Millaniyage De Costa

Program Assistant with over 12 years of experience in grants management and providing leadership to 10 Grants Officer Representatives to manage over 100 grant programs of $625,000. 12 years of experience managing a budget of $725,000. Pursuing an inspiring, career-oriented position with a well-established organization where experience and skills in grants management and leading a group of grants management professionals will assist to enrich the organization’s mission goals and the community it serves.

I do not need full or partial sponsorship at present or in the future. I have been granted a Special Immigrant Visa by the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka

Experience

Program Assistant (Grants Management)

U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka

October 2007 – February 2023

• 12 years delivering “life-cycle” support to above 1,000 Federal grant programs with mentorship to 10 Grants Officer Representatives (GORs), coaching them in monitoring grants worth more than $50,000,000 to spearhead efficient and accurate communication with grantees and advising the Grants Officers on Federal grant regulations and procedures.
• Have directly overseen more than 100 grant programs of $5 million through their lifecycle as a senior GOR.  
• Trained grantees in successfully executing 100 grant programs related to Integrated Country Strategy goals, producing timely deliverables, meeting program deadlines, and supervising more than 50 sub-awards worth $425,000.
• Written 20 multi-faceted Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) for submission on Grants.gov and the U.S. Embassy Grants Opportunities portal enabling greater than 20 successful applications to work on high-impact programs each year.
• Reviewed more than 100 grant application packages sent by grant recipients to ensure the accuracy of application packages. 
• Monitored over 14 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) projects worth 1,103,942 which worked towards preserving tangible and intangible heritage cultural heritage.
• Administered a Cultural Antiquities Task Force project worth $92,499 from 2019 to January 2022; 
• Managed the organization’s budget worth US$10 million from 2009 to 2021 which provided funding for greater than 100 successful projects aligned with the country’s strategy.
• Shepherded greater than 20 grant proposal writing workshops guaranteeing more than 20 successful submissions for vibrant grant programs.
• Steered more than 20 site visits to grant programs worth $100,000,000 quarterly to confirm compliance with grant regulations.

Project Management Assistant

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

February 2001 to September 2007

• Managed a grants database.
• Overseen grant implementing partners.
• Provided Training to the sub-grantees.
• Managed high portfolio grants.

Master of Business Administration