Mercy Corps
**Location: Edinburgh, London, UK, or The Hague, NL Position Status: Full-Time, Permanent/ open terms Salary: Edinburgh: circa 21K; London: circa 24K; The Hague: circa 30K Apply with CV and Cover Letter by May 20th. Candidates must have the independant right to work in the UK or NL at the time of appointment. **
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, we now attract over £90m in income. 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 field, and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our passion and commitment.
The Program / Department / Team
Mercy Corps implements a variety of programming throughout the Middle East, and it continues to respond to humanitarian and development needs across Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen by forging meaningful and trusted partnerships and designing impactful programming. The country programs 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 the Middle East has been in promoting good governance and conflict resolution, enhancing resilience, and supporting market systems development and youth employment, as well as prioritizing gender equality and social inclusion across programming. 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 the Middle East.
The Position
The Assistant Program Officer (APO) will work with the Middle East 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 Senior Program Officer (SPO) and Program Officers (POs) with proposal development, donor reporting and communications. 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 Job Responsibilities
PROGRAMME AND GRANT ADMINISTRATION
● Support the SPO/POs with administrative tasks such as maintaining required documentation, as per the internal Programme File, and knowledge management of the grants, updating all internal information systems (server and Grant and Award Administration Tracker).
● Assist in monitoring and ensuring compliance with donor regulations and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
● Advise country teams on formats for donor reporting and define timelines to review.
● As needed, support the reviews of donor reports and ensure that reports are submitted in accordance with reporting standards and in adherence to deadlines set out in the grant agreement/contract.
● Initiate, coordinate and send out New Award Initiation Summaries and project close-out messages.
PROPOSAL COORDINATION
● Undertake donor research and identify appropriate funding opportunities from donors, also reviewing donor guidelines and carrying out eligibility checks for new funding opportunities identified.
● Provide administrative support for proposal development such as drafting Past Performance Reports/capacity statements/or other required documents, copy-editing, and final compilation for submission as needed.
● For EC-funded programmes, lead on coordinating PADOR partner registration in proposal development.
ADMINISTRATION & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
● Proactively lead travel/logistical support for field and headquarters teams as needed.
● Serve as the primary point for internal communications, facilitate use of Mercy Corps web-based information systems to draft and update program material (e.g. country fact sheets, country pages on web, dollar handles, etc.).
● Maintain up to date country and grant information in Mercy Corps’ knowledge management tools and platforms.
RECRUITMENT SUPPORT & ORIENTATION
● Manage consultant contracting processes; ensuring necessary documentation has been submitted to relevant people, follow up with teams when the field team has not received a response; support new hires/consultants/interns/etc.
● Facilitate the training of new Programme and other staff as appropriate on internal grant management, administration and proposal development processes, tools and systems.
STRATEGY, PLANNING & LEARNING
● Support country teams with strategy development and planning
● Facilitate learning across country portfolios and the region, and share lessons learned
● Ensure country teams have access to and utilise agency resources/tools/best practices/etc
● Coordinate with colleagues to organise and facilitate planning for regional meetings, as required
EXTERNAL REPRESENTATION
● With guidance from the SPO and PO, represent regional interests and programmes with external stakeholders, in concert with the field teams.
OTHER
● Act as a focal point for backstopping for SPO/PO during field trips or short-term absence.
● May be required to travel to the field to support any of the above.
● Any other duties as assigned.
Reports Directly To: Senior Programme Officer, Middle East
Works Directly With: Field based programme teams, Country Directors of Programmes, MCE Programmes team, Finance, Compliance, Communications, Policy and Advocacy, New Initiatives, Programme Accountability and Quality, Strategic Partnership Team.
Supervisory Responsibility: None
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program 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.
Knowledge and Experience
● BA/S in International Development or equivalent experience in related field.
● Experience in international relief or development, particularly in grant administration and compliance preferred.
● Awareness and understanding of the international development sector.
● Demonstrated experience in providing administrative/coordination support.
● Proven ability to communicate effectively with colleagues from various backgrounds and cultures.
● Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
● Prior NGO or international development experience preferred.
● Preference given to candidates with prior work experience in the Middle East region, or regional understanding.
● Arabic language proficiency a plus.
Success Factors
The Assistant Program Officer must be a detail-oriented multi-tasker who is able to communicate clearly and work under pressure. They must demonstrate patience, flexibility, and taking initiative to solve problems. Vital skills include communication (both written and verbal), as well as 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 issues is important, and an understanding of the complex challenges faced by programme teams operating in international environments is critical.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is remote or can be based in Edinburgh, London or The Hague with limited access to the office subject to guidance around COVID 19.
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, colour, 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, program 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. 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.
How to apply
Join the team, learn more, and apply at the following link: https://jobs.jobvite.com/mercycorps/job/oUJDjfwj