Pharis Maina

Grants Specialist

DAI Global LLC

2023

Nairobi

Currently supporting STAWI (Sustainable, Transformational and Accessible Water Interventions) activity; a 5-year, $ 44 million Contract award under USAID Mechanism of implementation happening across 10 ASAL counties of Northern Kenya.

Under this project, we’re implementing GUCs (Grants Under Contracts) which derive guidelines from the following sections on Grants and Cooperative Agreements guidelines; Uniform Administrative Requirements, 2CR 200 and Standard Provisions/ADS 300, Chapter 303-Grants and cooperative Agreements.
On the other hand, the Acquisition/Contracting derives guidelines from the following sections: 52 FAR and 752 AIDAR/ ADS 300, Chapter 302- Direct Contracting) and Environmental Compliance (2 CFR 216).
The following is a highlight of my core roles.

1. Participate in development and implementation of STAWI Grants manual (including GUC/Grants Under Contracts Manual).
2. Supports the Project in the development of timeline and details required for any activities needing grants; conduct market search and price analysis in coordination with technical staff.
3. Coordinates with staff requesting grants to prepare Request for Applications (RFAs) to solicit applications and assess the capacity and readiness of potential grantees, support in evaluation and selection committees for grantees.
4. Supports the project in drafting grant agreements and amendments, explaining terms, conditions, roles, and responsibilities. Ensures that identified weaknesses in initial grantee assessments and related requirements are incorporated into the agreements explicitly/clearly with the required monitoring and actions on the part of the grantee.
5. Supports the Project in drafting required approvals to ensure compliance with internal and external contract and policy requirements.
6. Supports the Project to ensures post award grant management in accordance with relevant regulations and generates reports of status of grant activities, such as forecasting payment, inventory, amendments, close outs, and sector specific data (i.e. monthly and quarterly reporting).
7. Provides training, guidance, and direction to project staff on planning, implementation, and compliance of grants policies, procedures, and instructions, specifically their role in the process.
8. Reviews grants for completeness and appropriateness with the work plan.
9. Ensures all required documentation is uploaded in the grants database TAMIS/GM+.
10. Reviews grant milestones and requests for payments against grant agreements to ensure compliance.
11. Trains on and enforces policies and procedures to prevent improprieties, intentional and unintentional instances of non-compliance.

Risk and Compliance Management Officer/Acting Grants Compliance & Reporting Manager

World Vision

2021 - 2023

Nairobi

Risk and Compliance Management Officer
Worked to manage Risks and ensure compliance to all applicable donor guidelines, sub award processes, host country regulations and best practices in programming in the entire “Tumikia Mtoto Project”; a 5-year USAID project with funding of 55 Million US Dollar.

Core roles performed included;

1. Grants management compliance: Trained local implementing partners on donor rules and regulations, ensured timely reporting, convened, and participated in regular grant meetings, conducted risk assessment and due diligence among partners, visited implementation sites to access compliance risks, reviewed cost share and reporting; supported in doing grant revisions, modifications, cost extensions and budget re-alignments.
2. Risk Identification, Analysis and Management; identified project risks and mitigation measures, trained staff, and partners on risk management, established risk register and tracked the same on riskonnect; developed, disseminated, and monitored implementation of systems standards, policies and procedures for risk identification, collection and analysis of risk related information.
3. Capacity Building: conducted training to partners based on weaknesses identified during due diligence exercise, facilitated capacity building for staff and LIPs aimed at strengthening risk management and compliance within the project. Trained on Fraud prevention and held periodical risk meetings to discuss risk profile with relevant staff.
4. Safeguarding; Took lead in developing Standard Operating Procedures on Child and vulnerable safeguarding, conducted investigations on cases of violations, and proposed remedial actions, till closure.
5. Environmental Compliance: Participated in ensuring that appropriate safeguards were adopted to mitigate any adverse impact of the project on the environment; ensured that EMMP Plan was incorporated in Annual Workplans, and that subsequent reporting happened as per Award document stipulations.
6. Among overall project tasks, I also directly supported one of the sub awards with annual budget of around 1.1 US Million Dollars; by ensuring that all sub award processes like review of financial reports, performance review meetings, Budgeting, Work planning, helping to support RCA (Recipient Contracted Audit), financial site visits among other roles were undertaken. Not a single audit finding has come up on this sub award for period supported (2 years).
7. Audit; Participated in contracting process of auditors during annual audits for the project; and even assisted our local implementing partners in the process i.e assisting them to draft Statement of Work. Took lead in retrieving sampled documents to auditors, including providing information to auditors as appropriate. Followed up and ensured that all audit and internal reviews’ recommendations were implemented.



