Grants and contract coordinator – Soil Values

About IFDC
IFDC is a public international organization active in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, and America. IFDC uniquely approaches the global issues of food security and poverty by bridging the gap between research and impact, combining science-based innovations, holistic market systems development, an enabling policy environment, and strategic partnerships to assist farmers and countries to identify and scale sustainable agricultural solutions, including improved nutrient use efficiency. These approaches are needed to boost soil health and crop productivity while reducing the environmental impact of fertilizer use. IFDC translates research into action by using locally driven, environmentally sound, and impact-oriented solutions. With our partners, we seek to close the yield gap, eradicate global hunger, safeguard the soil on which our lives depend, and generate economic resilience for farming households and the countries in which they live.

Position Summary
The Grants and Contracts coordinator supports the entire Soil Values (SV) program staff to finalize and monitor partnership agreements or MoUs/, sub grants, as well as service contracts, in SV's implementation countries. She/ he is responsible for developing and monitoring subgrants, in consultation with the country teams and in compliance with partnership agreements and the SV subgrants manual. She/ he is also responsible for building the financial/ administrative capacity of the local Implementing Partners (LIPs) that were awarded a subgrant.

Responsibilities
Specific task

• Update the subgrant manual of SV and all its annexes (in both English and French). Ensure its application by the SV team in all countries;
• Design and update clear flowcharts for the elaboration of partnership agreements, MoUs, contractual agreements, subgrants, and service contracts in SV, considering the specificities of host offices (managed either by IFDC or by SNV);
• Support SV technical staff in finalizing partnership agreements, MoUs, contractual agreements, subgrants, and service contracts. Give specific attention to legal clauses, consistency of the document (including annexes), formatting, budget and payment aspects;
• Update the system to monitor key deliverables agreed upon in the partnership agreements as well as in MoUs/ sub grants and service contracts related to all active partnerships;
• Conduct and document the due diligence of potential new LIPs identified for specific related services, as per the country's plan or related action plans. Document the selection of consultancy organizations for service contracts;
• Review action plans (or terms of reference, depending on the assignment) and budgets proposed under subgrants and service contracts. Whenever needed, assist in revising or finalizing them;
• Submit partnership agreements, MoUs, contractual agreements, subgrants, and service contracts for approval and monitor the contract making process until the document is fully executed;
• File each fully executed document and related payment documentation, through SV's agreed-upon filing system;
• Develop a subgrant/ service contract tracker, monitor schedules for installment disbursements, alert field teams about deadlines and make disbursement projections for the following month;
• Identify and prioritize needs and gaps of LIPs in financial management and governance systems, including operational policies and manuals;
• Develop an efficient (replicable) approach to guide and train LIPs in the management of the subgrants;
• Visit the selected organizations that are implementing activities through SV's subgrants. Monitor LIPs to assess performance, attainment of targets, adherence to contractual obligations stated in subgrants and quality of interventions;
• Write and submit quality progress reports and notes with strict respect of deadlines;
• Prepare monthly contract recaps and projections for all countries;
• Collaborate with the admin and financial officers of host offices (from both IFDC and SNV) to ensure adequate financial reporting/ forecasting to the management team.

Requirements

• Master's degree in management, Accounting, or a related field;
• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in contract management;
• Proven experience in developing and implementing subgrant process with donor funded programs especially with DGIS;
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and presentation skills in French and English (proficiency in both is highly desirable);
• Experience working with a diverse range of stakeholders, including national governments, NGOs, research institutions, and farmer organizations.

Reporting and Work Relationships
The Capacity Building and Dissemination Specialist is supervised by the Deputy Program Director- Operations and benefits from the coaching of the Program Director and the other Deputy program Directors. She/he works in close collaboration with the budget and finance coordinator, Country Coordinators and Soil Values colleagues from other consortium members and Knowledge partners

Location
This is a national recruitment with a duty station at the IFDC office based in one of the Soil Values focus countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger or Nigeria).

Benefits
IFDC's benefits include annual and sick leave, health and group life insurance coverage, a 13th-month salary, social security and pension contribution in compliance with local laws and end-of-contract benefits.

Salary Clause
The salary grade for this position is BG 9.

The determination of new employee salaries takes into account various factors. These include the salary range linked to the assigned job grade, the candidate's qualifications in relation to the job's responsibilities and prerequisites, internal fairness, the competitive state of the job market, as well as potential organizational and budgetary considerations.

Diversity Clause
IFDC is committed to fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We believe in the value of bringing together people with a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. All employment decisions at IFDC are made on the basis of ability, performance, and organizational need, in alignment with our values of fairness, respect, and opportunity for all.

About Program/Project
Soil Values (SV) is a 10-year program funded by the Netherlands Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS). The goal of the project is to address soil fertility constraints and achieve sustainable management of soil fertility in a way that contributes to ecologically sustainable improvements in food productivity and to increase resilience of small-scale food producers in the Sahel.

A consortium consisting of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), and Wageningen University (WUR) has secured funding from DGIS for the Soil Values program expected to be implemented from 2024 to 2033 in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Northern Nigeria. This consortium is complemented by five knowledge partners – AGRA, World Agroforestry (ICRAF), International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), ISRIC – World Soil Information, and International Water Management Institute (IWMI), all of which are recognized leaders in their respective fields.