Desk Officer

Job Description:

Department

Program Management

Employment Type

Full-Time

Minimum Experience

Mid-level

1. Context

Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization that partners with

communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

Our team of more than 4,000 staff and local volunteers work in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that creates the foundation for community resilience.

We do this by working with local actors to develop safe and inclusive local programming that is evidence based, conflict sensitive, climate smart, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is an alliance of three organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, and Relief International-UK, which operate under a one-team concept under a single senior leadership team.

2. Job Profile

The Desk Officer will support program development and grants management across the Desk portfolio which encompasses a diverse range of countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. As a member of the Global Support Team, the Desk Officer reports to the Desk Manager and serves as a critical member of the Program Implementation Department to provide ongoing support to the country program teams. This role involves undertaking critical tasks and deliverables for the Relief International portfolio in the assigned countries, which currently includes humanitarian and development programs. Job holder must be an excellent communicator and team player with fluency in English and who is at ease working with a remote and highly diverse team, capable of adapting communication styles to different audiences.

3. Key Responsibilities

Accountability and Complexity

The Desk Officer will execute this common set of duties and practices related to portfolio development and management, contributing to excellent writing, review, analysis and communication; and exhibiting initiative, flexibility, creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

Program Development

• Track new opportunities and create summaries of the new opportunities for management to support decision making on application process (including application process, eligibility, and competency required for RI to apply).
• Work with the Desk Manager and Country Offices to develop work plan for proposals/concept notes.
• With guidance from Desk Manager, support review, including editing, of standards proposals/concept notes, and all needed annexes.
• In coordination with the Desk Manager, support final proposal submissions through external donor platforms, including development and revision of specific donor form completions and/or additional annexes (i.e. certification and assurance, SF424S, etc.)
• Conduct research related to specific program sectors, RI’s work on the ground, donor priorities, regional funding trends, and prepare/update knowledge pieces such as capacity statements, reports, one pagers, etc.
• Track monthly progress of program development (financial and submissions by country), success rates, trends, and present them to regional programs team

Project Cycle Management Support

• Support in tracking country offices completion of mandatory program management tools.
• Maintain updated grant and program folders, coordinating with the Awards Management Unit as necessary.
• Whenever needed, support coordination of grant modifications, sharing resources/guidance with country teams, facilitating reviews/input from Global Support Team departments as needed.
• Actively support the constant improvement of program quality and management efficiency through contributions to country and global initiatives, such as SOP/tool/template development/refinement.
• Support in the Key Performance Indicators process and facilitate preparation of analysis.
• Regularly update grants and reporting trackers to ensure country programs are aware of pending submissions.

Donor Reporting

• Support ensuring on-time submission of all donors’ reports. Ensure high quality content. Provide final copy edit and/or support in writing assigned sections, upon request. Ensure submission under certain donors’ dedicated platforms.
• Support Desk Manager and country offices in ensuring timely communication to Donors as they pertain to reports, notifications, etc.
• Actively participate in relevant coordination calls with COs as they pertain to program and awards.
• Step-in to provide direct support to Country Offices as it pertains to program (including MEAL) and grants management.
• Support relevant functions in capacity development for Country Offices staff on key internal processes (PMF, SoPs, etc.) and donors’ requirements (i.e. compliance, donors’ indicators, etc.)

Communication and coordination

• Work with the Support Team to ensure RI Intranet content for page is updated on a regular basis – in coordination with country offices.
• Ensure Country Offices snapshots are kept up to date and work with country offices to develop program summaries/capacity statements and any other communication/program document as needed (i.e. success stories, meeting presentations, etc.)
• Support country offices and the global Support Team in compiling lessons learnt and develop briefs in coordination with Technical Advisors and Country Offices
• Support the Program Implementation Team with ad-hoc and ongoing research and summaries on humanitarian crises as needed.

Behavior and Conduct

• Will ensure the highest standards of behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies.
• Will be a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members.
• Will ensure own actions and the actions of the team members they manage do not impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we serve.
• Will ensure external stakeholders are aware of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms
• Report any concerns.

Safeguarding

• Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.
• Ensure all people who come into contact with Relief International are as safe as possible, consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies.
• Support and develop systems that create and maintain an environment that prevents sexual exploitation and abuse and promotes the implementation of the Code of Conduct and safeguarding policies.
• Work collaboratively with relevant functions to advocate for the inclusion of safeguarding activities and resources within program.

4. Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential criteria

• Bachelor and/or Master’s degree in international development, Humanitarian Studies, Management Studies, or related field in alignment with the relief and development sectors
• At least two-three years of professional experience in supporting humanitarian/development programming, ideally in grants/project management. Familiarity with key donors i.e. US Government, ECHO, UN preferred
• Fluency in English required
• Excellent independent and collaborative narrative writing and analysis skills
• Proven level of computer literacy and high facility for using the Microsoft Office Suite (with emphasis on Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Ability to travel internationally to support country programs
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate complex activities, meet deadlines, and exercise sound judgment
• Logical and critical thinking skills, and a comfort working with complex budgets and spreadsheets
• Superior oral and written communication skills, including consensus building and triangulation of information from multiple stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team with a high degree of drive and initiative

RI Values

Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

• Integrity
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Inclusivity
• Sustainability