Grants Management Senior Officer

The UNOPS Africa Regional Office, based in Nairobi, Kenya, oversees the delivery of over 250 projects across 40 countries, with a focus on fragile and conflict-affected settings. Supported by more than 1,000 personnel across five multi-country offices—spanning North, West, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Horn of Africa—the office advances national priorities through strategic initiatives in Climate Action, Health, Infrastructure, Peace and Security, Middle-Income Country Support, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The Regional Office provides strategic leadership, operational support, and oversight in key areas including Partnerships, Communications, Management and Oversight, Infrastructure and Project Management, Health and Safety, and Security. By promoting excellence in project delivery, fostering knowledge sharing, and driving continuous improvement, the office contributes to sustainable infrastructure, transparent resource management, and a better quality of life for communities across the continent.

Based in Dakar, Senegal, the West Africa Multi-Country Office (WAMCO) delivers high-quality project management, infrastructure, and procurement services across 16 countries in West Africa and the Sahel, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Togo. Aligned with UNOPS’ mission, WAMCO supports partners in peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance, and sustainable development. WAMCO’s portfolio spans key sectors such as health, climate change, renewable energy, agriculture, water and sanitation, environment, infrastructure, justice, and peace and security. Notable projects include the construction of pre-preschools for early childhood development in Senegal (in partnership with KOICA and UNICEF), capacity-building for national agencies on disaster risk reduction and resource management, and the development of rural mini-grid electrification systems in Sierra Leone. Through these initiatives, WAMCO contributes to inclusive growth and the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the region.

Background Information - The Gambia The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organisations. With over 6,000 personnel spread across 130 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, where they need it. By implementing around 1,100 projects for our partners at any given time, UNOPS makes significant contributions to results on the ground, often in the most challenging environments.

Project Background

The EU-ISEY project is a European Union-supported initiative designed to transform The Gambia’s Senior Secondary Education (SSE) sector. Aligned with the EU's strategic frameworks (MIP 2021–2027 and GAP III), the project focuses on boosting quality, inclusivity, and equity to empower Gambian youth—particularly girls and marginalized groups—and encourage careers in teaching.

The overarching goal is to enhance SSE completion rates and reduce gender and socioeconomic attainment inequalities across The Gambia

• Increasing enrollment and stay-in-school rates for both boys and girls, especially in rural and underserved areas.
• Making SSE more gender-sensitive and modern, with a heavy emphasis on STEM, digital literacy, health education, civics, and climate/environmental issues.
• Enhancing female representation and leadership within the teaching workforce.

The intended outcomes include:

• Higher Retention through reduced dropout rates, particularly for rural girls.
• Improved educational quality that equips students with 21st-century and STEM skills.
• Workforce readiness, through better preparation for graduates entering higher education, vocational training, or tech careers.
• Increased female participation as both students and education leaders.

The key activities of the EU-ISEY project are designed to address key challenges in Senior Secondary Education (SSE) by focusing on capacity building, gender equity, and digital innovation. Training programs will enhance the skills of in-service and pre-service teachers, emphasizing STEM education, gender-sensitive teaching methods, and digital competencies. The project prioritizes gender equity through targeted initiatives such as scholarships, mentorship programs, and leadership training for female students and aspiring educators. Digital innovation will be fostered by reinforcing existing e-learning centers and integrating offline and online tools to support both teaching and learning. Refurbishments of school-based science labs and/or supply of mobile labs will be provided. Community engagement campaigns, in collaboration with local NGOs, artists (performing art), etc, will address socio-cultural barriers to education, promoting inclusivity and retention for girls and marginalized groups. These activities collectively aim to create a more inclusive, equitable, and high-quality education system in The Gambia.

UNOPS serves as the lead implementing partner, leveraging its expertise in project management, procurement, and sustainable development. UNOPS will collaborate with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Expertise France (EF) and other partners to deliver the activities foreseen in the action. Key collaborators include The Gambia’s Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE), Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science, and Technology (MoHERST), local civil society organizations, and international development partners. Together, they will ensure sustainable, impactful, and community-driven outcomes.

