Awards and Grants Manager At Relief International

Title: Awards and Grants Manager

Location: Sanaa and/or Aden, Yemen

Reports to: Deputy Country Director

Staff directly reporting to this post: TBC

Duration: 12 months

About RI

Relief International (RI) is a leading non-profit organization working in 16 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

Relief International includes the four members of the RI Alliance in the USA, UK, France, and Belgium. Under our alliance agreement, we operate under a single, shared management structure with one CEO and one Board of Directors.

Position summary

Based in Sana’a, Yemen, the RI Awards and Grants Manager will work with the Deputy Country Director Programs (DcD-P) to maintain quality grants coordination for all country program grants. The Grants Manager helps ensure compliance with donor requirements at all stages of the project lifecycle and facilitates effective management of RI Yemen’s grants in coordination with other departments (e.g., Programs, Technical Units, Finance, Operations). This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring timely and quality reporting to donors, facilitating grant opening and closeout processes, advising on donor rules and regulations, coordinating proposal development processes, and capacity building of staff.

Responsibilities and Tasks

Awards and Grants Management & Compliance

· Organize grant-opening meetings with the participation of program and support departments to develop a common understanding of the programmatic, operational, and financial aspects of a new grant as well as knowledge of our contractual requirements.

· Organize grant-closing meetings to facilitate a timely closeout of a grant, support full expenditure of the budget, and ensure that all contractual obligations reached. (e.g., final report, asset disposal).

· Coordinate the preparation of modification requests for donors, including proposal revision, budget realignment, and other changes, in compliance with donor guidelines.

· Lead the grants unit in the submission of high-quality activity and donor reporting on a timely basis according to RI and donor regulations. Ensure all required documents are included, complete, and correct and approved by the respective Sector Technical Advisors, M&E and Finance focal points, and country management.

· Provide technical guidance on RI and donor regulations to ensure compliance within operations, program implementation, and reporting. Raise compliance issues proactively with program staff and the senior staff in relevant departments.

· Keep the DcD-P, senior management, Regional Support Office and AMU informed of any projected inabilities to meet contractual obligations, report submission and spend rates/significant budget variances. Also, be able to proactively mitigate risks through proposing remedial solutions

· Lead on the organization and follow-up of grant opening meetings, monthly grant review meetings, and grant close out meetings in collaboration with the DcDs, HR, Finance, MEAL and program staff

· Ensure quality information management related to grants by overseeing the regular maintenance of grant files, reporting calendars, and updating of internal RI documentation and Grant Unit tools. Maintain proper records of all Grants.

· Act as focal point in facilitating proposal and donor report reviews and approvals by technical advisors and other relevant persons at the RSO and GSO level (including maintaining Opportunity Tracking Information System).

· Work closely with compliance staff on issues related to compliance with donor rules and regulations.

· Assist senior management in donor liaison and communication as requested

Proposal Development

· Under the leadership of the DcD-P, coordinate the proposal development process by creating proposal calendars, following up with all relevant staff members to receive timely inputs, consolidating inputs and ensuring coherence with proposed budgets, and submitting to technical advisors for review

· Assist the DcD P to align new proposals to the Yemen country Strategy

· Liaise with RSO and programme development units, TAD to ensure proposals meet internal standards and are donor compliant

· Coordinate proposal development processes in country, including reviewing and improving draft proposals and concept notes, acting as the lead writer for some opportunities, and addressing feedback from the country management and regional team.

· Ensure that the entire proposal package adheres to donor guidelines and meets the selection criteria.

· Contribute to the development and implementation of the country fundraising strategy, including conducting donor mapping, researching donor priorities and interests, and identifying new funding opportunities.

· Build the capacity of RI staff on proposal development by sharing insights on how to produce winning proposals and conducting training donor specific guidelines and templates, etc.

Communication and Visibility

· Lead on ensuring collecting, collating and compiling communication material on RI Yemen to input into RI Middle East Intranet, RI external communication and Donors’ Reports or Communications requirements etc.

· In coordination with DcD-P cultivate donor relationships nationally and for specific target regions.

· Track upcoming opportunities by priority sector

Coordination

· Supporting the Country Director and Deputy Country Director in donor relations and other relevant stakeholders when required.

· Contribute to strategic planning exercises and other mission program exercises.

Human Resources Management and Development

· Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting quarterly performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews.

· Provide a measurable development plan including on-the-job learning with the aim of strengthening technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team and providing guidance on career paths.

· Promote and monitor staff care, well-being and self-care; approve and manage all time, attendance and leave requests to ensure adequate departmental coverage.

· Develop a detailed capacity building plan for the grants department with regular trainings (minimum quarterly)

Qualifications and Requirements

· Master’s degree in a relevant field.

· At least 5 years of progressive experience in grants management and proposal development in international relief or development programs, including field experience.

· Excellent writing skills in English at a native-speaker level and demonstrated ability to write and edit reports and proposals under tight deadlines.

· Strong knowledge of the rules and regulations of major institutional donors such as US Government, ECHO, DFID and UN donors.

· Experience conducting capacity building activities and enthusiasm to share knowledge and information with others.

· Working knowledge of budget development and management.

· Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively with colleagues in a multi-cultural setting.

· Ability to work in unstable security environments

· Ability to work independently, set priorities, and manage time efficiently.

· Demonstrated leadership and management skills, including ability to give effective feedback and to guide and mentor direct reports.

· Proficient in Microsoft Office.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Relief International is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination based on race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Relief International (RI) is committed to ensuring that all individuals we meet through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to RI’s Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

RI Values:

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

• InclusivenessRelief International
• Transparency and accountability
• Agility and innovation
• Collaboration
• Sustainability