Awards Coordinator – Liberia At Save the Children

TITLE: Awards Coordinator

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Liberia Empowerment through Attendance, Reading, and Nutrition (LEARN) Project

LOCATION: Monrovia, Liberia

GRADE: 3

CONTRACT LENGTH: Indefinite

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 2: either the post holder will have access to personal data about children and/or young people as part of their work; or the post holder will be working in a ‘regulated’ position (accountant, barrister, solicitor, legal executive); therefore a police check will be required (at ‘standard’ level in the UK or equivalent in other countries).

ROLE PURPOSE:

The purpose of this post is to lead the Award management function in the planning, securing and managing of both development and humanitarian awards. The position plays a lead role in award information management and shares and coordinates information across departments when in country.

Under the direction of the COP, this position will be responsible for ensuring that the SCI programme adheres to all its award management obligations internally within Save the Children and externally with donors. This will include coordinate the financial and narrative reporting relating to donor awards and the upkeep of the Award Management System. This position is specifically responsible for awards from assigned Donor awards and will be the main point person for these donors, so as to be compliant with financial, administrative and programmatic requirements, donor specific requirements and to make recommendations for improvements.

This role will work closely with the COP and other departments of the program office on proposals, financial and narrative reporting, monitoring and analysis and compliance processes. This position will co-ordinate developing high quality proposals that are reflective of Liberia donor strategic objectives, whilst also ensuring proposal budgets are accurately costed.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Chief of Party (COP)

Staff directly reporting to this post: None. Potentially award officer (if the size of the portfolio might require to increase the headcount) and/or reporting officer.

Dimensions: Manages an assigned awards within the CO portfolio.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :

Strategic Portfolio Planning and Management

• Leadership – define the strategic direction of the awards management unit and undertake effective planning that supports the unit to establish and maintain an efficient and effective awards management system
• To use key performance indicators and other management information to identify and address operational issues that could impact negatively on the delivery of programmes
• Escalate identified portfolio issues in a timely manner
• To provide detailed analysis of current/ pipeline awards to senior management
• To engage with Save the Children globally and provide information to support in the building of professional relations with donors to identify strategic fundraising opportunities

Analysis

• Working in collaboration with other departments of the program office, ensure that the CO has a clear framework for master budget development, cost allocation, monitoring of awards budgets, phasing forecasting, ensuring alignment between the master budget and the funding tracker
• Critical review of proposal to identify inconsistency between budget and activity plan
• Perform monitoring and analysis over the performance of specific awards examining work plan, level of expenditure (BvA provided by the finance department) and output delivered, and work with other teams to resolve identified issues
• Oversee the development and upload of DRC codes
• Contribute to the Go/No Go decision (in coordination with the other department) for new funding opportunity, and the related risk assessment

Communication and coordination

• Coordinate with other teams to develop proposals for donor awards
• Coordinate, review and finalise donor reporting including adequate planning to ensure deadlines are met
• Communicate and coordinate with Member contacts to understand donor compliance requirements relating to award management including budgeting and reporting, and ensure deadlines are met
• Manage award audits and coordinate with other departments to help them address management issues raised.
• Ensure award kick off meetings are arranged and take place.
• Support the head of awards manager in ensuring the production of high quality and timely reports that accurately reflect the impact achieved and lessons learnt during the implementation of an award
• Serve as process lead on award proposal, budget design, donor reporting and contract amendment
• Build and maintain relationships with the local representatives of donor organisations, working closely with relevant SCI members to ensure consistent communications to donor organisations at all levels (for specific award assigned by the head of award)

Compliance (systems, processes, donor)

• To engage inter-country or with the regional office on the development systems and processes and the sharing of best practice
• To ensure that the Award Management System (AMS) is effectively maintained and up to date for all awards and sub-awards including authorisation and document retention
• To ensure that key staff (including partners) have a clear understanding of donor compliance requirements throughout the project management cycle and there is a complete audit trail of the implementation and reporting for all awards

People (team work and capacity building):

• Build relationships with other teams to support the resolution of issues and coordination of deliverables i.e. reports
• Support the delivery of capacity building to other teams in the CO and to Partner organisations
• Build relationships with the region and centre and support in the escalation of issues if required
• Provide training to project leads (and other relevant CO staff member) around the key travers drivers (budget management, writing report, risk management) for high quality award delivery

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self accountable for managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for himself/herself and his/her team, takes responsibility for his/her own personal development and encourages his/her team to do the same

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS

• Relevant professional qualifications (CPA/CA/ACCA) or first degree in a relevant field such as International Development or Business Administration
• EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
• Experience managing grants, contracts & sub agreements with knowledge of major funders’ guidelines (e.g. USAID, ECHO, DFID, CIDA, SIDA etc.)
• Relevant experience in working on donor funded projects with International NGO’s particularly those applying partnership approaches is desirable
• Experience of working with implementing partners and managing partner sub awards/grants including capacity building
• Strong analytical skills and strategic planning abilities. Computer literacy and excellent documentation skills are a must.
• Ability to establish and maintain conducive collegial relations and perform effectively as a member of a team.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching
• Excellent time management and planning capacity
• Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a workload comprised of varying and changing tasks and responsibilities
• Strong communication (written and spoken), and interpersonal skills in English, with experience in managing multicultural teams

Assets:

• Experience in project and risk management
• Experience with Save the Children Award Management System (AMS)

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.