Acting Grants Compliance & Reporting Manager; Nov 2021 to Mar 2022
Served as Acting Grants Compliance & Reporting Manager for about 5 months, under Tumikia Mtoto Project where the following tasks were carried out;

1. Strategic Technical Support to WVK Grants management and Implementation; entailed compliance to donor rules and regulations, meeting with project leadership committees (PMU-Project Management Units, Steering committees, TWGs) to develop and implement project implementation strategies, ensuring compliance to all phases of grant implementation in line with organizational policy guidelines.
2. Grants Training and Capacity Building; carried out to address gaps identified during due diligence exercise by training local implementing partners. Developed Capacity building plans for project managers and other staff to upscale implementation capabilities.
3. Monitoring and Evaluation; Assisted ME function establish effective grants project reporting, evaluation and communication systems aligned to donor rules and regulations. Assisted recipients develop workplans and indicators aligned to donor requirements, developed and disseminated projects best practices, lessons learnt and success stories.
4. Grants Reporting - Coordinated with program managers and finance managers towards developing accurate donor reports within reporting timelines.
5. Grants Management Compliance’; Closely monitored grants using appropriate grant monitoring tools, maintained broad understanding of donor rules and regulations, identified compliance risks and implemented mitigation measures, supported in grants revisions, modifications, no-cost extensions and budget realignments.

Grants Cordinator

PATH

2021 - 2021

Nairobi

Grants and Contracts Coordinator (This Assignment at PATH was on temporary basis)

Served at OGC (Office of Grants and Contracts) backfilling for Contracts Sub award specialist in working on awards on salesforce (reviewed completed agreements and amendments to ensure compliance to PATH internal processes, ensured completeness of active awards, followed up with PADMS (Project Administrators) to ensure that deliverables were uploaded on the system (Salesforce).

Further, worked closely with PADMS to draft outgoing agreements, budget reviews, ensured drafted grant agreements complied to Federal regulations and applicable flow down provisions while liaising with necessary departments (legal, procurement). I also worked to ensure effective close out of outgoing agreements and supported audits/internal reviews when they fall due.

Grants Officer

JHPIEGO

2020 - 2021

Nairobi

JHPIEGO (Transitioned after the donor changed funding priorities when the funding came to abrupt end)
I was responsible for advising and assisting in design, development and oversight of sub grants management policies, procedures and practices under “Afya Halisi Project” (Coperative Agreement under USAID); that aimed to deliver quality, integrated services in the area of family planning (FP), reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH), nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in focus counties of Kitui, Migori, Kakamega and Kisumu. Further, I also interpreted grants policy to program staff as well as grantees. Assistance was also provided to Senior finance and administration manager to analyse budget estimates for reasonableness and consistency while adhering to sub award policies and procedures. During this assignment, 5 Sub awards were supported with annual funding of about 3.5 Million US dollar.

Achievements
1. Conducted Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCA) for all supported 5 LIPs in the following pillars: Leadership and governance, Human resource Management, Finance and Administration Management, Project management and data visualization. All necessary actions to enhance systems was developed and discussed with management of these LIPs for adoption and implementation.
2. Reviewed Invoices from LIPs and support documentation for compliance to costs principles; and through the reviews, documented observed weaknesses on “monthly issue memos” and recommendations on how to make improvements requiring management responses as follow up strategy.
3. Conducted Pre-Award Assessment to determine responsibility of prospective sub grantees and provided technical assistance to staff and grantees on administrative policies and procedures for grants management.
4. Participated closely in organizing and planning for LIPs training on proposal development (responding to released RFAs) in light of donors changing landscape to fund local implementing partners.
5. Worked with Senior Finance and administration manager, county managers and other technical staff to oversee the process of pre-award assessment/baseline assessment, determine risk profiles and recommend appropriate approaches to mitigate the risks identified and selecting sub grantees for award.
6. Monitoring expenditure against budget and providing recommendations for budget alignment, review variance analysis and recommend actions to be taken.
7. Built capacity of partner organizations in areas of grants management, budgeting, procurements and compliance, conducted site visits of grantee organizations to directly observe project implementation, provided project management support and trained on USAID rules and regulations.
8. Oversaw accuracy, presentation, and timeliness of all grants financial reports, ensuring reconciliation with JPIEGO accounts system.
9. Collecting and maintaining complete documentation of submission/transmission of reports that are specific to grants under prime awards.
10. Maintaining and update specific project and related correspondence files, tracking and status sheets and databases.
11. Conducting investigations to resolve contractual issues/problems/disputes arising from grants and make recommendations to the project for resolution.

Grants and Contracts Officer

PATH

2018 - 2020

Kisumu

I was responsible for exercising oversight to sub-contractors under “Afya Ziwani project” (Contract Award - Acquisition under USAID) that was being implemented in 5 counties of Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii and Nyamira that had highest national HIV prevalent rates. Oversight role was exercised by reviewing budgets for cost realism, training sub-contractors on adhering to USAID guidelines on acquisition, reviewing monthly reports for adherence to cost principles. I also participated in on-boarding GUCs (Grants Under Contracts) by development of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) via a competitive process, and monitoring to enhance compliance. Further, I was responsible for reviewing girls School fees and Cash Transfers applications for adherence to SOPs and monitoring; ensuring that the same was paid to rightful beneficiaries under DREAMS project within safe spaces. Under this project, around $2.5M dollars of funds had been awarded to the Sub contractors I supported.

Achievements

 Worked to develop Grants Under Contracts Manual (SOPs) relating to competitive on boarding process and day to day guidelines on operations and their unique connection to 2 CFR 200.On finalization of the GUC manual, USAID team reviewed and approved the same for roll out. Grants Under Contract (GUCs) were an important component of Afya Ziwani project contracting process.
 Ensured that Sub contractors complied with USAID rules and regulations once they were on-boarded in the following areas: Travel guidelines, Property Management and disposition plan expectations under Acquisition, Key staff Approval guidelines, reporting guidelines, ensured deliverable were met as per Subcontract requirement. This was done through deliberate consistent trainings during financial site visits taking them through Subcontract document clauses, project deliverables, targets and expectations, administration of the project budget, reporting requirements and implementation geography.
 Conducted Risk Assessment among partners based on their various processes (financial, procurement, HR, Governance-etc-) and ranked them based on risk. During financial site visits and trainings sessions on areas of risks were addressed (higher risk partners; more stringent measures of monitoring). Documentation of findings during financial site visits was done and corrective action that addressed any shortcomings taken.
 Worked closely with partners and program coordinators to develop, discuss and conclude on cost effective budgets, planning for capacity building meetings, trainings, giving feedback reports (quarterly pipeline reports) based on burn rates.
 Ensured sub-contractors and Grants under Contracts (GUCs) adhered to rules and regulations of the contract award; adherence to budget, compliance to proper reporting guidelines, compliance own procedural guidelines within HRM, Procurement, Governance and Finance/Admin.
 Reviewed financial reports from partners for compliance to cost principle (Reasonability, Allocability, Consistency and Allowability), compliance to budget and documented findings in form of “issue memos”. Resolution of questioned and disallowed costs with partners was also accomplished.
 Prompt Reimbursement of expended costs- After Review of reports (programmatic and financial reports) and verification that program deliverables had been attained; and those costs met limitations of the award, reimbursement of costs was initiated promptly via “Salesforce” (system of managing and monitoring sub awards and contracts in PATH).
 Ensured that all information about our partners was fed into sales force within proper timelines and critical agreement documents filed therein-amendments, scope of work, Budget, subcontract agreements and expected deliverables of the program and any crucial correspondences.
 Closely supported Internal audit department as they reviewed sub-contracting processes, with any required information relating to sub award management and implementation being availed on timely basis; Proposed learning points as suggested by audit department were embraced and implemented promptly.

