The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Its core mission is helping young people, influencers and future leaders in the UK and worldwide realise their potential by connecting them with each other and the UK through arts and culture, education, and the English language.

The Civil Society Support Programme 2 (CSSP2) is a £16.7 million capacity development programme designed to support Ethiopia’s civil society and its contribution to the country’s national development, poverty reduction and advancement of good governance. The programme, which manages a fund of more than £9 million, has a strong emphasis on ‘hard-to-reach’ civil society and citizens, through regionally led programming. CSSP2 has identified three strategic themes for engagement and support, based on contextual analysis and needs: Gender transformation, Young people, and Citizen-state engagement. (These focus areas have been chosen to respond to the needs of the context in which CSSP2 is operating, and they may evolve in time in line with contextual changes). The programme is winding down its originally agreed implementation phase and about to commence an extension phase. The thematic and geographic focus of the programme remains unchanged.  

CSSP2 is led by the British Council in consortium with Social Development Direct and Pact, and is supported by multiple donors (Ireland, Sweden and Norway) led by the FCDO. CSSP2 is delivered through a central programme office and regional hub based in Addis Ababa, and four further regional hubs in Dessie, Assossa, Hawassa, and Dire Dawa, to facilitate grassroots implementation throughout the country. The programme works to build effective relationships that foster collaboration between civil society actors, citizens and the government in order to support hard to reach communities and often overlooked development issues. Ultimately, government, CSO and public trust and confidence in each other will help to create an enabling environment in which there is increasing space for constructive dialogue and requisite action on issues of concern. 

We are seeking a consultant who can serve as Grants Manager for the British Council in Ethiopia CSSP2 Programme with a brief to successfully deliver the following (and others as they arise).

  1. The primary accountability of the postholder will be CSSP2 and he / she is expected to work 100% of their time on this project. 
  2. The post holder must have the ability to work in an ambiguous and difficult environment in which British Council processes need to be adapted or developed to cope with unusual requirements and difficult context. The post holder will work closely with the programme delivery and management teams as well as having significant interactions with the technical teams and Ethiopian partners. 
  3. A staggered granting approach and process that is tailored to achieve an end-to-end grants process that ensures transparency, accountability, and joint ownership of KPI achievement. 

Main Accountabilities

  • The delivery of critical grant contracting and disbursement KPIs which account for 25% of the performance-based payment
  •  

    Fitness for purpose and effectiveness of comprehensive grant application, selection, management, and closure processes that balance contractual, technical, impact, finance, transparency, equality and risk considerations

  • The effectiveness of administrative pre-submission support to potential grantees and cross-programme adherence to agreed selection process timescales required for the achievement of payment by results (PBR) key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • The quality and effectiveness of day to day grantee management and oversight interactions and on the job management capacity building formally or informally delivered by programme staff
  • Quality of financial and non-financial grant management information systems required for e.g. registers, key/statutory documents, delivery milestones, capacity building and remedial activities etc upon which to base key programme decisions

Summary of requirements:

Role Title: Grants Manager Consultant

Required qualifications and experience:

  • A first degree or comparable professional experience in Social Studies, CSO/third sector development or similar discipline
  • Extensive experience of managing and building the capacity of international donor funded CSO grantees
  • Experience of leading on grant management in an adaptive programme management setting
  • Experience of influencing multi-disciplinary and multi-organisational teams and partners to achieve common objectives in a complex matrix management structure
  • Relevant experience on Project, programme or grant design appraisal, programme / business process design, particularly as relevant to grant selection and appraisal
  • Ability to create and maintain good interpersonal and professional relationships with internal colleagues and programme stakeholders
  • Strong organisational skills and demonstrated ability to manage and oversee multiple tasks simultaneously
  • Excellent report writing skills in English. Fluency in English (essential) and Amharic (desirable)
  • Demonstrated intercultural competence taking into account the complex cultural landscape in Ethiopia
  • Excellent IT skills and demonstrated ability to use Excel, Word, Outlook, and social media platforms

Benefit package: Daily consultancy fee rate depending on experience and / or qualifications.

Duration:  Until 31 March 2022 with the possibility of extension.    

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit your CV and response to Tewodros Getachew, tewodros.getachew@et.britishcouncil.org  with Memekiya Woldegerima memekiya.woldegerima@britishcouncil.org in copy. The email subject should be clearly indicated as ‘Grants Manager CSSP II'. Please find Grants Manager CSSP II - TOR and Consultant response guide in the downloads section below. 

The submission deadline is 30 June 2021 (5.00 p.m. Ethiopia time).
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