Job Title: Programme Officer (Europe and Eurasia)

 

Reports to: Senior Programme Support Manager

 

Location: London, United Kingdom

 

Salary Banding: C1–C3 (£31,675 - £36,951)

 

LOE: Both Full Time or Part-Time will be considered

 

Type of contract: 12-month Fixed Term Contract with possible extension

 

 

 

ABOUT INTERNEWS:

 

 

 

Internews works to ensure access to trusted, quality news and information that empowers people to have a voice in their future and to live healthy, secure, and rewarding lives. We envision a world where everyone can communicate freely with anyone, anywhere, and exchange the news and information they need to shape their communities and the world.

 

For 35 years and in more than 100 countries, we have worked with our local partners to build hundreds of sustainable organizations, strengthened the capacity of thousands of media professionals, human rights activists, and information entrepreneurs, and reached millions of people with quality, local information, improving lives and building lasting change. On issues ranging from health and the environment to conflict and governance, Internews has developed approaches that harness the power of media and information to create positive change.

 

Internews is a charity operating internationally, with administrative centres in California, Washington DC, and London, as well as regional hubs in Bangkok and Nairobi. Formed in 1982, Internews currently has offices in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

 

 

 

GENERAL FUNCTION:

 

The Programme Officer (PO) will be based in the Programme Support Team in London and will provide the highest standards of operational program support to the Programme Management Unit, based in Kiev and a number of Internews’ Field Offices and partners in Europe and Eurasia Region. As the HQ-based facilitator, the PO will support grant management of the portfolio of projects funded by European donors. S/he will administer donor awards, verify, quality-assure and submit donor reports, build the grant-management capacity of field teams, partners and sub-grantees, and facilitate project audits.

 

The PO will ensure that Internews implements projects in compliance with its own and donor’s policies, rules and regulations. S/he will provide consistent support and advice to field teams and partners, and ensure control and reinforcement of all aspects of the project management cycle as related to effective grant management and contractual compliance. The PO will manage the development of budgets for Europe and Eurasia proposals and ensure donor and statutory compliance for all submissions under their portfolio.

 

The role will report to the Senior Programme Support Manager, and will work in close collaboration with the Senior Programme Finance Manager, other POs and all HQ departments as required. S/he will contribute to Internews knowledge management and improvement of Internews systems. S/he will contribute to the overall programme and operations effectiveness. The role will actively participate in the building of Internews’ credibility vis-à-vis institutional donors. The role may involve regular travel to the projects locations across Europe and Eurasia and beyond.

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

 

Development

• Works closely with development colleagues in London and elsewhere to support the design of innovative, cost-effective and practical programmes;
• Advises development colleagues on key considerations relating to donor and statutory compliance;
• Develops budgets for Europe and Eurasia proposals and ensures donor and statutory compliance for all submissions under their portfolio;
• With the Program Finance Manager, plays a key role in determining co-financing liability and devising and implementing co-financing plans.

Grant Management and Donor Interface

• Provides grant management support within her/his respective Programme Management Unit. Works closely with business manager and Regional Director to ensure coordination of programme support to field offices. Participates in regional portfolio reviews;
• Serve as Internews Europe’s official points of contact for donors in respect of contracting, reporting, and grant income tracking;
• Supports projects start‐up phase by coordinating project stakeholders and ensuring that all relevant processes and procedures are put in place;
• Participates in the recruitment of key project specific financial/grant management positions in the field;
• Prepares and conducts inductions and trainings to field staff and partners on grant management and compliance. Carries out field visits and calls as necessary;
• Leads on process of due‐diligence in preparation for sub‐granting to local partners. Prepares partnership, sub-granting agreements and services contracts with external vendors, making sure that they comply with Internews’s and donor requirements. Spot‐checks financial reports from sub‐grantees;
• Builds capacities of local partners when required. For example, when an award is managed directly from HQ;
• Supports project directors to set up grant management schedules for donor reporting; coordinates quality‐assurance of donor reports and submits them to donors;
• Requests London HR to prepare service contracts, including those for consultants contracted from HQ. Processes invoices for consultants and service providers;
• Supports project directors in adapting Internews’ standard operating procedures (SOPs) to country contexts. Monitors the compliance with SOPs from HQ to satisfy organisational and donor requirements;
• Monitors projects' implementation to ensure the implementation process is in line with grant agreements; highlights major implementation issues to the corporate management group in London;
• Monitors the implementation of partnership agreements & service contracts signed at the HQ until their termination and close‐out;
• Checks monthly expense reports from field offices for budget monitoring and donor compliance; processes wire transfer requests from Internews’s field offices and partners;
• Check invoices for services from Internews’s suppliers at the HQ level, codes expenses against donor budgets and works with finance team to monitor expenditures against service contracts;
• Supports project directors during the project close‐out, provides guidance on required steps and minimal standards;
• Files and achieves project documentation at the HQ;
• Identifies and documents best grant management practices from individual grants, works with M&E colleagues to coordinate project debriefings with stakeholders;
• Leads on the preparation of HQ project audits.

