Grants Manager - ARE Activity

BACKGROUND

The Lebanon Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) program is a multi-year project funded by USAID to develop rural economics in Lebanon through support to the agro-food sector and other industries to unlock local and export sales potential while also creating jobs and increasing farmers’ and worker’s incomes. ARE will increase jobs; improve incomes; improve female participation and employment opportunities; increase domestic and export sales; increase private sector investment; improve access to finance; link value chain actors to domestic and international markets; and improve farm production through improved practices, technology, increased volume, and/or decreased cost.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Grants Manager will serve as a member of the Operations, Finance and Grants component, and will report to the Senior Grants and Procurement Manager. The Grants Manager will be responsible for implementing and monitoring grants and technical activities together with the Regional Business Portfolio Managers and Private Sector Engagement Director, including performing evaluations and assessments of potential grantees, designing agreements and scopes of work, monitoring financial and operational implementation, and ensuring that close-out is done in accordance with applicable federal regulations. Each Grants Manager will liaise closely with their assigned Business Portfolio Manager(s) and together they will lead the process of transforming potential opportunities found by the business portfolio managers into defined and actionable grant programming that is in line with ARE’s goals and objectives.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure that all contract-specified related regulatory requirements for grants (including ADS, CFR, and OMB) are met in a satisfactory and professional manner;
• Draft and release Request for Applications (RFAs)/ Annual Program Statement (APS) in accordance with technical activity requirement as defined by the Business Portfolio Director and DCOP;  
• Manage the evaluation and selection committee process for potential grantees;
• Lead on the pre-award assessment, and draft Negotiation Memos;
• Create financial and administrative procedures for monitoring grant expenditures(Fixed Award Grants, Inkind Grants, or Hybrid Grants or others ), including appropriate reporting and authority delegation;
• Establish controls for expenditures and reporting on use of funds related to addressing these needs, including reviewing complex grant budgets;
• Update the Grants Database Tracker and ensure timely communications with technical and MEL teams on any and all issues and items concerning grantee achievements, notable events, performance, completion of milestones, and any other issue of interest;
• Coordination with grantees and the Intervention Managers during the execution of their grant when needed, including tracking milestones, payments, compliance, delivering training to improve grantee administration capacity where relevant, working with technical staff on timelines and deliverables, ensuring proper files are kept in Lebanon and with the grantees;
• Coordination with the Procurement Team on solicitations for Inkind Agreements, and with the finance department on Actual expenditure;
• Keep complete files of all documentation generated with each grantee, including applications, contracts and deliverables, communications (posters, press releases, printed documents, media documents), documentation of emails and letters, brief records of all phone conversations;
• Responsible for all documentation related to closeout of grant including equipment disposition;
• In collaboration with the Intervention Managers and the Senior Grants and Procurement Manager, draft statements of work and specifications for various services and material assistance to local partners;
• Promote the highest levels of honesty, integrity, openness and transparency in administering grants and subcontract award processes and procedures;
• Ensure that all grant activities meet the required USAID and Lebanese environmental compliance requirements and are compliant to USAID branding and marking rules;
• Travel to field locations, as needed, to support grant negotiations, implementation, and close-out or Inventory spot checks;
• Perform any other relevant duties as assigned by the Senior Grants and Procurement Manager and/or the Operations, Finance, and Grants Director.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in related field;
• 5 years  of professional supervisory experience in grants management and implementation. Experience working in grant management on a USAID or other donor funded project are preferred;
• Knowledge of USAID rules and regulations related to grant award and administration;
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, with demonstrated diplomacy and the ability to communicate effectively;
• Fluency in oral and written Arabic and English.

LOCATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The Grants Manager will be based in ARE’s main office in Beirut, Lebanon, with significant travel throughout the country, as needed.

REPORTING

The Grants Manager will report directly to the Senior Grants and Procurement Manager.