A CALL FOR APPLICATION: Grants, Reporting And Compliance Manager | ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Position Title: Grants, Reporting and Compliance Manager | ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Contract Type:Consultancy

Duration: 14 months

Eligibility and Geographic Scope : Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe (with occasional travel to target countries)

Reports To: Project Manager – ALIGN at The Youth Café

Mode of Engagement: Hybrid/online

Project: ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Collaborates With: Finance and Admin Officer, Consortium Partners, CSOs, YLOs, and donor representatives

About the Project

ALIGN is an initiative funded by the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) and administered by the World Bank. The project aims to improve adolescent health and nutrition outcomes by empowering local civil society organisations (CSOs) and youth-led organisations (YLOs) to adapt, scale, and integrate proven, community-driven innovations into national health systems across up to 12 African countries.

A two-member consortium implements the project. Action Against Hunger USA (ACF USA) serves as the prime recipient and leads overall programme management and fiduciary responsibility. The Youth Café (TYC) is the youth-focused implementing partner responsible for youth engagement, sub-grant portfolio management, community-of-practice facilitation, and evidence-based advocacy. The Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) serves as the technical knowledge and research partner.

Project Components

Component 1: Strengthening CSO and YLO Capacities for Networking and Enabling Pathways to Scale

This component strengthens the organisational and technical capacity of CSOs and YLOs to co-design, expand, and integrate high-quality adolescent health and nutrition innovations into public systems. It delivers Technical Support Packages covering baseline capacity assessments, tailored technical assistance and mentorship in programme design and grant management, policy dialogue facilitation, and the establishment of youth engagement mechanisms. It establishes and manages a Cross-Country Community of Practice connecting local innovators with technical experts, policymakers, and partners through peer learning platforms, stakeholder convenings, and structured knowledge exchange.

Component 2: Supporting CSOs and YLOs to Effectively Engage Government Entities in Adolescent Health and Nutrition

This component provides sub-grants to eligible CSOs and YLOs across up to 12 countries to scale proven adolescent health and nutrition innovations. It covers grant management and administration, including the development of an Operational Manual, sub-grantee selection, and compliance and fiduciary management. It focuses on sub-project implementation  by supporting CSOs to scale promising interventions, conduct sensitisation workshops, and execute awareness and communications campaigns.

Component 3: Generating Evidence and Influencing Policy

This component builds a robust evidence base to drive policy change and sustainable scale. It covers operational research and M&E including mixed-method studies, M&E capacity strengthening, and adolescent feedback mechanisms. Work Stream 3.2 covers knowledge management and advocacy: documenting co-design models, producing policy briefs, and engaging with national and global decision-making forums.

The Youth Café's Role in ALIGN

As a consortium partner, The Youth Café leads youth engagement, sub-grant portfolio management, Community of Practice facilitation, and evidence-based advocacy across the project. TYC's ALIGN team is based in Nairobi with responsibility for country-level coordination across all target countries. Staff recruited under ALIGN operate within TYC's administrative and programmatic structure, in close coordination with ACF USA and ENN, and are governed by TYC's human resources policies, the World Bank's Environmental and Social Framework requirements, and the ESCP safeguarding and labour standards.

Note to Applicants

The position for which you are applying is part of The Youth Café's ALIGN project team. This background document is a standard introduction provided with all ALIGN Terms of Reference and should be read together with the specific position description that follows. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate in their application how their experience relates to the project's three-component structure and to TYC's specific implementation responsibilities.

 PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The Grants, Reporting and Compliance Manager is TYC's primary guardian of fiduciary integrity and donor accountability across the ALIGN project. The role oversees the full lifecycle of sub-grant administration from sub-grantee selection and agreement execution through disbursement, monitoring, and closeout ensuring all processes meet GFF, World Bank, and ACF USA standards. Equally, the Manager owns TYC's donor reporting obligations, producing accurate, evidence-based quarterly and annual reports that demonstrate progress and accountability. The role extends beyond compliance management to direct programme work: building the grants management and reporting capacity of CSOs and YLOs through structured training, standardised tools, and ongoing technical support, ensuring that ALIGN's sub-grant portfolio is managed to the same standards at the community level as it is at the consortium level.

 KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

  1. Sub-Grant Administration and Portfolio Management

  • Administer TYC's full sub-grant portfolio across up to 12 countries from agreement preparation and execution through disbursement scheduling, progress monitoring, and grant closeout in accordance with the Operational Manual, donor requirements, and TYC's Internal Audit Policy.

  • Lead TYC's contribution to the sub-grantee selection process: apply criteria from the Operational Manual, coordinate with in-country Technical Experts during assessment and due diligence, and ensure all selection decisions are thoroughly documented and audit-ready.

  • Develop and maintain TYC's sub-grant compliance framework, including standard sub-grant agreement templates containing all required donor compliance provisions, safeguarding clauses, anti-corruption declarations, and sanctions screening confirmations.

  • Review all sub-grantee periodic financial reports, verify eligibility of expenditures against approved budgets, identify compliance gaps, and issue formal written feedback to sub-grantees with required corrective actions and timelines.

  • Manage sub-grant disbursements in coordination with the Finance and Admin Officer, ensuring each tranche is released only upon receipt and review of satisfactory progress and financial reports from the previous period.

  • Maintain the sub-grant portfolio register and disbursement tracker, providing monthly updates to the Project Manager and quarterly consolidated summaries for inclusion in donor reports.

