About Mercy Corps :
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
Program/ department summary :
Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of over 300 people working in Eastern DRC, with the overall country goal to support vulnerable communities through crises, while fostering programs that build resilience and promote long-term change. Mercy Corps’ national office is in Goma with sub-field offices in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. Mercy Corps’ key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to :
- Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas ;
- Improve food security and nutrition ;
- Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development.
Mercy Corps DRC’s humanitarian programs aim specifically to assist populations affected by the conflict and crisis in Eastern Congo. With funding from humanitarian donors including ECHO, OFDA, FFP, and DFID, the humanitarian portfolio continues to expand in order to provide multi-purpose cash assistance and emergency WASH to displaced and host populations. Mercy Corps plans to scale up and expand its humanitarian response to reach more beneficiaries with additional and varied assistance in a wider geographic area. All Mercy Corps interventions in DRC are implemented in a conflict and gender sensitive manner.
General position summary :
As part of Mercy Corps’ Emergency Portfolio of programs, the Grants and Reporting Officer will work closely with the Senior Grants Manager (SGM) and the Program Managers. She/he will play a key role in supporting and coordinating the Program Managers and M&E team in developing quality reporting, communications products and supporting proposal development needs. The Grants and Reporting Officer will ensure information sharing and archiving to document lessons learned, and support a culture of learning to inform future programme development.
The Grants and Reporting Officer will be the main focal point for all Mercy Corps Emergency Portfolio program reports including reports submitted directly to donors, reports submitted to Mercy Corps headquarters, and cluster and other external reporting. She/he will ensure all activities are documented and that reporting schemes and tools are used by the Program Teams. The Grants and Reporting Officer will also lead in summarizing the compliance requirements of grants issued under each donor and communicating these requirements to the program teams.
Under the guidance of the Senior Grants Manager, The Grants and Reporting Officerwill take active part in developing, coordinating and writing new proposals. The Grants and Reporting Officer will also support the Senior Grants Manager in identifying and preparing all modification requests to on-going contracts.
Essential job responsibilities :
Program reporting :
- Responsible for coordination, tracking and development of all donor and other stakeholder reports – ensuring they are of a high quality and submitted on schedule ;
- Lead donor reports writing, including ECHO, DFID, USAID and other donors as the portfolio expands ;
- Review, coordinate, compile and finalise all official donor reports for the DFID-funded SAFER program in coordination with partners ;
- Draft programme updates for donor and other key stakeholders as required ;
- Lead on capacity building on internal report writing and information management for program staff ;
- Ensure all program activities are documented and that reporting tools are being used ;
- Review all reports and factsheets before publication to ensure compliance with donor requirements (Program, MEL, CCAT Monthly and thematic reports, others).
Proposal development :
- Participate in the strategic evaluation process for new funding opportunities ;
- Under the guidance of the SGM, provide dedicated support to the coordination and the redaction of concept papers and projects propositions, working in close collaboration with the different departments and ensuring accurate and timely delivery to HQ, national authorities and donor agencies ;
- Ensure proposals and concept notes are developed in accordance with the donors guidelines and requirements.
Grant management :
- Work closely with Regional program teams in MC Support offices in Portland and Edinburgh to keep donor, grant and information tracking (GAIT) databases up to date with most current proposals, concept notes, partnership agreements and reports ;
- Maintain a grants tracker and provide regular management information to the Country Leadership Team on the performance of the grants portfolio ;
- Play a leading role in Grant Kick-Off and Close-Out meetings to ensure that all grant information, including deadlines, donor priorities and requirements, are communicated and understood by the team, and grants are closed in compliance with donor regulations ;
- Establish systems for regular grant and program monitoring and facilitate regular meetings with Program, MEL, Finance and Operations teams to ensure that performance on individual grants is tracked effectively, risks and issues are flagged and action taken as appropriate ;
- Under the supervision of the SGM, support Finance and Program teams in drafting modification requests documents when needed ;
- Provide draft answers upon request to donor questions and inquiries, while ensuring compliance with donor regulations ;
- Contribute to the design and drafting of communications material (annual report, social media, speeches, editorials, press releases, website content, newsletters, drafting success stories, and any other).
Programme quality monitoring :
- Support programs to respect and demonstrate Mercy Corps (PM@MC) minimum standards for program management ;
- Set up and maintain a strong program documentation system, and ensure that program documentation meets PM@MC standards and folders are populated and archived accordingly ;
- Develop a thorough understanding of relevant MC internal and donor policies, regulations and procedures and train team accordingly ;
- Work closely with finance and operations to develop grants compliance checklists and share with program staff for implementation.
Finance & compliance management :
- Support the organization of monthly BVA meetings ;
- Ensure the monitoring of the grant agreement for compliance with Mercy Corps policies and procedures as well as donor/government/external rules and regulations, particularly in regards to subgrants and partners.
Organizational learning : As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Accountability to beneficiaries : Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Supervisory responsibility : none
Accountability:
Reports directly to : senior grants manager
Works directly with : Emergency Director and Emergency Deputy Director, Consortium SAFER Director, Consortium Partners, Emergency Team Members, Mercy Corps HQs, Program Delivery Managers, Operations Director (and associated Managers including HR/Administration Manager), and the Finance Manager.
Knowledge and experience :
- Bachelor’s degree in one of the following: Public Policy, Governance, International Development or other related fields ;
- 1-2 years of experience with European or/and US institutional donors, including grant management, and proposal development ;
- Field experience in conflict and development environments. Exposure to gender, protection, and conflict mitigation and management programs ;
- Ability to work in a sometimes solitary environment with moderate to high levels of insecurity and significant restrictions on personal movement ;
- Fluent English and fluent French are required ;
- Ability to deliver high quality reports within short deadlines ;
- Demonstrable knowledge of DRC an added advantage ;
- Ability to multi-task and juggle several tasks and relationships at one time ;
- Excellent communication skills, experience in representing an organization ;
- Demonstrated proficiency with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is required ;
- Proven ability to work effectively in multicultural teams and with technical and administrative staff and consultants.
Success factors :
A successful candidate will have an ability to work independently, take initiative in tasks and self-learning, and be proactive in communications and development of professional relationships. The Grants and Reporting Officer will be able to live and work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment with demonstrated sensitivity to the people and issues in the region. The Grants and Reporting Officer will demonstrate exceptional interpersonal, relationship and cross-cultural communication skills especially in high stress environments are essential for success. The Grants and Reporting Officerwill be committed to the values and mission of Mercy Corps; have the ability to creatively problem-solve, to juggle multiple priorities under tight deadlines and to calmly and diplomatically deal with unexpected and sudden events impacting program operations with patience, dynamism, tenacity and a good sense of humor.
Living conditions/environmental conditions :
This position is an unaccompanied position. Shared accommodation will be provided in Goma according to Mercy Corps DRC housing policy. Goma is a provincial capital of over 700,000 inhabitants, with potential travel to Bukavu and Kinshasa. Living in Goma is comfortable, although water and electricity can be unstable. Outside Goma, travel can be dangerous and unpredictable due to armed forces and rebel activity.
While conditions in the country are improving, and security is quite stable in Goma, there are still pockets of violence and insecurity. Mercy Corps’ sub-offices experience variable levels of insecurity, with the situation closely monitored by UN peacekeepers. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There are a number of health services available with evacuation options for serious illnesses. There’s reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive.
Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
Salairy : French Fluency is a must
How to apply :
Please send your resume and cover letter on our career site.