Officer, Programs At Search for Common Ground

Summary:

The Programs team has oversight on the management of restricted grants to drive impact and ensure compliance. The Programs team supports in-country Directors and Managers to effectively follow Search and donor policies and procedures regarding grant implementation. This function commences with the signing of a grant and completes with the final close-out. This involves monitoring, reporting, and where appropriate, engagement with donors. It involves oversight on both program quality and compliance, working in close collaboration with other departments, including Finance, the Institutional Learning Team, Strategy Alignment, Program Quality, Communications, and Human Resources. The Programs team aims to build and strengthen the capacity of program implementation at Search and with partner staff in-country.

Key Responsibilities:

Contributes to program design and project budgeting for new opportunities
Coordinates grants start up, grants close out and documents lessons learned in the course of implementation.
Facilitates program implementation review, spending review, and forecasting.
Coordinates report development and review.
Supports partner management.
Leads financial burn rate analysis for the Central East Africa region.
Supports program quality, including linking the implementation team to internal and external resources.

Key Contributions:

Collaborates with country program managers and partners in the preparation of timely and quality project reports for donors in compliance with donor and internal Search requirements.
Ensures and supports the effective tracking and forecasting of project expenditures by the project team through budget versus actuals (BVA) meetings, in line with the approved budget and work plan for both Search and partners.
Ensures that costed work plans across the CEA region are regularly updated and utilized. Proactively supports needs for no-cost extensions, budget realignments, or other budgetary changes.
Facilitates or supports grants start up, reviews, and closure meetings and follows up on action points.
Participates in reflection sessions and discussions on adaptation. Facilitates support for technical assistance where appropriate. Ensures lessons learnt are well documented and disseminated for better program implementation in future, in line with best practice in reflective practice and adaptive management.
When necessary, travels internationally to support program implementation.
Participates in design calls and provides proposal review and budget review for proposals in countries in their portfolio.
Supports development of sub-award agreements and ensures all required documents and processes are completed to facilitate final sign off.
Supports the Programs team in capacity assessment of country offices and collaborates with the Programs Senior Manager and other managers in capacity development.
Conducts on-boarding of new program staff and familiarizes them with the donor and internal rules as regulations on grants management.

Competency Behavior Indicators (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities):

Initiates brainstorming or problem-solving meetings. With time in job, develops skills for analyzing and communicating program successes and failures; reports lessons learned to the team and other members.
Represents Search at local and international events and meetings for professional organizations, vendors, partners, and funders. Develops skills to independently initiate and maintain relations with vendors, partners, and funders. Articulates Search program/project goals and objectives within Search and to external audiences.
Demonstrates appreciation for diversity of thought. Builds cross-functional relationships with other functional departments.
Demonstrates ability to be adaptable and willing to confront and change own ideas and preconceptions with the resiliency and flexibility to make changes based on hearing a diversity of thoughts.
Drafts team documents, briefing materials, and presentations. Articulates program/project objectives and how they fit into a team’s goals and/or Search’s mission and adapts to the communications setting.
Applies standards, identifies areas for standardization, and coordinates across functions from a multicultural perspective that reflects consideration of other cultures, other viewpoints, and other ways of doing things.
Takes into account the environmental landscape, assesses one’s own and others’ viewpoints in their environment, and proposes solutions from an ethical perspective.
Recognizes the options available for solving problems, conducts analyses, and calculates metrics and other technical tools to support informed decision making.
Conducts Quality Control of team documents, briefing materials, presentations, and systems data. Carefully reviews and checks the accuracy of information in work reports, management information systems, or with other individuals and groups. Checks the accuracy of one’s own and others’ work. Proactively informs management of potential risks and concerns; suggests resolutions.
Independently prioritizes time to reach deadlines and reaches end results of assignments with ability to accomplish multiple steps with limited to no supervision.
Ability to travel internationally at least 20%.
French and/or Arabic strongly preferred.