Grants and Communication Manager

Première Urgence - Aide Médicale Internationale (PU-AMI) is a non-profit, non-political and non-religious humanitarian NGO. Its objective is to bring about a global response to the basic needs of populations suffering from acute humanitarian crisis and to allow them to recover their autonomy and dignity. In close respect to humanitarian principles, PU-AMI promotes humanitarian access and dialogue with all components of the civil society in Lebanon, and delivers assistance based on the needs, regardless of religion, politics, and ethnic matters. Today, PU-AMI is intervening in 21 countries in Africa, the Near East, Caucasus, Asia and the Caribbean to cover the needs of populations affected by conflict, natural disasters or economic crises. PU-AMI in Lebanon has been implementing emergency and recovery projects in Health, Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, Shelter Rehabilitation and in Livelihood Recovery sectors.

Job Description:

1. GENERAL OBJECTIVE

Under direct line management of the Grants and Partnerships Coordinator, the Grants and Communication Manager provides key support in the development of concept notes, proposals, reports, and other documents relevant to the programs of PU-AMI in Lebanon.

In constant liaison with the operational and support teams, s/he supports the gathering and compilation of all necessary information on ongoing projects and mission developments, in order to report on PU-AMI’s activities internally and externally, with utmost attention to timelines and quality. The Grants and Communication Manager ensures a close follow-up and implementation of program’s activities and support program managers and coordinators. S/he is the line manager of Grants and Communications Officers.

S/he contributes to the analysis of donor’s strategies and specificities, through the creation of guidance documents and by organizing ad-hoc trainings for bases and coordination’s staffs on donor requirements.

The Grants and Communication Manager also supports the design and implementation of the mission communications strategy, and the development of quality communication channels and products.

2. RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct supervision of the Grants and Partnerships Coordinator, s/he:

• Ensures the timely and qualitative production of all communication materials, internal and external reports, concept note, proposals and amendment packages, in close collaboration with program teams;
• Supervises and aims at building the writing reporting and analysis capacities of the Grants and Communication Officers and Grants and Communication Intern;
• Ensures close collaboration with the Consortium Manager who will be their counterpart for all projects including a partner, also under the management of the Grants and Partnerships coordinator;
• Assists the DCDP and Field Coordinators in the follow-up of program’s activities by ensuring that project kick-off, review meetings and close out meetings are regularly organized;
• Supports technical coordinators and operations’ teams in the bases in the tracking, collection and compilation of information relative to program operational progress;
• Coordinates with HQ’s program and communication department to ensure the respect of internal and external review processes and deadlines;
• Supports the MEAL department in the collection and analysis of project data, to ensure the production of comprehensive documents and reports for internal and external dissemination;
• Coordinates and acts as the focal point for the design and implementation of a communication strategy, including the development of quality communication channels and products, internal communication with HQ and external communication (requests for interviews, visibility products, etc.);
• In support of the Grants and Partnerships Coordinator, updates and ensures the roll-out of SOPs for program development and reporting in coordination with program teams and relevant Technical Coordinators;
• Follows-up and ensures an updated mapping of existent and potential local partners;
• Supervises and ensures the capacity building of program teams reporting and proposal writing skills.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE AND LINKED ACTIVITIES 

1. SUPPORT DCDP, G&PC, TECHNICAL COORDINATORS AND BASE TEAMS IN THE TRACKING, COLLECTION, COMPILATION AND ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION RELATED TO PROGRAM OPERATIONAL MATTER AND PROGRESS 

