Position:
Grants Specialist
Type of Contract:
Full-time, Fixed-term contract
Project:
USAID Youth Grow Activity
Reports to:
Director of Finance & Administration
Location:
Amman, Jordan
BACKGROUND
The Youth Grow Activity (YGA) is a five-year (2023-2028) USAID-funded project implemented by Q2 Impact and partners, adopting Positive Youth Development (PYD) principles to empower Jordanian youth for the benefit of the youth and society at large. The YGA targets youth aged 10-29, prioritizing girls, women, people with disabilities, and isolated or economically disadvantaged communities. The YGA focuses on three core objectives: (1) preparing youth for economic opportunities by providing access to high-quality online career counseling and entrepreneurship and employability readiness services; (2) strengthening youth leadership, inclusion and social participation through targeted support of local youth-led organizations (YLOs) and youth-serving organizations (YSOs) and (3) strengthening Jordan’s youth support systems to create youth inclusive and enabling economic and social environment, in partnership with the youth.
The YGA Theory of Change (TOC): The YGA believes that equipping youth and families with knowledge, resources, and leadership opportunities, along with stronger youth-inclusive systems, will lead to increased youth engagement in their economy and communities.
Overarching Activity Objectives and Expected Key Result Areas
YGA aims to achieve three main objectives:
- Enhance youth readiness for economic opportunities. Through increased access to career counseling and employability information, access to employability and entrepreneurial readiness services, and access to funding opportunities, the youth will be better prepared and inspired to start income-generating opportunities and engage in the private sector.
- Enhance youth involvement in decision-making and leadership. Local YLOs, YSOs, and youth groups will be supported to engage youth and strengthen their leadership capacities to provide and implement solutions and initiatives that enhance youth readiness and accessibility to economic opportunities.
- Strengthen national youth support systems and enabling the environment. Co-creating youth-effective services and policies in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and other influential stakeholders, to foster an enabling environment for PYD-grounded youth participation in economic sectors.
POSITION DESCRIPTION:
Q2 Impact is seeking a dedicated and experienced Grant Specialist to join our team at the Youth Grow Activity, USAID funded project. The Grant Specialist will play a critical role in managing the grant process, ensuring compliance with USAID regulations, and supporting the effective implementation of grant-funded programs.
The Grants Specialist will contribute to the contractual and administrative implementation of all programmatic activities and will support in drafting subaward and negotiation memos in accordance with USAID rules and regulations and Q2 Impact policies and procedures
The Grants Specialist will also be responsible for the administration of the grant's portfolios. S/he will manage in implementing and monitoring grants and technical activities, including performing evaluations and assessments of potential grantees, designing agreements and scopes of work, monitoring financial and operational implementation, and ensuring that close-out is done in accordance with applicable federal regulations and Q2 Impact policies across the entire grants cycle.
ROLES and RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Oversee the full grant lifecycle, from solicitation and selection to closeout, ensuring adherence to USAID rules and regulations. Draft solicitation documentation, including RFAs/APSs, evaluation memos, and selection justifications.
- Manage the selection process during proposal evaluations, negotiating with awardees, and drafting, reviewing, and finalizing the resulting subaward document.
- Draft and administer U.S. government funded grants, specifically USAID rules and regulations for grants issued under cooperative agreements.
- Ensure all grant activities comply with USAID policies, procedures, and reporting requirements, maintaining accurate records and documentation.
- Monitor grant budgets, track expenditures, and provide financial oversight to ensure funds are utilized efficiently and effectively.
- Provide technical assistance and capacity building support to grant recipients to enhance their understanding of grant compliance and reporting obligations.
- Prepare and submit timely and accurate reports, documenting grant activities, achievements, challenges, and lessons learned.
- Maintain and update standard operating procedures and templates related to the grant’s activities and procedures.
- Collaborate with partners, subgrantees, and stakeholders to facilitate effective grant implementation, coordination, and communication.
- Identify potential risks and challenges related to grant implementation and develop mitigation strategies to address them proactively.
- Assists the technical team on the development of the various requests for proposals and applications.
- Supports the Procurement teams in ensuring financial, accounting, and administrative procedures are followed.
- Tracks the subaward recipient Level of Effort (LOE), period of performance (POP), and budget spending.
- Processes invoices and milestone/deliverable payments for project’s grants and reviews and audits all invoice documentation and ensures that expenses are incurred according to the terms of signed grants, and corporate financial policies.
- Ensures effective communication between project staff and grants awardees.
- Monitors compliance of the award of project grants and prepare the required reports,
- Ensures that grants documentation files are current, complete and audit-ready at all times.
- Reviewing sub-award budget estimates in conjunction with project finance team to ensure all costs conform with USAID and Q2 Impact regulations and policies.
- Coordinates with finance, M&E, and technical focal points on progress of grants. Contribute to the M&E reporting needs to reflect implementation of grants activities.
- Identifies issues and risks related to grant activity implementation and communicates them in a timely manner with the DFA & COP.
- Performs other duties as assigned by the DFA & COP.
MINIMUM EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, SKILLS and QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in international development, Business Administration, Public Administration, or related field. Master’s degree preferred.
- Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in grant management, preferably within the context of USAID-funded projects and Cooperative Agreements.
- Strong knowledge of USAID rules and regulations, with a specific emphasis on FAR, ADS 303, CFR, AIDAR and implementing USAID grants programs is required
- Ability to work effectively in a cross-cultural environment, with strong interpersonal skill
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- Demonstrates a positive attitude
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality assurance
- Ability to multi-task and adapt quickly to changing priorities.
- Prior experience with large-scale USAID grant management contracts and subcontracts, and familiarity with USAID grant management, acquisition policies, and procedures.
- Proven analytical and problem-solving skills, and attention to detail required.
- Experience with writing comparative evaluation summaries, selection memos and negotiation memos strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated knowledge and familiarity with Jordan’s operating environment is preferred.
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with culturally diverse staff.
- Fluent Arabic and English required (oral and written).
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO:
This position reports to the Director of Finance and Administration (DFA).
LOCATION OF ASSIGNMENT
The Grants Specialist will be based in the Youth Grow Activity office in Amman, Jordan.
