Grants/Finance Manager for the USAID Unit of the Secretariat for the Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge for Development

Background

In late October of 2019 in Stockholm, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Government (Sida), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands launched Water and Energy for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development.

The Grand Challenges for Development (GCD) program is an innovation and acceleration initiative that began in 2011. Through GCDs, USAID and its partners are sourcing and accelerating the best science and technology-focused small and growing enterprises, entrepreneurs, and businesses that have the potential to solve specific development challenges. Small and growing enterprises (SGEs) can come from anywhere in the world. Implementation must take place in a developing or emerging country.

WE4F is a joint international initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Announced at World Water Week 2018 and launched at Social Capital Markets 2019 signature event in San Francisco, California, WE4F aims to:

• Increase food production along the value chain through a more sustainable and efficient usage of water and/or energy.
• Increase income for base of the pyramid women and men in both rural and urban areas.
• Sustainably scale innovators’ solutions to meet the challenges in the WE4F nexus.
• Promote climate and environmental resilience and biodiversity through the sustainable, holistic management of natural resources and ecosystems.

To achieve this goal, the effort must include partners from the private sector, NGOs, other research institutions, and other donors who share the common goal of increasing food production through sustainable water and energy usage. A key consideration of this effort is to ensure feedback loops are created that integrate local conditions and new knowledge into both national and international policy and decision-making as well as integrate capacity development, knowledge management, and financial and non-financial instruments in a smart way to create an enabling environment in the partner countries.

Overall WE4F Structure

The overall structure for the WE4F Challenge Fund envisions a steering structure consisting of

• a Steering Committee,
• one Secretariat with two units, and
• one Regional Innovation Hub per region.

The Secretariat will be responsible for global scaling efforts as well as the management and coordination of the Regional Innovation Hubs, whose number can be increased over time.

Scope and Objectives

The USAID Secretariat is seeking a Grants and Finance Manager to support the Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) program. S/he will work directly and interact daily with the USAID client and other staff members of the Secretariat. S/he will engage with three Regional Innovation Hubs (RIHs) (MENA, South/Southeast Asia and Southern/Central Africa) who are expected to support a combined 100 innovators over the next 3 years. The selected candidate will support the Hubs’ Grants and Finance Specialists in managing financial, administration, and grants under contract mechanisms for all three RIH contracts. S/he will regularly liaise with USAID to ensure donor satisfaction in finance and administration matters; monitor all WE4F budget spending; and provide advice and support to the USAID Secretariat and RIH counterparts to ensure donor compliance and timely deliverable submission.

Dynamics of the working relationship:

The Grants and Finance Manager will report directly to the USAID Team Lead. The Grants and Finance Manager will need to:

• Understand that the role requires the management and maintenance of financial systems and trackers to ensure that all contract spending and donor funding is accurate and accounted for.
• Ensure that we continue to obtain the right information from the WE4F Regional Innovation Hubs. This includes an ability to respect WE4F Hub’s time and understand the limitations of WE4F data collection activities and the burden that it places on WE4F Hubs.
• Recognize the client-centered nature of the Grants and Finance Manager role and that the position directly reports on grants, financial information, and auditing data to the Steering Committee. Therefore, the Grants and Finance Manager needs to be highly responsive to client requests and take prescriptive direction from the Steering Committee.
• Work hand-in-hand with the other members of the USAID Secretariat Unit to organize, process, and manage WE4F innovator and WE4F Regional Innovation Hub grant and financial data.
• Appreciate and tolerate the difference between taking orders (prescriptive work environment) and working with latitude (independent work environment).

