Awards Manager at Save The Children

Job ref.: 190001CJ
Location: Abuja
Employee Status: Fixed Term
Reports to: Chief Of Party STEER
Staff directly reporting to this post: Sub-Grants Coordinators

Role Purpose

• To ensure excellent financial accountability to the programme and to USAID and working closely with the country finance and grants management team to support overall effective donor contract management and ensure the programme meets its contractual obligations.
• The Awards Manager is also responsible for providing effective and efficient support, advice, expertise and training to finance and grants team and other team members in the STEER project.

Key Areas Of Accountability

• Work with the programme managers and Finance Team to ensure that project implementation and reports are of high quality and meet donor's requirements and conditions and that the narrative and budgets are consistent, well presented and accurate and are submitted by the due date.
• Set-up a system of accounts management of the STEER project including:
• Preparation of monthly donor accounting returns and reconciliations;
• Checking of coding to donors and ensuring a full audit trail of any recordings
• Reconciliation of all donor reports to the financial systems
• Production of timely management information as and when required
• Budget monitoring, including working with programme and logistics to ensure commitments are taken into account when necessary.
• Set-up electronic and paper filing systems for the above.
• Facilitate and prepare the team for grant audits
• Working with the Chief of Party and Programme Management Team to maintain and develop the overall funding grid for the programme.
• Leads on Quality Control, Manages the bidding process and ensures transparency
• Working with the Technical and Finance Team to monitor expenditure against grants, any potential over or under-spends are flagged and budgets revised as necessary in consultation with donors.
• Monitor and analyse income received against expected timing in liaison with the in-country Finance Team to ensure debt is kept at a minimum level.
• Working with the Chief of Party and in country Finance Team to ensure that an audit trail is available for all reports produced (both internal and external). To be involved in all donor/audit queries regarding grants both current and historic.
• Maintaining and managing the grant filing and retrieval system to ensure that it provides easy and immediate access to information on these grants at country office level.
• Review of all ‘live’, closed, proposed Grants obligations. Including mapping missed / current deadlines and, in consultation with the Chief of Party and Finance Manager, produce a realistic plan with timeline to meet these and map all other deadlines and produce a schedule for these.
• To build the capacity of Save the Children and partner staff on Grant Management (STEER, USAID)  and donor compliance issues, ensuring grant management systems are being reviewed and reflect the changing demands of donors.  Including:
  • Identify skills and competency gaps (if any) within the current budget holders and finance and grants team to ensure maximising grant management
  • Advise the Chief of Party on the above and together work out appropriate measures to address these
  • Supports and builds capacity of the sub-grantees on grants management
  • Provide on the job training to bring change within the period of the appointment.
  • Visiting field offices and project locations with donors or as required, to gain an understanding of the operating environment and provide support in grant compliance to the teams.

Skills & Experience
Essential:

• A Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Commerce or Finance with a recognised professional certificate in accounting, CPA, CIMA, ACCA
• Substantial management experience of which at least 3 for the non-profit sector
• Experience of managing institutional donor contracts such as EC, USAID, DfID
• Proven experience in strategic financial management and producing appropriate management information to support strategy development and decision-making by management
• Proven training experience to all levels of staff, both informal (on the job coaching) and formal (structured training courses).
• Proven analytical skills and ability to translate analysis into appropriate, feasible and practical implementation plans and goals.
• An understanding of development work in order to communicate effectively with donors and programme staff on funding sources and programme issues
• Experience of developing guidelines and formats to support staff in donor applications and reporting  with particular reference to USAID grants
• Knowledge of major donor funding sources and grant application processes
• Ability to recognise and interpret funding trends and make recommendations on implications for funding
• Experience of managing or supporting programmes in each stage of the project cycle, including development of funding proposals, budgeting, technical and financial monitoring in the context of grants/restricted funding sources.
• Thorough understanding of interdepartmental relationships, dynamics and functioning in an overseas programme setting
• Commitment to the aims and principles of Save the Children UK
• Ability to translate complex, technical and financial issues into a language understandable by non-finance staff
• Willingness to travel to field offices and work in difficult environment from time to time
• Ability to work within a multicultural and multi-religious settings

Desirable:

• Experience of Save the Children USAID financial accounting packages, policies, systems and procedures.
• International experience preferably gained within an INGO in a relief/emergency setting
• Experience or knowledge of working in the region or country programmes
• Proven experience in grants auditing especially of USAID grant audits

Skills and Behaviours (Our Values in Practice):
Accountability:

• Accuracy and timeliness in all areas of responsibility
• High level of accuracy in work, and ability to analyse complex sets of relationships and situations
• Holds self and others accountable

Ambition:

• Creating best-in-class EA function
• Future-orientated, thinks pro-actively

Collaboration:

• Working effectively with stakeholders to achieve common goals
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Designing more effective admin systems
• Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency, demonstrates highest levels of integrity.