Grant Development and Report Specialist at United Nations Volunteers (UNV)

Location: Maiduguri, Borno (Onsite)
Host entity: UNICEF
Expected start date: 01/31/2022
Duration: 12 months (with possibility of extension)
Volunteer category: International UN Volunteer Specialist
Sustainable Development Goal: Good Health And Well-Being

Mission and Objectives

• UNICEF is responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.  UNICEF Health program is designed to support national health priorities with focus on programs that will positively impact on the lives of the most disadvantaged children, such as the prevention and treatment of diseases through establishing community-level efforts and services to promote the health and well-being of children.
• In line with this strategy, UNICEF supports immunization and health prevention programs for childhood diseases and funding for sustainable health services. UNICEF programs have been guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which affirms the right of all children to “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health.”  
• UNICEF is committed to realizing the rights of all children to help them build a strong foundation and have the best chance of fulfilling their potential. We believe that ensuring a happy and healthy child begins before birth: from ensuring his/her mother has access to good neonatal care and delivering in a clean, safe environment to reaching adulthood as a responsible, healthy and informed parent to the next generation. This journey relies on a child having access to shelter, good nutrition, clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education.

Context

• UNICEF’s current objective for the north-east is to continue responding to humanitarian needs due to the ongoing conflict in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
• The role of the Grant Devel-opment and Reporting Specialist focuses on timely editing, development and submission of high-quality proposals and reports to donors in collaboration with programme sections.
• The incumbent is also responsible for maintaining a Maiduguri Field Office database of donors and funding materials in support of the country programme.

Task Description
Under the direct supervision of the Emergency Manager, the UN International Volunteer will be responsible for the following assignments/tasks:

Proposal development and tracking:

• Work with relevant Managers, Specialists, Sector Coordinators and Operations (as required) in the preparation of high-quality funding proposals by standardizing and editing formats, contents and ensuring adherence to donor requirements. Provide quality assurance of proposals to ensure these are relevant and technically sound.
• When developing new proposals, work in close relation with Sections and M&E to incorporate relevant data, including data on input, process, output, outcome and impact indicators, assessments, lessons learnt and best practices from previous projects.
• Ensure project kick-off and close out meetings are conducted for projects when required.
• Address in a timely manner all comments by donors on proposals in liaison with relevant staff and sections in UNICEF Maiduguri and Nigeria Country Office (NCO) Resource Mobilisation (RM) and Finance Sections in Abuja.
• When any issue/challenge is identified in meeting deliverables in the given timeframe and budget, inform relevant staff in Maiduguri and seek advices on potential solutions that would meet donor rules.
• Maintain a Maiduguri’s donor proposal database to track fundraising efforts against programme needs and inform the Supervisor and the RM Specialist in Abuja to inform on development and to monitor funding received and utilized.

Reporting:

• Work with relevant UNICEF Maiduguri Program sections and Operations (as required) in the preparation of high-quality donor reports by standardizing and editing formats, contents and ensuring adherence to donor requirements.
• Provide quality assurance of reports to ensure these reflect the progress and status of projects in a transparent, timely and professional manner, in liaison with relevant staff in Maiduguri and RM and Finance in Abuja.
• Collaborate with UNICEF Maiduguri Communications to ensure human interest stories, photos and other donor visibility efforts are incorporated into the donor reports.
• Liaise with Sections in Maiduguri as well as Finance and Result Mobilization in Abuja to ensure greater coherence between financial and narrative reports by crosschecking the matching of data in the narrative and financial reports.
• Work in close relation with Sections and M&E to incorporate relevant M&E data (incl. data on input, process, output, outcome and impact indicators, lessons learnt and best practices) in reports.
• Ensure ad hoc requests from donors are addressed in liaison with Programme and support teams.
• Maintain a Maiduguri donor report database to track and store donor reports that is accessible to all in UNICEF Maiduguri.

Fundraising, Coordination and Communication:

• In coordination with relevant Sections and RM in Abuja, support the identification of new donors for diversifying UNICEF donors’ portfolio including private companies and private foundations.
• Contribute to the identification of potential relevant international and/or local partners (private sector partners, national and international NGOs, think tanks, academia, etc.) to be included in proposals.
• Support the Maiduguri team through information sharing and donor visit preparation and execution when required. Support effective engagement with key partners and donors.
• Facilitate interdepartmental communication and information sharing from the UNICEF Maiduguri to the NCO and dissemination to relevant staff.

Requirements
Required Education Level:

• Master's Degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Development Planning, Public Administration, Evaluation, Survey Implementation, Statistical research or related field.

Area(s) of Expertise

• Development programmes, Business management, Crisis and emergency response.

Required experience:

• 3 years of experience in Programme/project proposals development
• Planning and / or monitoring
• Working in the humanitarian field
• Donor relations.

Eligibility criteria:

• Age: 27 - 80
• Nationality: Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Languages:

• English, Level: Fluent, Required

Competencies and values:

• Integrity and professionalism:
• Accountability
• Commitment to continuous learning
• Planning and organizing
• Teamwork and respect for diversity
• Communication
• Flexibility, adaptability, and ability and willingness to operate independently in austere, remote and potentially hazardous environments for protracted periods, involving physical hardship
• Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement.