Partnerships and Grants Manager

About the Organization

For more than 25 years, Right To Play has been protecting, educating, and empowering millions of children each year to rise above adversity through the power of play. We offer programs in 13 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America, reaching millions of children each year in some of the most difficult places on earth, helping them to stay in school and learn, overcome prejudice, heal from trauma, and develop the skills they need to thrive. We do this by harnessing play, one of the most fundamental forces in a child’s life, to teach children the critical skills they need to dismantle barriers and embrace opportunities, in learning and in life. This work is supported by our two global offices in Toronto, Canada and London, UK; and seven National Offices in North America and Europe.

Job Summary

The Partnerships and Grants Manager (PGM) builds and sustains trusted, partnership-oriented relationships with local Civil Society Organization (CSO) sub-grantees across a multi-country portfolio, to enable delivery of No Child on the Sidelines and assist program reporting, compliance monitoring, and technical assistance offerings.

Key Responsibilities

Managing and Coordinating Relationships with CSO Subgrantees (70%)

• Serve as the primary day-to-day point of contact for CSO sub-grantees across a multi-country portfolio, building trusted, responsive, partnership-oriented relationships — with sensitivity to conflict, displacement, and insecurity in which many CSOs operate
• Support CSO onboarding, orientation, and implementation of programme requirements, including coordination of reporting obligations and participation in storytelling/communication initiatives
• Support proactive identification and mitigation of risks, in collaboration with CSOs and SFM
• Conduct regular virtual check-ins and, where security allows, periodic in-country visits
• Assist review and consolidation of CSO financial and programmatic reports, and support milestone-based disbursements

Coordinating Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Activities (15%)

• Help identify CSO technical assistance needs through capacity assessments and ongoing monitoring
• Coordinate with RTP’s global technical staff to respond to technical assistance needs and coordinate Community of Practice (CoP) offerings. This includes supporting facilitation of virtual and/or in-person CoP sessions among CSOs.

Supporting Stakeholder Engagements (15%)

• Represent the programme at regional and global forums
• Maintain relationships with program partners, including local/regional civil society networks, women-led and refugee-led organisations, national and international governance bodies, and humanitarian coordination mechanisms

Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Post-secondary degree in a relevant field, or equivalent combination of education and practical experience. PMP or other similar professional certifications are considered an asset.
• 7 years’ experience working with local CSOs in roles related to partnership management, capacity building, or organizational development in one or more of the following regions: MENA, South Asia, and/or Africa, with proven experience applying principles of localization and trust-based grant making experience.
• Experience in conflict-affected, or fragile contexts; with sensitivity to do-no-harm principles
• Experience facilitating group learning across diverse cultural/linguistic contexts
• Experience with results-based reporting, and donor compliance oversight
• Excellent relationship-building skills, and sensitivity to funder-grantee power differentials
• Fluent in written and spoken English and French; proficiency in Arabic, and/or Urdu is an asset.
• Proficiency in digital collaboration tools, including emerging AI technologies
• Technical background in one or more of the following is considered an asset: education in emergencies, child protection, psychosocial support, or sport/play-based development

Required Skills and Competencies

• Collaboration: Works effectively across RTP teams, CSO partners, and technical colleagues, sharing information openly and bringing diverse stakeholders together around shared program goals.
• Growth Mindset: Seeks out feedback and lessons learned across the CSO portfolio and adapts partnership management approaches in response to evolving donor requirements or partner needs.
• Resilience: Maintains sound judgement and quality of output when managing competing partner deadlines, multi-country compliance demands, or unexpected implementation challenges.
• Professionalism: Demonstrates integrity, confidentiality, and accountability in donor compliance monitoring, financial reporting, and external representation of RTP.
• Management and Interpersonal Skills: Communicates clearly and diplomatically across funder-grantee power differentials; manages multiple partner relationships and competing priorities effectively.

How to Apply

Apply with your resume and cover letter in English via: https://righttoplay.hiringplatform.ca/247779-partnerships-and-grants-manager/1126782-application-form/en

Please note that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, you are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Right To Play provides equal employment opportunities to employees regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. We strongly encourage groups who have been historically disadvantaged with respect to employment to apply for positions at Right To Play.

As part of our selection process, final candidates will be required to complete security checks and Vulnerable Sector Check or equivalent criminal record check as a condition of the offer. More details about our recruitment process are available here. Safeguarding information is available here.

As part of our recruitment and selection process, Right To Play uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) – assisted tools to support the assessment of candidates or applications. This may include but not limited to generating and editing of job adverts, assessment and interview questions, scheduling, translation, transcription, note taking, etc. Our Applicant Tracking System (ATS), VidCruiter, also use AI-powered ChatBot to answer candidates’ enquiries. These tools are used only to assist human reviewers in evaluation and do not make selection or screening decisions. All hiring decisions are made by human reviewers. All AI-assisted processes comply with applicable privacy and data protection regulations, including GDPR and PIPEDA. For more information, please refer to RTP AI Policy and our Best Practice: Use of AI in Recruitment.

We value and promote a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We are committed to providing accommodations to candidates with disabilities during the recruitment and selection process, and thereafter. Please reach out to the People & Culture team by email at careers@righttoplay.com. All information provided will be treated as confidential and used only to provide an accessible candidate experience.