Grant and Contracts Officer

Centre for Health Solutions

2012 - 2017

Nairobi

Centre for Health Solutions – Kenya (C.H.S)

I was responsible for managing 4 sub awards under cooperative agreement funded by CDC to support HIV and TB Testing, Prevention, Care and Treatment project in 192 government owned health facilities; around 60% (Annual budget of about 450,000 US Dollars) of funds were sub granted. I participated in grant application process (responding to CDC calls/Request for application) with a team of around 7 colleagues when the project closure phase came, which resulted to winning 5 out of 7 applications made. I was responsible for strengthening systems of our sub grantees through training on donor rules and regulations, financial reporting, cash flow management, and Human resource management. As a part of systems strengthening of our sub grantees, I helped develop a payroll software” Laini-Plus payroll software” to enhance accuracy in processing salaries and manage HR processes. This was a great achievement that revolutionised sub granting processes at CHS. The unique experience in this undertaking was sub granting Major health facilities within Central Kenya region, then transitioning to county governments as sub recipients; which provided wealth of experience regarding government procedures and protocols; and also riding on already existing government structures to deliver program objectives, sub granting being core part of it. During this assignment, I mentored one Grant Accountant who used to report to me, supporting us in the project in sub awarding processes.

Achievements

1. Managed the entire process of sub award management (from Solicitation, pre award assessment, Selection, Sub award development and execution, Implementation, Periodically Monitored and evaluated compliance and project close out) which required closely working with project coordinator towards ensuring success in the entire sub granting process, and documented the same both in soft and hard.
2. Built and strengthened administrative and financial capacity of subs through extensive training of partners on proper reporting, compliance to donor rules, county government policies and procedures which enhanced ownership of the program for sustainability purposes. This was done by reviewing their financial reports to ensure no cases of any disallowable expenses arose, verified statutory compliance, ensured effort reporting was done, spearheaded auditing as per donor rules(A 133 Requirement - USG rules and regulations) among others.
3. Prepared and administered Sub recipients’ budget adherence in conjunction with program coordinators, costed work plans, monitored implementation, conducted financial site visits for monitoring purposes and ensured program reports were submitted as per the set guidelines.
4. Prepared monthly and quarterly pipeline reports for sharing with County Health Management Teams (CHMTs) and organization management.
5. Reviewed completeness, accuracy and consistency of financial reports from our partners before reimbursement of expended costs.
6. Provided overall guidance and supervision to partner roving accountants in the implementation of the sub agreement component of CHS program that included training and mentorship on compliance with USAID/CDC rules and regulations, monthly reporting, sensitized them on proper audit approach among others.
7. Prepared facilitation contracts for professional trainers engaged by the organization from time to time.
8. Coordinated process of project close out through; preparing close out notifications, Asset disposition plan, deo-obligation letters, ensured refund of cash/bank balances upon close out, ensured storage of documents after project close out per USG rules and guidelines.
9. I was responsible for other organizational functions like; Shared cost allocation between different projects, Annual pre-qualification of suppliers, sitting in procurement committees connived from time to time as part of procurement processes, cost share monitoring, and grants writing.

Accountant

World Developers Limited

2011 - 2012

Nairobi

World Developers Limited
In this real estate development firm, I was charged with accounting functions for construction project, and also management of rental properties; some of the roles entailed,
• Preparing monthly income and expenditure reports.
• Reviewing invoices and posting them into the system.
• Preparing the monthly cash flow projection report.
• Vendor reconciliations.
• Assisting in Maintenance a physical stock record. This involves witnessing the monthly stock count and stock audit for construction project.
• Maintaining financial files and sales records.
• Invoicing. This involves printing and issuing Invoices and delivery notes to customers before dispatch of their goods.
• Recording income and expenditure into the system.
• Raising credit notes and posting them into the system.
• Bank reconciliation.