Senior Program and Award Advisor, West Africa

**Requisition ID**: req46735

**Job Title**: Senior Program and Award Advisor, West Africa

**Sector**: Awards Management

**Employment Category**: Fixed Term

**Employment Type**: Full-Time

**Compensation**: GBP 57,000.00 - 65,000.00 Annually

**Location**: London, UK

**Work Arrangement**: Hybrid

**This opportunity is open to current IRC staff only**

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**BACKGROUND**

Over the past 80 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

The International Rescue Committee is a global network with its headquarters in New York. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

**The Awards Management Unit (AMU)**

The Awards Management Unit (AMU) is a global department with the responsibility for identifying, securing, and managing all funding from statutory/government donors. The department includes the following teams: Program and Award Support, Strategic Partnerships, Compliance and Policy, Business Development, and Training.

The AMU is a bridge between donors and country programs: providing expert technical advice to the country teams, while maintaining portfolio-level visibility to ensure consistency and compliance, and manage risk. This unit ensures that donor compliance policies and procedures are implemented consistently, and supports all staff working across the award management cycle.

**The Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) Department**

The Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD) Department has a growing portfolio of humanitarian relief, post-crisis recovery, and development programs under their remit. This work focuses support in five key areas: ensuring safety from harm, improving health, increasing access to education, improving economic well-being and ensuring people have the power to influence decisions that affect their lives. In all these programs, there is a drive to address the unique needs of women and girls (who represent the majority of those displaced) - and the universal barriers they face.

The CRRD works across 6 regions globally, including West Africa, East Africa, Great Lakes, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The regional teams are the links between country offices and key HQ departments and aim to support and provide advice to country programs with a range of issues from strategic planning, business development to compliance, awards management and partnerships management.

**The Purpose of the Role**

Reporting to the Director, Awards Management (DAM), the Senior Program and Award Advisor (SPAA) plays a vital role within the Regional Program and Award Support (RPAS) Team, which supports an award portfolio of humanitarian relief, post-crisis recovery, and development programs. The SPAA provides support to country programs while playing both a strategic and tactical role in ensuring the smooth operation and overall effectiveness of the RPAS Team. The SPAA is a problem solver, acting as a representative of and thought partner to the Director, Awards Management. The position leads internal coordination for gap planning and backfilling support to country programs and the RPAS Team (in close collaboration with the Senior Program Development Advisor), supports the development, enhancement and implementation of awards management processes (including specific partnership and project management initiatives) and coordinates RPAS related data management routines.

The SPAA is a “doer” and serves as a regional representative of IRC West Africa region - including country offices in Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone - to internal and external stakeholders regarding awards management and delivery processes.

**Scope and Authority**

Line management of Regional Budget Manager and of Regional Grants and Business Development Coordinator, which are roles dedicated to providing surge capacity support to country programs, as well as a translator position. Additional line management responsibilities may be assigned by the Director, Awards Management based on the composition and needs of the team.

**Key Working Relationships**

Works closely with all Regional Program and Award Support team members, in particular the Program and Awards Advisors and Senior Program Development Advisor, and across all teams within Awards Management Unit, Crisis Response Recovery and Development Department (including Technical Excellence), Ex