Background Information - Job-specific

The Grant Management Senior Officer will support the Senior Project Manager in the monitoring of the overall project engagement between UNFPA/ Expertise France/ Local NGO’s and UNOPS, as well as of the implementation performance of Delivery Partners at the country level.

Functional Responsibilities

Summary of key results:

• Grant management
• Capacity assessment and Capacity building
• Financial Management
• Project implementation
• Knowledge management and innovation

Grant Management

Under the supervision of the Senior Project Manager, the Grants Management Senior Officer will be responsible for the implementation of grants work package(s) including:

• Facilitating the scoping of the Grants work-package in line with the needs of the project.
• Managing work package planning and ensuring their timely implementation;
• Preparing and managing the Project Corporation Agreement (PCA)/ Grant Standard Agreement (GSA), Call for Proposals (CFP), Grant Award conducting and managing the submission and evaluation of proposals as per the UNOPS policies.
• Manage day-to-day administration of grant management activities and the implementing partners , including but not limited to:

- Communicate with and provide guidance to implementing partners on grant-related matters in collaboration with the project team;

- Coordinate due diligence processes, including capacity assessments and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse capacity assessment (PSEA) and monitoring associated action plans;

- Review and consult on implementing partner documentation and work plans, budgets, and results frameworks. Facilitate orientation sessions and routine dialogue with implementing partners;

- Timely preparation of grant award requests and amendments, and the preparation of implementing partner legal agreements in consultation with legal advisors and amendments thereof, using the approved templates ensuring that all agreements and amendments are constructed and issued in line with UNOPS legal and financial rules and regulations;

- Track and review routine implementing partner narrative, data and financial reports, manages amendments and payments, and provide critical feedback to implementing partners, project team, as relevant. Verifications of reporting requirements and ensuring adherence to those requirements;

- Review of payment requests and supervise processing payments based on the agreed payment schedules;

- Follow up and work with project teams to monitor the implementation of implementing partner activities based on the approved work plan, budget and results framework and track the start and completion dates of activities and proactively highlight activities with risk and delays to senior management;

- Coordinate and follow-up on implementing partner assurance activities, such as routine monitoring, financial spot checks, audits, and evaluations. Facilitate sharing of lessons learnt between implementing partners.

• Support the Senior Project Manager by liaising closely with the Finance, Programme, and M&E and other UNOPS subject matter experts on any delays, risks or other difficulties in grant management;
• Coordination of the process of the operational closure of implementing partner grants and UNOPS project closure;
• Ensure the timely completion of grant related processes such as Client Narrative Reports or and any adhoc reports to donors are addressed in liaison with the PSO and support teams and implement and oversee the project specific filing system for grant management and ensure it is regularly updated.
• Ensure timely meetings are held involving all project components and focal points
• Ensure the establishment and regular update of project progress, key findings and success stories (including key M&E findings – where relevant) •
• Ensure that all contractual obligations are clearly defined and communicated internally in terms of deliverables as well as narrative and financial reporting requirements, in close coordination with HQ and (as relevant) with partners and finance department

Capacity assessment and Capacity building

• The Officer will ensure the following activities are successfully delivered for respective programmes:
• Contributes to the review, monitoring and updating of the UNOPS implementing partner capacity assessment and PSEA capacity assessment, incorporating best practices and assessment tools.
• In collaboration with the M&E officer ensure IP capacity development and training in financial and organisational management and PSEA are organized and delivered.
• Day-to-day help and guidance to the IPs is provided and coordinated with the Programme Team to ensure IP understanding of, and compliance with, these standards.
• IPs receive required assistance in developing or strengthening their internal guidelines and policies to guide their project financial management and organisational activities and to ensure accountability.
• Standardization to the extent possible of IP capacity development efforts by UNOPS.

