INTRODUCTION / BACKGROUND

“Save The Slum Initiative is  responsible for monitoring the activities of sub-recipients as necessary to provide reasonable assurance that donor awards are used in compliance with laws, regulations and the provisions of grant and cooperative agreements, and that performance goals are achieved.”

– STSI’s Policy Statement on Sub-recipient Monitoring

The level of projects STSI implements through subgrants is steadily increasing. With this increase comes the responsibility to effectively identify the partner organizations to work with, assess and monitor program activities to minimize risks, obtain reasonable assurance that funds are expended as intended, and that we are following applicable donor rules and regulations.

The purpose of this Manual is to provide guidance and tools that will help staff effectively and confidently carry out STSI’s responsibilities when making subgrants.

Many of the specific provisions apply to funding from the U.S. federal government, particularly the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). If donors (particularly non-U.S. donors) provide guidance that conflicts with the policies and procedures in this Manual, that guidance must be followed for sub-recipient activities for that agreement. In the absence of specific guidance from donors that conflicts with this Manual, all sub-recipient activity should be managed using the guidance in this Manual.

Covering the life cycle of a sub agreement from pre-implementation stage to closeout, this Manual:

• Outlines the roles and responsibilities when STSI makes subgrants and how it translates to accountabilities of STSI
• Defines STSI’s interpretation of the S. federal regulations concerning subrecipient monitoring.
• Provides sample forms and useful reference materials STSI can refer to when designing its monitoring plan and tools.

This Manual is currently the STSI USA Grants Management and Compliance Manual. A supplement to come soon will provide specific guidance on various other donors such as CIDA, DFID, EU and private restricted donors. Staff can expect to hear follow-up communications as soon as possible as STSI develops Quick Reference Guides (QRG) and training materials that STSI can use to train the staff involved in subrecipient management and monitoring activities.

We hope you find this Manual a useful companion in implementing STSI’s programs. It is a product of many hours of writing, research, working group meetings, shared materials from other partner organizations, and compilation of internal and public domain documents on subagreement management. This Manual will be updated periodically. Staff will be informed of

new donor rules and regulations affecting any part of this document, which will then be incorporated in the next edition.

Please feel free to contact the management www.savetheslum.org.ng if you have any question or comments on any part of this Manual.