Partnership Officer

Background:

The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian international NGOs, provides relief, rehabilitation and development support to vulnerable people and communities over 30 countries. We began work in Ethiopia in 2000 in response to severe drought in Ethiopia’s Somali region and are currently providing assistance to Ethiopians and refugees in six regions in Ethiopia, implementing emergency and development programs in health, water and sanitation, economic recovery and development (ERD), women’s protection and empowerment, education, child protection, and multi-sectoral emergency response.

Scope

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The Partnerships Officer is responsible for helping to identify and assess new partners, facilitating and tracking sub-projects and agreements, and highly involved on sub-grant monitoring and evaluation. A large portion of IRC Ethiopia’s partnerships/sub-grants portfolio falls within the emergency response program but includes other sectors and projects as well. The position is based in Addis Ababa but will require travel to the field in Ethiopia and occasional travel overseas for conferences and trainings. The position will report to the Partnership Manager. The Partnerships Team sits in the Grants and Partnerships Unit of IRC Ethiopia.

Essential functions

Partnerships/Sub-Grant Processes:

• In collaboration with the Partnership Manager, institutes the global PEERS policy. Includes supporting efficient and responsive processes, sound recordkeeping systems and sub-award management.
• Participates in and supports in all Partnerships meetings, including weekly team meetings, monthly Finance & Partnership Coordination Meetings.
• Maintain an up-to- date partnership tracker, and monitoring schedule – for respective portfolio of sub awards.
• Contribute to the mapping of potential partners for emergency response, with a particular emphasis on local organizations.
• Take part in updating of IRC’s database that catalogues all past and potential future partners on a continual basis.
• Support the operational and technical staff as needed in the organization and facilitation of capacity and risk assessments for potential partners.
• Coordinate the internal sub-award proposal review and approval process as needed.
• Assure high-quality implementation by supporting sub-grant opening, review, and closing meetings.
• Support the development of partnership templates and contracts/agreements in conjunction with the Supervisor.
• Work closely and coordinate with IRC Operations, Finance and Grants & Partnership Departments to ensure compliance with grant/sub-grant requirements.
• Lead and facilitate capacity building of partner NGOs and local community organizations. Contribute to development of training materials.

Partner Monitoring:

• Support emergency response and other internal teams in supervising sub-grantees/partners for donor compliance and progress against objectives, contributing to monitoring tools development as needed.
• Liaise with sub-grantees for timely submission of accurate financial and activity reports.
• Collaborate closely with relevant departments so that all reporting templates are updated and shared with sub-grantees on a timely basis.

Documentation and Reporting:

• Maintain comprehensive electronic files for the projects, as well as general partner files, ensuring they are streamlined and well organized.
• Collaborate with the relevant technical teams, review monthly internal reports, compile and submit partner reports into overall donor report, and support government reports/agreements as needed/requested.
• Support data analysis of existing sub-grant portfolio and potential partner commitments.

Representation and Special Tasks:

• Support the Partnerships Coordinator and Partnership Manager as needed to ensure all deadlines are met on time and that all products are of high quality.
• Take responsibility for miscellaneous projects not falling under responsibilities underlined in this job description, as requested by the Partnership Coordinator and/or Partnership Manager.
• Support the Partnership Manager in communication with relevant HQ departments including finance, compliance, and regional programs units.