  • Coordinate sub-grant closeout processes, final financial clearance, asset disposition, and documentation archiving, ensuring all grants are closed in full compliance with donor requirements by project end.

2. Donor Reporting

  • Own TYC's quarterly and annual donor-compliant narrative and financial reporting obligations by  drafting, consolidating, quality-checking, and submitting reports to the Project Manager for review and onward submission to ACF USA within agreed internal deadlines.

  • Ensure all reports accurately reflect progress against the approved workplan, results framework, and budget, with variances clearly documented and corrective actions explained.

  • Coordinate closely with the Finance and Admin Officer to align financial and programmatic reporting, ensuring narrative descriptions of activities and budget expenditure are fully consistent and cross-referenced.

  • Support the preparation of evidence briefs, programme updates, and policy recommendations for submission to national and global stakeholders, working with the Outreach, Advocacy, Liaison and Communications Officer to translate compliance data into accessible communications formats.

  • Maintain a donor reporting calendar covering all TYC ALIGN reporting obligations to ACF USA and any direct donor requirements, sharing it with the Project Manager and Finance and Admin Officer at the start of each quarter.

3. Compliance Oversight and Risk Management

  • Monitor TYC's compliance with all applicable GFF, World Bank, and ACF USA standards throughout the project period by covering financial management, procurement, safeguarding, environmental and social obligations, anti-corruption, and records retention.

  • Maintain TYC's Donor Compliance Matrix, updating it whenever a new donor requirement, amendment, or interpretation is issued, and circulating updates to all relevant team members.

  • Conduct quarterly compliance risk reviews across the project, identifying emerging risks, flagging them to the Project Manager, and recommending and implementing corrective measures before issues escalate.

  • Maintain audit-ready documentation for all sub-grants, donor reports, and compliance activities, ensuring records are complete, well-organised, and accessible for external audits, donor supervision missions, and World Bank post-reviews at any point during the project.

  • Support external audit processes by providing auditors with timely access to all required documentation, preparing management responses to audit queries, and tracking implementation of agreed audit recommendations through the Corrective Action Tracking Register.

4. Sub-Grantee Capacity Building -Grants Management and Reporting

  • Design and deliver structured training for CSOs and YLOs on grants management, donor compliance, financial accountability, and reporting under Component Technical Support Packages by adapting content to the capacity level and national regulatory context of each sub-grantee cohort.

  • Develop a standardised grants management and reporting toolkit for sub-grantee use, including financial report templates, supporting documentation checklists, budget monitoring tools, compliance self-assessment frameworks, and corrective action plan templates.

  • Strengthen sub-grantee M&E and results monitoring capacity, providing direct support in establishing monitoring systems and data use practices that generate credible evidence for donor reporting and policy advocacy.

  • Track sub-grantee compliance improvements through the periodic review process and provide targeted follow-up technical assistance where persistent gaps are identified, escalating unresolved issues to the Project Manager promptly.

  • Document grants and compliance capacity building activities, tools, and lessons learned for inclusion in ALIGN knowledge management outputs.

 Deliverables

  • Sub-grant agreements and compliance frameworks by July 2026

  • Quarterly donor-compliant reports (financial and narrative)

  • Annual consolidated compliance report

  • Documentation of training sessions for CSOs and YLOs

  • End-of-project compliance and audit report by May 2028

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

  • Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Development Studies, International Development, or a related field.

  • Minimum 3 years of progressive experience in grants management, donor reporting, and compliance within international development projects.

  • Strong working knowledge of international donor compliance frameworks and grant management standards applicable to multi-country development programmes.

  • Demonstrated experience managing a sub-grant portfolio including sub-grantee assessment, agreement management, disbursement, monitoring, and closeout.

  • Proven track record in preparing donor-compliant financial and narrative reports to high standards of accuracy and clarity.

  • Experience supporting external audits and managing corrective action tracking processes.

  • Proven experience delivering compliance and reporting capacity building to CSOs, YLOs, or community-based organisations.

  • Applicants must hold a valid work permit or be legally authorised to work in their country of residence at the time of application. The Youth Café will not sponsor or facilitate work permits for this assignment. 

  • Excellent organisational and written communication skills with fluency in English.

Desirable

  • Direct experience with World Bank-financed projects, including familiarity with World Bank procurement regulations, financial management requirements, and ESCP obligations.

  • Professional certification in accounting, finance, or grants management (CPA-K, ACCA, CIPS, CIFA, or equivalent); fully certified or at an advanced stage of ongoing certification. 

  • Experience managing sub-grant portfolios across multiple countries with varying national regulatory environments.

  • Familiarity with M&E data management systems and results frameworks used in adolescent health and nutrition programmes.

  • Proficiency in French, given the project's Francophone country coverage.

Duration and Compensation

Duration: 14 months

Compensation: Competitive salary aligned with donor budget provisions

Payment Schedule: Monthly, upon submission of deliverables and timesheets

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit:

  • A cover letter of not more than one page setting out your suitability for the role and confirming availability from 1 July 2026.

  • An updated CV of not more than four pages.

  • Contact details for two professional referees. Referees will not be contacted without prior notification to the candidate.

Email applications to: human.resource@theyouthcafe.com

cc:admin.compliance@theyouthcafe.com

Subject Line: Grants, Reporting and Compliance Officer – ALIGN Project

Deadline for submission: 30th June 2026

Equal Opportunity 

The Youth Café is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion and strongly encourages applications from women, youth, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups.