Who we are

Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa), is a consciously feminist and women’s human rights pan- African Fund, registered in Nairobi, Kenya. Operating as a virtual organisation, the Fund boasts of strategic presence in Africa’s five sub-regions- in East Africa: Nairobi, Kenya & Kampala, Uganda; North Africa: Cairo, Egypt & Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Central Africa: Bujumbura, Burundi & Yaoundé, Cameroon. West Africa: Abuja, Nigeria & Dakar, Senegal and Southern Africa: Harare, Zimbabwe. Recognising the need to move resources rapidly on a continent where opportunities and threats arise and decline quickly, UAF-Africa uses a Rapid Response Grant making mechanism to support unanticipated, time sensitive, innovative and unique initiatives that promote women’s agency in democratic governance, economic and environmental justice, natural resources governance, conflict transformation and justice processes while protecting their personhood, integrity and rights.

Position Overview

The Programme Assistant assists in the timely financial and technical response to interventions and needs of women’s rights activists and organizations with the aim of advancing women’s human rights on continent with a specific focus on Francophone Africa.

Specific Responsibilities

Grantmaking and reporting

• Act as the initial interface with the grantees and provide prompt and suitable communication with the applicants;
• Review of grant requests up to the point of preparing checklists for the grantmaking team to review;
• Correspondence with grantees, advisors and fiscal sponsors;

· Seeking opinions and working with formal/informal advisors and endorsers on grant proposals;

· Data entry of all inquiries, requests and grant awards on the grantmaking database, Salesforce;

· Completing due diligence research of potential grantees;

• Completion and filing of grant related paperwork;
• Assisting with grant making activity reports;
• Assisting in the documentation process and tracking grantmaking indicators;
• Preparing Country related grantmaking reports as assigned;
• Carrying out research for outreach missions and other UAF-Africa purposes as assigned;
• Assisting in preparations and logistics for outreach and networking missions;
• Where applicable, language translation of grant requests and communication material within all UAF-Africa programmes;

· Performing any other duties as may be assigned by the Programme Officer and or Coordinator.

Translation Support

· Provide translation support; French to English/English to French (through direct supervision) to other portfolios as and when requested.

Qualifications

· Degree in Social Sciences, Women’s Studies, Political Sciences, International Development, Law or related fields

· Bi-Lingual (French & English)

Skills and Experience

· 2 years’ experience in grantmaking processes is required;

· Excellent organizational skills and ability to multi task;

· Excellent communication skills;

· Flexibility and willingness to travel on the African continent and beyond as and when required;

• An understanding of gender equality and women’s rights issues, particularly in politically unstable and post conflict African settings;
• Familiarity with the women’s rights development needs in Africa;
• Passionate about UAF-Africa’s mission, committed to teamwork, and achieving results and building effective teams;
• Excellent inter-personal, public speaking, writing and negotiation skills;
• Experience working in a virtual work environment an added advantage;
• Experience working with Salesforce or any other grantmaking software tool.

Work Environment

• This is a regional position that involves some national, regional and international travel;

• UAF-Africa is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate in its hiring practices;

• In order to build the strongest possible workforce, UAF-Africa actively seeks a diverse applicant pool;

• The position will be based in the incumbent’s francophone African country of residency.