Grants and Finance Manager Duties and Responsibilities

Specifically for this role, the Grants and Finance manager is expected to perform the following duties:

• Monitor and maintain grants/finance and audit procedures and control systems for USAID Unit of secretariat in line with the funding requirements of the different donors.
• Serve as a liaison between USAID and the three RIHs on all grants/finance and audit procedures (i.e., invoice review, TA vendor procurement, mission concurrence, grantee selection and agreement execution, etc.) and provide support as needed.
• Monitor and coordinate WE4F progress and the disbursement of financial resources via the WE4F budget and financial summary, in conjunction with the Steering Committee.
• Coordinate the reporting of grants/financial management and audit processes from the RIHs to the WE4F Steering Committee.
• Monitor, receive, and provide oversight on quarterly financial reports coming from the RIHs.
• Coordinate with the GIZ Unit of their Secretariat on financial reporting as needed.
• Review USAID Secretariat Financial Reports and provide clearance on USAID unit’s financial updates coming from the USAID Catalyst contract, USAID IDS contract, USAID External Evaluation contract and other relevant USAID activities and accounts.
• Assist in the procurement processes related to the USAID Catalyst contact, USAID IDS contract, USAID External Evaluation contract and other relevant USAID activities and accounts.
• Assist in USAID procurement processes related to WE4F including those of the USAID Secretariat (BAAs, RFIs, RFAs, RFPs, etc.).

• Ensure that WE4F grants awarded with USAID and other Founding Partner funds (managed by the RIHs) are compliant with the WE4F Gift Agreement Language and align with USAID’s legal, policy, and procedural requirements, including applicable laws, policies and procedures to prevent fraud and counteract corruption in the implementation of the Program.
• In compliance with the WE4F Gift Agreement Language, ensure that the USAID Secretariat provides relevant Founding Partners with copies of the awarded grants, periodic progress reports, annual narratives and financial reports, annual audit reports (including, for the avoidance of doubt, reports on special audits that any WE4F Founding Partner will retain the right to conduct), concluding reports and other relevant monitoring, evaluation, and audit documents received by USAID with respect to the Program, and any other documentation pertaining to the Program, if requested by relevant Founding Partners.
• Support the USAID unit of the Secretariat to ensure that all staff follows USAID procurement laws and policies, including but not limited to rules related to source selection, technical evaluation, audit processes, and conflicts of interest.

Desirable Skills for This Position are:

• Ability to work remotely and with minimal supervision
• Ability to encourage and facilitate cooperation; foster commitment and team spirit
• Skills to select, organize, and present appropriate information in a concise and coherent manner and to relate such information to broad areas of development and humanitarian assistance policy
• Experience managing/supporting grants under contract processes and procedures (i.e., pre-award surveys, vetting/debarment, grant execution, etc.)
• Experience using Microsoft Teams
• Current USAID Facilities Clearance a plus
• Familiarity with Phoenix, USAID’s core financial management system
• Background/experience in water/ag nexus-related issues is desirable, but not mandatory
• Values humility, integrity, and personal responsibility

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• BA/BS +5 years of relevant experience or MA +2 years of relevant experience, at least 2 of which include financial/project management of USAID-funded programs
• Degree in international development, business administration, or a related field
• Demonstrated capacity for managing multi-year program budgets, and familiarity with FAR and AIDAR
• Demonstrated experience in preparing and supporting contracts and/or procurement tools, templates, policies, and procedures related to financial monitoring, audit processes, and conflicts of interest
• Strong computer literacy and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and Google Workspace, specifically Excel, is required
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work independently and in a team environment
• Ability to travel for up to 1 month per year on short term coordination meetings, monitoring and oversight visits, and events

In order to ensure the health and safety of PMCG's employees and families, all employees are required to receive vaccinations as determined by the President’s Executive Order No. 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, issued on September 9, 2021 and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force COVID-19 Workplace Safety Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors, which require COVID-19 vaccinations for all PMCG employees regardless of work location unless a medical or religious accommodation is granted by PMCG. PMCG requires all newly hired employees to be fully vaccinated (meaning two weeks after the employee receives the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine or the second dose of the Pfizer/Moderna vaccines) or have an approved medical or religious accommodation by December 8, 2021 or by their start date if it is after December 8th, 2021.

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