Grants Assistants at British Council Nigeria – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title Grants Assistant

Locations: Adamawa, Borno and Yobe
Role Type: Advisory, Policy & Expertise
Pay Band: 4/H
Duration: Fixed Term  (1+ year)
Reports to: Grants Officer

Role Purpose

• The purpose of this post is to support the Finance and Grants function in contributing to the effective co-ordination and management of the programme grant funds; ensuring financial processes of the FCR programmes within the justice, security and conflict sector are implemented in the North East as per the British Council policies in line with clients requirements.

Geopolitical/SBU/Function Overview
The British Council in Nigeria is implementing the European Union Managing Conflict in North East Nigeria (MCN) programme under their Trust Fund (EUTF) and the Rule of Law and AntiCorruption programme in Nigeria and Agents for Citizen-Drivern Transformation (ACT) Programme under the EU Development Fund programme (EUDF).
In partnership with COFFEY, we are delivering the Policing work under their Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) and are managing the Programme Coordination Office for DFID’s Deepening Democracy in Nigeria Phase 2 (DDiN2) Programme

To support our existing contracts as well as future contracts, we are developing flexible structures that meet the global British Council standards to provide support to our FCR (Justice, Security and Conflict) work in Nigeria.
The Managing Conflict in North East Nigeria (MCN) Programme is a €21m EUTF-funded Programme (2017-2021) has the overall aim of enhancing state and community level conflict management capability to prevent the escalation of conflict into violence in a number of locations in North-Eastern Nigeria. The Programme has an annual turnover of around £5-£6m and works in 3 states – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe as well as in Abuja.

The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) programme in Nigeria is a €25m EUDF-funded Programme (2017-2021) and has the overall aim of enhancing good governance in Nigeria by contributing to strengthening of the rule of law, curbing corruption and reducing impunity. The programme has an annual turnover of around £5-£6m and work in 5 states – Adamawa, Anambra, Edo, Kano, Lagos, as well as in Abuja.

The Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation (ACT) programme is an EU funded programme under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) and will be implemented over a period of five years from July 2018. The ACT programme will contribute to the progressive achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as to the national development priorities identified in the Nigeria Vision 20:20 Economic Transformation Blueprint. The Overall Objective of the programme is to contribute to more inclusive, effective, accountable and gender-responsive development in Nigeria; while its specific objectives is to enhance the credibility and role of CSOs as drivers of change for sustainable development in Nigeria. The programme has an annual turnover of around £3-£4m and will be implemented at the Federal level and in selected states where EU programmes concentrate.

The Nigerian context is generally challenging, having poor infrastructure and currently facing a volatile security situation. There is still a significant reliance on the cash economy, corruption is high and the regulatory and compliance structures that exist are highly ineffective. The overall economic situation is not good with the low oil prices leading to high unemployment, increasing inflation and a shortage of foreign currency causing the value of the Naira to weaken considerably. This makes Nigeria a very challenging environment in which to deliver programmes. The Programme Support Office is located in the North Ease states (Adamawa, Borno, Yobe).

The post holder must therefore have the ability to work in challenging 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 Nigerian partners.

Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Main Duties
Grant Administration:

• To support the management of the programme grant system
• To support the Grants Officer in coordinating and monitoring the implementation of donor funds to grant recipients to ensure they follow and fulfil requirements as set out in the grants manual; and to strengthen their capacity for managing grants
• Support the review of partners’ financial reports and supporting documentations in line with contractual requirements and standards as set out in the Grants Manual
• Support the grants selection process, processing and administering timely grant requests for payments, after due diligence checks have been carried out in line with contractual requirements and standards as set out in the Grants Manual
• Support with documentation checks in relation to Vendor creation for consultants, partner organisations and grantees
• To support the process of programme planning, financial reporting and organising meetings where required to support programme/partners’ grants activities.
• Support in monitoring grant expenditures against set budgets to ensure financial targets are met; establishing a grants tracking mechanism
• Provide support in maintaining all financial documentation pertaining to grant management (contracting, disbursements and retirements)
• To support the Grants Officer on grants reporting and maintaining the grants database
• Support activities to facilitate replication of good practices in granting (demonstrate ‘value for money’) and compliance to set guidelines
• Carry out any other task as may be assigned by the Grants Officer.

Finance Administration:

• Managing, reviewing and reporting on payments made to delivery partners for implementing project workshops on behalf of British Council
• Review all finance supporting documentation submiotted by grantees and facilitating organisations, for accuracy and completeness before they are sent to the finance team in Abuja for processing
• Clearly communicate payment processing requirements and any changes to users and the responsible operations manager
• Render financial advisory assistance to officers and/or partners, consultants involved in programme delivery activities in terms of requirements
• Printing, filing, scanning and updating of finance/grant related documents
• To ensure risk is minimized by strict application of British Council financial principles and guidelines for all programme finance/grant related activities, in line with client requirements.

Supervision / Management:

• Provide coaching and mentoring as well as train designated staff of partner organisations and grantees in building their capacity on financial management.

Team Support and Contribution:

• To assist in taking on responsibilities to support the Programme teams as well as finance/grant team where necessary and practical.  Support audits preparation for both internal and external audits
• To proactively share best practice and learning across the wider EU programmes team.

Other Administrative Responsibilities:

• Support/ act as cover for other state offices in similar capacity.
• Any other responsibility as required

Key Relationships:

• Internal:
  • National Programme Manager, Technical Lead, State Team Leads, Operational Managers, Output/Component Managers, Finance Manager, Grants Officer, HR Manager, Country Finance & Grants Team, IT Officer, GSD, Programme Officers, Admin and Resource Assistants and other Project Teams.
• External:
  • External relationship management where appropriate (i.e. linked to function of role), to include: EU, consultants, external partner organisations, vendors, MDAs etc.

Person Specification
Qualifications:

• Degree level qualification in Finance or equivalent
• Fully or partly qualified in any Accounting qualification such as ACA, ACCA and CIMA.

Role Specific Knowledge & Experience:

• Essential:
  • Minimum of 2 years experience in a project finance/grants environment.
  • Experience of supporting grants and internal stakeholders / external partners management.
  • Experience of working as part of a successful team/function.
  • High levels of personal effectiveness and the ability to focus on achieving deadlines.
  • Experience of an ERP system
• Desirable:
  • Experience of working in an Full Cost Recovery (FCR) project.
  • Experience of operating in a complex, multi-cultural context.
  • Computer skills – A good knowledge of Microsoft Office suite.
  • Experience working with SAP

British Council Core Skills:

• Managing Finance and Resources (Level 2) Uses financial systems and processes – Uses corporate financial systems and processes appropriately as part of the job and on behalf of a team.
• Managing Accounts and Partnership (Level 2) Works with stakeholders and partners – Communicates regularly with diverse stakeholders, customers and/or partners to build mutual understanding and trust
• Analysis Data and Problems (Level 2) Reviews available data and identifies cause and effect, and then chooses the best solution from a range of known alternatives
• Managing Risk (Level 1)  Follows good practices – Demonstrates understanding of risk management policies and procedures and record of following them
• Planning and Organising ( Level 1) Is methodical – Able to plan own work over short timescales for routine or familiar tasks and processes.

British Council Behaviours:

• Being accountable (More demanding) Putting the needs of the team or British Council ahead of my own
• Working together (More demanding) Ensuring that others benefit as well as me
• Connecting with others (More demanding)  Actively appreciating the needs and concerns of myself and others
• Making it happen (More demanding) Challenging myself and others to deliver and measure better results.

Application Closing Date
23:59 (UK Time), 3rd November, 2019.

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