Grants Management Assistant, USAID E4 Activity (Tajikistan)

About Palladium: Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

This Opportunity: The USAID Enterprises, Employment, and Enabling Environments (E4) Activity aims to increase employment and jobs through increased private sector productivity and competitiveness. The theory of change is: “For the number of jobs to increase, businesses must grow; and for businesses to grow, constraints preventing growth must be removed.” Following this logic, Palladium will focus on removing obstacles to growth at the firm level and will work to develop skills identified by employers or develop entrepreneurial expertise. Additionally, Palladium will work to These address legal and regulatory constraints if they are determined to be significant inhibitors of firm growth. Efforts will result in the creation of new firms, the growth of existing firms, and new job creation.

Work performed under the E4 IDIQ is divided into three components:

• Component 1: Enterprises – Fostering Competitive Industries
• Component 2: Employment – Developing a Capable Workforce and Entrepreneurship
• Component 3: Enabling Environments – Creating Conditions for Jobs and Investment

Over the last four years, Palladium has been successfully implementing the Future Growth Initiative (FGI) Task Order of the E4 Activity in all five Central Asian countries. This task order works to increase the competitiveness of high-growth industries to provide jobs and incomes for Central Asia’s growing workforce, propelling the region toward self-reliance. FGI is transforming market systems in ways that help high-potential firms and sectors grow, fostering market linkages to match the demand for workforce skills with training offered to youth and women, linking entrepreneurs to high-growth markets, and building more business- and worker-friendly policy environments and institutions to sustain private sector-driven growth.

The program has recently been extended until 2026 through the awarding of the FGI 2.0 Task Order. By building on FGI’s success and lessons learned, FGI 2.0 will work to increase the competitiveness of high-growth industries through a market systems approach that incentivizes private and public sector behavior change. The new task order will facilitate the regionalization of business advisory and enabling environment ecosystems, harmonize policies and regulations, foster trade and market linkages, and align the skills of women, youth, and vulnerable populations with private sector needs.

FGI 2.0 will take a partnerships-based approach, facilitating firm-level assistance, industry association capacity building, and regulatory reform under:

• Objective 1: Drive national-level, private sector-led economic growth and inclusivity in the five Central Asian Republics (CARs).
• Objective 2: Support competitiveness and job creation in each country, serving as the foundation for regional growth and integration.

FGI 2.0 will also facilitate domestic and regional public private dialogue (PPD), policy reform and harmonization, and investment attraction efforts to support Central Asia’s integration into the global economy of the future.

Palladium seeks a Grants Management Assistant for the FGI 2.0 Task Order under the USAID E4 Activity in Tajikistan who will be responsible in supporting Senior Partnership Specialist in maintaining successful partnerships and collaborative alliances and implementation of all project’s grants activities in Tajikistan.

Location: The position is based in Palladium’s Dushanbe, Tajikistan office.

Reporting Lines: Grants Management Assistant will work under the supervision of the Senior Partnership Specialist and reports to the Tajikistan Country Manager

Primary Roles and Responsibilities:

• Assist with the preparation grant documentations, including gathering required documents, forms, and supporting materials.
• Track deadlines and ensure timely submission of all relevant documents
• Conduct preliminary review of reports and attachments
• Maintain an organized filing system for all grant-related documents
• Track and document all correspondence related to each grant, including emails, letters, and meetings.
• Assist with tracking indicators
• Ensure compliance with grant terms and conditions by monitoring grant timelines and deliverables.
• Track project milestones and due dates for reports and evaluations
• Coordinate meetings and communications between staff and partners
• Assist in drafting and editing interim and final grant reports as needed
• Coordinate the grant close-out process, ensuring availability of all documents
• Archive all grant documentation and prepare records for any potential audits.

Essential Criteria:

• At least 2 years of experience working as grants manager assistant for donor-funded projects.
• Experience with programs focusing on women, youth, and vulnerable groups
• Experience managing several activities at a time.
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication and problem-solving skills
• The role requires strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and the ability to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders.
• Fluency in English, Russian and Tajik

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience working in USAID funded projects

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion: Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at [email protected] and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding: We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.