Department & Location: Resource Mobilization/Programs (Regional Office) Bangkok, Thailand

Reports to (position): Head of Regional Resource Mobilization

Purpose:  How does this post support Plan’s strategy and mission?

Working in 50 developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas, Plan aims to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalized with high quality programs that deliver long lasting benefits by increasing its income, working in partnership with others and operating effectively.

One of Plan’s global strategic priorities is to grow and diversify its sources of income. In the Asia region Plan believes it can continue grow its grant expenditure beyond USD100 million per year. The Regional Office is also responsible for managing twenty grant funded projects and a dedicated human resource is required to ensure the continued effective grant management. 

The Regional Grants Coordinator is needed to support the Head of Regional Resource Mobilization who oversees the implementation of the Regional Resource Mobilization Strategy, supports the achievement of the regional target and learning regarding the funding portfolio, whilst increasing Country Office capacity in the region to acquire and implement appropriate grants to donor standards in order to support sustainable growth.

This will be achieved by:

• Coordinating the effective management of all Regional Office managed grant funded projects
• Analyzing and informing about the grant funded projects in the region and maintaining a dashboard of information for Plan country offices and national organizations to coordinate fundraising efforts
• Building/strengthening the capacity of the teams in the 14 country offices for effective grants management in accordance with Plan’s policies, procedures and systems

Dimensions of Role

The Regional Grants Coordinator reports to the Head of Resource Mobilization. This is a regional role based at the Plan Asia Regional Office (ARO) in Bangkok, Thailand. The Regional Grants Coordinator works closely with the ARO Program and Finance Departments, 14 Plan Country Offices (COs) in the Region, National Organizations (NOs) and International Headquarters (IH). They provide leadership in conducting grants analysis, ensuring grant compliance and building capacity for effective grants management. Current large donors include DFAT, SIDA, NORAD, ECHO, EC, WFP, UNICEF, Global Sanitation Fund, USAID, OFDA, Government of Netherlands, MOFA (Finland) and ADB. Specific dimensions of the role include:

• Focal point for all NO communications related to ARO grant implementation
• Supports ARO proposal development processes
• Leads on the Funding Agreement Document review process
• Supports on grants budgeting and contract review processes
• Oversight of review, approval and submission of reports
• Leads on grant document filing and knowledge management
• Updates the Grant Pipeline Management Tool and Indicative Grants Funding
• Reviews quarterly grants reports from country offices
• Uploads relevant documentation on countries best practices and experiences on the SharePoint for purposes of learning and cross fertilization shared and managed
• Co-facilitates the ARO Regional Resource Mobilization network
• Regional focal point for grants audit, risk and compliance
• Leads on grants training
• Conducts periodic grants analysis

The job holder has no direct reports. S/He deputizes for the Head of Resource Mobilization as required.

Typical Responsibilities - Key End Results of Position

1. ARO managed grant funded projects are effectively managed and all donor requirements are met

• Focal point for all NO communications related to ARO grant implementation
• Supports colleagues in the ARO Program Department to develop high quality proposals and ensure that internal processes are followed during proposal development
• Supports Program and Finance Departments on grants budgeting to ensure full indirect cost recovery for ARO on Regional Office managed grants
• Support the contract review process and ensure that key internal stakeholders provide necessary input before management approval
• Prepare Funding Agreement Documents (FAD) for approval by management at submission and grant award
• Ensure that all reports go through the necessary review and approval process and are submitted on time and to the expected quality standard
• Focal point for all grant document filing and knowledge management
• Update the Grant Pipeline Management Tool and Indicative Grants Funding
• Provide training and support to ARO colleagues on key areas of Resource mobilization and Grant Management

Indicators will include:

• Feedback from National Organizations on the quality of project proposals and reports
• Success rate of project proposals
• Ensure all ARO Project Managers are aware of and comply with relevant donor rules and regulations
• Compliance with Plan’s grants management processes and procedures
• ARO grants audit ratings

2. ARO Country Offices follow global standards and processes relating to grant approvals, pipeline management and grant management

