Background:
Land O'Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening local agriculture, helping agribusinesses create jobs and linking farmers to markets. Since 1981, it has implemented over 315 integrated dairy, livestock and crops development programs in nearly 80 countries — creating lasting impact by linking farmers, businesses, and the public and private sector in local and global contexts. Land O’Lakes Venture37’s long-standing affiliation with Land O’Lakes, Inc. sets it apart. Land O’Lakes, Inc. is one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. It supports Land O’Lakes Venture37 project implementation with nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights and technologies. This gives Land O’Lakes Venture37 development projects a unique global view of agriculture, food and the power of well-functioning market systems. Land O’Lakes, Inc. supports these efforts as part of its enterprise purpose of Feeding Human Progress at home and around the world.
Project Description:
Agribusinesses in Lebanon are a major contributor to the Lebanese economy, but face challenges growing and diversifying their markets. Under the USAID Lebanon Investment in Quality (LINQ) project, Land O’Lakes Venture37 will increase the competitiveness of value-added agribusinesses and, relatedly, increase domestic and export sales of agricultural products. LINQ will identify and work with agribusiness partners – primarily growers, processors, and other stakeholders that add value to raw agricultural products (e.g. aggregators) – to address constraints to competitiveness. Addressing these constraints will involve collaboratively developing milestone-based business acceleration plans; providing customized technical assistance and investment grants; and facilitating market linkages, business investment, and infrastructure upgrades.
Position Summary and Primary Responsibilities:
The Grants Specialist implements the administrative and operational aspects of the Project’s grant-making activities. This position oversees grant compliance. He/She ensures the completeness and quality of grant agreement, foundational documentation, grantee information, vetting, approvals, and tracks and monitors authorized grant expenditures. The Grants Specialist coordinates the Request for Applications for soliciting investment partners and supports the evaluation and selection of enterprises awarded grants. He/She maintains grantee reporting calendars, data provision, and the grant process including advertisement, assessment and selection, agreement preparation, monitoring, and closeout. The Grants Specialist also helps sub-grantees in day-to-day management of grants and communicates and follows-up with grantee to secure reports, cost-share documentation, and/or to get general updates. The Grants Specialist reports to the Chief of Party.
The main responsibilities include, but are not limited, to the following:
- Help prepare, review, or adapt a project grants manual to document procedures from announcement or release of an RFA, receipt of applications, analysis and due diligence, final selection and negotiation, grant writing and approval, monitoring compliance with the terms and objectives, and, finally, performance of the grantee.
- Work in coordination with Technical Team to design, promote, and distribute Request for Applications. And, participate in the review and evaluation process, leading in the documentation of the scoring and selection. Assess grant submissions for technical and budget soundness and compliance with USAID regulations, recommending award actions to the Technical Team.
- Act as a compliance reference point, closely liaising with HQ C&C for all related matters.
- Support the Chief of Party to submit subawards and grants to the donor for review and approval, and help to respond to questions from USAID.
- Ensure all official papers for each grantee are collected and reviewed for accuracy and completeness as per compliance requirements.
- Conduct appropriate due diligence and vetting for each grantee using the Partner Vetting System (PVS) where applicable.
- Ensure environmental reviews are completed for each grant, follow-up with the technical team, and perform environmental assessments when applicable.
- Develop grant packages and coordinate the issuance of awards. Maintain grant and subaward documentation, fully utilizing and managing information in the Cobblestone contract and grant management database and document management system.
- Oversee and structure regular grantee and subaward reporting on an agreed (quarterly) timeline. Monitor and track cost share contributions, performance reports, and compliance with award conditions. Communicate and collaborate with MEL, Finance, and Technical Teams to gather data and share information.
- Communicate as necessary with project grantees, assisting and training the partners to complete reports requirements and maintain compliance with the terms of grant and subaward agreements. Conduct field visits to the grantees sites to monitor proper implementation of the award, collect relevant data and identify success stories and lessons learned. Coordinate with the other departments, Technical, MEL and Communication to ensure all grant requirements are met in a timely way.
- Orient and supervise the work of an intern.
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Management, or other related field.
- Minimum of five years of experience in managing and administering grants program. Experience with grants making in a USAID-funded project preferred.
- Familiarity with USAID and U.S. Government regulations and rules. Experience monitoring compliance with terms of subaward or grant agreements, including developing tools and tracking schedules.
- Experience with on-line grants management platforms for documentation management, compliance tracking and audit, and system for managing each stage in a grant cycle and utilizing template documents.
- Proven attention to detail throughout work history, including managing and organizing electronic and hard copy files that are subject to review or audit.
- Experience with writing and reviewing clear and deliverable-based program descriptions for subawards and grants.
- Ability to work independently. Experience collaborating on work teams to achieve project results.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
- Fluency in English (written and verbal) language.
- Demonstrated capability and history producing high-quality, formal written documents and agreements.
- Proven ability to work with team members towards a common vision and objectives.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls will be accepted.
Land O’Lakes never requests money or payment from candidates for any position type. Please report any such requests to Land O’Lakes.