The WASOP Pillar II project implemented by Expertise France aims to support the implementation of a sustainable and inclusive Blue Economy in 13 countries in West Africa.

As part of Outcome 3, the project aims to select and implement pilot actions of sustainable blue economy. Funded by grants, these actions will demonstrate the potential of sustainable blue economy as a driver for development. Pilot projects will have to meet a set of criteria: inclusiveness, replicability, viability, etc.

Expertise France will monitor these grants and report activities to the European Union, the main donor of the WASOP program. The Grant Manager will implement the methodology developed by Expertise France to launch a call for projects and follow up on grants.

In connection with the project team (Project Director, Deputy Director, Contracting Officer, etc.), he/she will be responsible for the following tasks:

Grant Awarding:

In connection with the Department of Legal Affairs (DAJ) at headquarters and with the/the Procurement Officer, the Grant Officer will be in charge of the entire process of design, dissemination and implementation of the Call for Projects, including:

·       Regional sector watch and identification of potential initiatives and project leaders;

·       Preparation of the call for projects: drafting of guidelines for grants and documents necessary for publication of the call for projects. The terms of reference will specify the areas of intervention (green and blue ports, improvement of value chains, integrated aquaculture, circular economy, payments for ecosystem services, etc.), the sizing of the call for projects (duration, amounts, eligible activities) and the criteria for selecting initiatives;

·       Communication about the call for projects, through the various channels of the WASOP programme (website, networks, partners, etc.);

·       Publication on the PLACE dematerialized platform: answer to any questions and organization of public information meetings and training of beneficiaries in response to calls for projects;

·     Selection of beneficiary initiatives: participation in the multi-criteria evaluation process and selection of project leaders. This may include participation in the evaluation committee, organizing workshops for pre-selected beneficiaries, requests for supplements, compliance checks, etc.

·       Preparation of the signing of contracts and formalization of internal documents.

Monitoring of operational, financial, administrative and quality control of projects by partners:

The Grant Officer will monitor project delivery, identify potential barriers and opportunities, and liaise with grant recipients:

·       Implementation of monitoring tools for grant projects: dashboard, monitoring activities;

·       Regular liaison and coordination with projects (meetings, missions, exchanges);

·       Monitoring and participation in project governance bodies: monitoring committees;

·       Reminder of deadlines and control of narrative reports on contractual deadlines;

·       In connection with the project RAF, development of financial tools for monitoring grants (financial reporting file, expenditure tracking etc.);

·       Control of recipient payment requests and financial reports for all projects;

·       Monitoring compliance with EF administrative procedures by the partner(s): regulation of public procurement and subsidies, procurement and procurement, supporting documents etc.;

·       Verification and checking of the consistency (accuracy of amounts, completeness, exchange rate, etc.) between the expenses recorded in the partners' expense logs with supporting documents submitted;

·       Analysis of operational and financial risks, and identification of actions to minimize them (in particular the risks of ineligibility of expenses).

Support for structural capacity building:

Additional technical support may be provided to beneficiaries, complementary to the grant, to ensure the success of projects: training, capacity building, transversal support for business management, communication and awareness campaigns, etc. The Grant Officer may be required to:

·       Identify technical support needs and propose solutions, identifying service providers or directly supporting beneficiaries;

·       Ensure training and ownership of administrative and financial aspects of FF grants from beneficiaries;

·       Support and train grant recipients on the Expertise France procedures.

Reporting and monitoring and evaluation:

In connection with the M&E Officer, the Grant Manager will oversee the monitoring and reporting of project performance indicators:

·       Preparation and regular feeding of the global monitoring dashboard for grants;

·       Validation of beneficiaries' narrative reports;

·       If necessary, commissioning external evaluation exercises of pilot projects;

·       Communication during the execution of projects, in particular to the Delegation of the European Union;

·       Capitalization and compilation of results: organization of peer exchanges, workshops, events, etc.

External audit:

The Grant Manager will oversee the conduct of annual grant audits:

·       Contracting of audit firms and ordering services;     

·       Support in the preparation of annual audits of grants in conjunction with partner focal points;

·       Receipt of audit reports.

Archiving:

The Grant Manager will be in charge of archiving all operational, accounting and financial documentation of the grants, following the procedures of Expertise France.