Position:          Regional Grants’ Assistant  

Reports to:       Senior Grants Manager

Location:          London

Salary:            £25,118

Hours:             37.5 hours per week

Contract:          12 month’s fixed term contract with the possibility of renewal

BACKGROUND

Over the past 80 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

The International Rescue Committee UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its headquarters in New York and London. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through 22 regional offices in cities across the United States, the IRC also helps refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

IRC-UK

Our European headquarters, IRC-UK, were established in London in 1997 to support the organisation’s global activities and particularly to diversify its donor base and be able to better advocate with European policy-makers on behalf of the people we serve. IRC-UK comprises approximately 50 staff across five departments.

The International Programme Team

The International Programmes Team (IPT) leads the International Rescue Committee’s engagement with European donors. By closely working with the regional and country offices, it acts as the intermediary between major European statutory donors, field offices and the New York headquarters. IPT coordinates the reporting and accounting of grants and offers its financial and management expertise to field offices. IPT team members are also contributing to project design, negotiating with partners and are responsible for proposal development and compliance issues. With a deep understanding of the programmatic requirements of the various regions the IRC works in, and shifting donor strategies, the IPT is well placed to advocate on key issues on behalf of the IRC and was responsible for raising nearly raising over ${esc.dollar}150 million in the 2013/2014 financial year. The IPT has forged good working relationships across the sector and is regularly called on by the IRC to offer advice and to assist with strategic planning.

The UK office is currently undertaking a strategic review that will lead to a new five year strategy. This will define how we will expand operations into Europe and become a ‘Europe Hub’ for IRC globally. A new department (the Awards Management Unit) is also being formed in the coming months, merging the existing IPT with the counterpart units in New York. This department will set new organisational standards for business development and grants management, and the post holder will be an integral part of the AMU, alongside existing IPT staff.

JOB PURPOSE

The International Programmes Team’s key objective is to enable the organisation to increase and improve the quantity and quality of support to beneficiaries by ensuring sustained programme funding. The Grants and Compliance Team is central to this work in their role of ensuring donor compliance and maintaining the quality of donor reporting (amongst other tasks). The purpose of this post is to work within the Grants and Compliance Team to:

• Provide support to business units in relation to quality reporting and donor requirements during programme implementation
• Assist in ensuring the successful implementation of IRC European donor contractual requirements and reporting, ensuring compliance, accurate information and good quality financial and narrative reports on programme outputs

The Grants and Compliance Team is organised into sub-teams reflecting wider business units (geographical and non-geographical). Each sub-team has a counterpart in the Business Development Team. It is expected that staff will cover for one and another in peak periods, or when staff are absent either to the field of for leave.

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

• Reports to the Grants Manager
• Supports RGOs (80% of time)
• Supports International Programmes Officer (20%of time)
• Works as part of the wider IPT team. Close coordination primarily with:

• field country offices
• regional staff for programme implementation
• finance department on matters of financial management
• and, to a lesser extent, with RPMs.

TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Reviewing narrative and financial reports; consulting with and ensuring input from relevant technical and financial staff as agreed by RGO weekly meeting.
• Using reviews effectively as an opportunity to ensure continuity in project management throughout the implementation and reporting period.

• Assisting in the development and maintenance of work-processes and checklists for grant implementation and report review.
• Supporting development of lessons learnt material.

1. (Administrative support to both RGO and wider team)                                                     

• Maintaining tracking systems for grants and other office systems, including inputting raw data into IPT’s tracking systems (grants database).
• Travel booking for the team.
• Providing support to the IPT and more generally to IRC-UK staff as required

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Qualifications, skills and experience

• Understanding of European institutional donors and their requirements
• Understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming
• Experience of writing, reviewing and editing narrative and financial reports and excellent attention to detail
• Ability to analyse and synthesise information
• Excellent communication skills including active listening and verbal and written English
• Good IT skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)
• Ability to work on own initiative and collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload
• Able to multi-task and work to tight deadlines
• Self motivated, flexible and adaptable to the needs of the team and organisation
• Committed to IRC values and mandate

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience 

• Degree in a subject related to IRC’s work
• Worked in a developing country, preferable in a international NGO context
• Able to communicate effectively in French, including technical written French
• Advanced excel
• Experience of contract management

To Apply

Please send a CV (two pages maximum) and cover letter (two pages maximum) to:

applications@rescue-uk.org 

Please state clearly in your cover letter:

• Your reasons for applying
• How you meet the person specification for this position
• Where you saw the job advertised
• Current salary

The closing date for this position is: 10am Monday 15th June 2015

In order to minimise administrative costs, IRC-UK will only contact short-listed candidates. 

Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

IRC-UK strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC-UK is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.