Small Grants Manager - Guinea & Sierra Leone

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

1/22/2025

Application deadline: Sunday, 23 February 2025 – 23:45

Location: Dakar, Senegal or Conakry, Guinea.

Hours : Full-time, 40 hours per week

Contract: 2 years fixed term

Salary: EURO 3,000 per month

BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation partnership. Through our unique local-to-global approach, we deliver high impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.

We are now seeking a dedicated and visionary Small Grants Manager - Guinea & Sierra Leone to oversee the management and implementation of a small grant mechanism where grants of up to USD 50,000 will be awarded to 10-15 local civil society organizations in Guinea and Sierra Leone, between March 2025 and February 2027.

In this role you will be involved in strategic management, administrative rigour, technical assistance, capacity development, monitoring project progress, and ensuring compliance with funding requirements.

How You Will Do This

• Overseeing planning, execution, and evaluation of the BirdLife Guinea/Sierra Leone small grants programme.
• Co-developing strategies to improve BirdLife-led CSO grant initiatives in West Africa and beyond.
• Maintaining thorough records for all programme stages and providing regular reports to relevant stakeholders.
• Offering technical support on project design, management, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.
• Providing advice on conservation and community development project implementation.
• Building and maintaining relationships with grantees, community groups, and stakeholders.
• Representing the organisation at relevant events in Guinea and Sierra Leone
• Developing a small grants manual incorporating BirdLife and donor requirements.
• Managing grant contracting (up to $50,000), compliance checks, and fund disbursement with the Finance team.
• Conducting due diligence and compliance assessments for grantee eligibility.
• Identifying grantees' needs and creating tailored capacity-building plans.
• Designing and delivering training programmes in English and French on project management, reporting, and compliance.
• Developing and implementing a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) system.
• Conducting site visits to assess performance and provide feedback.
• Supporting the Africa Communications Manager by updating internal communications channels with relevant information, as well as creating and publishing content.
  
  

Ideally You Will Have

• Education: A BSc or equivalent experience, MSc will be an advantage, esp. in conservation / development related fields
• Experience: A proven track record of relevant work experience in project management/support, including administration, organisation, reporting, and communications
• Skills: High motivation, desire to achieve; attention to detail, excellent organisational skills, and ability to work to high standards with tight deadlines. Ability to analyse complex problems, and generate creative and pragmatic solutions. Excellent written and oral communication skills; computer literacy in all standard Microsoft office application; Flexibility and ability to work independently.
• Knowledge: Interest in and understanding of conservation and development issues, preferably with knowledge and experience in conservation preferably with knowledge and experience in conservation in Guinea/Sierra Leone / West Africa. Experience in capacity building; support to Community-Based Organisations/Non-Governmental Organisations support; Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning.
• Travel: Willingness to travel at short notice when required requently, up to eight weeks per year.
• Languages: Oral and written fluency in English and French.
  
  

Salary & Benefits

See the full job description here.

Commensurate with experience and qualifications and in accordance with BirdLife International, Africa Division terms and conditions.

• Date when the job expected to start: April 2025
  
  

BirdLife values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Find out more about our Diversity statement.

We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and supportive culture, a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. We aim to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrate and promote diversity.

We will consider putting into place appropriate reasonable adjustments for candidates who may have a disability.