Program Associate, Catholic Sisters, Asia​/General

Description

The Program Associate (PA) plays a critical administrative and project management role in coordinating the Initiative's grantmaking activities. The associate will provide support for key operational areas of the team, including project management/tracking, communications, and knowledge sharing, coordination of meetings, contribution to project reports, research, budgeting, and grant process management. This position will also assist the team with general administration functions including the coordination of convenings, site visits and scheduling.

Reporting to the Senior Program Officer, the Program Associate will participate in project and department-wide activities, meetings, conferences, etc. They will participate in programming discussions and will be familiar with the Foundation's approaches. They will possess significant writing skills and an excellent ability to multitask.

This role will serve to advance the Foundation's mission of impacting those experiencing disadvantage, specifically by strengthening Catholic sister's education, formation, and elderly care in Asia and supporting their advocacy and human development services to improve the lives of children, youth and families living in disadvantaged situations. The Initiative supports sisters and communities to thrive and achieve self-sufficiency through collaboration and strengthening partnerships with a range of stakeholders, including sisters' conferences, Church, key networks, and other entities in our focus geographies (India, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea) and ensure sisters have the tools and platforms needed to make a lasting impact in the lives of the communities they serve.

Partnership is a key tenet of the Initiative program strategy; consequently, this person should be adept at interacting with a range of diverse stakeholders in a professional, collaborative, and diplomatic way.

• Provide support to Senior Program Officer (SPO) and Program Officer (PO) on new proposals and current grants
• Work with SPO, PO, grantees and grants management to ensure that technical aspects of pre-grant inquiry, concept note, grant modifications, etc. are completed effectively
• Work with grants management to ensure compliance with internal audit and grant tracking procedures, grantmaking processes (such as grant reporting, payment and reporting schedules)
• Communicate with applicants to address administrative questions regarding their application, budget and project measurement table
• Regularly update program officers on the status of grant application documents and funded projects.
• Monitor grant workflows and calendars to ensure timely approvals and payments.
• Keep database grant files up-to-date through uploading various materials, mapping reports, etc.
• Coordinate and schedule SPO and PO meetings with grantees and other stakeholders

• Maintain collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders regarding grant making and reporting processes, as well as organizing external events.
• Provide support for key operational and administrative areas of the team, including: project tracking, coordination of meetings, vendor/consultant contract agreements, and contribution to project reports, grant oversight, and planning.
• Monitor and update grantee contact lists for convenings, newsletters, etc.
• Stay up-to-date with internal procedures and processes (for example, Blissbook and Program Dept directives/processes)
• Collaborate with the communications team to distribute communication materials to the appropriate audiences.
• Participate in work groups within the department and across the organization, and document site accomplishments and site-specific reports.

• Provide support to the team with convenings and site-visits by taking the lead on preparing and coordinating lists, invitations, RSVPs, materials, booklets, correspondence, information management and travel arrangements.
• Support SPO by taking the lead on organizing meeting logistics, which includes securing the meeting site, arranging materials and technical needs, and catering orders. Also, provide logistics support to the meeting facilitator/coordinator as required, and take part in team discussions about speakers, agenda items, and themes.
• Conduct program-related research and special projects as needed to identify field trends and best practices, as well as to store and communicate information.
• Maintain team contacts and email.