Co-Investment Fund (CIF) Advisor at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Hinga Wunguke Activity: (Deadline 19 August 2024)

Co-Investment Fund (CIF) Advisor at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture Feed the Future Hinga Wunguke Activity: (Deadline 19 August 2024)

USAID/Rwanda Hinga Wunguke Activity

Co-Investment Fund (CIF) Advisor

CNFA

CNFA is a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to stimulating economic growth in the agricultural sector and improving livelihoods by cultivating entrepreneurship. CNFA specializes in fostering private sector investments in training, innovative technologies, and marketing as a means to increase the overall competitiveness of agricultural value chains and rural development, increase people’s incomes, develop skills in the rural workforce, and facilitate exports.

Program Description USAID Feed the Future Hinga Wunguke Activity

The purpose of the USAID Feed the Future Hinga Wunguke Activity (Hinga Wunguke) is to support increased agriculture productivity and income, access to finance and markets, and access and consumption of nutritious food products in Rwanda, while increasing the resilience of the agriculture and food systems to the changing climate. To achieve this goal, the Activity will sustainably increase agricultural productivity, increase access to finance for farmers and agribusinesses, improve producers’ nutrition and market outcomes, and strengthen the enabling environment to foster market-driven outcomes in agriculture.

To achieve program objectives Hinga Wunguke will deploy a Co-Investment Fund (CIF) and Catalytic Service Provider Fund (CSPF) across all Activity components. The CIF will be used to leverage private sector investment and formalize partnerships with market actors to inclusively strengthen food market systems in the Hinga Wunguke target districts. CIF partnerships will result in formalized grant awards between Hinga Wunguke and the award recipient to co-invest in new and sustainable business models or technologies, expanding existing models to new geographies or new food products, and improving inclusion of women, youth, and people with disabilities in food market systems. The CIF will apply a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach and be demand-driven, competitive, and performance-based to facilitate a wide range of transformative investments in the agricultural sector of Rwanda.

The Hinga Wunguke Zone of Influence includes the following target districts: Bugesera, Ngoma, Kayonza, Gatsibo, Gakenke, Burera, Nyabihu, Rubavu, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Karongi, Nyamasheke, and Nyamagabe.

Position Description

Reporting to the Partnership and Investment Director, the CIF Advisor will support the CIF and Component teams in all aspects of CIF grants management, including supporting grant-making from solicitation to close-out, and ensuring efficient and compliant grants administration aligned with program objectives.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties of the CIF Advisor include, but are not limited to:

• Support the CIF team in the administration of CIF grants from solicitation to closeout, including CIF/grant solicitation development, application review, and selection, due diligence, award negotiation, monitoring, and reporting.
• Coordinate with Kigali-based component teams, administrative management units, and provincial offices to ensure smooth implementation of grant activities.
• Support staff training on how to operationalize program strategies through CIF grant partnerships in line with policies outlined in the CIF Manual and Procurement Manual.
• Collaborate with program and technical teams to identify CIF partnership opportunities (grants) aligned with Activity objectives.
• Serve as a Hinga Wunguke resource on how to operationalize CIF partnerships (grants), and advise the team on whether an intervention is best implemented as a grant (CIF) or as a technical contract through the Catalytic Service Provision Fund (CSPF)
• Provide technical assistance and guidance to potential partners throughout the CIF application and implementation process.
• Coordinate with CIF and component teams to ensure applicant questions are addressed and that the administrative review and evaluation scoring templates are updated as needed.
• Monitor, track, and sort grant applications on a weekly basis in line with Hinga Wunguke filing systems, including updating the applicant tracker.
• Coordinate closely with the Partnership and Investment Manager to update and maintain the CIF grants tracker on a weekly basis, including projections for grant disbursements.
• Conduct thorough pre-award assessments of potential partners and all required due diligence.
• Support the grantee preparation, planning, kick-off, review, and monitoring meetings as requested.
• Collaborate with the Finance team to ensure proper financial management and reporting in line with USAID regulations.
• Maintain comprehensive grant pipeline and associated trackers records, tracking disbursements, modifications, and any other relevant information.
• Ensure grant files are maintained and ensure they are always up-to-date and ready for audit.
• Use Hinga Wunguke CIF Manual, Procurement manual, and CNFA templates as tools to ensure compliance.
• Work with the finance team and provincial CIF Officers to process payments to grantees, ensuring all documentation is in order.
• Assist in implementing internal compliance procedures and controls to mitigate risks and ensure accountability.
• Support external audits and evaluations, providing necessary documentation and information as required.
• Collaborate with the Technical team and Learning Advisor to document, disseminate and support implementation of lessons learned and best practices for grant implementation to support Hinga Wunguke partners achieve objectives.
• Other tasks at the request of the Partnership and Investment Director or their designee.

Qualifications

The required qualifications of the CIF Advisor include, but are not limited to:

• University degree in accounting, business, finance, public administration, agricultural economics or a related field.
• Minimum of three years of grants administration experience in USAID-funded program(s) and demonstrated knowledge of USAID rules & regulations (FAR, AIDAR, ADS 303) is strongly preferred.
• At least four years of progressive work experience for donor-funded project(s) related to agricultural finance, value chain development, agricultural investment, private sector investment, and/or access to finance is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate budgets, and review financial vouchers, and expense reports.
• Administrative experience with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and NGO procedures.
• Demonstrated experience supporting all stages of a grants administration (e.g., supporting the development of solicitations, supporting applicants completing grant applications, participating in the review, evaluation, and selection of grant applications, supporting implementation and close-out).
• Experience administering grant funds with cost-share requirements is preferred.
• Organized team player, with a proactive and flexible work style.
• Proven experience in managing multiple and competing tasks while maintaining the quality of deliverables within deadlines.
• Strong computer skills especially in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and experience in using financial management software.
• Advanced verbal and written communication skills in English required: Fluent Kinyarwanda required; French skills are considered an asset.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to complete tasks autonomously.
• Must be flexible, reliable, responsive, resourceful, and have immense attention to detail.

Place of Performance

The location of duty performance is primarily in Kigali, with occasional field work in the Hinga Wunguke Zone of Influence.

Application Instructions

All interested and qualified Candidates can send their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates, and references) documents to: [email protected] no later than 19 August 2024 at 6:00 PM. Please quote the job title in the subject and title your CV file with YOUR NAME, and POSITION APPLIED. Only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.