Kenya: Consultancy - Grants and Contracts

The International Potato Center (CIP) is seeking an accomplished professional with demonstrated experience in drafting and negotiating funding awards to fill in a temporary fixed term position of Grants and Contracts (G&C) Consultant in order to manage the SSA specific assigned regional project portfolio.

The Center: CIP is a not-for-profit international agricultural research-for-development organization with a focus on potato, sweetpotato, and Andean roots and tubers. Its vision is of roots and tubers improving the lives of the poor. CIP is dedicated to achieving food security, improved well-being, and gender equity for poor people in root and tuber farming and food systems of the developing world. CIP works with partners to contribute high quality science, technology, and capacity strengthening for sustainable science-based solutions. CIP is headquartered in Lima, Peru, with staff and activities in over 30 locations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. CIP is a member of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, a network of 15 research centers mostly located in the developing world and supported by more than 50 donor members.

The position: Grants and Contracts Consultant will report directly to the Head of Grants and Contracts in HQ, will have the Regional Director for SSA as co-supervisor, and will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. The position will be on a temporary approximate 3.5-month fixed term consultancy contract.

Duties and Accountabilities: The primary objective of this position will be to manage SSA specific assigned Regional Grants and Contracts portfolio; ensuring that projects comply with donor and CGIAR requirements, procedures and guidelines in the post award phases of the CIP project life cycle.

• Assist with the management of the SSA regional portfolio of awards (donor, prime, sub recipient), MOUs, and CGIAR Hosting Agreements as G&C’s contact point, acting as a representative of the G&C HQ unit, in coordination with the SSA Regional Director, Program leaders, Project Managers and regional staff.
• Support the review of all funding and partner award transactions, in collaboration with other functional areas such as program, finance, intellectual property, administration, and/or HR for their approval and signature.
• Support the drafting, negotiating and approval-for-signature (as defined in the Delegation of Authority) of partner sub-recipient agreements and technical collaboration MOUs.
• Ensures adherence to applicable delegation of authority policies, as they relate to signatory delegation of authority powers and thresholds.
• Participate in meeting with HQ stakeholders to ensure communication on contractual aspects of projects, identify issues requiring action and ensure follow-through on deliverables.
• Maintain an up-to-date database and repository of all SSA regional signed awards, MOUs, and HA in OCS.
• Support the HQ technical reporting function by ensuring timely follow up with SSA Principal Investigators on submission deadlines and response to donor queries.
• Participate in project life cycle reviews and meetings on behalf of the G&C SSA function (PNM meeting, startup meeting, closeout meeting).

Selection Criteria:

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, business or related field. Preferably with post graduate studies.
• Relevant eight years of experience drafting and negotiating funding awards, with at least two multinational development organizations. Focus on agricultural research is a plus.
• Proven expertise of leading large funding initiatives, knowledge of USAID and other donor rules and regulations preferred.
• Knowledge of USAID ADS Chapter 303 and ADS 308 Awards to Public International Organizations is a plus.
• Project Management Certification is desirable.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple or tight deadlines and projects.
• Excellent critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills.
• Partnership management skills.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English.
• Willingness to travel.

Conditions: The consultancy will be for a period of four months.

Applicants should apply online through our CIP’s Job Opportunities website (http://cipotato.org/open-vacancies/), including a letter of motivation, a full C.V with the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable of the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience. The deadline for receiving applications will be 1st September, 2017. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.