Grants Administrator at Urgent Action Fund-Africa

Position Overview

The Grants Administrator will be responsible for coordinating the administrative management, and closeout of sub-grants awarded and other programmatic investments made by the Fund. The Grants Administrator will ensure that UAF-Africa’s grant-making and related payment processes, documents, and procedures are carried out professionally, efficiently, and on schedule. The Administrator will report directly to the Finance & Operations Director.

Specific Responsibilities

• Grantmaking (and Programme Investments)
• Provide administrative support for grants process throughout all stages including receiving, assessing, tracking and eventual payment of the grants;
• Guide the grantmaking portfolio and other related offices on budget preparation and formatting;
• Review proposed grantmaking budgets to ensure conformity with UAF-Africa’s policies and procedures, workplan targets and funding agreements;
• Maintain and updates accurate administrative and financial grants data on salesforce and other pertinent platforms for ease of retrieval and report generation;
• Assist with required research pertinent to grant due diligence, ongoing review, and close-out analyses;
• Provide support to grantees in completing the grant notification documents thus ensuring transfers do not face unnecessary details;
• Confirm that submitted documentation from grantees following the grant awards are complete and meets all the Fund’s requirements;
• Keep grantees informed on the status of the grant awards;
• Initiate the payment instructions at the bank for all grants awarded after verifying the underlying documents to support the payment;
• Work collaboratively with Finance to ensure complete and timely payment, and accurate records of the grants expenditure;
• Confirm with all beneficiaries that they received the funds;
• Identify opportunities to optimize the existing grant workflow, collaborating with colleagues to implement while ensuring continued quality and timeliness across all aspects of the grant cycle.

Programme Support

• Deal with funds transmission email and telephone enquiries from applicants and potential applicants;
• Assist the Grantmaking & Finance functions in the preparation of Fund-related reports for Heads of programmes and funding partners;
• Assist in updating the grantmaking database. Generate data & reports from the database as a source of information for complementary portfolios;
• Maintain relationships with the Salesforce software provider; and coordinate with the Fund’s IT function to maintain/update software;
• Other duties that may be assigned in line with UAF-Africa’s objectives.

Qualifications

• Masters Degree in Finance, Business Studies, Accounting, Economics, Project Management or any other related academic background;
• Qualifications in Social Science, Political Sciences, Gender studies, International Development or experience working for women oriented organisations with sound understanding on the socio-political issues around women and gender issues.

Skills and Experience

• Minimum of 5 years’ relevant work experience working in or with organisations in Africa, preferably womn’s rights or social justice oriented organisations;
• Addresses unforeseen situations seeking advice and direction from supervisor, as required;
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust data discrepancies;
• Ability to perform detailed work, frequently of a confidential nature and/or to handle a large volume of work systematically, optimally and accurately;
• Excellent written and verbal communications in English. French and Kiswahili linguistic abilities would be plus;
• Some knowledge and understanding of womn’s human rights issues in Africa;
• Passionate about UAF-Africa’s mission, committed to teamwork, and achieving results; including a commitment to trust-based transformative grantmaking, community-led development, and grassroots movement building;
• Experience working in a virtual set up with seamless task coordination, managing multiple deadlines;
• Strong analytical, presentation, planning and organisational skills;
• Self-starter and proactive, with an ability to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty;
• Proven experience working effectively in a cross-cultural team;
• Flexible and willing to perform other tasks as assigned, in a fast-paced, team-oriented work environment;
• UAF-Africa is a part of a global UAF-Sisterhood network and staff are expected to occasionally work collaboratively with UAF-Sister Funds.

Work Environment

This is a regional position that involves some national, regional and international travel. UAF-Africa is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate in its hiring practices. In order to build the strongest possible workforce, UAF-Africa actively seeks a diverse applicant pool. The Fund is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya.