Background

The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is a regional feminist network comprising women’s rights organizations and activists working to advance gender equality, women’s rights, peace, security, and social justice across the Greater Horn of Africa. SIHA works in partnership with grassroots organizations, civil society actors, and regional and international stakeholders to strengthen feminist movements, promote women’s leadership, prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, and influence policies and practices that advance the rights of women and girls. SIHA implements a diverse portfolio of regional and country-level programmes funded by a range of institutional donors and implemented across multiple countries in the region. These programmes span humanitarian response, women, peace and security, governance, movement building, economic justice, research, advocacy, and organizational strengthening. Through its regional secretariat and country teams, SIHA works closely with partner organizations to ensure high-quality programme delivery, accountability, learning, and sustainable impact for women and girls across the region.

Summary of the Position

The Regional Grants Manager provides strategic leadership and oversight of SIHA’s regional grants management function, ensuring the effective management of institutional grants and sub-granting portfolios across the Greater Horn of Africa. The position leads the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of SIHA’s grants management systems, policies, and practices to ensure compliance with donor requirements while promoting efficient, transparent, and accountable grant management. Working closely with the Regional Programme Director, Finance, MEL, Compliance, Country Coordinators, and programme teams, the Regional Grants Manager oversees the full grants lifecycle—from proposal development and due diligence through implementation, monitoring, reporting, partner accompaniment, and close-out. The role also leads SIHA’s regional grants team and provides strategic oversight of complex multi-country grant-making initiatives, including large-scale flexible funding and accompaniment mechanisms that strengthen women’s rights organizations, women-led organizations, and feminist movements across the region.

Key Responsibilities

• Regional Grants Leadership and Strategy: Lead SIHA’s regional grants management function by developing and strengthening grants management systems, policies, procedures, and tools that promote accountability, efficiency, transparency, and compliance across the organization. Provide strategic advice to senior management on grants management, donor compliance, institutional risk, and partner management while continuously improving organizational grants processes and systems.
• Grant Lifecycle Management: Oversee the complete grants management cycle for institutional grants and sub-grants, including proposal review, due diligence, agreement development, budget verification, implementation monitoring, modifications, reporting, audits, close-out, and archival. Ensure grants are administered consistently in accordance with donor agreements, organizational policies, and applicable regulations.
• Partner Due Diligence, Grant-Making and Accompaniment: Lead SIHA’s regional grant-making processes by overseeing partner identification, organizational assessments, due diligence, risk analysis, grant selection, contracting, and onboarding. Work closely with programme teams to coordinate partner accompaniment, institutional strengthening, compliance support, and capacity development, ensuring grant-making contributes to both effective programme delivery and long-term organizational sustainability.
• Compliance, Risk Management and Quality Assurance: Monitor compliance with donor agreements, grant conditions, safeguarding requirements, procurement standards, financial controls, and SIHA policies across all grant portfolios. Identify compliance risks, recommend mitigation measures, coordinate corrective actions, and support internal and external audits while promoting high standards of grants management and organizational accountability.
• Grants Monitoring, Reporting and Financial Oversight: Coordinate grants monitoring systems and oversee the timely submission of financial and narrative reports by partners and programme teams. Work closely with Finance, MEL, and programme staff to monitor grant performance, budget utilization, burn rates, reporting schedules, deliverables, and implementation progress, ensuring accurate reporting and timely decision-making.
• Team Leadership and Capacity Strengthening: Lead and supervise the regional grants and in-country team, providing technical guidance, mentoring, performance management, and professional development. Strengthen the grants management capacity of SIHA staff, Country Coordinators, and implementing partners through training, coaching, guidance materials, and continuous technical support on donor compliance, grants administration, and organizational policies.
• Donor and Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as SIHA’s focal point on grants management with institutional donors, consortium partners, auditors, and implementing partners. Support proposal development, donor negotiations, grant modifications, monitoring visits, and compliance reviews while maintaining productive working relationships that strengthen donor confidence and partnership effectiveness.
• Systems Development and Organizational Learning: Promote continuous improvement of SIHA’s grants management function by developing standardized tools, templates, guidance, digital tracking systems, and reporting mechanisms. Analyze grants performance data, document lessons learned and best practices, and contribute to organizational learning and the ongoing strengthening of SIHA’s grant-making and partner accompaniment model.

Required Qualifications and Competencies

• Master’s degree in international development, Project Management, Business Administration, Finance, Public Administration, Law, Development Studies, or another relevant discipline. Professional certification in grants management, project management, procurement, or compliance is an added advantage.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of progressively responsible experience managing institutional grants within civil society, international development, humanitarian, or non-governmental organizations, including at least five (5) years in a senior grants management role. Demonstrated experience managing complex multi-country donor-funded programmes, coordinating large grant portfolios, and overseeing sub-granting mechanisms is essential. Experience working with women’s rights organizations, feminist movements, or locally led development initiatives is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated knowledge of grants management throughout the full grant lifecycle, including proposal development, due diligence, grant-making, partner assessments, contract management, compliance, financial monitoring, donor reporting, audits, risk management, and grant close-out. Strong understanding of institutional donor regulations, partnership management, organizational capacity strengthening, safeguarding, and grants compliance systems is required. Experience managing flexible funding mechanisms and partner accompaniment approaches is an advantage.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex grants and competing priorities simultaneously. Strong negotiation, problem-solving, report writing, and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, coordinate across departments, and build effective partnerships with donors and implementing partners. High attention to detail and the ability to identify and mitigate compliance and operational risks are essential.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, is required. Experience using grants management systems, financial management software, project management platforms, and online collaboration tools is highly desirable. Advanced Excel skills for grant tracking, budget monitoring, and reporting are an advantage.
• Demonstrated integrity, accountability, professionalism, and sound judgment, with the ability to manage confidential information and make objective decisions in complex environments. The successful candidate should possess excellent leadership, relationship management, and mentoring skills, with the ability to foster collaboration, strengthen organizational capacity, and work effectively across multicultural teams while upholding SIHA’s feminist values, commitment to women’s rights, and safeguarding principles.

