Job Description and Person Specification

Please note this statement is for information only and does not form part of a contract. This list is not exhaustive and you will be expected to undertake such duties as may be assigned to you by ActionAid from time to time.Employees are expected to be flexible in their work in order to deliver the objectives of the organisation.

Job title / HumanitarianFunding Officer - ECHO
Contract type / Permanent
Grade/starting salary / Band 4 - £33,664 - £34,682
Reporting to / HumanitarianFunding Manager - ECHO
Team and Department / Humanitarian Resilience and Response Team, Fundraising Department
Direct reports / None
Date JD Reviewed / October 2015
Context

Are you passionate about making a real difference?

As part of the global ActionAid family, we are helping to build a fair and just world where everyone can claim their rights. To achieve this we work with local people in more than 45 countries to fight hunger and disease, seek justice and education for women, hold companies and governments to account and help communities cope with emergencies.

In the UK our role is to raise funds to reduce poverty in the communities and countries where we work, to take action for long term change and to act in solidarity with people fighting poverty and injustice in poor countries. We aim to make a stronger global differenceby working closely with ActionAid International and our country programmes around the world. We want to achieve a way of communicating that creates a powerful emotional, intellectual and practical connection between people here and in developing countries so as to motivate and engage our supporters. We believe success will be driven by connecting people, demonstrating our impact, seizing opportunities and key moments, working with others, focussing on ethical and sustainable approaches and harnessing technology and digital. We are a value driven, forward thinking organisation, focused on achieving long-term and sustainable change in the lives of the poorest people in our world.

Purpose of the Role

Tosupport workatanoperationallevel to generate andultimately increaseincome from institutional donors and in particular from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) for humanitarian workundertakenby ActionAid and its international partners through effectivesupport to the managementofthe organisation’s funding relationship with ECHO through programme development and grant management capacity building support to ActionAid countries.

Key tasks and responsibilities

Support to ActionAid’s ECHOFunding Strategy:

  • Regularly monitorECHO’spolicies,application, reporting and complianceprocesses, and develop ways of sharing information with colleagues across the Federation in order to ensure ActionAid maximises opportunities for securing new funding.
  • Support the development of and maintenance of country specific ECHO funding strategies for all ActionAid countries relevant for ECHO
  • Deputise for the ECHO HumanitarianFunding Manager as required, acting as the main point of contact with ECHO for all funding opportunities and submissions.
  • Lead on the ActionAid ECHO communications strategy including developing a quarterly internal ECHO newsletter and supporting countries to further increase their visibility of ECHO projects

Proposal development:

  • Gather and disseminate ECHO intelligence on forthcoming opportunities, financing decisions and strategic priorities with ActionAid country staff.
  • In conjunction with the ECHO Humanitarian Funding Manager and other team members as appropriate coordinate the capacity building support to country programmes to ensure their ability to respond to funding calls and be prepared for humanitarian situations.
  • Facilitate proposal development workshops, providing technical and administrative support.
  • Support the development of high quality ECHO proposals with ActionAid country offices.
  • Work with other members of the team and ActionAid country staff to develop high quality, fast turnaround, proposals for rapid response funding for emergencies, including through the DFID RRF, Start Fundand other sources.

Grant management:

  • Maintain a database of all ECHO contracts with accurate and updated information and ensure grant management of ActionAid ECHO grants with ActionAid country staff
  • Facilitate grant inception workshops, providing technical and administrative support.
  • Support the development of a peer support programme through the development of guidelines and policies and a training programme to be shared on the ActionAid intranet to enable the organisation to increase its capacity to effectively manage and deliver on its grants and increase knowledge on ECHO’s technical requirements and grant management
  • Review narrative and financial reports to ensure compliance to donor rules and procedures and that country teams meet donor reporting deadlines.
  • Provide ongoingadviceand mentoring to ActionAid country offices on ECHO M&E.
  • Support preparation for donorassessments and audits
  • Work with other members of the team and ActionAid country staff to ensure effective contract management and reporting for rapid response grants, including those from the DFID Rapid Response Facility (RRF), Start Fundand other sources.

Networking internally and externally:

  • Support engagement with NGO networks through participation in working groupsand other forums to influence donor funding policy and practice.
  • ShareresponsibilitywithcolleaguesintheHumanitarian Resilience and Recovery teamtoencouragecross-departmentalworking informationandknowledgesharingwithinActionAid,bothintheUKand internationally.
  • Strengthen and maintain relationships with ECHO staff, particularly desk officers in Brussels and with ActionAid staff who lead on ECHO programmes.

Person Specification

Knowledge and experience

Essential

  • Knowledge of project cycle management.
  • Proven success of securing funds from institutional donors
  • Experience of planning, monitoring and reporting on development and emergency programmes.
  • Sound knowledge of a variety of donor rules, financial control procedures and risk management.
  • Personal experience of cultivating strong donor relationships and negotiating with donors
  • Understanding of international development issues, including humanitarian response, recovery and resilience work and women’s rights and governance as they relate to humanitarian work.
  • Strong commitmenttoActionAid’s mission, visionand values.

Desirable

  • Experienceoflivingandworkingin thedevelopingworld.
  • Proven success in securing funds from ECHO
  • Proven success in securing funds from DFID’s RRF, Start Fund and other sources

Skills and abilities

Essential

  • Self-motivated with a proven ability to take the initiative.
  • Ability to prioritise competing tasks and work to deadlines.
  • Facilitation and trainingskills,ideally insupportingpartnersor colleaguesoverseas.
  • Thenumerical abilitytoanalysefinancial information, budget andmonitor costs.
  • Good interpersonal skills, including well developed written, verbal and presentation skills.
  • Excellent written and spoken English.
  • Strong administrative and organizational skills
  • Ability to travel overseas, often to insecure environments for short periods of time, several times a year.
  • Confident and proficient in the use of MS Office

Desirable

  • Fluency inasecondlanguage spoken in developing countries, in addition to English