Grants and Costing Specialist

Functional Title: Grants and Costing Specialist

Responsibility Level/Grade: Specialist / F
Department/Project/PN: Finance
Workstation: Central Office
Kathmandu Incumbent’s Name: TBD
Supervisor/Principal Evaluator: Finance Director

JOB SUMMARY
The grants and costing specialist leads proposal development team on preparing quality cost proposal budgets and ensures appropriate financial reports / analysis are provided to stakeholders, to enable effective budget management and monitoring of actual expenses against budgets and forecast. The incumbent will also be responsible for BAM/IPIA drafting, review and send FC for final approval and then to CD for sign off.

S/he is required to track all donor reporting deadlines, preparation, and submission of donors’ finance reports, including tracking and initiating actions/reminders related to donor receivables/payables, and review of grant and budget documents. S/he needs to coordinate communications regarding grants and budget related matters with international CARE Member Partners (CMPs) and donors. The incumbent performs required budget analysis, support on review and revision of project budgets and update into the system.

The incumbent will support capacity assessment and capacity building of partners mostly related to localization strategy and support them on various proposal related compliance and system strengthening where needed.

The incumbent is expected to develop rates of various cost centers (like fee rates for staffing, travel cost location wise, major procurements, vehicle hires etc.) of the country office as a preparation for the bid and update them periodically so that CO can develop cost proposal within a very short turnaround period.

The employee shall fully comply with CARE policies and procedure and should be accountable for it.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS:
R1. Lead budget development of new cost proposals

• Support proposal development team in the development of new cost proposal budget framework. Coordinate with IFS, ARMU, SMT, Project team for review and tackle budgeting issues as needed, and Finance Director/Country Director for approval before submitting new cost proposals to CMPs/donors.
• Develop rates of various cost centers (like fee rates for staffing, travel cost location wise, major procurements, vehicle hires etc.) of the country office as a preparation for the bid and update them periodically so that CO can develop cost proposal within a very short turnaround period.
• Carry out cost benefit analysis of proposal/bid and ensure value for money on every step where relevant.
• Look into the bid document/RFA/RFP and make sure all compliance related to the budgeting/cost proposal are met.
• Update master budget on regular basis. Develop new cost proposal budget and budget narratives ensuring fair SPC and other cost allocations are budgeted per policy in the existing projects at the time of new proposal development and establishment of standard budget templates.
• Prepare a separate GAP analysis based on the information from the master budget and plan to cover those gaps in proposal and submit this GAP report periodically to SMT.
• Support Finance Director/ARMU/AMS on developing process/structure on enhancing contact management capacity within country office.
• Support finance director to identify the areas/processes and current system where modification is needed to be prepared to manage contract.

R2. Grants/Contracts Management

• Ensure all the process relevant for new projects such as IPIA (Individual Program Implementation Agreement) and BAM (Budget Agreement Memorandum) preparation and review, award checklist, AMS coordination, FFATA, DUNS, Fund code /project ID requests, sub-award set up, workflow set up and uploading in PeopleSoft with the help of SSC.
• Coordinate with CI members and CARE-USA to negotiate for finalizing the IPIA.
• Manage overall grant cycle from preaward phase to post award phase with due support from finance director and program teams.
• Support Team on developing and submitting monthly cost pool table to SSC including SUSP 4, 5, and 6 as and when needed.
• Run query reports monthly in Pamodzi, analyze the budget vs expenditure; quality review and circulate to program team and other stakeholders.
• Prepare Life of award report (LOA) and share to budget holders for the portfolio under assignment.
• Compile monthly project wise receivables and payables reports, track accuracy of grants and contracts receivable/payable balances and monitor the balance in 190000.
• Circulate all monthly MIS reports to program team and other stakeholders and seek justification on for over and under spending.
• Assist Finance Director to prepare COMFORT tools, Master budget, UNR & GPF reports to be submitted to ARMU on quarterly basis as and when needed.
• Update oneself in donor regulations, compliance, and support to orient relevant staff.
• Monthly analysis of the shared cost (LOE TABLE) for the budget provision in the respective month for the shared program staff
• Perform smooth close out of the ended awards.