Financial Management

In collaboration with the Finance Officer, complete and up-to-date financial management, in full accordance with UNOPS results and regulations is critical for ensuring that Grant Management Services are provided in a timely and professional manner in line with expectations of the UNFPA/ Expertise France. In this context, the GMS will be responsible for:

• Provide guidance to IP teams to ensure budgets are prepared in accordance with established procedures and clients guidelines that facilitate financial reporting;
• Monitoring expenditure against budgets, commitments, delivery and funding; review and processing budgets and revisions, and contributing to the project operational and financial closure;
• Collaboration with the Finance Officer, disburse funds for transport allowances, stipends for accommodation, provisions of learning materials, food or other personal items to the beneficiaries.
• Support the Senior Project Manager to maintain fiduciary standards, oversight, and compliance with the internal control standards.
• Review of payment requests for completeness prior to processing, ensuring that documentation needed are complete and that all required procedures are fulfilled to enable the payment;
• Upon request provide guidance on budget reallocation requests from Delivery Partners or analysis of financial reports
• Take a strategic approach in planning, budgeting, implementing and monitoring of the Grants Work package(s), tracking the use of financial resources in accordance with UNOPS financial rules and regulations.
• Monitoring of cash flows to ensure liquidity in accordance with progress of work by pre-clearing cash replenishment requests submitted by the designated Grantee and managing the replenishment of the financial buffer as required.
• Financial monitoring of the Grants work package, identification of operational and financial problems, and development of solutions.
• Oversee management of Financial Management Capacity Assessments (FMCA) done by UNOPS as and when requested by UNFPA/ Expertise France
• Use results from assessment of implementation challenges of Delivery Partners and potentially as part of tailor made training packages

Project Implementation Support

Any other responsibility as deemed appropriate by the Senior Project Manager. Approximately 30% of the time will be allocated for ad-hoc support. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Establish a solid working relationship with implementing partners
• Support the Senior Project Manager in the implementing the Project Governance arrangements including Project Board Meetings, attend the weekly Project Team meetings and the biweekly coordination meetings with UNFPA / Expertise France
• Support preparing presentations, sharing of documents and minute taking, as needed
• Manage the information flows between the implementing partners and team through consistent and consolidated reporting using dashboards to provide a high-level overview of performance.
• Ensure smooth workflow and communication with Programme and Finance teams.
• Contribute to identifying Risk, Lessons Learned and Issues and enter information in the corporate platform for Project Management following Project Manager Approval.
• Update the Senior Project Manager on any deviations, outside of established tolerances, from the programme plan and the impact of changes or issues that arise during implementation accompanied by a range of solutions where possible.
• Assist the Senior Project Manager in preparation of all relevant products as per the Project Management Manual including stakeholder mapping and Standard Operating Procedures.

Knowledge management and innovation

• Keep abreast of and incorporate latest/best practices, approaches and technology to enhance the programme delivery and results.
• Institutionalise and share best practices and lessons for corporate development planning and knowledge building.
• Draft Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to align grant operations with changing environments.
• Lead the planning, implementation and organization of strategic capacity building of personnel, implementing partners, clients and stakeholders especially in the field of grant management.
• Coordinate with the UNOPS Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG) for tailoring good practices to meet the specific needs of UNOPS Gambia.

• A Bachelor's Degree in business administration, finance, development studies, international relations, project management, or a related field with 4 years of relevant experience is required Or
• A Master’s degree in business administration, finance, development studies, international relations, project management, or related field with 2 years of relevant experience is required.

• Progressively relevant experience in grant management is required.
• Experience in grant management operations and reporting is required.
• Experience with and a good knowledge of the humanitarian, development and peace nexus, working with UN, Donors, and NGOs is required.
• Experience in project and/or financial management operations at either public sector organizations and/or private sector companies is an asset.
• Experience in working in West Africa is an asset.
• Experience in building and leading successful teams is an asset
• Experience with Google Suite is an asset.

• UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.
• UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the selection process, which may include various assessments.
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of a wide range of nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. We strive to sustain and strengthen this diversity, fostering an inclusive working environment where all personnel are treated with respect and have equal access to opportunities.
• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to a fair and transparent selection process and welcome diverse perspectives, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and persons with disabilities.
• We are committed to enabling all candidates to perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require support or reasonable accommodation to complete any assessment, please inform our human resources team upon receiving your invitation.
• UNOPS has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment, and other forms of abusive conduct, including discrimination, abuse of authority, and harassment. To uphold these standards, background checks are conducted for all final candidates to help ensure that individuals with a history of such conduct are not hired. By applying for a position with UNOPS, candidates acknowledge and consent to these verification processes.
  

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