Grants and Contracts Consultant (4 months contract)

Main purpose of position

Reporting to the Head of Partnerships and Resource Mobilization and working (as needed) with the Legal Office and Corporate Services and the Office of the Director General, the Grants Management Consultant will ensure effective revision, negotiation, and management of grants contracts. This will also include timely and solicitous engagement with internal stakeholders, as well as the support for delivery of reports to donors. An incumbent for the substantive role has already been identified and this consultancy role is a stop-gap measure until the commencement of the incumbent.

About ICARDA

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) is a treaty-based international non-profit research organization supported by CGIAR.

ICARDA’s mission is to reduce poverty, enhance food, water, and nutritional security, as well as environmental health in the face of global challenges including climate change. We do this through innovative science, strategic partnerships, linking research to development and capacity development that take into account gender equality and the role of youth in transforming the dry areas. ICARDA works in partnership with governments, universities, civil society, national agricultural research organization, other CGIAR Research Centers, and the private sector. With its temporary Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, ICARDA operates in regional and country offices across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. For more information: www.icarda.org

All CGIAR Centers are currently engaged into a reform process (“One CGIAR’”) that will help ICARDA and CGIAR achieve better impact through more strategically integrated research, unified governance, an integrated structure and new research modalities across participating Research Centers. This transformation is supported by CGIAR donors who have committed to increased funding as a result of these reforms.

Main responsibilities

• Draft and/or review grant agreements and contracts for compliance with ICARDA requirements.
• Coordinate internal review as needed on terms of agreement and budget clearance when applicable
• Undertake internal communication with ICARDA colleagues to ensure knowledge of contractual terms and obligations of the staff
• Prepare communication and possibly engage for negotiating terms with donors to review, finalize, and facilitate signing off on agreements with ICARDA senior management.
• Respond to requests for grant-related reports and statistics.
• Prepare and coordinate internal requests to Finance to open new project budget codes based on finalization and implementation of new agreements.
• Oversee the reporting management through receiving reports, facilitating internal clearance and preparing communication to donors
• Manage project closure activities, including fulfilment of ICARDA obligations and donor fulfilment of obligations.
• Work with and provide grant-related information as requested by external auditors on an annual basis to review ICARDA compliance with donor agreements.
• Ensure quality information management of grants by overseeing inventory and maintenance of grant files, agreements, relevant project information, reporting timelines, timely submission and updating of internal ICARDA documentation and communicating requirements to project leaders and senior staff as necessary.

Essential qualifications and competencies

• Bachelor or Master’s degree in Agriculture, Economics, International Development, Law, Business, or other related field or undergraduate degree plus relevant experience
• Excellent command of the English language; demonstrated ability to communicate with a variety of internal clients and external parties in a timely, professional, and succinct manner.
• 5-10 years proven and progressive experience in international agricultural research, universities, not-for-profits, international development, or other relevant field involving grants implementation
• Proven experience in grant agreement/contract interpretation, negotiation and clearance
• Working knowledge of major donor rules and regulations (ex. EU, USAID, GIZ)
• Working knowledge of grants management best practices and ability to adopt industry standards to mitigate risks
• Attention to detail with demonstrated critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Desirable qualifications and competencies

• Command of additional languages commonly used at ICARDA (French and Arabic)
• Experience in intellectual property (IP) standards, sanctions, data management regulations (ex. GDPR)
• Proven experience with project management and monitoring and evaluation
• Knowledge of CGIAR or similar

Benefits

The successful candidate will work remotely and will be offered a full-time consultancy contract of 4 months. The incumbent shall be granted a monthly honorarium.

• Candidates will be selected on a rolling basis until the position is filled.