Associate Grants Officer at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA): (Deadline 30 August 2023)

Associate Grants Officer at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA): (Deadline 30 August 2023)

About AGRA 

AGRA and its Work

AGRA is an African-led institution that actively supports the drive towards inclusive agricultural transformation and sustainable food systems. We do this by empowering the continent’s 33 million smallholder farming households to transform their agriculture from a struggle to survive to profitable businesses. The continent’s farmers regularly face challenges, and we aspire to provide uniquely African solutions that respond to their agricultural and environmental challenges, leading to increased harvests for reduced hunger and more income.

Working in alignment with the development priorities of our focus countries, we enable farmers to access improved and high-yielding seeds, gain knowledge on sustainable farming, and linkages to profitable markets.

In our work, we aspire to build the alliances, partnerships, and networks required to drive an inclusive agricultural transformation. We work with our partners to create an equitable youth-friendly environment that harnesses the youth dividend on the continent to drive growth and facilitate open employment opportunities for young women and men. We achieve our key objectives through a focus on the following four areas of intervention:

1. Policy and state capability – We support governments in creating an enabling environment for private sector involvement in agricultural transformation.
2. Seed systems – We trigger higher productivity by increasing the availability and access to improved seeds by farmers allowing them to increase their harvests for food security and better incomes.
3. Sustainable farming – We support farmers in building resilient farming systems for sustained high yields through interventions such as mechanization and irrigation.
4. Inclusive markets and trade – We work to increase the linkages between farmers, and other market actors for a positive, sustained cycle of commercialization and reinvestment.

AGRA’s 2030 Strategy

The continent has, in recent years, taken steps towards inclusive agricultural transformation resulting in notable improvements in food security, with clear progress across all AGRA’s focus countries. However, with over 20% of Africans still suffering from hunger, we need to accelerate our progress and mitigate against the growing external pressures of conflict and climate on our food systems.

AGRA 2022-2030 Strategic Framework (SF2030) demonstrates our long-term vision for how we intend to contribute to, and align with, global and continental priorities, applying a food systems lens towards the goals of zero hunger, improved nutrition, an end to poverty, and climate adaptation. We have split our Strategic Framework 2030 into two 5-year strategies so that we have a clear mid-way point to evaluate progress and re-route our strategic focus if necessary. Our 2023-2027 Strategic Plan sets out to catalyze the growth of sustainable food systems across Africa by influencing and leveraging partners to build a robust enabling environment where the private sector thrives, and smallholders are empowered to produce sufficient, healthy food.

AGRA’s Vision

To contribute to a food system-inspired inclusive agricultural transformation across Africa, to reduce hunger, improve nutrition, and adapt to climate.

AGRA’s Mission

To catalyze the growth of sustainable food systems across Africa by influencing and leveraging partners to build a robust enabling environment where private sector thrives, and smallholder farmers are empowered to produce sufficient, healthy food.

AGRA’s Strategy

• Empowering and building the resilience of small holder farmers
• Supporting the development of inclusive markets and finance to strengthen agricultural systems.
• Strengthening state capability to sustain agricultural transformation.

Implementing Our New Strategy Through People

AGRA is at the threshold of a new chapter where we begin implementing our new strategy of catalyzing inclusive, resilient and sustainable agricultural transformation. At AGRA we believe Agriculture is the single greatest opportunity to deliver inclusive economic growth, jobs, and health to the African continent.

People are the heart of our organisation and remain the true drivers of our delivery and our impact.

We are excited about a new fit-for-purpose organizational structure that is largely driven by an ambition to enhance collaboration across teams and drive sustainable growth. We have therefore purposed more focus on delivery of country programs within the new strategy giving even greater attention to optimizing existing talent in addition to upscaling technical and operational resources.

We work with incredible people and partners who have roots in farming communities across the continent combined with an inclusive and diverse workforce from over 24 nationalities. Our values of (I-RISE; Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Stewardship and Equity) espouse our commitment to a call to action to go beyond ourselves as we arise and transform Africa’s Agriculture.

We are looking for people who are passionate about Africa, curious and collaborative to join our innovative, growing, and multidisciplinary team. Together, we can grow Africa’s food systems improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Want to join us?

The Opportunity

Associate Grants Officer, Rwanda Job Reference: AGO/RW/07/2023

Role Purpose

The Associate Grants Officer- Rwanda, as part of the grants management team will be responsible for working flexibly and collegially in offering support to the Country Director, grants and programs staff as well as in processing grants and maintaining a grants database.

Role Summary

Reporting to the Country Director, Rwanda, the Associate Grant Officer, Rwanda is responsible for overseeing the grants monitoring and evaluation processes in Rwanda, and efficiently managing the flow of grants as per donor rules and regulations and in compliance with AGRA’s internal policies and processes and using technology to achieve the set turnaround times. This role has a matrix reporting to the Regional Grants Officer for the region.

Key Measures of Performance

• • Compliance with the AGRA grant making policies and procedures.
  • Compliance with the donor rules and regulations.
  • Accuracy of grants data in AGRA Management Information System (AMIS).
  • Efficient management of the flow of grants.
• Achievement of turnaround time in the grant management processes.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose – Apply Basic Concepts

• Managing day to day project and grants management of grantees within their portfolio.
• Creating and maintaining 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.
• Identifying grantees requiring technical assistance and providing relevant training on AGRA grants compliance and reporting requirements.
• Conducting pre-award due diligence for potential grantees including organizing capacity assessments.
• Enforcing adherence to donor compliance requirements by grantees during the life of the grant post grants issuance.

