadian partners.

Crisis Response, Recovery and Development Department (CRRD)

IRC’s Crisis Response, Recovery and Development Department (CRRD) implements a portfolio of humanitarian relief, post-crisis recovery, and development programs. CRRD is made up of four teams, each with a specific area of expertise: the Awards Management Unit, the Emergency Unit, Program Delivery, and Technical Excellent. CRRD’s work focuses on five key areas: ensuring safety from harm, improving health, increasing access to education, improving economic well-being and ensuring people have the power to influence decisions that affect their lives. In all CRRD programs, there is a drive to address the unique needs of women and girls (who represent the majority of those displaced) – and the universal barriers they face. 

The Awards Management Unit (AMU) & Global Business Development Team

The Awards Management Unit (AMU), within which this role sits is a global department with the responsibility for identifying, securing, and managing funding from statutory/government donors.

AMU is composed of four teams: Donor Compliance and Partnerships; Global Business Development; Program and Award Support; and Strategy and Transformation. 

The AMU is a bridge between donors and country programs: providing expert technical advice to the country teams while maintaining portfolio-level visibility to ensure consistency and compliance and manage risk. This unit ensures that donor compliance policies and procedures are implemented consistently and supports all staff working across the award management cycle for all restricted funding from global government sources.

The Global Business Development Team is a key department within the AMU. The team leads IRC's strategic public business development working with country programs and technical units globally. The team strives to secure the right funds in the right way to achieve IRC’s impact strategy for our clients. Global Business Development is within the Awards Management Unit, providing both leadership and cross-organizational support to our institutional donor engagement, business development and awards management. 

The Purpose of the Role

The Senior Advisor, GAC Framework Manager is responsible for relationship management and engagement between IRC and Global Affairs Canada (GAC), including coordination and management of a new IRC’s-GAC three year humanitarian framework agreement (CFA).

As the Project Lead for the framework agreement, the Senior Advisor will work closely with regional and technical teams and with implementing country programs to ensure effective award management of this important program. The role will work through the project lifecycle of this award, including ensuring compliant delivery, strong communications, effective financial and narrative reporting and program adaptation as required.

Beyond management of the Humanitarian framework, the Senior Advisor will account manage the relationship with Global Affairs Canada (GAC),working closely with the Director of  IRC Canada through the development and execution of a multi-year donor engagement strategy including support for broader business development, and monitoring, innovation and learning. In so doing, this engagement will encompass far-reaching internal coordination with and guidance for technical, operational and global colleagues and with IRC leadership in Canada and other locations.

Scope and Authority

The Senior Advisor, GAC Framework Manager will have authority and responsibility for the oversight, coordination and management of the CFA agreement.

The position will be responsible for managing the relationship with the donor working in partnership with senior leaders in CRRD’s Program Delivery, Technical Excellence, Emergency, and AMU teams and with IRC Canada executive leadership wo ensure a ‘whole of IRC approach to the relationship to identify opportunities, address challenges and ensure strategic delivery.

Responsibility for Resources:

• Responsible for establishing strong coordination and knowledge sharing to set IRC up for success in its delivery of the GAC Global Framework with IRC.
• Responsible for tracking, reporting on progress against contractual milestones, trouble shooting and escalating critical issues or opportunities which have arisen.
• Write communications, reports, amendments and funding applications to the donor.

Key Working Relationships

• Reports to the Director, Donor Engagement (Global), AMU Global BD.
• Works closely with and supports the Director of IRC Canada and President of Canada
• Works closely with the Program and Award Support unit, regional and country program teams, and Technical Excellence (TechEx) teams involved in CFA implementation.
• Coordinates with other Frameworks & Global Donor Engagement Team members
• Supports and coordinates with other CRRD pillars, including AMU, Technical Excellence, Emergency Unit, and Program Delivery including country and regional offices globally.
• Works closely with IRC’s Finance Department.
• Closely coordinates and collaborates with the Advocacy, Policy and Solutions, Communications, IRC Canada team.
• Leads on GAC liaison working in partnership with executive leadership for IRC in Canada and leaders in IRC Inc.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Oversight and overall management of the GAC Canada Framework Agreement (CFA)

