Senior Subgrant Officer – Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA)

Accounting and Finance, Business and Administration

Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA)

BACKGROUND:

The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) has been established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify and address systemic bottlenecks to Ethiopia’s agricultural development. The Agency does this through problem-solving, implementation support, and capacity building of stakeholders involved in implementation of interventions that address the systemic bottlenecks. The Agency reports to a Transformation Council chaired by the Prime Minister and whose co-chair is the Minister of Agriculture. 

The programmatic focus of the Agency responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Transformation Council. Within the Agency, issues are divided into four different groups:  Production and Productivity which includes Inputs and Crop Protection, Livestock, Research and Extension, Mechanization, Rural Finance & Agro-Processing Value Addition; Agribusiness and Markets including Market Services, Market Infrastructure, Commercial & Contract Farming, Domestic and Export Market Development, and Cooperatives Development; Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Agricultural Growth including Sustainable Irrigation & Watershed Management, Sustainable Land Management, Gender Equality and Nutrition, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, and Planning and MLE; and Enhanced Implementation Capacity which includes ICT, Private Sector, and Organizational and Human Capacity. Across the programs, the ATA engages public, private and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity and test innovative models.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results. 

At ATA, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals. 

ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTE

Terms of reference

 BACKGROUND:

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government Institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATI envisions to be the leading center of innovative solutions for the transformation of Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030.

The Institute focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate the development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, Sidama, South-West, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results. 

At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

 POSITION SUMMARY:

The Senior Subgrant Officer will be responsible to support the Subgrant Director to ensure ATI, Donors and GoE policies and procedures on grant management are implemented.  S/he will maintain grant systems to ensure the integrity of grants and deliver timely and coherent grant information and present it to all concerned parties in order to support management decisions.

 The post will directly report to the Subgrant Director.

 ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

 1.       Grant Management System

 a)       Create a grant/sub-grant profile on ERP/Agresso grant management module;

b)      Regularly update and maintain grant/sub-grant files the on ERP grant management module; and hardcopy files

c)       Generate and update donor budget lines on ERP/Agresso;

d)      Assure that closed grants/sub-grantees are inactive on the ERP/Agresso and no payments are recorded.   

e)      Work and assist program/project teams in developing cost forecasts for preparing grant budget proposals;

f)        Ensure that the developed budget proposal is realistic and free from arithmetic inaccuracy before submission of final approval.

g)       Assist the program team in the allocation of grants (SOF and DBL) to corresponding budget requests of teams and assist in the identification and alarming of funding gaps/surplus if any against the overall requested budget by ATA teams.

h)      Assist in incorporating approved grant budget with annual overall organization budget and assist in the follow-up of required budget revision/amendments with Budget holders and finance team.

 2.       Grant Implementation

a)       Attend grants meetings, and complete agreed action points arising from the meeting;

b)      Support efficient grant management and allocation in accordance with donor and ATI guidelines;

c)       Calculate grant recharges (salary and non-salary) as required in accordance with donor budgets, ensuring that costs are allocated accurately and are not duplicated.

d)      Work closely and assist the program team to ensure that all grant balances within ATI systems are accurately reflected, and issues relating to write offs/backs and disallowable expenditures are analyzed;

3.       Grant Reporting

a)       Review monthly expenditure transactions in the financial system and communicate with the finance team for any required adjustments.

b)      Prepare quarterly, bi-annual, and annual financial reports for submission to DPs as per the agreed timeline and reporting template with respective donors.

c)       Prepare interim periodic grants financial reports whenever required for providing information used for internal decision-making.

d)      Respond or provide clarification for any quires related to financial queries of any grant reports.

4.       Sub-grant Management

a)       Participate in the proposal evaluation technical committee, and play a key role on the evaluation of the proposed project cost of potential sub-grantees; 

b)      Contribute to the Grant making review committee GMRC recommendation from budget availability and resource allocation perspective; 

c)       Participate on the due diligence assessment of the possible sub-grantee and play a vital role on identifying the potential risk that might face on the project implementation;

d)      Review the draft sub-grant agreement particularly the section of installment, reporting requirements and budget breakdown;      

e)      Review financial utilization reports of sub grantees and submit to finance team to be settled.

f)        Confirm the sub-grantees utilization performance and facilitate the subsequent fund release by closely working with respective budget holder.

g)       Prepare an overall sub grantees financial status portfolio report on quarterly basis and submit to internal/external stakeholders;

h)      Review financial utilization reports of sub grantees and submit to finance team to be settled.

i)        Undertake financial monitoring visits:

            i. Provide briefing on donor compliance issues and ATA sub grant management procedures.

           ii. Provide on job technical support and training on budget monitoring, grant management and financial reporting during project implementation.

j)        Follow-up on reimbursement of unutilized budget and work with the finance team to facilitate the hiring of independent auditors to undertake the sub-grant audit.

k)       Provide input to the partnership team if there is any outstanding balance and any financial concerns related to specific Sub-grantee before close out is finalized.

5.       Other Tasks

a)       Facilitate  grant audits as required

b)      Providing technical comments and ‘early warnings’ related to donor compliance matters during the monthly meeting with finance.

c)       Provide other ad-hoc Grant management information and analysis from the system for the use of management as required.

d)      Other duties assigned by the Supervisor 

• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting/ Finance or Business from a recognized University
• At least 6 years (for Bachelor’s) or 4 years (for Master’s) relevant work experience in project finance management or grant management
• Knowledge of local laws of the country
• Flexibility and ability to stay effective and motivated in a fast-changing environment.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability and willingness to work long hours and work with other staffs
• Commitment to ATI values
• Fluency in English and Amharic required; knowledge of other Ethiopian languages is  a plus.      

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