FOR UBONGO EMPLOYEES/INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY!
Job Title:
Senior Grants Manager
Team Leader/Reports to:
Director of Development & Communications
Department:
Development & Communication
Location:
Dar, Tanzania/Nairobi, Kenya/Johannesburg, South Africa
Work Remotely:
maximum 3 days a week
Travel Required:
Frequent
Position:
Senior
Contract Type:
Full Time
Organisation/entity:
Ubongo Learning
Benefits:
Full-time employee benefits
Number of Posts:
1
Organisation Summary:
UBONGO is Africa's leading producer of kids' edutainment. As a non-profit social enterprise, we create fun, localized, and multi-platform educational content that helps kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. Ubongo reaches over 42 million kids across Africa through accessible technologies like TV, radio, and mobile phones. Our show’s Ubongo Kids and Akili and Me currently air in 23 countries across Africa, in Swahili, English, French, Kinyarwanda, Kikuyu, Luo, Yoruba, Hausa, Chichewa, and Juba Arabic. We are also reaching families within and beyond Africa through digital products such as apps, ebooks, music albums, and our 8 YouTube channels.
Job Position:
Ubongo is looking for a Senior Grants Manager to lead the organization’s grants department and oversee the entire lifecycle of grant funding—from identification to reporting so as to ensure alignment with strategic priorities and compliance with donor requirements. With guidance and collaboration with the Director of Development & Communications, the Senior Grants Manager will be in charge of directly managing grants of up to $30M USD, setting and maintaining standards for project management of grants, ensuring grants & projects are coordinated & executed consistently across Ubongo, adhering to quality standards, meeting deadlines, and staying within budget by defining guidelines, monitoring progress, and identifying potential opportunities & risks across all grant-funded projects within Ubongo.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Grant management and compliance
Main Activities:
- Leading strategy and systems on grants across Ubongo
- Full ownership of grant compliance and reporting, to ensure that the Ubongo team remains in good standing for all project grants, with reports submitted correctly and on time.
- Be the Project Management lead for all projects under the different grants at Ubongo.
- Develop and maintain grant calendar and pipeline.
- Coordinate proposal development with relevant teams.
- Monitor grant compliance and performance metrics.
- Oversee grant audits and evaluations.
- Lead and manage the work of project officers that are responsible for managing different grants
- Train project officers and Ubongoers as needed on the different grant requirements and reporting frameworks
- Coordinate grant management, deliverables and reporting for key grants across all teams at Ubongo, including the Product, Business and Operations/Finance teams
- Manage project specific initiatives launched under grants which may not fall under existing Ubongo operations and forming teams for those initiatives as needed
- Coordinate work across a number of diverse teams within Ubongo (in Dar es Salam and abroad) and external partners, to implement grant projects within agreed timelines.
- Ensure all Ubongoers are kept up to date on grants status, and contributing throughout.
- Donor Stewardship
Main Activities:
- Develop and implement stewardship strategies to ensure funders are acknowledged and engaged.
- Co-manage donor relationships and reporting with the Donor officer
- Acknowledgment and Recognition:
- Ensure that all donations from institutional funders are acknowledged promptly with personalized thank-you letters, emails, or phone calls.
- Recognize institutional funders in annual reports, on the organization’s website, social media platforms, newsletters, and at events, as appropriate.
- Regular Updates: Provide institutional funders with regular updates on the impact of their contributions. This can include progress reports, success stories, and data on how their funds are being used.
- Customized Reports: Tailor impact reports to meet the specific interests and requirements of each funder, ensuring they see the direct connection between their support and the organization’s achievements.
- Personal Engagement: Develop personalized engagement plans for key institutional funders, including regular check-ins, meetings, and site visits.
- Networking: Facilitate opportunities for institutional funders to connect with the organization’s leadership, board members, and prog
- ram beneficiaries to deepen their involvement and investment.
- Recognition Events: Plan and execute events such as donor appreciation events, site tours, and exclusive briefings to recognize and thank institutional funders.
- Special Invitations: Invite institutional funders to special events, program launches, and other significant organizational activities, ensuring they feel valued and included in the community
- Customized Communication: Develop and maintain regular, personalized communication with institutional funders through newsletters, emails, phone calls, and other channels.
- Storytelling: Use storytelling techniques to convey the impact of funding, highlighting the difference it makes in the lives of beneficiaries and the broader community.
- Surveys and Feedback: Implement mechanisms to gather feedback from institutional funders about their experience and satisfaction with the organization. Use this feedback to improve stewardship practices.
- Listening Sessions: Organize sessions where funders can share their thoughts and suggestions, showing that their opinions are valued and considered.
- Grant Compliance and Reporting:
- Adherence to Requirements: Ensure all reporting requirements specified by institutional funders are met in a timely and accurate manner, maintaining compliance with grant agreements.
- Transparency: Provide transparent and honest communication about the organization’s challenges and successes, building trust and credibility.
- Company-wide Responsibilities
- Exemplify Ubongoers principles and norms
- Participate in function-specific projects and collaborate across teams with the aim of working towards attaining company wide objectives.
- Supervisory Responsibilities
Direct Reports
Indirect Reports
- Grants officer
- Seasonal Project officers
- Donor officer
- function-level “project/product managers”
KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & OTHER REQUIREMENTS.
Physical
Educational
- Minimum Bachelor degree.
- Project Management Certification or Masters will be an added advantage.
Experience
- At least 5 years’ experience in grant management in the social impact space
- Experience managing different types of funder grants requirements
Skills
- Extremely organized and process oriented
- Able to get things done. A team of one who needs to coordinate and manage across all departments in Ubongo to ensure that grant requirements are met on periodic basis and in timely manner
- Be a fast learner
- Super troubleshooter
- Ability to speak and work in English and Kiswahili.
- Great communication skills
- Strong writing skills, including report and grant writing.
- Willing to speak up for what is right when sees wrong, or when there might be a better way
- A love for kids
- knowledge of accounting and finance
- Strong G-Suite literacy
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Please note that only online applications will be considered. Those who come directly to the office with a CV or who email their CV to us will simply be directed to apply online.
Please save yourself time and effort by simply sticking to online applications. THANKS!
Required:
- Please share your CV
- Please share a link or sample of your portfolio
* Ubongo is committed to ensure Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our recruitment process.
Please indicate any reasonable accommodations you may need should you be selected for an interview and note that you can share requested documents in different formats including text, video and/audio.
