Grant Manager/Awards Management Officer at Catholic Relief Services

Band:                    9

Department:     Operations

Reports To:        Chief of Party

Location:            Borno Nigeria

Job Ref Code:    AMO170119

Full JD Link:        http://bit.ly/2DPStze

Job Summary:

As Award Management Officer, you will be responsible for the overall financial management of the STaR project. You will oversee the effective and appropriate use of financial resources of the project and will develop effective mechanisms for budgeting, expenditure and liquidation tracking, and financial reporting, for the prime partner and any sub-awardees. You will oversee financial management and reporting on STaR project for Nigeria, Chad and Niger. You will ensure that project financial management processes for the project follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), donor (KFW) rules and regulations, and country legal requirements, and that all required project financial reports are prepared and submitted in a timely manner.

Specific Job Responsibilities

• Serve as principle point of contact on grant management and compliance issues with sub-grantees, CRS/Nigeria Finance, and CP Compliance staff.
• Lead the review of any new granting/contracting mechanisms to ensure adherence to donor requirements related to eligibility for CRS/partners, budget presentation, acceptability of cost allocation and other proposal requirements.
• Support timely agreement/contract development/review/approval, both at the level of CRS and partners, ensuring adherence to both internal CRS and donor requirements.    
• Anticipate and respond to donor requests related to contracts, grant budgets and spending
• Anticipate and respond to CRS and sub-grantee questions related to contracts, grant budgets and spending, and try to encourage information sharing that will allow them to become familiar with requirements and practices of enforcement of donor/CRS finance policy.
• Ensure access for finance and programming staff to relevant internal CRS and US Government/Other external policy manuals/updates to ensure accountable and efficient program performance.
• Track liability to donors (A/C 3031/3032/3034) for awards funded in the North Eastern region.
• Follow up with the Abuja Finance team on any identified issues/questions on contract conditions/need for modifications or clarification.
• Review, communicate and monitor compliance with donor requirements related to staffing, purchasing, asset management and reporting. 
• Identify compliance gaps and related solutions – including differences between donor and internal CRS policies and procedures, including cost allocation. 
• Track grant/contract compliance via application of existing mechanism (i.e., grants startup checklist) and through the development/testing/roll out/implementation of new tools as and when required. 
• Take the lead in monitoring timely grant/contract closure – engaging both finance and program staff well in advance of closure deadlines and advising on issues related to staffing, disposition and reporting.
• Ensure the timely reporting to senior management of any identified compliance risks. 
• Review and approve cash disbursement advance journals, ensuring accurate postings particularly to accounts 1231, 1232, and 6166. Ensure that advances to partners are liquidated in a timely manner.
• Monitor timely reconciliation of project material stocks both at partner and CRS level with distribution reports.  Advise of stock status when nearing grant completion.
• Organize and facilitate regular and ad-hoc meetings with Programming Team, Finance team, Operations team to plan workflow and address finance and grant compliance issues.

Education and Experience

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, finance or related field plus a qualification in accounting (ICSA/ACCA or equivalent);
• At least 10 years’ experience in financial management for large, complex projects, of which at least five years were working in the field of international development;
• Extensive financial and grant management experience working with non-governmental organization sub-recipients and other sub-grantees
• Familiarity with German Government (KFW, BMZ, GFFO) financial regulations, policies and practices; OR experience working at a senior level on a DFID/EU/ECHO-funded grant;
• Knowledge of Sun Systems financial accounting package or similar financial management and reporting software;
• Flexibility to work both in a team and independently;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook;
• Full professional proficiency in spoken and written English; and
• Ability to travel nationally and internationally, as required.