• Duration: June 2021 to January 2022 (with potential for extension)
• Location: Melbourne or Canberra
• Reports to: AHPSU Operations Manager & Disaster READY Coordinator

About Alinea-Whitelum

Alinea-Whitelum is a professional consulting firm that specialises in international and community development. We provide a range of technical, advisory, facilitation and managerial services tailored to the needs of our clients. We are committed to supporting economic, social and political development that leads to positive, inclusive and sustainable impacts. We offer dynamic and rewarding career opportunities working on international and community development programs across a range of sectors in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

Background

The Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) is a five-year (2017-2022) partnership between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Australian NGOs that aims to save lives, alleviate suffering and enhance human dignity during and in the aftermath of conflict, disasters and other humanitarian crises. The AHP also provides a strategic $50 million initiative (Disaster READY) to strengthen disaster preparedness and management across the Pacific and Timor-Leste. The program is now in its final 12 months, but discussions have begun with DFAT around the extending the program by up to five years.

DFAT has partnered with six peak Australian NGOs and their consortium partners:

• CARE Australia: Partnering with Live & Learn
• Plan International Australia: Partnering with ActionAid, ChildFund Australia, International Medical Corps UK, CBM Australia and Australian Volunteers International
• Save the Children Australia
• Caritas Australia: Lead consortium partner in the Church Agencies Network Disaster Operations (CAN DO) network. CAN DO brings together Caritas Australia, Act for Peace, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Anglican Board of Mission, Anglican Overseas Aid, Australian Lutheran World Service, Transform Aid International and Uniting World
• OXFAM Australia: Partnering with ABC International Development, CBM Australia and Habitat for Humanity Australia
• World Vision Australia: Partnering with Habitat for Humanitarian Australia, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), CBM Australia and Field Ready

The partnership delivers on three key priorities:

1. Helping communities receive timely and high-quality humanitarian assistance, including rebuilding efforts.
2. Strengthening humanitarian capabilities in the Pacific to better prepare for, respond to and reduce risks from natural hazards.
3. Contribute to sector-wide learning, policy, coordination and practice improvement through sector coordination bodies including the HRG, global, regional and country-based mechanisms.

In addition, the AHP plays a key crisis response function, able to be rapidly mobilised to provide effective, life-saving support to rapid, protracted and slow-onset crises around the world.

About The AHP Support Unit

The AHP Support Unit is a small team that facilitates the operation of all aspects of the Australian Humanitarian Partnership. The core responsibilities of the Support Unit are:

• Managing contractual agreements with DFAT and the 6 Australian NGO leads selected to receive DFAT funding under the AHP mechanism
• Managing the activation processes for humanitarian responses under the partnership
• Managing the Disaster READY program in the Pacific and Timor-Leste to assist with disaster preparedness and resilience capability
• Supporting sector-wide information-sharing, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and lesson-learning
• Maximising visibility of Australian humanitarian action

Summary of Position

The Project Support Officer will be responsible for grants administration across the AHP portfolio and overall administration tasks to assist the Support Unit with ongoing operational support to the partnership. The Support Unit administers multiple grants to Australian NGOs for the provision of humanitarian assistance and also manages grants for Disaster READY program. The role requires a highly competent individual with administration and finance skills who is able to work under direction and independently as required. The role will require drafting of grant agreements and monitoring agreements and reporting requirements including the maintenance of a grants database. The position will be expected to ensure that all grant documentation is up to date and on file, ensure that grants funds are distributed within agreed timeframes, track proposals and reports, and work with the Support Unit specialists to ensure timely technical reviews and inputs to all submitted proposals and reports. In humanitarian situations these timeframes are critical.

The role will also provide key assistance to the Support Unit team including logistics support for events and workshops, keeping minutes of meetings, supporting the analysis of data collected under the Support Unit’s management information system, support the update of reporting templates, and work with the Operations Manager & Disaster READY Coordinator on budget analysis reporting. The role will include support to the broader AHPSU functions with particular emphasis on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and Communications.

The AHPSU is small and collaborative team. Based on the candidate’s background and areas of interest, we would look to incorporate duties and tasks in the position related to MEL, Communications, and Program Management.

Duties and responsibilities

The Project Support Officer’s primary responsibilities will include:

• Grants management support: Including drafting Services Orders and Deeds of amendment with DFAT and partner NGOs; ensuring timely payment of all grant funds; maintaining grant documentation and grant database; maintaining grant reporting schedule including upcoming grant tranche payments and grant completions.
• Contract management support: including drafting contract for short term advisers; monitoring STA invoicing and assisting in tracking STA progress against payment milestones.
• Logistics: Including support for AHP regular meetings in Melbourne and Canberra; support for learning events and partnership health checks; support for annual Pacific country and Pacific regional review, learning and planning forums; minute taking at key meetings and events as required.
• Support to the AHPSU team: including logistics support for workshops, events and media trips organized by the Communications and Visibility Manager; assistance with website data entry, photo storage, and uploading of case studies etc. Assistance to the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager with data management (e.g. data entry, data cleaning, review and analysis of quantitative data) and logistics support for AHP evaluations etc (e.g. assisting to develop terms of reference, researching evaluation firms in the countries of interest, advertising the evaluation opportunity, identifying non-compliant applicants, collating management responses). The position will also provide support to the AHPSU Partnership Director as required.
• Management Information System support: Including working with the Operations Manager & Disaster READY Coordinator on the continued roll-out of the SmartyGrants system such as filtering to create reports, maintenance of on-line templates etc.
• Budgeting support: Working with the Operations Manager & Disaster READY Coordinator to develop budget reports on the AHPSU contracts with DFAT using MYOB to provide budget projections and spending updates.
• Assisting with the AHP program risk register and assets register and due diligence: this will include support to the process related to the AHPSU undertaking due diligence spot checks on the AHP NGO grant recipients.
• Other tasks and duties as required under the management and instruction of the Operations Manager & Disaster READY Coordinator.

Key Selection Criteria

• Up to 5 years’ experience in program administrative support (preferably in the international aid and development sector);
• Previous grants management and/or administrative support experience;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• The ability to work in a small team, work independently as required, and take initiative in completing assigned tasks;
• The ability to work to deadlines and at times in a high-pressure environment;
• Experience working with NGOs and/or with the Australian Government would be beneficial;
• An understanding of Australia's Humanitarian sector and/or aid and development programs would be beneficial;

Relationships

The position reports directly to the AHPSU Operations Manager & Disaster READY Coordinator. The Project Support Officer will work closely with the Support Unit’s Partnership Director, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager and Communications and Visibility Manager.

Priority relationships include grants administrators from Australian NGOs and DFAT officers (within the Humanitarian Division).

The Project Support Officer position will be 0.8 FTE. There is flexibility in terms of which days you would like to work and also for some additional surge inputs if/as required and if suitable for the candidate.

Salary

Remuneration for the role will be in the range of $70,000 to $77,000 pa FTE (inclusive of Superannuation and this figures is then pro-rated to 0.8 FTE).

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Alinea-Whitelum is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people with disability, people of all genders, and people from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Alinea-Whitelum reserves the right to seek information from job applicants’ previous employers about incidents of misconduct regarding child protection and sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment the applicant may have been found guilty to have committed or about which an investigation was in the process of being carried out at the time of the termination of the applicant’s employment with that employer. By submitting the application, the job applicant confirms that they have no objection to Alinea-Whitelum requesting the information specified above.