Programme & Grants Officer

About the role: This is a one-year, unaccompanied role based in Kabul, Afghanistan with a salary of Grade 1 (€31,110 – €34,566.)

You will report to the Programme Director, and coordinate closely with the Country Director to support proposal development and grant reporting efforts for the country portfolio. You will furthermore work closely with the Emergency Program Quality Manager, the M&E team and the Program Managers for the different programmes.

We would like you to start in March 2021.

Your purpose:

The Programme & Grants Officer will provide leadership of the acquisition of funding in proposal development and design for high-value, competitive, complex funding opportunities. You will also support the creation and promotion of strategic alliances with donors, multilateral agencies, and other NGOs for purposes of resources mobilisation. You will represent Concern in proposal development meetings with partners under the Country Director and Programme Director’s instruction. In coordination with Programme Director, Country Director, represent Concern at coordination meetings during certain periods spent in Kabul and will also travel to the field for support in the development of new programme proposals and programme start up meetings etc.

You will be responsible for:

Grant Acquisition (70%)

• Lead the coordination and writing of concept and proposal development with internal and external stakeholder.

• Work closely with finance and technical staff to develop the narrative and budget as per the donor requirements.

• Manage the grant submission and acquisition liaising with Programme Directors and Country Director to ensure necessary programme, financial and technical inputs.

• Research potential funding opportunities and source and develop strategies for accessing new funding.

• Ensure and support updating capacity statements for key sectors in collaboration with Programme Director, Project Managers and the Desk Officer.

• Identify new grant funding for programmes and projects which are aligned to the strategic priorities of Concern Worldwide.

Grant compliance (10%)

• Organize kick off meetings for all new grants.

• Keep a filing system for all current and recent grants.

• Support country team in ensuring the Grant Management System (GMS) is optimised.

Knowledge and information management (10%)

• Ensure the development and improvement of internal business processes for effective grant acquisition & management & contribute to knowledge management to promote learning.

• Assist in creating a clear and structured communication strategy to engage with corporate partners.

• Follow up the uploading and updating of the GMS with new proposals and reporting.

• Compile and analyse relevant information to inform proposal design and promote learning.

• Map and compile programme information for sharing as required with internal and external stakeholders.

• Edit and compile internal monthly and annual programme reports.

Partnership Development and Donor Relations (10%)

• Assist the Programme Director in tracking the donor landscape (research, analyse, develop, track relationships with new and current donors) to organize prepositioning meetings with donors and key partners.

• Assist in updating partner mapping and identify critical partners for consortia to prepositioning for grants, including but not limited to locally based INGOs and local NGOs.

• Contribute to the development of a funding plan.

• Ensure donor meetings are scheduled and post donor visit action plans are followed up and implemented in a timely manner.

• Liaise with partners and donors, throughout the grant application process and during the project cycle as appropriate. This will likely be mostly for UN donors.

• Assist the Programme Director in participating in external events such as donor meetings, working groups, etc. as required.

• Work closely with finance, HR, programs and system to conduct due diligence and prepare formal agreements with new partners.

• Coordinate with the National Program Coordinator and cluster meeting focal points to disseminate key points, attending where appropriate, and coordinate responses to cluster requests, in partnership with the Programme Director.

Other

• Adhere fully to the commitments and rules of Concern’s Programme Participant Protection Policy and Code of Conduct (P4 and CoC), and ensure that any abuses or suspected abuses are reported and or dealt with as appropriate.
• Any other tasks agreed with the Line Manager.

Your skills and experience will include:

ESSENTIAL

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

• Bachelor degree in Social Sciences, International Development, International Humanitarian Aid, International Relations or a relate
• At least 2 years of demonstrated field-based experience with grants management including experience working with USG and European Union, UN agencies, private foundation and corporations.
• Experience in project design and writing proposals to a high standard.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching, as well as the ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

• Very high attention to detail, with experience refining and editing professional-level content

• Self-starter who can work independently under pressure.

• Advanced writing skills in English

• Full professional competency in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

**

Desirable:

• Experience working in Afghanistan, understanding of Afghanistan humanitarian context, cultural and political sensitivities.

• Experience writing and managing the development of multi-million USD humanitarian proposals

• Experience working in an insecure, volatile and remote management environments.

• Excellent planning, organisation, analytical, problem solving, communication and interpersonal skills.

• Track record of success in grant fundraising, including donor relations and proposal writing

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.