GBLCAREERS

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 present in Nigeria since 2012, focusing its interventions on adolescent girls’ empowerment, economic development and conflict mitigation. With the insurgency spilling over from the Northeast of Nigeria and causing displacement of millions of individuals, Mercy Corps started its humanitarian response in 2014 to address the rising humanitarian needs. With funding from institutional donors, foundations and private corporations, Mercy Corps continues to provide assistance to meet the basic needs of vulnerable populations in the areas of food security, shelter, water and sanitation, protection, and livelihoods.

With the recognition of the protracted crisis in Northeast Nigeria, Mercy Corps’ strategy and expansion plans aim to address the root causes of the crisis and seek to build long term resilience of communities with integrated programs focusing on the recovery of markets and livelihoods, social cohesion and social protection, and youth empowerment with emphasis on adolescent girls and boys. With multiple funding streams from large institutional donors and foundations, Mercy Corps’ programs in Northeast Nigeria continue to scale up and serve communities by transitioning them from humanitarian aid to early recovery programs.

General Position Summary

The Grants and Reporting Specialist will support the Northeast programs as the point person for communicating Mercy Corps’ activities through official reports. This includes the research and consolidation of information from all programs into concise and clear narratives, statistical evidence and case studies. The Grants and Reporting Specialist must develop and possess an understanding of compliance and reporting format requirements for each donor and communicate those to program teams as needed. S/he will also serve as the focal point to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal systems of PM@MC and must possess a basic understanding of internal standards in monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) and accountability. S/he is an integral part of the Northeast team and is expected to have a strong operational understanding of all activities and strategy.

S/he will also play a key role in the drafting of new proposals and developing the initial narrative and budget requirements, in close collaboration with the Program Development, Performance, and Quality Manager.

As such, the Grants and Reporting Specialist is expected to liaise across all departments. Finally, s/he is the primary contact for internal communications within Mercy Corps on key program activities, success stories and other useful updates for the broader, Mercy Corps audience.

The Grants and Reporting Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the Program Development, Performance, and Quality Manager and will be part of the Northeast Program Performance and Quality (PAQ) Unit. S/he will have working relationships with Finance, Program Managers, Security and all other field departments in coordinating all grants/reporting-related tasks.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Reporting & Grants management

• Responsible for coordination and development of donor reports and ensuring they are of a high quality and submitted on schedule.
• Provide draft answers upon request to donor questions and inquiries, while ensuring compliance with donor regulations.
• Lead on the production of internal reports, including sitreps, 3Is and RTW, ensuring timely inputs from program, finance and operations teams, and ensure review and signoff processes are thorough and adhered to.
• Support the Program Development, Performance and Quality Manager with compliance to PM@MC minimum standards for program management.
• Act as the primary focal point with the desk teams in Portland and Edinburgh to act in response to donor priorities and adhere to specific requirements and deadlines.
• Work closely with the Northeast PAQ Unit to collect information on program monitoring, progress and quality to support ongoing reporting, proposals and other operational management tools.
• Lead on capacity building on report writing and information management for Northeast staff.
• Ensure that filing structure meets minimum PM@MC standards and folders are populated and archived accordingly.
• Support coordination and document all Program Kick-off and Close-out meetings, track action points for follow-up and record/document all lessons learned.

Proposal Development

• As needed, lead on the development of concept notes and funding proposals (including budgets), coordinating the process with all departments of the Northeast team and under the guidance of the Program Development, Performance, and Quality Manager.
• Ensure proposals and concept notes are developed in a timely manner and with realistic deadlines, and that these are communicated and understood by stakeholders both internal to the Northeast Nigeria team as well as the region and HQ.
• Ensure proposals are developed in coordination and consultation with program technical managers, finance and operations teams (including logistics) and that necessary support is adequately budgeted.

Other tasks

• As needed, represent Mercy Corps to donors and other key stakeholders.

 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: Program Development, Performance, and Quality Manager

Works Directly With: Program teams, Finance Department, Northeast PAQ, Operations, Security

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor degree or equivalent in related field. Graduate degree preferred.
• 2-3 years of experience related to humanitarian and/or developmental work
• Strong writing skills and ability to edit with a critical eye to detail (English)
• Ability to produce and edit documents under deadline pressure
• English fluency at native or academic level
• Ability and willingness to learn and follow donor reporting and compliance requirements.
• Ability to coordinate funding proposals and progress reports from key institutional donors (USAID, DFID, ECHO, EC).
• Ability to efficiently deal with competing priorities
• Experience from complex and complicated settings with time sensitive deliverables in unstable environments
• Experience working in a multi-cultural setting
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to communicate clearly to diverse groups
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving
• Internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work.

Success Factors
The successful candidate will combine exceptional organizational abilities and writing skills with good humor under pressure. S/he will learn and move between all departments to consolidate essential information for accurately reporting Mercy Corps activities in Northeast Nigeria. 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 provide constructive input to large relief programs and therefore, must be willing to learn from others. S/he must be focused on capacity building of national staff; have strong program support skills, good information management skills and maintain good personal relationships with colleagues.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position will be based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria and it requires frequent travel to other field locations as well as Abuja. Considering the frequent travel from/to different field locations, this position will require flexibility in terms of accommodation and logistics. Housing in the field will be in hotels or guesthouses where available.  Security in the field locations require additional vigilance and accessibility will be reassessed continuously. Access to good medical services in the field is limited. Phone communication, internet, electricity and water is available but might be erratic.

The location is eligible for hardship and R&R benefits. Given the nature of the response, working hours require flexibility and working through weekends/evenings might be necessary.