CONSORTIUM GRANTS & REPORTING MANAGER, UKRAINE

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 Consortium Grants and Reporting Manager will support the Consortium Program departments as the point person for communicating Ukraine Cash Consortium’s (UCC) activities through donor reports. Coordinates with Mercy Corps, NRC, PIN, and any other subgrant staff to ensure financial and narrative reporting templates and deadlines are clear. The Consortium Grants and Reporting Manager must develop and possess an understanding of compliance and reporting format requirements for the donor and communicate those to program teams as needed. The incumbent will also provide information for host government reporting.

The incumbent provides oversight of subgrants under the Consortium, creates reporting templates, compiles reports, and contributes to other materials detailing UCC achievements within the program as requested by BHA or the host government. Provides capacity development on BHA reporting requirements and best practices to any subgrantees who are new to BHA. Finalizes the Branding and Marking Strategy for the consortium, develops templates and standard marking for all UCC partners, and trains all UCC Consortium partners and implementing partners on BHA branding and marking guidelines.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Reporting & Grants Management

• Work closely with other members of the consortium management unit to ensure reports are of high quality and submitted in a timely manner.
• Lead on the production of internal reports, including sitreps, ensuring timely inputs from program, finance and operations teams, and ensure review and signoff processes are thorough and adhered to.
• Build the consortium filing structure. Ensure that the consortium filing is up to date and folders are populated and archived accordingly.
• Support coordination and document all sub-awards management meetings, track action points for follow-up.
• Maintain and update project management tools, including funding trackers, grant trackers and dashboards.
• Work closely with the MEL team to collect information on program monitoring, progress and quality to support ongoing reporting, proposals and other operational management tools.
• Support Consortium Director in drafting answers upon request to donor questions and inquiries, while ensuring compliance with donor regulations.
• Develop templates for partner financial, narrative and ad hoc reporting and ensure that these reports are compiled and submitted on time, and of a good quality.
• Provide information necessary for host government reporting and updates submitted by the consortium.

Program Implementation Support

• Develop and manage systems and templates for receiving applications from local partners under the consortium’s Pooled Fund, for assessing and selecting these partners, and for sub-awarding and monitoring funds.
• Lead and coordinate the development of high-quality activity concept notes and program modifications including extension, budget realignments, and re-designs.
• Maintain the consortium’s issues and change log and risk register.
• Develop internal communication tools and templates that will assist all consortium partners in conceptualizing and documenting activities in a consistent manner.
• Use program learning generated by consortium partners to capture and communicate lessons learned and the impact of these lessons for activity design and implementation.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Act as the focal point for full compliance with minimum standards for grant management and subaward management.
• Working with the Consortium Director, contribute to program management oversight.
• In coordination with Finance, support BVAs and lead donor reporting meetings presenting up to date information.
• Support the finance team with initial budget development and ensure consistency with program planning.

Other tasks

• Produce other information and communications products for both internal and external audiences as required.
• As delegated, act as a focal point for all queries and information requests from Consortium Steering Committee and donors.
• Represent Mercy Corps to donors and other key stakeholders.
• Develop and manage templates and files for managing the decisions and outputs of the consortium’s Steering Committee and Working Groups.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Contribute to creating a secure environment for team members.

Supervisory Responsibility

None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Consortium Director

Works Directly With: Consortium Program, MEL, and Grant Administration Teams, Operations and Security & Access, other Mercy Corps’ or Partner HQ departments

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor degree or equivalent in related field.
• 3 to 5 years of experience related to humanitarian or developmental work, including:
• Preparing writing and analysis on programmatic activities;
• Basic budget development and management experience;
• Managing work plans;
• Representing programs with donors and external stakeholders.
• Excellent writing and communication skills required.
• Ability to produce and edit documents under deadline pressure.
• Ability and willingness to learn and follow donor reporting and compliance requirements.
• Ability to coordinate funding proposals and progress reports from key institutional donors (BHA, PRM, ECHO, EC, FCDO).
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation and other learning efforts.
• Strong understanding of key humanitarian principles and good practices.
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem-solving.
• Ability to efficiently deal with competing priorities.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Consortium project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
• Experience of working in a multicultural setting.
• Graduate degree in a relevant field preferred.
• Experience working in conflict or hardship locations preferred.
• Excellent oral and written English skills required; proficiency in Russian or Ukrainian is desirable.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will combine exceptional organizational abilities and writing skills under pressure. S/he will learn and move between all partners, departments to consolidate essential information for accurately reporting Consortium activities in Ukraine. S/he will be able to capture strategy and planning into concise and clear documents in new proposal development. The candidate will be organized and maintain a clear electronic and paper filing system. S/he will take the time to learn and understand donor compliance and help ensure best practices are upheld throughout the entire grants management process. The successful candidate will be able to ultimately be able to provide constructive input to large relief programs and therefore, must be willing to learn from others. In particular, best practices in cross cutting issues including accountability, gender and protection. S/he must be focused on capacity building of consortium staff; have strong program support and information management skills.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Lviv, Ukraine but may change based on the situation. Accommodations are being defined and access to services – medical, electricity, water, etc is in place but may change depending on the situation. This position requires travel to other oblasts within Ukraine, as security permits. Given the emergency context, this position requires exceptional work schedules, including evenings and weekends.

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, 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 and have signed on to theInteragency 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 toMercy 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.