• Follow the implementation of all programs and support the Technical Coordinators (Shelter, Health, MHPSS, Protection, MEAL) and the operational teams in the bases in the gathering of all information regarding the follow-up operational results, contractual indicators and the respect of schedules, especially when those are contractual; 
• Assist the DCDP, Grants and Partnerships Coordinator and Field Coordinators in the follow-up of program’s activities;
• Lead the overall mission’s effort for the development and improvement of reporting tools and systems; 
• Participate in the mission’s effort to implement contractual donor guidelines (i.e. quality standards, procurement, administration, etc.), by communicating them to the teams, checking their application and alerting the Grants and Partnerships coordinator anytime a potential breach is identified;
• Support the Grants and Partnerships coordinator in regular and ad-hoc contextual follow-up and analysis and in the production of reports and communication materials;
• Support the Technical Coordinators to prepare and review programmatic documents (i.e. reports, manuals, maps, etc.) as well as for other tasks when needed.
• Ensure that contractual obligations are met in terms of project deliverables;
• Ensure a proper information and archiving system is in place for all projects;
• Support the coordination at field level of the answer to external audit request when needed.

2. ENSURE TIMELY PRODUCTION AND QUALITY OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL REPORTING AND COMMUNICATION PRODUCTS

• Ensure the regular update of the reporting schedule, and the preparation and launching of the reporting packages, which includes the main donors’ guidelines and templates to be utilized as well as the timeline;
• Support the technical coordinators and the operational teams in the bases in the collection of information and inputs from Program and Support teams in due time, provide critical feedback, adapt inputs to the appropriate format, and submit the final paper for validation to Grants and Partnerships Coordinator in a timely manner; 
• Liaise with the Consortium Manager to ensure deadlines related to partners and consortium projects are included and consolidated in the reporting schedule, avoiding duplication and ensuring a rational workload for the Grants and Communication officers, Technical Coordinators and program teams;
• Oversee the monthly update of the Grants Follow Up tool and dissemination to relevant HQ colleagues;
• Provide reporting which adheres to and faithfully transposes donors’ contractual guidelines; 
• Provide utmost standard of writing and quality to all reporting s/he prepares;
• Support the base teams in their grant related documentation and seek to improve their reporting capabilities.
   

3. ENSURE QUALITY PRODUCTION OF PROJECT PROPOSAL AND AMENDMENT PACKAGES, IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH PROGRAM TEAMS

• Be responsible for the preparation and consolidation of PU-AMI grants’ documentation (i.e. proposals, concept notes, amendments, no cost extensions, etc.), by:
• Supporting the Grants and Partnerships coordinator within the coordination (i.e. planning, distribution of tasks, milestones, list of components, etc.) of programs and proposal development (i.e. proposals, concept notes, amendments, no cost extension, etc.); 
• Ensuring the collection of information and inputs from Program teams at base and coordination level in due time; 
• Drafting non-technical sections (i.e. context, presentation of organization, coordination, etc.) of all documents produced;
• Supporting in the draft of documents and SoPs related to protection and gender mainstreaming, environment, data protection and other transversal topics in coordination with relevant colleagues;
• Ensuring that information fits the appropriate format; 
• Submitting a qualitative, coherent and timely packages for validation to the Grants and Partnerships Coordinator; 
• Checking that the human, financial and logistics means are in line and coherent in all grants documentations, reporting any discrepancies and participating in the identification of solutions.
• Supervise the organization of kick-off meetings for the new projects, bringing together key coordination and field staff;
• Support the base teams and seek to improve their proposal and reporting writing capacities through regular meetings and the provision of comprehensive materials.

4. SUPPORT IN THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY, INCLUDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY COMMUNICATION CHANNELS AND PRODUCTS

• Lead the development and implementation of communications strategies and plans;
• Lead the exploration and access of appropriate and effective communication channels and mediums;
• Create communication products for internal and external documents (i.e. Facebook page, internal newsletter, success stories, articles, etc.) and be the focal point in terms of donor visibility and communication rules;
• Ensure that communication products and messages adhere to PU-AMI’s identity, values and common speech;
• Lead the organization and facilitation of donor visits and monitoring meetings;
• Support the HQ Communications department in communication-related tasks.

