Job Title: Partnership Support Officer (grants & finance)
Department: Programming
Division: Programme Implementation
Duty Station: Ukraine: Odesa (with frequent travel to NP programme sites including Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Donetsk)
Line Manager: Partnerships Support and Resource Coordinator (PSRP)
Line Management Responsibility: N/A
Position Type: Full-time
Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) is a dynamic, international non-governmental organisation. We work with people affected by violent conflicts to enhance their security and dignity through Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP). We work to reduce violence, protect civilians in countries affected by violent conflict and its aftermath, and help transform the worldโs response to conflict situations.
Overview
NP occupies a unique space in the protection response in Ukraine; simultaneously providing direct protection to at-risk civilians and providing hands-on support to front-line volunteer collectives to directly contribute to the sustainability and safety of their actions. NP promotes responsible partnerships and โlocalization in practiceโ and is currently building out its Partnerships Support Department to provide increased direct and dedicated support to its partners in Ukraine including national non-governmental organisations (NNGOs), Community-Based Organisations (CBOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and local volunteer collectives. In 2024 NP is piloting a Tier system for partnership and an open call for proposals for grants.
Job summary
The Partnerships Support Officer (PSO) is a direct support role to the Partnerships Support and Resource Coordinator and a key resource for NP partners. The position contributes directly to improving the current systems and approaches for identifying, cultivating, and maintaining effective partnerships that contribute to NPโs localisation strategy in Ukraine. The PSO will dedicate their time to supporting the development, management and financial monitoring of partner subgrants โ working across the programmes and finance departments. The PSO will work in tandem with the Partnerships Coordinator to provide high level technical support to NP partners in Ukraine to navigate complex operational environment, project cycle management and organisational development, including review process of sub-grantees reports. The PSO is a mentor to NP partners to ensure the successful implementation of the partnership and sub-grants implementation.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Supporting and monitoring Partner subgrants
- Provide hands-on support in overseeing the open and closed CfP in line with NP partnership strategy
- Support in the initialisation, implementation and closure of existing sub-partner support programs
- Play an active role in the project review committee and facilitate partner selection process
- Facilitate the signature of partnership agreements
- Provide expert support for checking financial and narrative reports of NP sub-grantees partners and advise on compliance
- Develop and monitor reporting and payment schedules with partners and keep NP teams abreast of partner challenges
- Work with the Finance team to ensure timely payment of partner instalments, review of partner reports, and the close out partner sub-grants
- Assist partner management to monitor outputs against work/activity plans and budgets
- Provide support to the partner organisation in the project cycle management, including ensuring work/activity/spending plans and partner budgets are in place and assist partner teams to put these in place
- Keep track of relevant technical, operational, and finance related issues and, where necessary, facilitate support from NP teams to ensure continuous support to partners and their involvement at all stages of a programme cycle
- Assist partner management to monitor outputs against work/activity plans and budgets
- Identify, synthesize and disseminate best practices and lessons learned in partnership-building/sub-granting
Capacity Development and Resource Sharing
- Be a direct focal point for NP partners, where delegated/requested
- Assist partners to strategize ways to support their own organisational development
- Review existing partnering resources and identify additional needs to support capacity planning, monitoring, compliance, project cycle management, etc., in direct collaboration with NP project teams
- In close coordination with NP teams and drawing on knowledge of NP partners, identify specific partner training and resource needs (technical and organisational)
- Contribute to the planning, organising, and developing of training sessions for existing NP partners alongside the Partnerships Coordinator
- Ensure effective and collaborative partnership assessments and capacity planning on a regular basis to identify new partners and ensure sharing of risks
- Facilitate regular inclusive learning exchange sessions with partners
- Help ensure partnerโs involvement in strategic planning, programme design, and proposal/concept note development
M&E
- Entering data into Salesforce for projects
- Ensure organised storage of reports in a designated location (SharePoint and Salesforce)
- Maintain an trackers database of partners
QUALIFICATIONS
Education, Knowledge, and Experience
- Post-secondary education in human rights, international human rights law, project management or related field including economics/finance
- Minimum of 2 yearsโ working experience in non-profit project implementation with NNGOs or INGOs.
- At least 1 year experience in grants management and grants reporting
- At least 1 year of working experience in partnership support or management
- Strong knowledge of project management and an understanding of the humanitarian context programming is a plus
- Experience in donor reporting and Ukrainian legislation requirements on reporting is must
- Experience in M&E is highly preferred
- Proficiency in Microsoft applications
Key Challenges
- Working with small and newly created organisations requires very high attention to detail, patience and constant support
- Building and sustaining collaborative partnerships, negotiating, and resolving contentious issues and conflicts of interest
Skills and Competencies
- Strong collaborator with effective interpersonal and analytical skills who can work seamlessly across cultures, and organisational units
- Able to work effectively in a highly matrixed structure, multi-task, prioritise and make decisions
- Experience in organisational capacity development, training, mentoring, and coaching
- Analytical and problem-solving skills and an ability to work independently and with a team needed
- Deep knowledge and understanding of CSO work and their organization trends in Ukraine
- A demonstrated high-level tutorial expertise โ well experienced in delivering trainings and/or presentations on the capacity building domain
- Fluent in Ukrainian language and very strong English language skills (spoken and written) is essential
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working in an INGO/NNGO or similar organisation
- Ability to work with relevant technical tools such as: SharePoint and MS Office are strongly needed
- Salesforce navigation experience is an asset
Working Conditions:
- This position requires travel to insecure locations. You must be prepared to travel and to spend time away from the duty station
- Demonstrated ability to adhere to strict security protocols and maintain high level of professionalism