• In collaboration with the Director for Donor Engagement (Global) and the Director of IRC Canada, manage the IRC’s strategic relationship with GAC; build strong working relationships with key individuals within the donor head office and embassies where relevant; manage the IRC’s profile and engagement with the donor; and act as the key internal point of contact on the CFA.
• Manage and cultivate professional relationships with GAC, facilitating meetings and engagement as needed for the annual allocation process, providing updates on implementation and grants management issues and supporting IRC colleagues in preparing materials for briefing events and meetings. 
• Lead on contract negotiations with the donor on new agreements or agreement amendments.
• Coordinate the annual funding allocation process, including analysis of donor priorities, internal decision-making on strategic development of the partnership, as well as advising on, reviewing and collate inputs for expressions of interest, concept notes, and proposals.
• In coordination with the Program and Award Support and Technical Excellence (TechEx) teams, prepare and consolidate budgets, coordinate internal reviews, and approvals before submission.
• Lead on supporting any issues related to CFA project implementation and management of the GAC global portfolio.
• In coordination with the Program and Award Support unit, maintain continuous monitoring of performance and expenditure of the CFA portfolio, including specific support to country programs and Technical Units where needed and through field visits as appropriate.
• Ensure high quality, compliant and timely delivery of contractual requirements, including narrative and financial reports, amendment requests, critical updates, audits, evaluations, funding applications, and organizational updates.
• Develop internal processes and guidance documents and provide relevant and timely advice for the effective and compliant management of CFA awards.
• Provide guidance and advice on standard donor compliance rules and regulations as required by IRC’s internal policies and best practices.
• Develop and maintain internal systems for data management (e.g. Box, OTIS, Salesforce).
• Carry out regular lessons learned exercises to improve CFA processes and contribute to organization wide learning initiatives, including responsibility as Project Lead for carrying out Project Cycle Meeting routines including Project Learning Meetings.

Strategic Donor Engagement

• Lead development and implementation of the GAC Multi-Year Donor Engagement Strategy, coordinating meetings with cross-department operational teams, and leading donor relationships and engagement.
• Support of the Director of Canada to feed into an IRC Canada’s whole-of-Canada institutional engagement strategy, encompassing GAC humanitarian and development funding and other institutional donors
• Represent the IRC at donor meetings and conferences, presenting the organization’s work; undertake direct representation with donor officials and support the development of the IRC’s donor relationships.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of donor strategies relevant to IRC’s work, such as funding priorities, geographical interests and political climate.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of IRC’s position on GAC, including its funding portfolio, business development pipeline, implementation and compliance issues, risks, influencing aims, and senior-level HQ-HQ engagement.
• Support the development and maintenance of tools and resources that improve donor engagement and relationship building across the organization.

General

• Contribute to AMU/Unit workplan and delivery of specific projects.
• Contribute to the overall strategic relationship led by the Director for IRC Canada.
• Promote and facilitate cross department collaboration, including with the Regional Program & Award Support Teams, and ensure regular liaison between Finance Department(s) and AMU.
• Play an active role in the global IRC network as required, with a particular emphasis on maintaining effective partnerships between IRC headquarters, regional, and country offices.
• Other duties as assigned.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Demonstrable understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming
• Ability to work effectively under pressure
• Ability to build strong working relationships and work collaboratively and effectively with program and field staff from a distance
• Proven ability to operate in a complex organization, across functions and work collaboratively as part of a diverse team.
• Organized self-starter and able to handle competing priorities, deadlines and identify strategic and critical issues
• Solid organizational skills, detail oriented, ability to multi-task and prioritize tasks, and to learn quickly
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; the ability to successfully and effectively liaise with people within and across departments in a multi-cultural environment
• Both a team player and independent performer in a very fast-paced environment
• Good IT skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)

Experience:

• Solid understanding and experience of Global Affairs Canada
• Experience of other more governmental humanitarian and development donors and their requirements
• Demonstrated experience in building and cultivating relationships with institutional donors
• Substantial proposal writing and portfolio management experience
• Experience in developing, negotiating or managing framework proposals / or multi-region / consortia proposals for development and humanitarian donors
• Strong experience in quality assurance, writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports with excellent attention to detail

Desirable:

Experience, Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Master’s degree, preferably in a subject related to humanitarian and development work (International Relations, Refugee or Migration Studies, Economics, Development Studies, Public Policy, etc.), or equivalent experience
• Experience in developing countries, preferably in the context of an NGO or International Organisation (UN, NGO, or major donor or similar)
• Experience of working in a complex organisation, with multi-tier reporting relationships
• Languages relevant to IRC and to the GAC partnerships, particularly French, though other working languages (Spanish, Arabic, Kiswahili) are a strength.

Compensation: (105,000 - 145,000 CAD annually). Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget.  Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.