CATALYE MS4G Grant Specialist STTA

About Palladium:

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.  

Project Background

This Opportunity:

Palladium International, LLC is implementing the $250 Million, 8-year USAID CATALYZE contract which offers a facilitated partnership model that will craft solutions to crowd in $2 Billion in blended finance (i.e., blended concessional and commercial finance) to USAID partner countries; it can work in any development sector or region. Launched in October 2019, CATALYZE is a buy-in mechanism that allows USAID Bureaus and Missions to efficiently deploy investment facilitation solutions that respond to the needs of specific sectors, issues, and geographies. 

USAID CATALYZE Market Systems for Growth (MS4G) focuses on creating transformative outcomes in the food security and WASH sectors to benefit all Ethiopian people. To achieve these goals, the activity engages youth, mobilizes capital, increases access to finance, connects enterprises to markets, and supports stakeholders to self-advocate towards policy change which will promote opportunities for the private sector community. The project supports activities in Addis Ababa and secondary cities. 

To strengthen the private sector in the food security and WASH sectors, MS4G uses a market-based approach to enhance enterprises’ performance, product/service delivery, and inclusion. The activities are designed to build institutional capacity, enhance knowledge and skill transfers through workforce development initiatives, advance the business enabling environment, accelerate digital transformations and scale best practices to increase productivity and quality.

The Grant Specialist Short-Term Technical Assistance (STTA) will provide technical support in the grant development process and implementation of grants. 

Location: The position is based in Palladium’s Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Office

Estimated Start Date and Period of Performance:  

This assignment is expected to commence on April 1, 2023, and continue for and up to 6 months.  

You and Your Career:

If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in providing grant support activities, we are interested in hearing from you. 

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start.  We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Reporting and Supervision:

The Consultant will be overseen by MS4G Grant Manager

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

• MS4G seeks to engage a qualified Grant Specialist on a short-term, labor-based contract. Primary duties and responsibilities of the consultancy include, but are not limited to:
• Complete due diligence documentation
• Conduct Pre-award assessment and determine the risk level of potential grantees
• Support potential grantees in developing budget (Co-development), review and analyze budget submitted for allocability, reasonableness and consistency; prepare cost analysis memorandum.
• Prepare grant packages consistent and compliant with USAID and Palladium requirements and procedures.
• Draft Grant agreements in compliance with applicable Palladium policies, procedures, and USAID conditions.
• In collaboration with the Grant Manager, technical staff, and HO AMU, administer grant solicitations (RFAs/APSs/OIC) and selection processes.
• Liaise with grantees on a regular basis to ensure a full understanding of their responsibilities, terms and conditions of the grant agreement
• Maintain accurate and audit free electronic grant documentation
• In consultation with the technical leads/ team prepare milestone tables.
• Review grantee deliverables for completeness, accuracy, and process milestone payments
• Other duties as assigned by the Grants Manager

Job Requirements

Key Competencies Required: 

• Master’s degree with 3 years of relevant experience or Bachelor’s degree with 5 years of experience.
• Experience in managing Grants on a large scale donor-funded projects.
• Experience in drawing best practices, standards, and guidelines on Grant management.
• Demonstrated experience in participatory development.
• Evidence of strong communication skills, both interpersonal and written with professional fluency in English required.
• Strong comprehension and speaking skills in Amharic.
• Experience coordinating activities across multiple teams and stakeholders and communicating results.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft 365 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).
• Sound problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred:
• Formal Grant Management training/certification preferably USAID grants and contracts
• Three – Five years of professional experience successfully managing Grants in complex projects
• Experience managing complex multi-party partnerships and projects.
• Experience working in Ethiopia.
• Exposure to organizations working in at least one of MS4G sectors: Agriculture and/or WASH, Youth programming.
• Knowledge of USAID Grant management programs, approaches, and policy.
• Experience in the international development field including experience in a Grant management role for a USAID-funded contract of similar scale ($40M+ / 5 years) highly desirable.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion: 

Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status. 

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at [email protected] and we will be in touch to discuss. 

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.

How to Apply

We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit their resume/CV to below link:

https://palladium.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/2/home/requisition/19260?c=palladium