5. TEAM MANAGEMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING

• Manage the priorities, technical and professional development of the grants and communication officers and intern;
• In collaboration with the HR department and line manager, participate in the recruitment process(es) of staff under his/her line management at base level by: participate in drafting job descriptions/technical tests/interview forms, shortlisting resumes and conducting interviews;
• Brief newly recruited personnel on their roles and responsibilities;
• Ensure the adherence of his/her subordinate(s) to all PU-AMI’s policies, rules and regulations;

3. PRIORITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT

• To work closely with the Grants and Partnerships Coordinator in order to train coordination, program and operational teams on reporting, proposal writing and communication processes, including by ensuring a solid understanding of the roles and responsibilities;
• To work closely with the MEAL, Health information system and program teams, to improve the data and reporting systems and improve the quality and timeliness of reporting;
• To work closely with the Grants and Partnerships coordinator to ensure a sensible and user-friendly management of online grants and program documents;
• To strengthen, in joint collaboration with the Grants and Partnerships Coordinator, the context analysis, namely in preparation for the development of the country strategy;
• To support the capacity building of staff on communication, proposal writing and reporting process through training for the program staffs.

Job Requirements:

        Language skills:

• Excellent writing and editing skills in English. 
• Excellent interpersonal communications skills in English.
• Working knowledge in French and/or Arabic is a plus

Education degree: Master´s degree in project management, political sciences, international development, public administration, business, social science or other relevant areas; or equivalent professional experience.

Work experience:

• At least three years of experience in a similar role and/or areas of program development, project management, donor reporting and grant compliance for an international NGO. 
• Experience in proposal and report development.
• Experience in creating communication products (i.e. articles, success stories, etc.)

Computer skills:

• Excellent computer skills, including ability to operate Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project and database Management software.
• Skills in GIS and/or graphic design/edition software is a plus

Requirements of Behavioral Competencies:

• Excellent command in writing and editing documents in English (with French and/or Arabic a plus);
• Proven capacity for analyzing and synthetizing comprehensive information and technical data; Ability to write and edit reports under deadline pressure;
• Ability to guarantee effective and timely outputs; 
• Strong presentation and communications skills for public presentations and communication materials;
• Ability to work on own initiative and collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload. Self-motivated, flexible and adaptable to the needs of the team and organization
• Strong commitment to support/develop capacity of the staff and in developing a second layer of leadership;
• Proven management ability and inter-personal skills – team player;
• Problem solving and leadership skills;
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities in personal workload.

PUI-AMI Employment Conditions and Benefits:

• Status: A Fixed-Term Contract 
• 40-hour work week from Monday to Friday.
• Monthly Gross Income:  2685 USD based on PU-AMIs internal salary scale. PU-AMI deducts income tax and automatically registers employees to NSSF
• Seniority Allowance of +2% monthly increase of your basic salary after 1st year of employment. Seniority allowance is gradual and grows of +2% every year.  
• Insurance Medical Insurance class B for employee and spouse with a possibility to upgrade to class A based on employee’s contributions.
• Life Insurance
• Workmen Accident Compensation Insurance
• Maternity leave of 100 days
• Paternity leave of 5 days
• Paid Leaves Policy: 24 days of paid leaves per year
• 3 paid Sick Child Leaves per year for employees with children
• 1 day of remote work per week after agreement with the line manager
• Opportunities for career progression and transparent internal recruitment system
• Internal trainings and capacity development opportunities
• Staff wellbeing and inclusion activities

Our Commitments

PU-AMI sees diversity of nationalities, genders, beliefs, profiles and statuses among its employees as a major asset for its humanitarian action and therefore compels itself to the strict observance of the principle of non-discrimination throughout its recruitment process.  

PU-AMI applies a policy of zero tolerance towards exploitation, sexual abuse and mistreatment, in all its forms, of men, women, children and all vulnerable persons. It engages all its staff to promote, disseminate and respect the principles set out in its ethical framework.