SIHA is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and feminist workplace. We welcome applications from qualified candidates of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, age, religion, or any other protected status. As a women’s rights organization, qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to candidates currently residing in Africa, particularly those with demonstrated knowledge of and experience working in the Greater Horn of Africa.

• Regional Grants Leadership and Strategy: Lead SIHA’s regional grants management function by developing and strengthening grants management systems, policies, procedures, and tools that promote accountability, efficiency, transparency, and compliance across the organization. Provide strategic advice to senior management on grants management, donor compliance, institutional risk, and partner management while continuously improving organizational grants processes and systems.
• Grant Lifecycle Management: Oversee the complete grants management cycle for institutional grants and sub-grants, including proposal review, due diligence, agreement development, budget verification, implementation monitoring, modifications, reporting, audits, close-out, and archival. Ensure grants are administered consistently in accordance with donor agreements, organizational policies, and applicable regulations.
• Partner Due Diligence, Grant-Making and Accompaniment: Lead SIHA’s regional grant-making processes by overseeing partner identification, organizational assessments, due diligence, risk analysis, grant selection, contracting, and onboarding. Work closely with programme teams to coordinate partner accompaniment, institutional strengthening, compliance support, and capacity development, ensuring grant-making contributes to both effective programme delivery and long-term organizational sustainability.
• Compliance, Risk Management and Quality Assurance: Monitor compliance with donor agreements, grant conditions, safeguarding requirements, procurement standards, financial controls, and SIHA policies across all grant portfolios. Identify compliance risks, recommend mitigation measures, coordinate corrective actions, and support internal and external audits while promoting high standards of grants management and organizational accountability.
• Grants Monitoring, Reporting and Financial Oversight: Coordinate grants monitoring systems and oversee the timely submission of financial and narrative reports by partners and programme teams. Work closely with Finance, MEL, and programme staff to monitor grant performance, budget utilization, burn rates, reporting schedules, deliverables, and implementation progress, ensuring accurate reporting and timely decision-making.
• Team Leadership and Capacity Strengthening: Lead and supervise the regional grants and in-country team, providing technical guidance, mentoring, performance management, and professional development. Strengthen the grants management capacity of SIHA staff, Country Coordinators, and implementing partners through training, coaching, guidance materials, and continuous technical support on donor compliance, grants administration, and organizational policies.
• Donor and Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as SIHA’s focal point on grants management with institutional donors, consortium partners, auditors, and implementing partners. Support proposal development, donor negotiations, grant modifications, monitoring visits, and compliance reviews while maintaining productive working relationships that strengthen donor confidence and partnership effectiveness.
• Systems Development and Organizational Learning: Promote continuous improvement of SIHA’s grants management function by developing standardized tools, templates, guidance, digital tracking systems, and reporting mechanisms. Analyze grants performance data, document lessons learned and best practices, and contribute to organizational learning and the ongoing strengthening of SIHA’s grant-making and partner accompaniment model.

• Demonstrated knowledge of grants management throughout the full grant lifecycle, including proposal development, due diligence, grant-making, partner assessments, contract management, compliance, financial monitoring, donor reporting, audits, risk management, and grant close-out.
• Strong understanding of institutional donor regulations, partnership management, organizational capacity strengthening, safeguarding, and grants compliance systems is required.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex grants and competing priorities simultaneously.
• Strong negotiation, problem-solving, report writing, and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, coordinate across departments, and build effective partnerships with donors and implementing partners.
• High attention to detail and the ability to identify and mitigate compliance and operational risks are essential.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, is required.
• Experience using grants management systems, financial management software, project management platforms, and online collaboration tools is highly desirable.
• Advanced Excel skills for grant tracking, budget monitoring, and reporting are an advantage.
• Demonstrated integrity, accountability, professionalism, and sound judgment, with the ability to manage confidential information and make objective decisions in complex environments.
• Excellent leadership, relationship management, and mentoring skills, with the ability to foster collaboration, strengthen organizational capacity, and work effectively across multicultural teams while upholding SIHA’s feminist values, commitment to women’s rights, and safeguarding principles.

• Master’s degree in international development, Project Management, Business Administration, Finance, Public Administration, Law, Development Studies, or another relevant discipline.
• Professional certification in grants management, project management, procurement, or compliance is an added advantage.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of progressively responsible experience managing institutional grants within civil society, international development, humanitarian, or non-governmental organizations, including at least five (5) years in a senior grants management role.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex multi-country donor-funded programmes, coordinating large grant portfolios, and overseeing sub-granting mechanisms is essential.
• Experience working with women’s rights organizations, feminist movements, or locally led development initiatives is highly desirable.
• Experience managing flexible funding mechanisms and partner accompaniment approaches is an advantage.