Grants Associate

Background The African Climate Foundation (ACF) is the first and only African-led climate change re-granting organisation on the continent. Through a combination of grant making, fellowships, transformational research, technical assistance, coalition building and advocacy the ACF seeks to support interventions at the nexus of climate change, and development that have the greatest potential to deliver long-term socio-economic transformation and inclusive development. ACF also provides Fiscal Hosting (also called Fiscal Sponsorship) services to support emerging and mission aligned organisations and initiatives. Purpose The Grants Associate is a member of the Grants team, supporting and coordinating grants and contracts administration processes with a focus on compliance and data management. Reporting to the Senior Grants Manager, the Grants Associate ensures effective grant management processes and a high level of compliance and organisation for the ACF’s re-granting processes. Responsibilities include but not limited to: Grant application process - Participate and contribute to the continuous improvement of the ACF grant application process and grants cycles. - Produce high-quality minutes and trackers of the proposal review meetings decisions. - Send invitations for application via the grants management system to applicants approved for full application at the proposal review meeting. - Assist applicants to effectively access the online application process to complete and submit the application. Import received applications into the grants management system. - Conduct initial review of the applications to ensure all the required documents have been submitted and due diligence requirements met. - Follow up with applicants to address any due diligence or budget review comments. - Notify the relevant internal stakeholders for the next steps of the application review process. Progress Reports - Coordinates and monitors completion of grant processes, in accordance with defined requirements. - Ensure internal approvals of all progress reports, deliverables and any related payments. - Follow up with partners to address any progress report review comments. - Communicate agreement amendment requirements and follow up for required documentation and approvals to facilitate amendment. - Ensure all grant requirements have been met and get final confirmation to send out close-out letters for grants and requests that are closed in the system. Grants compliance - Ensure ongoing compliance by maintaining the grants management system and associated filing is kept up to date according to protocols. - Monitoring and tracking of all progress reports for active grants, consultancies and approved no-cost extensions. - Maintain and update progress report schedules and due dates within the grants management system. - Notify grantees of reporting due dates, disseminate reports to the relevant internal stakeholders for review and keep the record of reports received up to date. - Ensure application and due diligence documentation received are in accordance and in compliance with required standards. Financial Management - Support the timely and accurate processing of all approved grants, consultancies, Service providers and sponsorships payments. - Monitor and track grantee, consultant, Service provider and sponsorship payments. - Communicate payment schedules internally. - Capture proof of payments in grants management system and send out the proof of payments to partners as soon as they are available. - Ensure accurate record-keeping of proof of payment for all grants, consultancies and sponsorships to support financial assurance and audit readiness. - Support Finance with annual audit preparation and provide information to auditors as required. Knowledge management/ Grants Management System - With other Grants Associates, ensure grant- related folders are up to date and in line with ACF’s knowledge management protocols. - With other Grants Associates,…