Oxfam Ethiopia’s five years Country Strategy was finalized in 2015 and a Country Operating Model in 2016.  A transition process has been completed to amalgamate all existing Oxfam operations in country under one roof.  A new operating model has been introduced for Vision 2022 and is currently being rolled out and embedded in Ethiopia.  A key component of this is the establishment of an Executing Affiliate (EA) to operationalize the Oxfam programme in Ethiopia, under the oversight of the Oxfam International Country Director.  As the legally registered entity in the country, it employs in-country staff, is the asset holder, primary contract signatory with in-country donors and suppliers, manages finances and provides back office support and IT systems, and represents the Oxfam Confederation in country.  Complementing the work of the Executing Affiliate are Partner Affiliates that provide funding (restricted and unrestricted), thematic expertise and influencing capacity.

Team Purpose

The Grants Unit contributes to fundraising and grants management of the restricted funds needed to implement the programmes in the Oxfam in Ethiopia Country Strategy, which includes providing specialist support to the programme on donor compliance, proposal development, and grant management. This includes ensuring that all proposals and reports are of best quality, and are produced in a timely manner with input with all key stakeholders, including working with Oxfam’s local partners. An important role of the Grants Unit is to provide ongoing capacity building support for all Oxfam staff and local partners on proposal development, reporting and grant management.

This unit will be working for the whole Ethiopia Programme which includes the long term, humanitarian and campaigns.

Job Purpose

The Sr. Grants Manager will provide direct support to the organization leading on the development of the fundraising strategy, identifying new donors, managing existing donor relationships, ensuring that donor compliance requirements are met and facilitating the development of new programme designs and proposals.

As a senior manager within Oxfam, and a member of the Oxfam in Ethiopia Senior Management team, the Grants Manager leads the planning, coordination, securing and management of restricted income to enable Oxfam in Ethiopia to deliver on the national country strategy.

The Sr. Grants Manager is accountable to the Oxfam International Country Director for planning, coordination, securing and management of restricted income for the Ethiopia country programme.

 Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

1.    Planning/Strategy

• In consultation with the Country Senior Management Team, lead on developing and implementing an up-to-date funding strategy for the Oxfam Ethiopia Country Programme
• Conduct regular donor mapping informed by the ambitions and outcomes articulated in the Oxfam Country Strategy
• Lead the fundraising strategy review processes, facilitating decision making to ensure that fundraising strategies and activities are relevant and remain aligned with changes in the programme
• Provide ongoing research, strategic donor intelligence gathering, and trends analysis and generate information to enable engagement with global, regional and country level donors.
• Work with affiliates in identifying and sharing new opportunities with home donors.
• Identify and foster potential partnerships, coalitions, consortia and affiliate engagement that may result in joint programme funding opportunities.

2.    Funding Coordination and Management

• Ensure effective coordination with Oxfam staff at country, regional, and head office levels to ensure an adequate overview of funding, proposal submissions, donor reports and donor liaison.
• Supports and provides guidance to staff on compliance with Oxfam and donor requirements and the uses of restricted funds, including budget monitoring, amendment requests and timely flagging of problems.
• Leads communications to donors including responding to information requests, income tracking, and contract amendments.
• Establish and maintain funding grids, proposal pipelines, and progress reports
• Facilitate access to specialist support from within, and external to the Confederation in support of proposal development

3.    Proposal Development

• Evaluate eligibility and provide summaries of opportunities and calls that are relevant to the country team, and follow up a sign on for opportunities using the bid and no bid decision-making tool and processes.
• Lead or support the development and submission of high-quality concept notes and proposals.
• Provide effective coordination, with Oxfam colleagues at country/region/HQ level, for specific proposal submissions, overseeing scheduling of the proposal development process.
• Work effectively with colleagues in other functions, partner organizations, and affiliates to develop joint funding proposals.
• Provide quality assurance to all concept notes and proposals, ensuring that proposals are of the best quality to meet donor requirements for submission
• Ensure timely submission of high-quality funding proposals and manage donor communications and follow up

 4.    Donor Contract Negotiation and Management

• Lead or support on negotiating donor contracts favorably in line with Oxfam’s policies and procedures
• Review and strengthen compliance and utilization of EA grant management system (CRIMSON) for project and contract management
• Ensure that funding files, both electronic and paper, are complete and kept up-to-date
• Support preparation for audits or donor visits of donor funded programs as required

5.    External Engagement

• Facilitate Oxfam’s engagement with donor agencies and other external stakeholders in order to identify opportunities for funding, exchange information about programmes and priorities, promote technical cooperation, ensure regular communications with donors, resolve problems and help negotiate solutions.

 6.    Capacity Building

• Assess and strengthen the capacity of colleagues in the planning, securing and management of restricted funds using the appropriate methodologies, such as formal training, technical guidance, coaching and accompaniment.
• Analyse and provide advice/training to relevant staff on funding policies and formal requirements of donors.

7.    People development and management    

• Ensures that all members of the Grants Team have access to staff development opportunities, identifies and addresses capacity gaps and provides on-going counseling and support to the team member
• Manage and support the Grants Team to deliver on the Funding Strategy and manage the restricted Grants portfolio, providing leadership, inspiration, and guidance and ensuring that the management of the team is in line with Oxfam’s HR policies and procedures.

• With support from Human Resources Manager, manages the life cycle of individuals within the team from pre-recruitment to exit, including performance management processes, people’s development and working with HR on issues such as disciplinary matters among others.

Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge

Essential

• Postgraduate or equivalent qualification and experience in relevant field of studies

• 7 years’ senior management experience in securing and managing funds from institutional donors, such as ECHO, DFID, OFDA, CIDA, and UN agencies, as well as international trusts and foundations.

• Excellent planning and budgeting skills, and a sound understanding of Programme Cycle Management in emergencies and/or development environments

• Excellent skills and experience in capacity building staff in relation to fundraising or programme development

• Experience working jointly with partner organizations to develop winning funding proposals.

• Self-motivated, target-driven and an entrepreneurial approach to fundraising opportunities

• Highly developed interpersonal, influencing and relationship skills

• Excellent in the use of computers and Microsoft, especially spreadsheets (Excel), accounting packages, word processing (Word) and PowerPoint. Competent in the use of email packages

• Excellent personal communication skills, in written and verbal English, with high impact influencing and persuasive skills. Able to use different approaches to achieve followership

• Good administrative and numerical skills and attention to detail

• Demonstrated organizational awareness and understanding of knowledge management

• Proven analytical skills and the ability to think strategically in relation to fundraising and donor engagement.

• Strong analytical and conceptual thinking skills; ability to understand complex issues and translate them into simple, workable actions and plans

• Ability to represent Oxfam to donors and external institutions. 

• Ability to adjust to constantly changing situations while maintaining focus on delivery and follow-through

• Experience with gender programming and working in a multi-cultural environment

• Commitment to Oxfam’s overall aims and policies and experience of promoting women’s rights and the interests of marginalized people in all aspects of Oxfam’s work

 Desirable

• Familiarity with Oxfam’s priorities and development and humanitarian programme work is an advantage

• Knowledge of donor’s portfolios and strategies in Ethiopia
• Experience of working with Oxfam systems