Grants Management Officer at Mara Elephant Project (MEP)

This position is central to securing financial resources for MEP’s conservation programs and ensuring donor expectations are met across the grant lifecycle. The successful candidate will play a key role in grant identification, proposal development, donor compliance, and internal coordination, while maintaining strong relationships with donors and partners.

• Research and identify new funding prospects including foundations, institutional donors, and corporate CSR programs aligned with MEP’s mission.
• Monitor grant opportunity platforms and networks for calls for proposals and requests for concept notes.
• Support the preparation of concept notes, letters of interest, full grant proposals, and ensure submission by deadlines.
• Work with program teams to design project objectives and with finance teams to develop detailed and donor-compliant budgets.
• Ensure proposals meet donor guidelines regarding format, content, and attachments.
• Interpret donor rules, contractual obligations, and communicate them clearly to relevant internal teams
• including finance and procurement.
• Ensure project activities, expenditure, and procurement adhere to donor requirements and MEP’s internal policies.
• Coordinate with departments and finance teams to enforce compliance — including verifying eligible costs, following procurement rules, and meeting donor branding or visibility requirements.
• Track donor communications, disseminate any updates to terms, and support preparation for donor audits or evaluations through proper archiving of compliance records, receipts, and documentation.
• Identify and flag compliance risks early (budget reallocations, procurement delays) and coordinate corrective action with relevant teams.
• Maintain up-to-date grant files including agreements, proposals, budgets, amendments, and key donor correspondence for easy retrieval during audits or reviews.
• Manage a comprehensive calendar of proposal submission and grant reporting deadlines, ensuring timely internal follow-ups and smooth information transition post-award.
• Liaise with program managers, field staff, and finance officers to gather project targets, technical approaches, and cost estimates during proposal development.
• Facilitate internal proposal review and approval processes, incorporating feedback from relevant departments and leadership.
• Monitor grant expenditures in collaboration with finance teams, flag potential budget realignments, and process no-cost extension requests as per donor procedures.
• Support donor cultivation and stewardship, provide additional information during proposal review processes, and draft donor correspondence for grant start-up, compliance, or project scope changes.
• Utilize MEP’s Bloomerang CRM system to log and track all grant-related interactions.
• Collaborate closely with the Grants Officer (M&E and Reporting) by sharing grant agreements, log frames, and donor M&E expectations post-award.
• Perform any other duties as assigned by the supervisor from time to time.

Interested candidates should send their applications to humanresources@maraelephantproject.org quoting the job title in the subject line before 30th June 2025. Applicants who submitted applications in response to the earlier advertisement are advised not to reapply.