Grant Manager

Essential Requirements

• Committed to Friends of the Earth’s vision, mission and values;
• Relevant professional qualifications in finance and/or accounting, proven 3 years hands-on accounting experience plus a relevant professional experience in project management of EU funded project;
• Solid experience in preparation of financial reports, project budgetting and controlling;
• Understanding of financial management and project accounting within a non-profit funding context;
• Experience working with accounting software packages, especially SAGE BOB 50 or good understanding of accounting principles;
• Solid knowledge and experience in EC’s project cycle management;
• Able to both work within and further develop existing systems and procedures;
• An international approach and understanding of cultural differences, strong communication, diplomacy and negotiation skills;
• Ability tackle multiple deadlines and requirements, be a self-starter, innovative and demonstrate the capacity for maintaining high professional standards;
• Proficiency in MS Office Applications and especially Excel;
• Strong analytical skills. Detail oriented and ability to work and interpret numbers, figures and other financial information;
• Able to work systematically and with attention to details;
• Excellent command of English, which is the working language for this post.

Desirable

• A background in NGO or voluntary activities;
• Knowledge of EU Auditing Standards;
• Experience with information systems support;
• Experience in tendering, subcontracting and management of consultants or administrative assistants;
• Working knowledge of French and/or Dutch are an advantage.

 

Friends of the Earth Europe is looking for a Grant Manager

Based in the Friends of the Earth Europe office in Brussels, full time, to start in February/March 2019.

Deadline for applications: 24h CET on 27th of January 2019

This job is an excellent opportunity to join one of the leading environmental organisations in Brussels.
Friends of the Earth Europe (FoE Europe) campaigns for sustainable and just societies and for protection of the environment. It unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups and is part of Friends of the Earth International, the world’s largest grassroots environmental network.

The Grant Manager will ensure monitoring and reporting of FoE Europe’s grants in compliance with the donor requirements (i.e. EASME, EuropeAid, EACEA amongst others, grants focussing on advocacy, awareness raising, education). The Grant Manager will help ensure accountability and oversight of FoE Europe’s multi-beneficiary grants by means of capacity building and training of FoE Europe staff and its project partners; proper management and compliance with grant requirements, project financial reporting, project audits; monitoring of project implementation, deliverables and outcomes. Another important task will be to assure a coherence and alignment between financial requirements and accountability on one side, and project management on the other.

Key Responsibilities

Financial management:

• Implement (or develop) procedures, tools and guidelines to manage FoE Europe’s multi-beneficiary grants according to donor requirements and internal policies;
• Ensure accountability and compliance with grant requirements by setting up grant management, reporting and archiving systems;
• Review grants requirements and budgets to ensure that the appropriate procedures, guidelines and monitoring tools are set up ahead of implementation;
• Track expenses vs. budgets and advise management about possible over/under expenditure and ways of addressing it, including budget revisions and (no) cost extensions if needed;
• Design and develop reporting and filing systems that allow a smooth process for audit controls whilst minimizing the risk of non-compliance; follow up on any audit findings related to EU and other grants;
• Act as the first contact person with donors, auditors, consultants and project partners on issues related to grant management;
• Prepare training and resource materials on grant requirements and project management and provide trainings to FoE Europe’s project staff, as well as to partners.

Project management:

• Oversee the implementation of project phases and coordinate with FoE Europe’s and project partners’ staff to ensure that all relevant information is shared;
• Address any difficulties that project partners are encountering in implementation of their work packages;
• Perform a full range of consultative, advisory, monitoring, information gathering, evaluation and analysis in FoE Europe’s project management;
• Identify and advise management on the level of financial support and capacity needed for project implementation (incl. resource planning);
• Design and develop project monitoring systems which will provide timely and periodic reports to donors and relevant staff;
• Keep track of contracts with project partners, consultants and donors;
• Support the preparation of funding proposals to the European Commission or its Agencies or other donors, assisting in resource planning, project cycle planning and monitoring.

 

The position will be based in Brussels (full-time, 5 days a week). Ability to travel to national offices will be a requirement to review grants compliance, conduct trainings, internal audits, etc.
Remuneration: between €2,845 and €3,537 (gross), depending on experience.FoE Europe offers an attractive benefits package, including a 13th month, lunch vouchers, an additional 5 days of holidays per year, pension scheme, hospitalisation and comprehensive travel insurance. We also offer full coverage of train travel in case of commuting within Belgium.

Conditions are according to Belgian legislation; hence the position is open solely to persons with right to live and work in the EU. FoE Europe adheres to Belgian law that prohibits discrimination on basis of age, sexual orientation, marital status, birth, fortune, religious, philosophical or political beliefs, language, present or future state of health, disability, physical or genetic characteristics, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, maternity, change of sex, nationality, alleged race, skin colour, ancestry, national, ethnic or social origin. FoE Europe strives to make our office as diverse as possible.

How to apply

If you feel you meet our criteria, and you are inspired by the objectives and challenges of the position, send us a motivation letter in English with a CV and contact details for two references to operations-recruitment@foeeurope.org by 24h CET on 27th of January 2019, mentioning “grant manager” in the subject of the message. Tests and interviews are planned early February 2019. The position starts thereafter.

For this application only shortlisted candidates will be contacted – thank you for your understanding.