Partnership Fund Manager At DAI Global

SCOPE OF WORK

USAID Harena Activity

Position Title: Partnership Fund Manager

Period of Performance: 2024 – 2029 (End of Project)

Place of Performance: Antananarivo, Madagascar

BACKGROUND

The five-year (2024-2029) USAID Madagascar HARENA Activity will use a multisectoral systems approach to reduce threats to biodiversity and forests, improve conservation, and build resilience to climate change; develop sustainable, economic opportunities for the poor; and improve environmental governance. Working across local economic and social systems, the Activity will address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity that drive communities in Madagascar to rely on areas of high biodiversity for their basic needs. To do so, the Activity will work through three key areas of interventions: 1) natural resource and protected area (PA) management, and biodiversity and forest conservation (nature); 2) improved, climate-resilient livelihoods and private sector engagement for enhanced human wellbeing and socioeconomic outcomes (wealth); and 3) natural resource/PA governance (power). Focused in three geographic zones with high biodiversity value and high land-based climate change mitigation potential, HARENA will implement five strategic approaches to achieve key results:

• Strategic Approach 1: Improve sustainable management of natural resources with a focus on biodiversity, land, forests, and protected areas (PA);
• Strategic Approach 2: Promote sustainable and climate-resilient, market-led diversified agriculture-based livelihoods, including complementary natural resource products (such as tree crops) to improve livelihoods and ecosystems services;
• Strategic Approach 3: Improve national, regional, and local-level governance, advocacy, and anti-corruption efforts around natural resource, land, and water management;
• Strategic Approach 4: Increase local resilience to prepare for and adapt to climate change and other shocks; and
• Strategic Approach 5: Strengthen land use management through spatial planning at the communal level and secure land rights through the effective implementation of the land tenure policy.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Partnership Fund Manager will play a pivotal role in managing and implementing the HARENA grants mechanism. S/he will be responsible for adherence to the project’s Field Operations Manual (FOM), USAID regulations, contract requirements and limitations, grant policies, procedures, controls, and reporting systems, in addition to working with HARENA’s technical teams to identify and advance partnerships and communicate the outcome of these partnerships to key audiences. The role will involve partner identification, relationship management and collaboration, co-creation of development activities with partners in support of HARENA’s biodiversity, natural resource management, private sector engagement (PSE), and environmental governance objectives. The individual will proactively coordinate with project staff and subcontractors on planning and implementing grants through open communication, proactive market research, and price analysis.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Management:

• Responsible for supervising and providing training, guidance, and direction to project partnership fund staff on planning, implementation, and compliance.
• Use the FOM to ensure that grants policies, procedures, and/or practices are being met.
• Responsible for ensuring documentation requirements are met with various project departments.

Planning and Implementation:

• Oversees grants management in coordination with regional Partnership Fund Specialists.
• With guidance from the COP and Finance and Operations Director, develops and implements the use of the HARENA grants manual.
• Participates in work planning and activity planning to align the grants program with overall project activities.
• In collaboration with technical teams, develop and implement a plan for partner identification and outreach to key private sector actors, Malagasy local entities partners, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other stakeholders to meet the project objectives.
• Organize co-creation events, meetings and other outreach activities to further partnership engagement.
• Pro-actively follow-up on partnership leads and pipeline development, fostering partnership opportunities and providing consistent relationship management.
• Leads the development of timeline and details required for any activities needing grants; conduct market search and price analysis in coordination with technical staff.
• Coordinates with staff requesting grants to prepare Request for Applications (RFAs) to solicit applications and assess the capacity and readiness of potential grantees.
• Manages the evaluation and selection committee process for grantees.
• Prepares the required approvals to ensure compliance with internal and external contract and policy requirements.
• Prepares grant agreements and amendments, explaining terms, conditions, roles, and responsibilities. Ensures that identified weaknesses in initial grantee assessments and related requirements are incorporated into the agreements explicitly/clearly with the required monitoring and actions on the part of the grantee and HARENA project.
• Organizes kickoff meetings and apprises grantees of the responsibilities, requirements and policies and procedures to be followed during the life of the grant.
• Ensures post award grant management in accordance with relevant regulations and generates reports of status of grant activities, such as forecasting payment, inventory, amendments, close outs, and sector specific data (i.e., monthly and quarterly reporting).
• Coordinates with finance and technical teams to ensure on-time deliverables, payments, and cash flow requests by monitoring milestones and payment schedules.
• Build HARENA knowledge base to further long-term shifts to support biodiversity, natural resource management, and environmental governance through collaborations and partnerships with the private sector and local partners.

