Grant Manager WASH, Nutrition and Climate Change at Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Grants Manager will contribute to achieving high quality programming by ensuring effective grants management including, compliance requirements, reporting, timely and quality proposal development, and internal and external communication. S/he line manages the Grants Officers, ensures WASSI programme/support teams are fully informed of relevant donor compliance regulations and WASSI procedures, manages donor and other external reporting, and coordinates grant revisions. S/he also supports donor communication by ensuring effective channels of internal and external communications relating to grants are established and respected. Last but not least, the Grants Manager supports development of proposals and opportunity identification, as required.

Generic professional competencies for this position:

• Strong understanding of WASH, nutrition, food security, and climate change issues to effectively communicate and align grant management with the organization's focus areas.
• Familiarity with the specific challenges and opportunities related to grant management in the context of humanitarian and development work.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills to navigate complex donor requirements and address potential challenges in grant implementation
• Experience in working with diverse funding sources, including government agencies, foundations, and private donors, to diversify and sustain funding streams
• Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) principles to ensure effective tracking and reporting on project outcomes and impacts
• Ability to collaborate with program teams to integrate cross-cutting program elements into funding proposals and project implementation
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to engage with partners, donors, and internal stakeholders effectively
• Familiarity with advocacy strategies to align grant activities with the organization's advocacy goals
• Capacity to stay updated on industry trends, best practices, and innovations in grant management within the various sectors of WASSI's operation
• We can just integrate some of these requirements in the call for application
• Other requirements can still be used during interviewing of selected candidates
• At least 5 years’ of relevant experience in a related field;
• Experience of donor relations and grants management (e.g. with institutional humanitarian and development donors);
• Experience working in complex/ insecure environments and with displaced populations;
• Good understanding of donor rules and regulations ;
• Proven skills and experience in report and proposal development and working with multiple donors;
• Good personal organisational skills, including time management, and ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
• Staff capacity-building experience;
• Willingness to travel to field offices and work in difficult environment according to travel requirements.
• Fluency in English and Hausa, both written and verbal

Context related skills, knowledge, and experience:

• Good communication and interpersonal skills;
• Strong organisational and team working skills;
• Good cultural awareness and sensitivity;
• Ability to work under pressure, independently and with limited supervision;
• Ability and willingness to work/live and be mobile under difficult circumstances;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English;
• Knowledge of the NGO operations and the dynamics of the humanitarian sector;
• Above average computer skills, particularly in Microsoft Windows Word and Excel;
• Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities.

Proposal Development

• Build positive working relationships with other teams in the Country Office to coordinate and support development of high quality proposals using relevant WASSI Grant Management tools and guidance (Go/ No-go checklist, proposal development calendar, procurement plan, internal budgeting tool);
• Coordinate proposal development for WASSI NIGERIA’s portfolio of donors;
• Work closely with Budget Holders, programme teams, and finance as well as other stakeholders to compile accurate proposal budget and assess whether all necessary costs have been included.

Due Diligence Assessments and Agreements

• Lead on WASSI NIGERIAs due diligence assessment when and as required by an existing or new donor;
• Lead on organisational assessments of Partners as per WASSI’s Grants Management procedures;
• In coordination with the Head of Programme and Head of Support, draft Partner Agreements/MoUs with relevant Annexes and take through signing processes;
• Contribute to partner capacity building as required and identified in partner assessment.

Grant Agreement

• Review donor contracts, flag any points that might challenge WASSI’s procedures, and support contract negotiations;
• Work with finance team to support/advise them in development of internal budgeting tool and communication with field offices on allocated budget;
• Together with the Grants Officer, summarise in writing, key reporting and compliance requirements (compliance checklist) including potential issues for Grant Opening Meetings;
• Coordinate with respective budget holders and finance in order to ensure budgets are correctly allocated and aligned;
• Work with the relevant Area Manager/ PDMs/PMs to ensure Grant Opening Meetings are arranged and take place within 30 days of the grant being activated.

Donor Reporting and Monitoring

• Coordinate the finalisation of donor reports ensuring consistency between narrative and financial reports and that they meet quality standards;
• Highlight critical financial issues such as under/over spends to finance and Budget Holders, and follow up in writing when discussed verbally;
• Provide technical support to relevant PDMs/PMs and Budget Holders on monitoring issues and budget revising (if required);
• Collaborate with the finance team to ensure donor budget lines as per the contract are in line with the financial system (i.e. amounts have not changed as a result of new income instalments at different rates being received);
• Monitor grant payment schedules and income requests for respective portfolio, working closely with finance to ensure this is done in a timely manner;
• In collaboration with the Media and Communications Coordinator, contribute to the development of country factsheets and other relevant information pieces for donor visits/meetings.

Donor Compliance

• Be familiar with all WASSI organizational and donor portfolio compliance requirements and ensure high quality management of grants through meeting of KPIs and deadlines;
• Support and advise programme colleagues with queries related to donor compliance on grants within portfolio;
• Work with other departments (i.e. programmes, finance, M&E, Compliance Coordinator) to ensure all documentation required is ready and available for audits (e.g. vouchers, distribution lists)
• Coordinate Close Out of grants in respective portfolio;
• Assist in training and capacity building related to WASSI Grants Management/donor compliance as required.

General Administration

• Ensure all documentation required to be kept by donors is available within the Grants department by maintaining high standard information management/filing systems;
• Visit Regional and/or field offices to support with capacity building of staff and partners and monitoring purposes;
• Support the Grants Officer to ensure correct and up-to-date maintenance of Grants Funding Tracker.