Manager-Grants and Contracts-Manager

Key skills

Contracts

Agreements

MIS

Amendments

Monitoring

Donor Intelligence

Additional/Preferred Skills

Project management

Salesforce

Preferred Qualifications

BSc/MSc

LLB

ICRISAT seeks applications from dynamic Indian Nationals for the position of Manager / Senior Officer – Grants and Contracts.  The incumbent will be based at ICRISAT Headquarters in Patancheru, Telangana State, India and would report to the Director – Business Development.

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi- arid or dryland tropics has over 2 billion people and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT and its partners help empower these disadvantaged populations to overcome poverty, hunger and a degraded environment through better agricultural production systems.

ICRISAT is headquartered at Patancheru near Hyderabad, India, with two regional hubs and eight country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT envisions a prosperous, food-secure and resilient dryland tropics. Its mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics. ICRISAT conducts research on its mandate crops of chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet in the arid and semi-arid tropics. The Institute focuses its work on the drylands and in protecting the environment. Tropical dryland areas are usually seen as resource-poor and perennially beset by shocks such as drought, thereby trapping dryland communities in poverty and hunger and making them dependent on external aid. Please visit – www.icrisat.org

Responsibilities:

Under the direction and supervision of the Director – Business Development, the incumbent will be responsible for:

1. Contracts review and process

·Grants and Contracts Management of ICRISAT, including ICRISAT‘s eight locations in West and Central Africa; and East and Southern Africa.\

·Draft and process MoUs/MoAs, Partner Sub-Grant Agreements, and Project Agreements for execution by the Deputy Director General-Research and Director General.

·Draft Amendments/Novation Agreements, Consortium Agreements, Hosting Agreements, Host-Country Agreements, etc.

·Critically review the Contracts and Project Agreements, and flag issues that do not conform to ICRISAT policies.

·Effectively negotiate with Donors and Partners to resolve and redraft the terms and conditions of the agreements that are non-conforming with ICRISAT policies and practices.

·Oversee the monitoring of the existing agreements and grants with investors to ensure timely and prompt reporting to the development investors.

2. Contracts and grant management

·Maintain, update and manage repository of the grants and contracts in the SalesForce portal. Share institutional information and past project experiences to scientists for including in the project proposals as required.

·Oversee and support the Grants Management Officer for background notes, donor flyers, aide memoire, donors database, newsletters and alerts

3. Donor Intelligence and MIS

·Oversee, along with Manager – Grants Management, the intelligence data needed for fundraising strategies.

·Contribute and oversee generation of MIS reports on projects pipeline, grants and contracts periodically as required for the management

4. Due Diligence

·Conduct due diligence of new NGOs and Private Sector partner institutions to assess their eligibility for collaboration with ICRISAT in bilateral projects. Process to renew due diligence approval of existing NGOs and Private Sector Partner Institutions after expiry of term.

Requirement and Essential criteria:

·Master’s degree in Agriculture/Science with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (LL.B.) is essential

·At least 8-10 years of experience in contracts and grants management in an international or national research organization since qualified in law

Competencies:

·The candidate should have very intrinsic understanding and interpreting contractual terms.

·Proficiency in drafting contracts, agreements, all related legal documents and important communications to the donors and partners is essential.

·Should be well versed in Contracts Law.

·Closely liaise with Financial Services, Scientists, Program/Regional Directors, DDG-Research, IP Unit, and Legal Cell with regard to review and processing of all contracts and agreements.

·Should be fluent in written and spoken English.

·Should be familiar with the use of Microsoft Office software, databases and project management systems.

·Ability to proactively liaise with the researchers at all ICRISAT locations across different cultures.

·Advise scientists in the preparation and processing of proposal packaging per donor requirements; and draft and provide letters of support, etc.

·Ability to facilitate multi-locational administrative processes/procedures.

·Hands-on problem-solver with strong analytical abilities.

·Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and as a team member

·Affinity with team-building approaches, capacity strengthening and facilitation of training.

·Ability to manage tasks independently or with limited supervision to meet agreed timelines

·Experience with CG Systems will be an asset.

General:

This is a contractual role for a period of 36 months (3 years’).

How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 18 August 2022, with their latest Resume, and the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable about their professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged; however only short listed candidates will be contacted.

ICRISAT is an equal opportunity employer