Job Title: Finance and Grants Manager
Responsible for managing the organisation’s finances
and donor-funded grants, preparing budgets and financial reports, monitoring
grant expenditure, ensuring compliance with donor requirements, and overseeing
financial controls and audits. Requires a degree in Finance, Accounting, or a
related field. This is a full-time, on-site position based in Nairobi
Key
Responsibilities
Financial
leadership, planning and management
Lead
preparation, consolidation and periodic revision of the program budget across
workstreams, countries, partners, cost categories and implementation periods.
Translate
approved workplans into annual budgets, rolling forecasts, cash-flow
projections and resource-allocation recommendations.
Monitor
expenditure and commitments against approved budgets and implementation plans;
investigate material variances, agree corrective actions with budget holders
and track actions to closure.
Prepare
monthly and quarterly financial analyses covering burn rate, commitments,
forecast-to-complete, funding gaps, co-financing obligations, cost-recovery
exposure and key financial risks.
Advise
the Program Director, PMU and country leads on the financial implications of
operational decisions, implementation delays and proposed changes in scope.
Coordinate
budget reallocations and donor approval requests where required, including
tracking line-item variances against the 10% limit above which prior Foundation
approval is needed, maintaining a complete record of approved changes.
Donor
compliance and financial reporting
Interpret
the grant agreement, approved budget, reporting instructions and financial
conditions, and translate them into clear guidance and controls for program
teams and partners.
Apply the
financial governance framework including cost allocation, charge out and shared
cost rules, and ensure ILRI and partner charging follows it.
Lead
preparation, review and submission of complete, accurate and timely quarterly
donor financial reports, forecasts and supporting schedules, and inputs to each
designation for periodic transfers
Monitor
and track financial reporting deadlines, audit requirements, approval
workflows, deliverables, and other grant compliance obligations through the ERP
System (OCS), proactively following up with responsible stakeholders to ensure
timely completion and compliance with donor and organizational requirements.
Ensure
expenditure is allowable, allocable, reasonable, adequately supported, recorded
in the correct period and charged to the appropriate budget line and
workstream.
Coordinate
responses to donor financial queries, expenditure verification requests and
compliance reviews, ensuring supporting evidence is readily available within
donor deadlines and retained in line with agreement terms.
Grants,
sub-awards and partner financial management
Lead
financial due diligence and risk assessment of implementing partners before
contracting and periodically during implementation.
Review
partner budgets and contribute to agreements to ensure that the Foundation
terms ILRI must pass down to partners are included and that the reporting
requirements, payment terms, eligible costs, audit rights, controls and
close-out obligations are clearly defined.
Review
partner cash requests, financial reports, supporting documents and liquidations
before recommending approval and subsequent disbursement.
Monitor
partner advances, expenditure, outstanding balances and reporting status;
escalate overdue, unsupported or ineligible amounts and coordinate recovery or
corrective action.
Set up
and oversee financial controls for participant support and access to finance
mechanisms (grants, startup and asset support, revolving funds and guarantees),
covering disbursement, verification, repayment and program closeout, and ensure
Foundation approval is obtained before any mechanism is introduced or changed.
Ensure
partners, suppliers, consultants and other recipients of grant funds are
screened against applicable sanctions, and antiterrorism lists before
contracting or payment, with records retained in line with donor requirements.
Develop
and deliver risk-based financial capacity strengthening and monitoring plans
for partners and country teams.
Controls,
risk, assurance and audit
Establish
and monitor effective controls over program income, expenditure, assets,
procurement-related financial checks, advances, partner payments, records and
approvals.
Maintain
the program asset register, prepare the annual asset use report for the
Foundation, and ensure Foundation approval is obtained before any asset is
sold, transferred or disposed of.
Maintain
the program financial risk register, assign mitigation actions and report
significant or emerging risks to program and institutional leadership.
Coordinate
donor, external and internal audits and spot checks, including audit planning,
document readiness, management responses and timely closure of agreed findings.
Promote
segregation of duties, complete audit trails and timely escalation of suspected
irregularities in line with institutional procedures.
Cash
flow, treasury and working capital management
Prepare
and maintain program cash-flow forecasts and the inputs to each periodic
transfer to support uninterrupted implementation while minimizing excessive
idle balances.
Monitor
donor receipts, program balances, partner disbursements, advances and cash
requirements across participating countries.
Assess
foreign-exchange exposures and work with ILRI Treasury on mitigation measures
within the approved policy.
Review
and clear payments, ensuring all transactions are supported by appropriate
documentation, accurately recorded, properly approved, and compliant with ILRI
policies, Mastercard Foundation grant requirements, and established internal
control procedures.
Oversee
and monitor program payables, receivables, and outstanding balances, ensuring
timely resolution, accurate financial reporting, effective cash flow
management, and compliance with donor requirements, organizational policies,
and financial controls.
Systems,
data quality and financial close
Ensure
program structures, budgets, reporting dimensions and partner records are
correctly established and maintained in the relevant financial and
grant-management systems.
Oversee
monthly and year-end reconciliations, period-end reviews, accruals, corrections
and closure of outstanding receivables, payables and advances.
Develop
practical dashboards and standardized reports that provide program leadership
with a reliable view of financial performance and required actions.
Plan
grant close-out early, including final expenditure, partner liquidation, asset
disposition, audit, refunds, record retention and final donor reporting.
Leadership
and stakeholder management
Lead,
supervise and develop the Program Accountants, setting clear workplans,
deliverables, review controls and service standards.
Coordinate
finance support across the PMU and participating countries to ensure consistent
application of program and institutional requirements.
Build
effective working relationships with program leadership, technical teams,
Finance, Grants and Contracts, Legal, Procurement, People and Culture, Internal
Audit, partners, auditors and donor counterparts.
Provide
targeted financial training and practical guidance to budget holders, program
teams and partners.
Qualifications
Master’s
degree in finance, accounting or business-related field,
Full
professional accounting qualification (CPA (K) or ACCA) and active membership
in ICPAK or an equivalent recognized professional accounting body.
Minimum
of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in finance and grants
management, including at least 3 years in a supervisory or management role.
Experience with donor funded programs across several countries, including
managing subawards to partners, is required. Experience managing Mastercard
Foundation-funded programs is an added advantage.
Experience
using enterprise resource planning and financial reporting systems, with
advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel. Experience with dashboards or
business-intelligence tools is desirable
Proactive
and Service oriented: provides efficient, high-quality service to the program
Integrity:
Honest, above reproach and appropriate in actions / behaviour and transparent
in conduct.
Result
Oriented/ Focused: Ability to consistently meet set goals. Focused, efficient
and goal oriented. Ability to direct others to perform set duties.
Professionalism:
Application of ethics, principles, standards and expertise in all areas of
work.
Teamwork,
Interpersonal Relations: Working and relating with others in mutual support and
respect towards common goals and shared vision. Builds and nurtures strong and
authentic reciprocal relationships. Avoids domineering or patronizing
behaviour.
Multi-cultural
fit & Respect for Diversity: An ability to work effectively, respectfully
and inclusively with people from different backgrounds and with different
perspectives is critical for all staff members.
Communication:
Ability to express oneself, share and exchange information clearly and
proactively, in a timely and client friendly style.
Innovation
& Creativity: Ability to generate new ideas and ways of working to
continuously improve existing work processes, practices, concepts
