Position:                          Senior Officer- Subgrant

Term of Employment:   One Year with the possibility of extension  

Duty Station(s):             Addis Ababa

Required Number:         One

Application Deadline:    October 19, 2023

BACKGROUND

The Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) was established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify systemic bottlenecks, conduct studies, and provide recommendations, provide implementation support, manage projects, create linkages and coordination among activities and   agricultural development programs. The Institute is a strategy and delivery-oriented government institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATI envisions that, to be the leading centre of innovative solutions to catalyse and contribute to the transformation of the Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030 where smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability.

ATI provides a unique platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector. The programmatic focus of the Institute responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and other sectors along commodity value chains. Across the programs, the ATI engages public, private, and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity and test innovative models. Currently, ATI is tasked to coordinate the revised Agriculture and Rural Development policy agendas of the sector and such sectoral level delegation requires high level expertise in the policy areas and skillsets in coordination and networking with multiple stakeholders.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results.

At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector. We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training. We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Senior Sub-Grant Officer will be a core member of the subgrant management department under vertical operations, leading and coordinating a team that creates, maintains, and facilitates effective relations between ATI and its implementation partners–subgrantee. The Senior Sub-Grant Officer is responsible for updating both the technical progress and financial utilization of sub-grantees to relevant bodies. The Officer manages the complete sub grant process in the pre-award, post-award, and sub-grant closure phases.

The Senior Officer is also responsible for overall leading and evaluating implementing partners, namely governmental and non-governmental organizations, and the private sector that is eligible to receive sub-grants from ATI according to ATI’s sub-grant operation guidelines. The SGMO will also be responsible for providing overall oversight to ensure that implementing partners are executing agreed plans, providing timely reports on programmatic progress and financial utilization, and monitoring the performance of funded activities against planned objectives and targets. The SGMO will coordinate with all ATI Program Teams to consolidate and provide comments on both the technical and cost components of project proposals and provide inputs for project appraisals. Moreover, the SGMO liaises with program teams, procurement, and finance to track relevant information, such as the progress of planned activities, new institutional partnerships, and sub-grantee processes.

The performance of the senior sub-grant officer will be evaluated primarily based on the degree of adherence of sub-grants to Implementing Partners to the principles and procedures of ATI’s sub-grant operation manual and on the processing efficiency of any sub-grant ideas initiated by the program team as per the required quality and within the agreed timeline.

The Senior Sub-Grant Officer will report to the Director of the Sub-grant.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Prepare and lead the development of grant agreements and other grant documentation consistent and compliant with donor and ATI requirements, procedures, and best practices.

• Ensure efficient delivery of compliance with the development partner’s requirements.

• Oversees the implementation of the Sub-grant manual which stipulates the key activities and actors involved in sub-grant inception, solicitation, evaluation, monitoring, and closeout process.

• Develop and implement different manuals, tools, and systems to ease grant management processes.

• Lead the sub-grant processes in collaboration with the respective program teams to ensure that they are properly coordinated and consistent with internal program priorities, cross-cutting issues, and donor priorities and requirements.

• Support and facilitate both internal and external audits and sub-grant-related reviews.

• Being the focal person to provide, where necessary, guiding support to government, NGOs, and private sector sub-grant applicants or to program teams in the preparation of proposals for sub-grant consideration;

• Facilitate the technical and financial evaluation report with recommendations from the technical evaluation team for the consumption of the sub-grant review committee and take notes of the evaluation team;

• Ensuring the proper documentation (proposals, due diligence reports, minutes, agreements, exchanged letters, reports, etc.) of each sub-grant on OneDrive and ERP and preparing up-to-date compiled reports over the overall status of ATI sub-grants;

• Coordinate with teams to gather and consolidate information related to sub-grant progress that is required for narrative reports which in turn will be incorporated into the main reports submission to development partners as per the agreed timeframe;

• Prepare and present monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, and annual reports and updates, summarize the results of program implementation through a sub-grant approach and identify potential areas of improvement;

• Work closely with the program and grant team under the partnership and resource mobilization and management team for proper post-sub-grant monitoring and evaluation and to keep consistency between narrative and financial reports of sub-grants;

•  Initiate and lead the monitoring and evaluation of programs/projects implemented through a sub-grant approach based on the identified major issues while compiling the monthly and quarterly reports;

• Assist in the development of guidelines and program-wide efforts to create continuity, consistency, and standardization of the sub-grant process;

• Lead problem-solving efforts mainly related to sub-grants with complex legal and technical issues;

• Draft different correspondences to government and non-government organizations and private sector partners;

• Performing any other duties as assigned by the direct supervisor.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in economics, Business Administration, Finance, International Development, or another relevant field of study, obtained from a recognized University

• At least Six (6) for a bachelor’s or four (4) years for a master’s degree of experience in grant administration, donor compliance management, and sub-recipient grant management. Of which two of those years were spent in a senior position.

• Experience with multiple donor-funded programs and in the agriculture, sector is a plus

• Excellent sub-grant management skills and ability to build relationships with government counterparts, NGOs, and private sectors.

• Ability to prioritize and manage a high-volume workload in a fast-paced work environment.

• Display creative problem-solving in addressing and resolving emerging project needs.

• In addition to one or more local language skills, strong written and oral communication skills in English.

• Superior analytical and organizational skills with excellent attention to detail and a high degree of personal initiative

• Experience in basic accounting and budget management, database administration, project management, and information gathering.

• Experience in the area of development, including working in project management, donor relations, grant management, and resource mobilization for multilateral and bilateral agencies, private foundations, or NGOs. 

• Strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills.

•  Ability to establish priorities in a time-sensitive environment and meet deadlines

• Ability to cooperate effectively and harmoniously with all stakeholders including different teams within ATI, government organizations, development and implementing partners, and other organizations

• Fluency in English and Amharic, both verbal and written, and any other local language.

• Excellent skills in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).

• Willingness to respect and adhere to ATI values.

How to Apply

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter and (ii) a CV (maximum 5 pages) to CLICK HERE

It is mandatory to mention the position title under the subject line of your cover letter.

Please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application.

Women are highly encouraged to apply.

NB. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.