Assistant Program Officer MENA/Europe – UK

Location: Edinburgh (preferred) or London, UK

Position Status: Full-time, Regular

Salary Level: Salary range for this role will be £31,120 – commensurate on experience.

Closing date: Please submit CV and cover letter by March 6th.

Applicants must hold independant right to work in UK at the time of application.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

Mercy Corps Europe (MCE) has grown rapidly in terms of volume of activity and complexity with

offices in Edinburgh, London, Geneva and The Hague. The breadth and impact of our programmes makes Mercy Corps a unique and truly rewarding place to work. Our teams are proud of what we achieve in the country programmes and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our passion and commitment.

The Programme / Department / Team

Mercy Corps implements a variety of programming throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe Region (MENA/Europe) and it continues to respond to humanitarian and development needs across Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine by forging meaningful and trusted partnerships and designing impactful programming. The country programmes face humanitarian crises and significant development challenges, and operate in fragile and conflict-affected areas, displacement settings, emergency responses, as well as more stable developed settings. Mercy Corps’ focus in MENA/Europe has been in promoting good governance and conflict resolution, enhancing resilience, supporting market systems development, as well as gender and inclusion, and youth employment. Mercy Corps investment in thought leadership, continual learning, and adaptive programming allows us to make changes that are essential in a fluid context, with significant ambitions to learning and sharing through building an evidence base, investment in programme quality, including MEAL and additional specific research, to enhance adaptive and responsive programming in MENA/Europe.

The Position

The Assistant Programme Officer (APO) will work with the MENA/Europe Regional Programme Team to support the administration of Mercy Corps’ portfolio in the region. The APO is primarily responsible for administrative support and assisting the Programme Officers (POs) with proposal development, donor reporting and communications as well as the Senior Programme Officer (SPO) as needed. This includes providing assistance with new and existing programmes, directing internal and external programme information flows, liaising with other departments within Mercy Corps, and providing administrative support to the country programmes. S/he plays a key role in managing information and data from the country teams to facilitate use and access of it by other HQ departments and for retention of institutional knowledge.

Essential Responsibilities

ADMINISTRATIVE AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

• Support POs and SPO to maintain adequate records of all documentation and correspondence of grants, ensuring that grant information is entered into the Grant and Information Tracker (GAIT) database, the shared drive, the Digital Library and donor tracking systems as requested. Responsible for implementing HQ file retention policy.
• Track donor requirements for programmes by reviewing grant agreements, tracking reporting requirements and deadlines, and sending regular reminders to POs about reporting deadlines.
• Provide logistical support for field and headquarters teams including processing invoices, consultancy requests, and travel.
• Ensure that requests from field staff, including invoice fulfillment, are accurately completed and submitted to corresponding HQ teams.
• Work with POs and SPO to help ensure that programme quality standards are maintained and that programmes adhere to Mercy Corps and donor requirements, including retention of relevant documents

PROGRAMME AND AWARD ADMINISTRATION

• Review content, edit, assemble, format, and support to ensure timely submission of donor reports, at the direction of POs.
• Participate in and maintain record/notes of bi-weekly check-in calls with country teams to track implementation challenges, upcoming new business opportunities, and other various support requests from field teams.
• In coordination with the POs, prepare and communicate new award initiation summaries to the field teams.
• Support POs in donor portal reporting and content uploading for timely submission.
• Provide ‘gap filling’ as necessary to cover PO responsibilities, portfolios, country support and donor communications in collaboration with the SPO.

PROPOSAL SUPPORT

• Provide administrative support for proposal development such as drafting Past Performance Reports, capacity statements, prior approval letters, waiver request letters and other required documents, copy-editing, formatting and final compilation for submission.
• Track upcoming proposal opportunities with potential donors in the region and notifying country teams of opportunities, at the direction of POs.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

• Maintain up-to-date country and grant information in Mercy Corps’ online knowledge management tools, e.g., GAIT, Digital Library, Hub

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

• Respond to requests for information from other HQ departments, particularly Resource Development and International Finance, at direction of POs and SPO
• Liaise between field offices and HQ departments, including Recruiting, Human Resources, Resource Development, Finance and Operations to provide support in the areas of recruitment and procurement as needed

Supervisory Responsibility

None.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Programme Officer, MENA/Europe

Works Directly With: POs and SPO; MENA/Europe country staff; Programme and Technical Support Units staff; Finance, Resource Development; Mercy Corps counterparts at Mercy Corps HQ offices in the USA; Mercy Corps donors.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our programme participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/S in International Development or related field is highly preferred.
• Two years of demonstrated experience in providing administrative/coordination support required.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with colleagues overseas from various backgrounds.
• Strong understanding of complex challenges faced by field teams in difficult operating environments.
• Proficiency with MS Office software (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Microsoft 365, and Google Suite tools (Google Docs, Sheets, Forms) required
• Prior NGO or international development experience.
• Preference given to candidates with prior work experience in MENA/Europe
• Knowledge of relevant technical sectors (emergency relief, economic development, youth, health, nutrition, or hygiene) is a plus.

Success Factors

The Assistant Programme Officer must be a detail-oriented multi-tasker who is able to communicate clearly, work under pressure and manage time and prioritize tasks effectively. They must demonstrate patience, flexibility, and taking initiative to independently solve problems with competing deadlines. Vital skills include communication (both written and verbal), organization, time management, and building and maintaining effective internal and external relationships. They must demonstrate the ability to understand and follow agency procedures, meet deadlines, and work both independently and as part of a complex distanced-based, multi-cultural team. An exposure to and interest in international development and/or humanitarian issues is important, and an understanding of the complex challenges faced by programme teams operating in overseas environments is critical. They must demonstrate a passion for, and a clear empathy with, the organization’s aims and values.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in UK with offices in Edinburgh and London. The role may be asked to travel ocasionaly to areas with limited access to medical facilities and amenities.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a country office posting or on a visit/Short-Term Assignment (STA) to a country office posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, programme participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.