Vacancy!!! Grants Manager at Creative Associates International

Creative Associates International provides outstanding, on-the-ground development services and forges partnerships to deliver sustainable solutions to global challenges. Its experts focus on building inclusive educational systems, transitioning communities from conflict to peace, developing sustainable economic growth, engaging youth, promoting transparent elections and more. Creative is recognized for its ability to quickly adapt and excel in conflict and post-conflict environments.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Grants Manager

Location: Abuja
Employment Type: Full-time

Project Summary

• The USAID-funded West Africa Trade and Investment Hub Project (hereinafter referred to as the Trade Hub) is a five-year, $140 million trade and investment facilitation activity that seeks to improve private sector competitiveness in West Africa through a market-based approach.
• By working in partnership with the private sector and fostering co-investments, the project will generate new private-sector capital investment into key sectors to create jobs and increase trade between the U.S. and West Africa, including through increased utilization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The project comprises of three main components:
  • Design and administration of a Co-Investment fund for private sector partnerships, including a portion for partnerships in Research and Development (R&D) towards innovating and modernizing practices in Nigeria across five targeted value chains;
  • Technical assistance (TA) that directly supports, coordinates, and engages with qualifying recipients (i.e., partners and grantees) to achieve USAID’s trade and food security objectives;
  • Urgently respond to the secondary economic impacts of COVID-19, notably to increase the access of working capital with financial actors, prevent job loss, and respond to supply shortages by scaling up local response.
• Through this Co-Investment fund and technical assistance, the Trade Hub will improve companies’ abilities to expand business operations, increase productivity, and create jobs that build on the talents and aspirations of West Africa’s growing population.
• The Trade Hub will collaborate on specific commercial opportunities with firms, service providers, research organizations, as well as other business network actors to access private capital that will contribute to large-scale jobs, exports and investment, particularly with strong demonstrated or potential links to the U.S. companies and investors.

Position Summary

• The Grants Manager will provide administrative and technical guidance and support to the Lead Grants Manager and staff on the design of grant activities, guidelines, and regulations for the small grants’ mechanism. Also, this position supervises the Grants Officer(s) and Assistant(s).

Reporting & Supervision:

• The Grants Manager will report to the Leads Grants Manager.

Primary Responsibilities
Pre-Award:

• Coach and mentor Grants Officers/Assistants under her/his direct supervision
• Review evaluator comments, scores, and co-creation guidance for expressions of interest (EOIs), ensuring they provide sufficient justification for accepting or rejecting each applicant
• Formally accept or reject EOIs assigned to their portfolio in the Trade Hub’s grants management system, SMART
• Register applicants with accepted EOIs in SMART and ensure they have access to the correct full application templates
• Serve as lead point of contact for applicants on due diligence and grants process during pre-award stage
• Coordinate with monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) and public private partnerships (PPP) staff to schedule and facilitate co-creation meetings with shortlisted applicants
• Conduct final review of applicant budgets with input from Grants Officers/Assistants; support PPP with final budget negotiations
• Prepare grant negotiation memos with input from Grants Officers/Assistants and submit to Lead Grants Manager for review
• Validate due diligence reviews conducted by Grants Officers/Assistants in SMART
• Conduct final review of pre-award assessment prepared by Grants Officer/Assistant
• Facilitate grant kickoff meetings with support and input from MEL and PPP

Full-Impementation:

• Closely monitor assigned grants to ensure timely processing of payments, track budget over-/under-spends, and identify any amendment needs
• Resolve implementation challenges with Lead Grants Manager as needed
• Coach and mentor Grants Officers/Assistants under her/his direct supervision
• Draft amendments and submit to Lead Grants Manager for final review

Grant Close-Out:

• Conduct final review of grant closeout checklist and associated grant documentation prior to submitting grant closeout request to the Grants Director
• Validate activity completion with PPP and MEL staff before initiating the grant close-out process
• Supervise, coach, and mentor Grants Officers through grant closeout process

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Management, Financial Analysis or Accounting desirable; Master’s degree preferred.
• Must have 6+ years of general work experience and 4+ years of specific experience with sub-grants management, preferably in West Africa working in international development.
• Solid understanding of USAID regulations and procedures pertaining to grants management, and ability to interpret and explain USAID regulations;
• Strong understanding of 2 CFR 200, ADS 302 and 303;
• Demonstrated ability to perform complex tasks and to prioritize multiple projects;
• Ability to analyze cost proposals and prepare reports and recommendations on whether or not applicants should be funded;
• Ability to analyze budget line items for compliance with budget guidelines;
• Proven records maintenance and database management skills;
• Understanding of cost-share and/or leveraging preferred; and
• Fluency in Spoken and Written English highly desired, advanced knowledge required.

Application Closing Date
27th December, 2021.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send hard copy of their CV and Cover Letter to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the mail.

Note

• Local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls, please.
• Creative Associates International Incorporation is an equal opportunity employer: Disability / Veteran.