Engagement – Acquire

• Advising to the country leadership on grants compliance requirements.
• Preparing grants portfolio performance reports for country leadership and providing corrective actions on parameters that include commitment budget uptake, disbursement, and burn-rate, closures, and implementation of audit recommendations etc.
• Collaborating with country leadership, and HQ regional grants officers in implementing systems, policies, and procedures related to grants administration in the designated country.
• Serving as secretary to the Grants Charter Committee.
• Collaborating with the program staff to analyze, revise and formalizing any necessary modifications and/or amendments to grants and contracts.
• Building capability of the AGRA grantees within priority countries through providing trainings and technical backstopping on M&E systems and tools as required.
• Advocating for compliance with donor and AGRA-specific regulations for grant making and all applicable delegation of authority policies, as they relate to signatory powers and thresholds.
• Engaging and following-up with the program staff for timely grants closure.

Delivery – Understand the Project Cycle

• Tracking grant-making pipeline, RFCN processing and GAL issuance.
• Uploading complete and accurate expenditure support documentation is uploaded by grantees and AGRA to the AMIS in compliance with MCF and other donors as appropriate.
• Organizing grants charter reviews and compiling grant materials for GC review.
• Delivering training to grantees and other In-Country users of grants tools and e-platforms e.g. AMIS and maintains a log of problems and gathers information to contribute to continuous enhancement of the database.
• Conducting grantee monitoring and portfolio performance health checks.
• Preparing and conducting 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.
• Assessing that all grant and contract documentation assembled by program staff is complete and accurate and complying with all AGRA and donor policies and procedures.
• Organizing and scheduling reporting requirements and payments for all new grants.
• Entering accurate data entry and filing of on AGRA’s annual grant making budget in AMIS.

Model the IRISE Values & Be a Culture Carrier

• Integrity: Uphold moral convictions and always doing the right thing.
• Respect: Value differences and embrace diversity and inclusion.
• Innovation: Strive for excellence and embracing continuous improvement, bold creativity, and change.
• Stewardship: Be responsible for actions undertaken and resources entrusted.
• Equity: Be governed by fairness in all undertakings.

Requirements

Academic and Professional Qualifications

• • A Bachelor’s degree in a commercial domain or equivalent experience in a related field.
  • Computer proficiency in: Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet search skills, PowerPoint, and ability to learn new applications quickly.
  • Working knowledge of key donor agencies including MCF, USAID, Rockefeller Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• Knowledge of AMIS operating system, desirable.

Required Skills/Abilities

• 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 work. flow, 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 amidst competing demands.

Relevant Experience

• A Minimum of five (5) years’ relevant experience in a grant making environment.

Key Competencies

• • Achieving Results Effectively: Takes actions that lead to the delivery of set service targets and shows determination to meet the objectives set by others; Keeps track of and measures outcomes against own standards, over and above those set by others; Takes actions that lead to quantifiable service improvements; Manages time and resources efficiently, monitoring progress and making adjustments as necessary.
  • Managing and Sharing Knowledge:  Keeps abreast of new developments in own field of competence and maintains personal contact in other parts of the organization with those who provide work- related information; Shares knowledge and learning willingly, and proactively seeks to learn from the experiences of others; Puts new learning into practice and draws on diverse sources of ideas and inspiration; Contributes to the identification of improvements to work processes and assists in implementing them
  • Accountability:  Accepts personal responsibility for quality and timeliness of work; Takes ownership of all responsibilities within own role and honors commitments to others and to the organization; Operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: Takes a conscious effort to learn about different styles of conflict resolution; Is proactive in managing conflict over differences when it arises rather than avoiding it;    Listens actively for the frames of reference and does not prejudge;  Seeks to understand and adapt to different styles when working with those who are different; Treats others as they wish to be treated; Shows readiness to change the way he/she does things to meet the needs of those from diverse backgrounds.
  • Adaptability: Accepts that things will change; Seeks clarification when faced with ambiguity or uncertainty; Demonstrates willingness to try new approaches.  Devises plans of action with explicit paths and measures of accomplishment for self and/or others and allocates suitable resources so that objectives are achieved. Strong administration skills.
  • Stakeholder Focus/Partnerships:  Identifies stakeholder needs and expectations; Responds to requests efficiently and effectively; Takes action beyond explicit request within established service standards; Refers complex questions to a higher decision-making level; Meets stakeholder needs in a respectful, helpful and responsive manner; Seeks feedback to develop a clear understanding of stakeholder needs and outcomes; Uses stakeholder satisfaction monitoring methodologies to ensure stakeholder satisfaction; Adjusts service based on stakeholder feedback.
• Teamwork: Understands the goals of the team and each team member’s role within it; willingly gives support to co-workers and works collaboratively rather than competitively; Shares experiences, knowledge and best practices with team members.

Terms of Appointment

3 Years Fixed Term (Consideration for renewal will be made subject to AGRA’s needs, available funding and performance).

Location

Based in Kigali, Rwanda

How to Apply

If you believe you are the right candidate for this position, kindly submit your application with a detailed CV (including your e-mail address and telephone contacts to recruit@agra.org noting to quote the job reference number in the subject of your email)

To be considered, applications must be received on or before Wednesday 30^th August 2023.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer