Position Objectives
The Grants Advisor will review grants packages submitted by the project field team. The review conducted will be one of the final steps before presenting the grant package to the client, and therefore will be a critical quality assurance measure. The Grants Advisor will look for technical gaps or red flags (if any), strong documentation preparation, and ensure all documents are well-written in accordance with DAI standards.
Position Responsibilities
Work with project staff to:
- Review grant documents and associated budget, for allowability, allocability, reasonableness, and consistency.
- Confirm use of the most recent DAI/USAID standard templates, as applicable, including DAI's Grants Checklist. From standard templates, develop project specific and customized template reflecting the current phase of the grants program.
- Draft, integrate and edit grants packages, including negotiations memos, and ensure all required documentation is included in the package for submission to the client. Review for gaps, and coordinate with the project's Grants Manger and/or technical lead to get all technical clarifications required to submit a complete grants package to the client. Ensure high-quality and complete grant packages.
- Ensure strong writing and narrative, and that the grants packages are telling a full story.
- Utilize the approved Grants Manual to ensure project specific policies are followed.
- Other grants preparation tasks as requested.
- Address any comments from USAID on first submission to ensure timely turn-around and USAID approval.
Duration of assignment: This is a temporary position anticipated to be approximately 40 working days, up to 30 hours per week
Deliverables:
- Finalized grants packages prepared to be submitted to client.
- Revised grant packages addressing any client comments.
Desired Qualifications:
- Associate or Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as political science, social sciences, law, finance/accounting, and development studies.
- Ten (10) years of experience in international development activities, with least three (3) years previous experience in successful grants management roles for USAID projects to implement international development grant-related activities, with preference given to democracy and governance activities, including grant file review and writing of documents.
- Experience with USAID grants programs required, with grants under contracts preferred. Previous DAI grants experience highly preferred.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.