Cash assistance senior program Officer

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’ Ukraine crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Ukrainians and other conflict-affected people where they are: displaced inside Ukraine, refugees in Poland, Romania and Moldova, or trapped behind frontlines. We aim to reach 500,000 vulnerable people with multi-purpose cash assistance, in-kind humanitarian support, and protection services across four countries. Almost all of our impact will be delivered in partnership: with Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian and Moldovan civil society organizations through a granting program that matches humanitarian action with capacity strengthening, and with peer international NGOs through a consortium in Ukraine. Mercy Corps is responding to the Ukraine crisis with large-scale consortium programming with a focus on Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA). The Consortium is a partnership between four international humanitarian aid agencies to model and deliver innovative, effective cash and other humanitarian assistance programs to support people affected by the Ukraine crisis within Ukraine.

General Position Summary

The Cash Assistance Senior Program Officer will provide day-to-day oversight of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) program activities conducted through local partners including needs identification, participant registration, and reconciliation.

The Senior Program Officer will support, the strategic decision, program implementation, coordinate and supervise local partners, vendors and contractors and other Mercy Corps teams members. S/he can work both independently and proactively with a diverse team and can motivate managers to achieve results. The successful candidate will have an eye for detail, is able complete documentation and reports to a high standard, can monitor the work of others and has the communication skills to mentor others to improve.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategy and Vision

• Develop the weekly work plan and overall schedule of assessments and monitoring.
• Support the broader cash team in the identification and consolidation of gaps, needs, and opportunities.
• Plan the schedule for commodity, cash and voucher distributions, shelter rehabilitation and distribution monitoring.
• Support the strategic definition of new areas of intervention for cash according to the changing context and needs

Program Implementation

• Lead in the identification and capacity assessment of partners for the implementation of cash interventions according to the performance and quality criteria defined by Mercy Corps.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners, and consistent with Mercy

Corps’ cash minimum standards and other relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.

• Conduct and supervise general and sector focused needs assessments as needed (including population movements, needs assessment, market price surveys, market assessments & vendor assessments, shelter needs rehabilitation); ensuring documentation is correctly completed and submitted in a timely fashion.
• Conduct and supervise local associations capacity assessments, local associations performance reviews and vendor capacity assessments and share results and recommendations promptly.
• Support and guides the identification of modalities (in-kind, vouchers, cash) that are appropriate for different communities and a decision and risk matrix to determine the impact of the intervention on local markets.
• Ensure that Mercy Corps humanitarian mission and principles are clearly communicated understood by all stakeholders in the field and that fair and transparent program participant and vendor selection processes are established and shared widely.
• Organize, supervise and implement trainings for vendors, local partners and program participants.
• Communicate with local associations to ensure they are aware of pending deliveries of vouchers or commodities and that they develop distribution plans in a timely manner. Ensure that vendors are informed and prepared before voucher distributions commence.
• Coordinate with the MEL team on monitoring of CVA and NFI distributions.
• Lead and monitor local associations’ communication with the community, their documentation, storage facilities and distributions, and payments requests.
• Lead and monitor vendor performance to ensure that vendors adhere to their agreement with Mercy Corps (type of items, quantity, quality, prices, services and documentations).
• Participate in the elaboration of vouchers as well as insuring counts and reconciliation and guarantee that the vouchers are organized, packed in the agreed manner with all necessary supporting documentation.

Team management

• Ensure team members improve performance & reach objectives.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and

formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve

excellence, and cultivate resilience and well-being under challenging situations.

. Reporting

• Complete weekly and monthly activity reports to a high standard with care to record successes, challenges and lessons learned on a schedule directed by the supervisor.
• Monitor the IDP situation and inform the supervisor of any new developments.
• Flag any problems with vendors or associations immediately to the supervisor.
• Assist supervisor with any requests for information or data regarding program expansion or development.

Admin & Finance

• Ensure that documents related to financial reconciliation and programmatic verification sources meet Mercy Corps and donors requirements and are archived digitally and physically after each intervention.
• Ensure that timesheets are filled out correctly and submitted to the supervisor no later than the 30th of each month.
• Liaise with finance to ensure compliance and payment schedules; maintain service contracts.
• Maintain inventory records of materials and materials flow; oversee tracking of all assets.

Coordination and Representation

• Represent Mercy Corps in front of civil and military authorities and relevant stakeholders in the areas of intervention by explaining key Mercy Corps messages and objectives in the area.
• Check in on time with the safety team daily.
• Adhere to MC safety policies and procedures and take responsibility for ensuring personal safety.

Risk Management

• With the Operations Lead, support departmental risk identification and mitigation actions which align with organizational and regional risk-management initiatives.
• Support Hub Operations leads on risk management and mitigation.
• Provide input including operational risk analysis and recommendations to the Operations and Finance Leads related to Operations spending and effectiveness of in-country reporting and planning systems.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/BS or equivalent is desired.
• At least 4 years of previous related experience preferable.
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members in a cross-cultural environment is required.
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
• Ukrainian language (written and spoken) is required. Russian language is desirable. A fair command of English (spoken and written) preferable.
• Ability and willingness to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team and other groups of various cultural, social, religious and ethnic backgrounds in a sensitive environment.
• Demonstrated attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills: Ability to interact effectively with other team members, as well as with project partners, vendors and community members.
• Ability to deal with people fairly and tactfully while not compromising Mercy Corp’s own standards and procedures.
• Ability to conduct oneself with sensitivity and respect toward others.
• Mentoring skills will be an asset.
• Honest, hardworking and committed to community work.
• Ability to work as part of a team and coordinate with project personnel.
• Computer skills – Word and Excel will be an asset.
• Willingness to travel and work.

Success Factors

The Cash Assistance Senior Program Officer will able to work independently and self-manage themselves with partners and program participants while also staying within the guidelines and timeline of a larger team. S/he will have a sense of urgency to the program and humanitarian goals while also being able to keep clear records and data.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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