Program Development and Awards Advisor, WACAR

The International Rescue Committee is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development non-governmental organization dedicated to helping people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster.

The Program Development and Awards Advisor (PDAA) supports country programs in the West and Central Africa region (WACAR) by ensuring donor compliance, effective award management, and the production of high-quality donor deliverables. This role involves advising on IRC’s partnership system (PEERS) and managing donor relationships, including those with HQ counterparts. Additionally, the PDAA is crucial in securing funding for WACAR programs by supporting and leading new funding opportunities, aligning with IRC’s Business Development Strategy. This encompasses all phases of business development, from identifying opportunities to contract signature, including pre-positioning, partnership building, proposal development, and due diligence. Successful candidates should demonstrate a strong history of contributing to new humanitarian and development funding, possess deep knowledge of donor regulations, and have experience collaborating with local partner organizations. This position does not have line management responsibilities.

1. Manage a portfolio of awards for the WACAR region as assigned.
2. Provide timely support for narrative reporting and post-award deliverables, guiding country offices on amendments, modifications, and submissions while collaborating with technical and financial staff.
3. Support budget realignments, scope changes, No-Cost Extensions (NCEs), and other amendments for project elements not initially captured or emerging needs.
4. Act as the primary contact for country program awards staff, offering guidance and problem-solving on post-award compliance issues within the portfolio, and facilitating information flow between country programs and other Awards Management Unit (AMU) teams.
5. Manage donor relationships by maintaining communication on contractual issues, program implementation updates, following up on compliance queries, and securing necessary changes and approvals.
6. Guide and coach country offices on partner management policies and PEER system compliance, and review/process sub-grants/partnership agreements, coordinating with the Sub-awards and Partnerships (S&P) team as needed.
7. Support and monitor projects to ensure compliance with donor guidelines and IRC internal requirements, through visits, meetings, and targeted calls.
8. Collaborate with regional team members to monitor award spending and help resolve issues of under- or over-spending, partnering with country programs as needed.
9. Offer technical advice to country offices on ad-hoc donor compliance queries, coordinating with AMU’s Compliance and Policy team for non-routine matters and escalating to leadership when necessary.
10. Participate in country team meetings and calls to provide support and collaborate on donor compliance, submissions, and award management.
11. Ensure lessons learned from completed projects are integrated into new Business Development efforts.
12. Advise and support country programs in adhering to IRC internal policies and procedures and maintaining the integrity of awards-related data (e.g., OTIS, PEERS).
13. Stay informed about programmatic issues, security, and political developments affecting implementation.
14. Coordinate with other members of the Regional Program and Award Support (RPAS) Team and AMU for information sharing and coherent awards support.
15. Ensure proper donor-related and contractual documentation for compliance and audit readiness, including maintaining organized award files.
16. Participate in the recruitment and onboarding of new Country Program Grants Coordinators/Heads of Grants teams.
17. Contribute to the development and delivery of training materials for in-country staff, and develop/maintain work processes and checklists for award implementation and report review.
18. Onboard new country office Grants and Partnerships staff and new PAS team members to assigned donors, policies, and IRC processes.
19. Mentor and coach Grants and Partnerships staff on IRC systems and processes to build capacity at the country level.
20. Contribute to AMU and regional strategic priorities and initiatives.
21. Help drive regional business development by providing effective proposal support, from direct management to quality assurance.
22. Support country offices with donor engagement, intelligence sharing, and positioning with prioritized donors; participate in donor calls as needed.
23. Represent IRC externally at country-specific meetings, with donors and stakeholder networks in donor capitals.
24. Coordinate proposal development, including initial opportunity assessments, timeline preparation, ensuring adherence to deadlines, supporting recruitment, assisting in budget development, document completion, organizing meetings, compiling notes, and drafting/proofreading proposal sections.
25. Collaborate with regional technical leads, technical advisors, country offices, and colleagues to conceptualize winning proposals and designs for new project activities or amendments.
26. Provide quality assurance and compliance support on proposals, ensuring responsiveness to solicitation documents and IRC requirements, including the PEER system.
27. Lead or support coordination, communication, and inputs from consortium partners according to donor and IRC processes.
28. Coordinate and support regional reviews and approvals of proposal packages, including partner packages if applicable.
29. Review agreements for accuracy and highlight key compliance requirements, coordinating with compliance and country grants teams, and support award negotiation and hand-over.
30. Work with RPAS to incorporate implementation lessons learned into the proposal stage.
31. Maintain complete and accurate electronic files, including final submission packages and internal trackers.
32. Deploy to offices to lead proposal development as available and needed.
33. Facilitate internal post-submission debrief sessions with country teams, technical units, regional team, and other stakeholders to collect lessons learned.

1. Possess a degree, preferably in International Relations, Refugee or Migration Studies, Development Studies, Public Policy, or equivalent experience.
2. Be fluent in both English and French, spoken and written.
3. Demonstrate a good understanding of humanitarian aid and development programming.
4. Ability to work collaboratively within a diverse team and manage a multifaceted workload.
5. Have good financial management and budgeting skills.
6. Ability to analyze and synthesize information effectively.
7. Proven organizational skills, detail-oriented, ability to prioritize tasks, and learn quickly.
8. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills for effective liaison across departments in a multicultural environment.
9. Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
10. Exhibit a flexible and calm work attitude.
11. International work experience in the Global South is an advantage.
12. Excellent IT skills, including Word, Outlook, and Excel.
13. Ability to travel internationally, sometimes on short notice and to insecure areas (15% travel).
14. Experience with and a strong understanding of institutional donors’ compliance requirements (e.g., UN, World Bank, US government, and/or European government donors).
15. Experience working remotely and supporting country-based staff.
16. Proficiency in writing, reviewing, and editing narrative and financial reports with excellent attention to detail.
17. Experience working on new funding opportunities in humanitarian and international development sectors with various multilateral and bilateral donors (e.g., FCDO, EU, ECHO, GFFO, BMZ, Sida, SDC, World Bank, US Department of State), and collaborating with local partner organizations.
18. Experience with strategies and proposal processes of key government/statutory donors (e.g., US, UK, EU, German, Scandinavian).