Senior Desk Officer

Dublin, Ireland

Established in 1977, GOAL is an international humanitarian agency, with a team of 2,400 personnel, dedicated to alleviating the needs of the most vulnerable communities. Currently operating in 13 of the world’s most vulnerable countries, GOAL delivers a wide range of humanitarian and development programmes, ranging from humanitarian relief in disaster situations, to focusing on nutrition, food security, and building greater resilience and sustainable livelihoods.

GOAL has an annual budget of an estimated €100 million and is supported by a range of donors including the Governments of Ireland, UK, USA, the European Union, individuals, trusts and foundations. GOAL values the power of partnership and works with local and international partners to achieve its mission.

Job Purpose

The Desk Officer is responsible for representing field offices in HQ, ensuring the effective flow of information between Head Office and the country programmes and providing overall programme support including administrative and quality backstopping services (particularly around grant and contract management).

This includes facilitating the provision of wider Head Office support to the Country Director and senior in-country team for the effective implementation of the country programme.

At Head Office and at international level, the Desk Officer is the first point of contact for all information on assigned country programmes. Specifically, the Desk Officer will:

  • Facilitation, Coordination and Representation: representing Country Offices (COs) in HQ; serving as the primary link between COs, Regions and HQ Departments; listening to the field and coordinating between HQ departments to ensure the provision of coherent, targeted support; representing COs and GOAL in institutional donors’ events and meetings.
  • Lead grant and contract management: providing grant performance and contract management oversight of the GOAL Global grant portfolio including institutional and private donors, trust and foundations and on-granting partners. Leading on governance for high risk projects.
  • Facilitate Country Strategic Management: coordinating and facilitating the development and roll out of Country Strategic Plans (CSPs) and Annual Country Plans (ACPs) and supporting other annual strategic processes as beneficial.
  • Support Business Development: contributing to the development and roll out of funding strategies, highlighting new opportunities and coordinating pre-positioning, contributing to the PRC processes, supporting proposal development and reviewing and submitting proposals to donors.
  • Lead on GOAL’s field information management: optimising GOAL’s information management via the maintenance of the grant management system (GMS) feeding into various Power Bi dashboards, coordinate input and produce bi-weekly CO updates summaries, keep country information updated on website and various SharePoint products.

Specific Duties

Person Specification

Essential:

  • A Bachelors’ degree in a relevant subject.
  • Three (3) to five (5) years’ experience working in an NGO in a field-based role. Further field or HQ based experience a benefit, particularly in programmes focused roles.
  • Demonstrable experience in donor relationship management, including grant management, proposal and report writing, ideally within the development context and/or with GOAL’s key institutional donors (Irish Aid, USAID, OFDA, FFP, DFID, ECHO, EU DevCo, UN agencies, etc.). Familiarity with key donor priorities and grant implementation, monitoring and evaluation guidelines.
  • Experience in administration with demonstrable capacity for delivering accurate work on time in a dynamic and multi-priority context.
  • Appreciation of the aims and objectives of GOAL.
  • Adept in use of Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
  • Fluent in spoken and written English with strong communication and analytical skills.

Desirable:

  • A Masters level degree in a relevant subject highly desirable.
  • Fluency in French, Spanish or Arabic highly desirable.
  • Specific knowledge or experience of GOAL’s thematic programme or sectors.
  • Previous experience in supporting the development, implementation and monitoring of strategy.

Our package includes a competitive salary, 22 days annual leave and the possibility to join our Health care scheme. Additional benefits are available after 12 months of service. Candidates must be entitled to work in Ireland at the time of application.

Accountability within GOAL

A commitment to GOAL values and GOAL’s integrity framework is critical to working with GOAL. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability: 1) Comply with GOAL’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols; 2) Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area; 3) Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with GOAL as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Equal Employer Statement

Consistent with GOAL’s core values of humanitarianism; integrity; respect; partnership and courage, we place a significant emphasis on equality in our working environment. GOAL is committed to treating all its employees with dignity and respect and values diversity, which it believes enriches an organisation. To reinforce this commitment, all company activities, policies, practices and procedures are to be carried out in accordance with this global standard.

All employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling GOAL’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and equal treatment. GOAL does not discriminate against any employee or volunteer; or any applicant for employment or volunteering on the basis of age, gender identity, ancestry, political opinion, civil status, medical condition, ethnic background, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws.

GOAL believes that our strong commitment to equal opportunity and equal treatment helps to ensure that there is no unjustified discrimination in the recruitment, hiring, training and development, promotion, compensation, benefits, retention, and discipline of staff and volunteers.

GOAL aims to provide a work environment that fosters fairness, equity, and respect for social and cultural diversity, and that is free from discrimination, harassment [and vilification] as determined by applicable laws.

General Terms and Conditions

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document.

This vacancy is archived.

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