Deputy Director Grants & Accountability

Across two refugee camps, Dadaab and Kakuma, and four counties (Garissa, Turkana, West Pokot and Nairobi), the IRC implements programs in the sectors of health, Nutrition, governance & rights, and women’s protection & empowerment, Economic Recovery and Development, as well as providing emergency response through a network of four field offices and a range of institutional and community-based partnerships.

Scope

Across the organization, the IRC Kenya has a diverse donor portfolio comprising of European, US donors and private foundations. The Deputy Director for Grants and Accountability is a central figure within the IRC program management and support infrastructure and a member of the country senior management team. Under the supervision of the Country Director (CD), the DDGA focuses on effective grants management and accountability, including oversight of monitoring and evaluation and supporting the inclusion of client voice in program design and review.

The DDGA will be responsible for significant elements of IRC SAP100 strategy implementation and management of key humanitarian donor relationships together with the CD.

Responsibilities

1. Business development

• Work closely with the CD, Deputy Director for Programs (DDP), technical coordinators and field coordinators to develop business development plans to achieve the strategic aims laid out in the country Strategic Action Plan (SAP)

• Ensure proposal development systems are in place for management, programs, finance and operations departments to produce timely and quality submissions

• Work with the CD, Deputy Director for Programs (DDP), technical coordinators, and grants team to lead proposal development, writing, editing and coordinating and consolidating technical input

• Lead liaison with headquarters-based focal points during the proposal development phase

• With the mentorship of the Country Director, represent the IRC Kenya with humanitarian donors

2. Grants management

• Work with grants team, finance, supply chain and program colleagues to ensure uptake of and adherence to the IRC2020 Budget vs. Actuals initiative, improving the ability of management staff to track project implementation

• Provide training, technical mentorship and oversight for Grants Managers, technical coordinators and field coordinators to fulfill their responsibilities with regard to report and proposal review and submission, as well as donor compliance.

• Lead effective channels of internal and external communications relating to the effective management of grants

• Ensure communication with IRC Kenya and HQ colleagues is constructive, clear, and organized

• Support the grants team and field coordinators to ensure proper post-award management of grants based on both donor and IRC policies.

• Develop a deep understanding of donor policies, regulations and procedures and train other country team members in these areas

• Review grant agreements and contracts to identify compliance issues and contribute to the implementation of appropriate solutions as necessary

• Ensure an information management and filing system exists and is maintained by Grants Managers; this ensures all donor contractual documents, reports, key correspondence etc. are appropriately filed in up-to-date soft and hard libraries available as meaningful in IRC Kenya offices

• Ensure donor reporting requirements, financial & management tracking, and reporting tools exist and are updated regularly

• Development, review and submission of all donor reports by Grants Managers is monitored and supported to ensure high quality, accuracy and timeliness

3. Accountability, monitoring and evaluation

• Lead the M&E team and work with them to revise the way IRC Kenya measures quality programming and responds to stakeholders. This will be facilitated by ensuring:

• In coordination with the Measurement Action Coordinator, lead effective roll-out and implementation of the Measurement Initiative, a key element of the IRC2020 strategy.

The two elements of this initiative are:

1. Monitoring for Action (MfA), which ensures 9 key M&E standards are met throughout the planning, implementation and close-out parts of the program cycle

2. COMET, a new data platform that tracks progress on all internal and external indicators

• Close coordination with the DDP on the Client Responsiveness objective, ensuring feedback from clients is responded to with positive program change.

• Summarize outputs of our accountability, monitoring and evaluation work to ensure they are easy to communicate to all stakeholders including senior managers, clients, government and donors.

Requirements

• Fluency in English in addition to superior writing/editing and budget skills

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in international development or related subject

• At least 5 years of experience working in grants management and business development, ideally in a humanitarian and development context

• At least 3 years of experience leading M&E functions within a humanitarian organization

• Sound knowledge of donor regulations (in particular ECHO, US Government donor, UN agencies, FCDO)

• Good communicator with strong organizational, time management and analytical leadership skills

• Excellent inter-personal, cultural and diplomatic skills

• Working in a Non-governmental organization will be an added advantage.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Equality, Service, Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

The IRC is an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status