BRACED Monitoring Officer

Monitoring Officer

Fund Manager (FM) for Building Resilience and Adapting to Climate Extremes and Disasters Programme (BRACED)

Background: BRACED is a flagship DFID programme under the International Climate Fund. BRACED aims to directly benefit up to 5 million vulnerable people, especially women and children, in developing countries by helping them become more resilient to climate extremes and disasters. Furthermore, through improved policies and institutions at the national level and better integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate adaptation and development programmes, BRACED aims to benefit many millions more.
BRACED has four components and a total budget of £140 million. Component A will work at scale through Implementing Partners, directly to build the resilience of people to cope with climate extremes in the Sahel. Component B will operate similarly to Component A in DFID focal countries at high risk of climate events.
The Implementing Partners (IPs) are typically consortia of international and national or regional NGOs). A programme development phase has enabled Implementing Partners to develop project proposals that are focussed on delivering results at scale in Components A and B. Over a three year period, these projects will directly benefit women, men and children in 13 countries by improving their resilience to climate extremes.
The Implementing Partners have been selected through a competitive process. The selected IPs will receive grants for the implementation of their proposals, initially for a three year period. The management of the DFID-funded grants is being undertaken by a separately commissioned Fund Manager, led by KPMG in association with GRM International Ltd (theIDLgroup) and GCAP. GRM International is leading on the monitoring aspects of the BRACED FM role.
There are two further components of the wider BRACED Programme. Component C aims to build evidence and learning on adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) across the first two components, identifying the policy and institutional changes needed to build resilience. Component C is managed by a separately commissioned Knowledge Manager (KM), led by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). Finally, Component D (currently still in design within DFID) will develop national and international capability and institutional capacity to respond to climate extremes.

Outline of Role The Fund Manager administers the grant funds on behalf of DFID. Part of the Fund Manager role is the monitoring and reporting to DFID of progress of the projects undertaken by the implementing partners, and the aggregation of project data to DFID.
Financial reporting (including grant management, due diligence and audit mechanisms) will be managed by the grants management team within the Fund Manager. Progress reporting will be managed by the monitoring team within the Fund Manager. However both teams will work closely together, and will ensure that the financial reports and progress reports are coherent. Where appropriate, members of the monitoring team should alert the grants management team of any inconsistencies or any financial or fiduciary risk issues as soon as they become apparent.
The Monitoring Officer is part of the project monitoring team within the FM, and will develop an intimate knowledge of the BRACED project portfolio through regular communication with the IP project teams, careful review of reports and project documentation, meeting with the IP project teams, and field monitoring visits. The Monitoring Officer will report on a day-to-day basis to the BRACED FM Technical Director, or in his/her absence to the BRACED FM Team Leader.
The Monitoring Officer will be contracted through GRM International Ltd, and will be required to provide regular financial and operational reports to the GRM Operations Support team (including timesheets, financial expenditure, and planning forecasts). Technical support for the role will be provided by the GRM Project Director for this programme.
The role of the KM is complementary to that of the FM, and focuses on wider evaluative learning and knowledge sharing. The role therefore requires effective collaboration with the KM team, and a good understanding of how project monitoring will complement the work of the FM, and strong team working aptitudes and capacities. Knowledge of climate change adaptation, institutional change, disaster resilience will be very valuable as will relevant language skills.

Monitoring Officer – Specific Duties and Tasks

• Advise on the design, development and implementation of project monitoring and reporting systems, as agreed with DFID and the KM on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
• Take particular responsibility for the monitoring of specific Implementing Partners or IP projects, as agreed within the Fund Manager team. This will include:
• Leading on regular (at least monthly) discussions with the IP
• Developing and maintaining a very good knowledge of all aspects of those projects
• Contributing to ensuring that the Fund Manager is able to submit progress reports to DFID on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis, which will detail:
• The status of the projects in the BRACED portfolio (on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis)
• An overview of budget expenditure (drawn from the more detailed quarterly budget report)
• Progress against work plans
• Progress against any agreed KPIs (performance based milestones)
• Progress on work with the Knowledge Manager (i.e. key monitoring, evaluative monitoring, learning and knowledge management outputs)
• Any issues for consideration by DFID
• Any amendments to the risk matrix and assumptions in the project log frame
• Support the FM team (and where appropriate the KM team) in development and preparation of reports, materials and programmes for DFID annual reviews, programme specific reviews and programme completion reports on BRACED
• Provide backstopping and advisory support to IPs on all aspects of project reporting
• Work closely with the Knowledge Manager to ensure effective coordination between the KM and FM roles, and to minimize duplication of reporting requirements for IPs between the KM and FM
• Participate in regular joint meetings between the KM, FM and DFID
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation meetings, workshops, and events convened by the KM, in order to ensure that the integrity and practical relevance of monitoring is maintained
• Participate in planning and management meetings convened by the Team Leader, FM BRACED
• Participate in training, information and similar workshops for IPs, convened by the FM
• Ensure timely delivery of quality services and contractual commitments outlined in the head contract.
• Draft technical and monitoring reports as required during the programme, and other Provide direct technical inputs to the programme as required
• Contribute to programme management functions as required, e.g. development of monitoring work plans, manuals, guidelines and budgets;
• Engage with wider stakeholders if and as required including:
• other related DFID financed activities (e.g. in the Sahel, the Adaptive Social Protection Programme ; and a proposed humanitarian response fund)
• other relevant initiatives and programmes, including the Climate Development and Knowledge Network (CDKN), and World Bank or UN-led global disaster reduction or climate change adaptation programmes.
• Maintain professional knowledge regarding climate adaptation, resilience and disaster risk reduction.
• Deputise for, or represent, the Technical Director, Monitoring, or the FM Team Leader as required.
• Other activities as reasonably required.

HOW TO APPLY:

If you're interested in this role, please apply through out website at www.grminternational.com/jobs