Compliance Monitoring

• Provides training to PMU on organisational and donor compliance as required;
• Provides briefings to project stakeholders on contractual donor requirements during kick‐off meetings and calls; advices project stakeholders on compliance questions throughout the project cycle as required;
• In collaboration with budget holders and Senior Programme Finance Manager, reviews budget vs. actual. Supports project directors to produce accurate financial forecasts in accordance with financial reporting cycles and flags significant variances at corporate level;
• Monitors project activities to address issues early on; leads on communications to donors as appropriate (including preparation of requests for contract amendment and requests for derogations);
• Tracks progress in relation to co‐financing liabilities, highlights issues, provides clarifications on rules and regulations around co‐financing;
• Regularly reviews grant management schedules to ensure timely submission of donor deliverables and reports;
• Participates in the annual work planning and budgeting process.

Knowledge management

• Provides ongoing feedback to the Senior Programme Support Manager on required improvement and updates on donor regulations and contractual obligations to ensure organisational knowledge is built and improved continuously;
• Ensures good knowledge management across grants, including key project documentation, to enable all teams supporting the grant to access information and provide a fully auditable trail.
• Other task as assigned by the Senior Programme Support Manager.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Qualifications and Experience

Solid experience of grant management and donor financial reporting for large multi-country projects with major institutional donors, including the European Commission and SIDA. Proven experience of grant management support in Europe and Eurasia is desirable.

Essential

Experience in preparing budget proposals for institutional donors. Experience working with private donors would be an asset.

Essential

Professional qualifications or equivalent work experience, in international development and/or project management

Essential

Excellent communication skills both oral and written; ability to produce high quality reports and presentations

Essential

Proven experience of managing relationships in complex organisations with numerous stakeholders. Good people management skills

Essential

Ability to matrix manage a group of staff in different teams to take forward common and effective ways of working

 

A high level of numeracy skills, and ability to build budgets and carry out complex budget analysis

Essential

Solid experience of direct, hands-on delivery of key components of financial and grant management

Essential

Proven track record of building capacity of field staff and partners in grant management, donor compliance, and financial management

Essential

Experience of travelling to challenging and remote locations. Willingness and ability to travel with an understanding and appreciation of culture and diversity

Essential

Exceptional organisational and administration skills, with the ability to plan and prioritise work for self and others

Essential

Advanced expertise in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel

Essential

Proven ability to manage complex, multi-disciplinary programme of work

Essential

Experience in managing financial and management accounting processes, including annual accounts, audits and external reporting

Desirable

Experience of working in, or support field office in developing countries and fragile states

Desirable

Knowledge

Good knowledge of donor regulations and systems, especially those of European Commission and Sida

Essential

Knowledge or experience working in/on Europe and Eurasia countries/issues

Desirable

Good understanding of the project management cycle

Essential

Knowledge of good human resources management practices

Desirable

Personal attributes

Creative problem solver: uses creativity to develop new ideas and solutions to problems

Essential

Self-starter and dynamic with strong level of self-awareness. Assertive, with the ability to work on own initiative with little supervision

Essential

Ability to work both independently and as an effective team member

Essential

A willingness and ability to adopt a hands on approach as well as to provide strategic direction

Essential

Strong communication, liaison and interpersonal skills to work effectively with people at all levels, and represent the organisation externally

Essential

Strong analytical, problem solving and creative thinking skills

Essential

Languages

 

Fluent English

Essential

Fluent Russian

Essential

Candidates must submit a succinct covering letter of no more than 2-pages explaining how they satisfy the requirements of the person specification in addition to a CV highlighting relevant experience.  The successful candidate will also be asked to provide three professional referees, one of whom must be from their most recent employer.

Benefits Information

This position is being offered and hired by Internews Europe. Benefits will be consistent with Internews Europe's offerings and will be reviewed during the hiring process.