• Facilitate the FAD approval process between National Organizations, Regional Offices, International HQ and Country Offices
• Ensure that ARO costs are included in Country Office managed grant funded projects as appropriate
• Liaises with Plan’s Global Account Managers to promote information flow and coordinate applications for specific calls for proposals
• Compile and analyze quarterly Management Information reports for grants acquisition
• Monitoring of grants trends (confirmed/active and pipeline) against Regional Resource Mobilization Strategy  annual targets and breakdown of donor sources
• Track Disaster GADs per country (using the Grants Management Report) to support fundraising and grants management 
• Support the roll out and be a support resource for SAP, cost recovery and grant management procedures 

Indicators will include:

• Compliance with Plan’s grants management processes and procedures
• CO grants audit ratings
• Strengthened project resourcing through better resource planning (human and financial)
• A pipeline of grant opportunities exists for the Regional and Country Offices
• Improved coordination on DRM fundraising

3. ARO has a cadre of highly skilled grants staff so that it is able to pursue funding opportunities and manage grants effectively

• Work with IH and the Regional Finance Department to strengthen CO cost recovery and grant management systems
• Training on key areas of Grants Management provided and applied
  • Contribute to training module development
  • Facilitates development and roll out of regional training plans
  • Provides training on various corporate grants training modules (A, B and C)
  • Follows up on training to ensure knowledge acquired is being applied (based on specific Key Performance Indicators)
• Assist Country Offices in developing multi country and large grants proposals, over Euro 1million
• Promote continuous learning in the field of resource mobilization and feed this into regional (and global knowledge management)
• Best resource mobilization practices are shared more effectively

Indicators will include:

• All COs improve cost recovery from grant funded projects
• # staff trained and able to demonstrate application of new skills
• Feedback from National Organizations on the quality of project proposals developed
• Ensure all COs are aware of and comply with relevant donor rules and regulations
• Compliance with Plan’s grants management processes and procedures
• Grants audits ratings
• A well-managed regional grants network is recognized by countries
• The regional grants network contributes efficiently to global, regional and country initiatives

Dealing with Problems

• Working across departments and countries to ensure effective grants management. Other key challenges include dealing with different/conflicting demands from a variety of clients and responding to tight deadlines
• Dealing with grants management issues and challenges and varying capacities
• Ability to understand and assimilate the complexity of Plan’s grants business development and systems and procedures, organisational structures and decision-making processes;
• Capable of building constructive working relationships across the whole organisation
• Understanding of programmatic and compliance requirements from a variety of donors.

Communications and Working Relationships

The post holder will be required to initiate, develop and maintain working relationships across departments and Plan country offices.

Effective working relationships with the following are essential: regional office program and finance teams, Global Assurance team, National Organizations, Grants Coordinators and Accountants, International Headquarters grants and training teams. Primary linkages for this post include:

High

• Head of Regional Resource Mobilization
• ARO Program Department
• ARO Finance Department and other support departments including HR and Communications
• Compliance and Finance)

Medium

• Country Office Grants Coordinators and Managers
• National Organization Grants Departments (Admin, RO Program Technical Team
• Institutional Funding Team at IH
• Counterparts (Regional Grants Coordinators) in other Regions
• Global Assurance and external auditors

Knowledge, Skills, Behaviors, and Experience Required to Achieve Role’s Objectives:

Gained through education, training, & experience

Essential skills:

• Professional preferably with a degree in a relevant area and experience in grants management, finance, accounting, business administration, audit or related field
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in finance, accounting, grants analysis
• Familiarity with financial and administrative requirements of a variety of large grant donors
• Capacity to plan, prioritize and execute autonomously with a strategic approach
• Capacity to work under pressure
• Excellent written and oral English communication

Desirable skills and competencies:

• Good training and coaching abilities
• Project management qualifications
• Experience in management of grant audit processes

Physical Environment and Demands:

Located at the Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand, there is an expectation that the post holder will travel up to 15% of the time within the region.

Level of Contact with Children:

Low contact : No contact or very low frequency of interaction

Mid contact : Occasional interaction with children

High level : Frequent interaction with children

Low to no contact

Should you be interested in these positions, please submit a cover letter, comprehensive CV By 15 January,2015, to: PlanAsia.JobVacancies@plan-international.org

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified 

    Plan takes active measures in recruitment and employment to ensure children are protected.

                                             Plan is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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