Compliance:

• Provide training, guidance, and direction to project partnership fund staff on compliance of grant policies, procedures, and instructions.
• Reviews grants for completeness and appropriateness with the HARENA work plan.
• Ensures all required documentation is uploaded in the grants database TAMIS.
• Reviews grant milestones and requests for payments against grant agreements to ensure compliance.
• Trains on and enforces policies and procedures to prevent improprieties, intentional and unintentional.
• Leads the audit of grant files no less than annually.

REPORTING:

The Partnership Fund Manager will report to the Field Program Director.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in related field.
• At least 9 years of experience related to partnership management and grants implementation, experience on USAID-funded projects strongly desired.
• Experience leading and managing grants components and supervising relevant staff.
• Ability to solve complex technical and managerial challenges pertaining to partnerships and grants mechanism implementation.
• Ability to lead award processes and multi-stakeholder discussions for driving the evolution of program descriptions and/or scopes of work from solicitation to activity closeout.
• Excellent writing and communications skills with particular experience in developing justifications for contracts and grants award documentation; development of manuals, policies, and procedures; and data-driven tracking and reporting for grants and subcontracts management.
• Excellent personnel management skills and ability to relate to people at all levels of an organization.
• Well organized and self-directed with strong technical skills, analytical ability, good judgement, and operational focus.
• Professional-level oral and written fluency in English, French and Malagasy is required.

ABOUT DAI

DAI is a global development company with corporate offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, EU, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Palestine and project operations worldwide. We tackle fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability. DAI works on the frontlines of global development. Transforming ideas into action—action into impact. We are committed to shaping a more livable world.

DAI and its employees are committed to confronting racism and holding ourselves accountable for positive change within the company and in the communities, cultures, and countries in which we live and work. DAI is committed to attracting and retaining the best employees from all races and backgrounds in our continued effort to become a better development partner.

DAI upholds the highest ethical standards. We are committed to the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment as well as other ethical breaches. All of our positions are therefore subject to stringent vetting and reference checks.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

USAID WEALTH

Job Title: Partnership Fund Manager

Execution period: 2024 – 2029 (End of Project)

Place of Performance: Antananarivo, Madagascar

CONTEXT

USAID’s five-year (2024-2029) HARENA Madagascar project will use a systemic, multi-sectoral approach to reduce threats to biodiversity and forests, improve conservation, and build resilience to climate change; develop sustainable economic opportunities for the poor; and improve environmental governance. By working across local economic and social systems, the Activity will address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity that drive communities in Madagascar to rely on areas of high biodiversity for their basic needs. To do this, the Activity will act through three key areas of intervention: 1) management of natural resources and protected areas (PA), conservation of biodiversity and forests (nature); 2) improved, climate-resilient livelihoods and private sector engagement to improve human well-being and socio-economic (wealth) outcomes; and 3) governance of natural resources and protected areas (power). Targeted in three geographic areas with high biodiversity value and high potential for terrestrial climate change mitigation, HARENA will implement five strategic approaches to achieve key results:

• Strategic Approach 1: Improve sustainable management of natural resources with a focus on biodiversity, land, forests and protected areas (PA);
• Strategic Approach 2: Promote sustainable and climate-resilient diversified agriculture-based livelihoods, including complementary natural resource products (such as tree crops) to improve livelihoods and ecosystem services;
• Strategic Approach 3: Improve governance, advocacy and anti-corruption efforts at national, regional and local levels around the management of natural resources, land and water;
• Strategic Approach 4: Increase local resilience to prepare for and adapt to climate change and other shocks; And
• Strategic Approach 5: Strengthen land use management through spatial planning at the communal level and secure land rights through effective implementation of the land tenure policy.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Partnership Fund Manager will play a key role in the management and implementation of the HARENA grant mechanism. He/She will be responsible for compliance with the project’s Field Operations Manual (FOM), USAID regulations, contract requirements and limitations, grant policies, procedures, controls and reporting systems, in addition to working with HARENA technical teams to identify and promote partnerships and communicate the outcome of these partnerships to key audiences. The role will involve identifying partners, managing and collaborating relationships, co-creating development activities with partners in support of biodiversity objectives, natural resource management, private sector engagement (PSE) and of HARENA’s environmental governance. The individual will proactively coordinate with project staff and subcontractors on grant planning and implementation through open communication, proactive market research and pricing analysis.

MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Management :

• Responsible for overseeing and providing training, guidance and direction to Project Partnership Fund staff regarding planning, implementation and compliance.
• Use the Field Operations Manual (FOM) to ensure compliance with grant DAI policies, procedures and/or practices.
• Responsible for ensuring documentation requirements are met with various departments.

Planning and Implementation:

• Oversees grant management in coordination with regional Partnership Fund specialists.
• With the advice of the Head of Party and the Director of Finance and Operations, develops and implements the use of the HARENA grants manual.
• Participates in work planning and activity planning to align the grant program with overall project activities.
• In collaboration with technical teams, develop and implement a plan for identifying partners and raising awareness among key private sector actors, local Malagasy partners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders to achieve the the project’s objectives.
• Organize co-creation events, meetings and other outreach activities to deepen partnership engagement.
• Proactively track partnership opportunities and partnership pipeline development, fostering collaboration opportunities and ensuring constant relationship management.
• Directs the development of the timeline and details required for any activity requiring grants; conduct market research and pricing analysis in coordination with technical staff.
• Coordinates with grant applicant staff to prepare Requests for Proposals (RFAs) to solicit applications and assess the capacity and readiness of potential grantees.
• Manages the beneficiary evaluation and selection committee process.
• Prepares required approvals to ensure compliance with internal and external contractual and policy requirements.
• Prepares grant agreements and amendments, explaining terms, conditions, roles and responsibilities. Ensures that weaknesses identified in initial grantee assessments and related requirements are explicitly integrated into agreements with monitoring and actions required from the grantee and the HARENA project.
• Conducts kick-off meetings and informs grantees of responsibilities, requirements, and policies and procedures to be followed during the life of the grant.
• Ensures post-award grant management in accordance with relevant regulations and generates status reports on grant activities, such as payment forecasting, inventory, amendments, closeouts, and sector-specific data (e.g. example, monthly and quarterly report).
• Coordinates with finance and technical teams to ensure on-time completion of deliverables, payments and cash flow requests by monitoring payment milestones and schedules.
• Build the HARENA knowledge base to drive long-term changes to support biodiversity, natural resource management and environmental governance through collaborations and partnerships with the private sector and local partners.

Compliance :

• Provide training, guidance and direction to Project Partnership Fund staff on compliance with grant policies, procedures and instructions.
• Review grants for completeness and adequacy with the HARENA work plan.
• Ensure all required documentation is uploaded to the TAMIS grants database.
• Review grant milestones and payment requests against grant agreements to ensure compliance.
• Train and enforce policies and procedures to prevent irregularities, intentional and unintentional.
• Lead the audit of grant files at least annually.

REPORT

The Partnership Fund Manager will be under the responsibility of the Director of Field Programs.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• At least 9 years of experience related to partnership management and grant implementation.
• Experience in leading and managing grant components and supervising relevant staff.
• Experience in leading and managing grant-related components of projects and supervising relevant staff.
• Ability to resolve complex technical and managerial challenges linked to the implementation of partnership and grant mechanisms.
• Ability to lead award processes and discussions with multiple stakeholders to evolve program descriptions and/or scopes from solicitation to activity closeout.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, with particular experience developing justifications for contract and grant award documentation; development of manuals, policies and procedures; and data-driven monitoring and reporting for grant and subcontract management.
• Excellent people management skills and ability to relate to people at all levels of an organization.
• Well organized and self-starter with strong technical skills, analytical ability, good judgment and operational focus.
• Professional fluency in oral and written English, French and Malagasy is required.

ABOUT DAI:

DAI is a global development company with corporate offices in the US, UK, EU, Nigeria, Pakistan and Palestine and project operations worldwide. We address fundamental problems of social and economic development caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance and instability. DAI works on the front lines of global development. Turning ideas into action—action into impact. We are committed to shaping a more livable world.

DAI and its employees are committed to confronting racism and holding ourselves accountable for positive change within the company and in the communities, cultures and countries in which we live and work. DAI is committed to attracting and retaining the best employees of all races and backgrounds in our continued effort to become a better development partner.

DAI adheres to the highest ethical standards. We are committed to preventing sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment and other ethical violations. All our positions are therefore subject to rigorous checks and references.