R3. Donor / CMP Reporting

• Develop donor/CMP report tracking mechanism to ensure timely reporting.
• Review and ensure PeopleSoft generated figures in donor line item mobilizing finance staff available at CO and field.
• Prepare and finalize financial reporting to regulatory bodies of the GoN like SWC, MOF etc.
• Ensure accuracy on PeopleSoft reported figures & appropriate line-item flexibility, use of correct exchange rates as per IPIA, and completeness of matching funds. Preparation of periodic and final fund accountability statements (budget to actual expense reports) required for CMP/auditors.
• Track the fund request with donor and perform necessarily follow up to ensure sufficient fund availability within the CO.

R4. Capacity Building with the focus on Localization strategy

• Support finance director on various capacity building initiatives both for finance and non-finance staff of CO and partners as per the need.
• Provide regular training, as relevant, to the staff of sub grantees and if required mobilize team members for on-the-job training. Support in capacity building of the sub grantees.
• Perform capacity assessment of partners-IP to be included in cost proposal and support them on building capacity.
• Support partner on localization mission and support them on cost proposal development and various compliance requirements during bid submission.
• Coordinate with AMS/ARMU and other relevant units at HQ and collect resources on contract management and use them on CO capacity enhancement.

R5. Sub Grants- Agreement management

• Review the sub award checklist to ensure accuracy of budget and other financial info and facilitate in sub granting procedure.
• Support in DDA of the sub grantee and Preparation of sub grant dashboard.
• Assist all the team members to finalize the monitoring plan and support financial monitoring as and when needed.
• Carry out the financial monitoring of partners as per the approved plan, perform assessment of the internal control mechanism and finalize report and provide support to SGMO wherever necessary.
• Provide regular training, as relevant, to the staff of sub grantees and if required mobilize team members for on-the-job training. Support in capacity building of the sub grantees.

R6. Upholding CARE’s Core values and ensuring its principles.

• Link and demonstrate CARE Nepal’s core values, programming principles, strategic objects, gender equity and equality in programming and behavior.
• Comply and exercise organizational values and culture.
• Help to promote rights and good governance.
• Demonstrate positive behaviours following CARE code of conduct and uphold implementation of CARE Safeguarding policy at all levels.
• Conduct awareness raising initiatives on CARE Safeguarding policy, feedback and accountability channels and code of conduct.

Secondary Responsibilities and Tasks

• Primary responsibilities of other positions/ team members within the finance department will be secondary responsibility for this position. Supervisor/Department head will assign these secondary responsibilities as per the need and priority within the department.
• Any other duties/responsibilities as per the need/priority of mission in consultation with supervisor.

Authority:
Spending Authority: As per ASF
Supervision: None

Working conditions:
Based in Kathmandu with estimated 30% travel to project implementing districts.

PERSON SPECIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Preferred Qualifications:
Master’s degree in relevant area or certified accounting degrees (CA/ACCA)

Preferred Experience:
At least 3 years of relevant experience in budgeting/cost proposal development, reporting, grant management function.

Skills and knowledge:

• Required knowledge of budgetary analysis i.e., Budget Vs Actual.
• Excellent knowledge of budgeting principles (especially on contract management) and clear understanding of donor’s financial policies, guidelines, rules, regulations, and reporting requirement
• Expert knowledge on costing and cost benefit analysis.
• Report writing skill along with basic formatting skill required to prepare budget narrative.
• Communication skills including strong verbal and written language skills in both English and Nepali.
• Interpersonal and facilitation skills.
• Strong coordination, networking and advocacy skills.
• Computer skills, including knowledge of relevant software e.g., Microsoft office and others.

Competencies:

• Analytical thinking – Able to analyze and draw conclusions on the budget and actual data of project.
• Initiative – Deals with situations and issues proactively and persistently.
• Teamwork and People Management – Able to work effectively with other people within a work group
• Writing – Able to communicate ideas and information in writing to ensure that information and messages are understood and have the desired impact
• Communicating and sharing ideas and information – Able to present findings/recommendation and express opinions confidently.
• Planning and organizing – Able to define work goals and objectives; develop and execute work plans; and contribute to the achievement of work group objectives

Tagged as: Care Nepal, Kathmandu, NGO INGO