Grants and partnerships manager

MAIN OBJECTIVE:
Working closely with programme and support departments at the coordination level, as well as with field teams, the Grants and Partnerships Manager's main role is to lead the development of proposals, act as the focal point for the grant management cycle and ensure accountability to donors. They are responsible for managing and monitoring funding contracts throughout the contract cycle (from the identification of the funding opportunity to the closure of the project). The Grants and Partnerships Manager participate in the search for funding, prepares documents, monitors the implementation of interventions, transmits information to ensure compliance with SI practices, and supervises the preparation of reports and contract amendments where necessary. They also coordinate between the various departments involved in drafting project proposals and reports. 
If there is no Reporting and Communications Officer (RCO) position for the mission, reporting & communication tasks are performed by the Grants and Partnerships Manager. 
MORE DETAILS: 
GRANT MANAGEMENT AND COMPLIANCE 

• Organises and facilitates project kick-off, pre-closure and closure meetings to communicate key donor obligations and requirements and provide essential information to relevant staff. 
• Works with the support department to review donor contracts and sub-grant agreements sent by the principal recipient and flags any potential issues of non-compliance with SI policies or any discrepancies with the approved proposal before sending them to headquarters for review and signature. 
• Disseminates tools and methodologies and shares best practices and advice to improve grant management practices in country offices. 
• Coordinates with relevant staff on contract amendment requests, budgets, scheduled reviews and/or payment requests to be sent to donors. 
• Serves as a point of contact for all questions regarding grant management and accountability to donors. 
• Ensures compliance with donor procedures throughout the grant cycle and builds the capacity of existing and new staff in internal accountability tools and donor procedures. 

DRAFTING OF PROJECT PROPOSALS 

• Coordinates interdepartmental exchanges during proposal writing, as well as the participation of potential consortium partners. 
• Organises green light/red light meetings and proposal launch meetings, drafts scoping emails to initiate the development of key proposals, and ensures that relevant staff receive essential donor information, guidelines and templates. 
• Coordinate the development of the scoping note (internal SI process) and its submission to HQ for validation 
• In partnership with the RCO, monitors the reverse schedule and key deadlines for drafting concept notes, proposals and reports. 
• Works with programme teams and other team members to improve the national team's capacity to develop proposals. 
• Responsible for compiling and consolidating concept notes and proposals. 
• In partnership with the RCO, is responsible for submitting concept notes/proposals/amendment requests (especially if submission is via a platform).

PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT 

• Works with the coordination team and headquarters (units in charge of donor accountability and internal audit) to ensure that verification and due diligence processes for potential partners are carried out in accordance with internal guidelines. 
• Coordinates responses to due diligence exercises conducted by donors or principal recipients. 
• Supports and enforces the application of the Partnership Implementation Framework and the revelant tools and processes  
• Is responsible for drafting teaming agreement, sub-grant agreements with implementing partners when SI is the lead partner and ensures that all contractual obligations of the donor are explicitly mentioned in the agreement. 
• Ensures that project modifications and amendments to the grant agreements are properly reflected in the partnership agreements. 
• Together with the technical coordinator and headquarters, is responsible for reviewing the subcontracting agreement sent by the lead recipient. 
• Where applicable, and in close liaison with other departments, supports the definition of the partner capacity building plan at the beginning of the project, and monitors the plan throughout the project cycle. 

REPORTING 

• Responsible for supervising the reporting processes followed by the RCO to ensure that documents are submitted within the deadlines. 
• If there is no RCO position, the Grants Manager is directly responsible for coordinating the reporting process and ensures that interim and final reports (including annexes) are compiled, consolidated and submitted. 

COMMUNICATION:  

• If there is no RCO position, the Grants Manager is directly responsible to monitor contractual obligations in terms of communication and visibility, to coordinate with the field and coordination teams to collect the information needed to develop internal and external communication materials, and supports the organisation and supervision of external visits, particularly by photographers or journalist. 

FUNDING STRATEGY 

• Assists the Grants Coordinator/Country Director in developing a funding strategy for the country office and contributes to the strategic development of the mission. 
• Actively monitors and identifies funding opportunities from SI institutional donors, new institutional donors and/or private donors based on the defined funding strategy, particularly when mandatory co-funding is required. 
• Analyses funding opportunities and their eligibility under SI's global and country office strategies and co-financing requirements. 

DONOR ENGAGEMENT 

• Alongside the Country Director and/or Grants and Partnerships Coordinator, contributes to the external representation of the organisation to donors and partners. 
• Oversees the development of communication materials (by the RCO) for donors and other external partners. 

EXTERNAL AUDITS 

• Depending on the configuration of the country office, monitors and communicates upcoming external audit deadlines and liaises with external audit services at headquarters to coordinate the audit process. 

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COORDINATION 

• Participates in internal coordination meetings and external meetings when relevant or requested by management. 
• Promotes smooth communication between the field and the coordination team by ensuring that information is exchanged in a timely manner. 

MANAGEMENT 

• Responsible for the proper implementation of HR policies and processes to ensure that the number of people and the sum of knowledge required for the activities for which they are responsible are available:   
• Analyses, quantifies and qualifies the human resource needs of their team.   
• Recruits and ensures the integration of the team for which they are responsible.   
• Evaluates the performance of their team members,   
• Trains and supports team members.   
• Leads and communicates with their team. 

INTERNAL CONTROL 

• Is responsible for the compliance of the documents they produce 

FILING AND ARCHIVING 

• Is responsible for filing and archiving the documents they produce in accordance with internal procedures. 
• Ensure archiving of submitted reporting & proposal package documents (all versions) as well as any other relevant document (including donors and partners communication) on APF and the Country Office sharepoint   

FIGHT AGAINST ABUSE 

• Implements measures to mitigate the risk of abuse 
• Creates and actively collaborates in the establishment of a working environment that prevents inappropriate behaviour. 
• Participates in communicating the existence of SI's ethical framework. 
• Respects at all times the protection of information exchanged in the context of reporting and its processing. 

PARTNERSHIPS 

• May contribute, in line with their role and responsibilities, to the verification of SI implementation partners 
• May contribute to the implementation of a plan to support and strengthen SI partners 
• May participate in monitoring the actions of partners in relation to their role and responsibilities. 

This list is not exhaustive and other related tasks (within the scope of the position) may be assigned at the request of the line manager.