Programme Officer (ACCESS/PROTECT)

Reports to:Project Director, ACCESS/PROTECT Location:London, United Kingdom  Salary Banding:£33,257 - £38,799 LOE:Full Time Type of contract:Permanent 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. Onissues 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, London, and Paris 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 provide the highest standards of programme and operational support to Internews’ various multi-country consortium programmes and other projects managed by the HQ. Two current consortia projects are ACCESS and PROTECT. Approaches in Complex and Challenging Environments for Sustainable Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ACCESS) is a DFID funded UK Aid Connect project. The project works on the production of a set of scalable, evidence-based, participatory approaches that support and engage marginalised and under-served populations in complex and challenging environments to claim and access comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services. Internews’ role focuses on understanding how SRH information and rumours move in the targeted communities and establishing what the information needs and gaps are. The Protecting Rights, Openness and Transparency Enhancing Civic Transformation (PROTECT) is a DFID funded UK Aid Connect project which seeks to foster open societies based on expanded and protected civic space. The impact is focused on shifting the paradigm from unequal and closed societies, where shrinking space, threats to media freedom and challenges to access and use of data fail to deliver tangible change for people’s lives, towards free and open societies with civil society, including media organisations, able to help people to hold governments to account, make information meaningful and drive social and political change for the better, leaving no one behind. You will represent Internews at partner and donor meetings, mentor and support project staff, and assure the quality of Internews’ deliverables. You will support the grant management of your portfolio of projects, administer donor awards, submit donor reports, build the grant-management capacity of project staff and partners, and facilitate project audits.You will ensure that Internews implements projects in compliance with its own and donor’s policies, rules and regulations. You will provide consistent support and advice to project 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.  You will manage the development of new project proposals and budgets and ensure donor and statutory compliance for all submissions under your assigned portfolio. You will contribute to Internews knowledge management and improvement of Internews systems. The role will actively participate in representing and building Internews’ credibility with institutional donors. This role may involve travel to project sites.    Roles and Responsibilities Representation 10% Shares responsibility with project leads and business development colleagues for representing thematic approaches and programme activities to donors and partner networks Attends relevant partner network meetings, provides update briefings on Internews’ programmes and maintains correspondence with partner networks   Development 10% Works closely with development colleagues in London, DC and in the regions to support the design of innovative, cost-effective and practical programmes Advises development colleagues on key considerations relating to donor and statutory compliance Liaises with Regional staff in London, DC and regional hubs to ensure cross-regional projects are integrated into regional strategies and plans (with Project Director), and that IEU systems are fit for purpose in supporting this.   Programme Support and Donor Interface 40% Works closely with consortium partners to support / lead collaborative outputs and outcomes, as assigned by Project Director(s); Serve as Internews Europe’s official points of contact for donors for contractual compliance and financial management of donor awards; Works with the Programme Finance Analyst to prepare accurate financial reports for donors; Provides grants and contracts management support for projects in their portfolio; Provides support to country teams, consortium partners and other relevant local partners in the planning, design, troubleshooting and re-design of project activities; Support the Project Director in facilitating collaboration across consortium partners, including by acting as the lead for working / reference groups where appropriate Supports project start&8208;up phases by coordinating project stakeholders and ensuring that all relevant processes and procedures are put in place Participates in the recruitment of project staff Prepares and conducts inductions and trainings for staff and partners on grant management and compliance Leads on process of due&8208;diligence in preparation for sub&8208;granting to local partners. Prepares partnership, sub-granting agreements and services contracts with external vendors, making sure that they comply with Internews’ and donors’ requirements Supports project directors to set up grant management schedules for donor reporting coordinates quality&8208;assurance of donor reports and submits them to donors Monitors projects&39; implementation and trouble-shoots as necessary 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 30% Provides training to project teams on organisational and donor compliance Provides briefings to project stakeholders on contractual donor requirements during kick&8208;off meetings and calls; advices project stakeholders on compliance questions throughout the project cycle as required In collaboration with project director(s) conducts monthly budget vs. actual analysis. Makes recommendations for spending and resource adjustments Regularly reviews grant management schedules and works with Project Director, country teams, thematic leads, Finance staff to ensure timely submission of donor deliverables and reports   Knowledge management 10% Provides ongoing feedback to the project director(s) and other colleagues at the HQ 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 projects, including key project documentation, to enable all project teams to access information and provide a fully auditable trail.   QUALIFICATIONS:  Qualifications and Experience  Solid experience of grant management and donor financial reporting for large projects with major institutional donors, including DFID. Proven experience of grant management support in humanitarian programming 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 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 project staff and partners in grant management, donor compliance, and project 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 humanitarian scenarios  Desirable  Knowledge  Good knowledge of donor regulations and systems, especially those of DFID Essential  Experience working in/on consortia programmes Essential  Good understanding of the project management cycle  Essential  Personal attributes  Creative problem solver: uses creativity&8239;to develop new ideas and solutions to&8239;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  Arabic/French/Spanish  Desirable Work hours are moderately flexible, but generally Monday through Friday from 9 am to 6 pm. Closing date for applications:Sunday 29 March 2020 Candidates must submit a succinct covering letter of no more than 2-pages explaining how they satisfy the requirements of the person speciation 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.