The Associate Grants Officer, as part of the grants management team, will be responsible for working flexibly and collegially in offering support to the Country Team in pre-award and post-award functions. S/he will support country teams, including the In-country Grants Officer and the HQ Grants team, to execute grants-related functions such as financial reports reviews, expenditure validation, and grantee compliance with AGRA’s internal policies and processes.
Key Duties and Responsibilities
- Manage day-to-day project and In-Kind grants management of grantees within their portfolio.
- Create and maintain a grant tracking database through AMIS and other tools to monitor the flow of project proposals from the time full grant documentation is received in the grants unit to the time a grant award is issued, and the first payment is made.
- Identify grantees requiring technical assistance and provide relevant training on AGRA grants compliance and reporting requirements.
- Conduct pre-award due diligence for potential grantees, including organization capacity assessments.
- Ensure adherence to donor compliance requirements by grantees during the life of the grant post-grants issuance.
- Provide advice to the country leadership on In-Kind grants compliance requirements.
- Collaborate with country leadership and HQ regional grants officers in implementing systems, policies, and procedures related to In-Kind grants administration in Kenya.
- Collaborate with the program staff to analyze, revise, and formalize any necessary modifications and/or amendments to grants and contracts.
- Build capability of the AGRA In-Kind grantees within Kenya through providing trainings and technical backstopping on M&E systems and tools as required.
- Advocate for compliance with donor and AGRA-specific regulations for In-Kind grant making and all applicable delegation of authority policies, as they relate to signatory powers and thresholds.
- Engage and follow-up with the program staff for timely grants closure.
- Track grant-making pipeline, RFCN processing, and GAL issuance.
- Ensure complete and accurate expenditure support documentation is uploaded by grantees and AGRA to AMIS in compliance with MCF and other donors as appropriate.
- Organize grants charter reviews and compile grant materials for GC review.
- Conduct grantee monitoring and portfolio performance health checks.
- Prepare and conduct start-up orientation workshops for new awards and coordinate monthly/quarterly meetings with project staff to ensure grant contract clauses and all project-related requirements are complied with.
- Assess that all grant and contract documentation assembled by program staff is complete and accurate and complies with all AGRA and donor policies and procedures.
- Organize and schedule reporting requirements and payments for all new grants.
- Ensure accurate data entry and filing of AGRA's annual grant-making budget in AMIS.
Key Qualifications and Experience Required
- At least a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Finance, or related field.
- An accounting certification.
- Experience in a grant-making environment and demonstrated donor compliance.
- Demonstrated experience in financial management.
- Ability to train grantees on grants & compliance.
- Strong problem-solving skills and a motivation to improve policies and procedures systematically.
- Excellent organizational skills, commitment to accuracy and to maintaining a timely and efficient workflow, and extremely detail-oriented with the ability to work under pressure.
- Excellent interpersonal skills: courtesy, tact and patience.
- Ability to multi-task and to prioritize work.