Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Closing date: 30 Mar 2016
PROGRAM/ DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:
Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of around 200 people working in North Kivu, South Kivu and Kinshasa, implementing emergency and longer-term development programs with funding from USAID/FFP, USAID/OFDA, DFID, UN agencies and private donors. Current Mercy Corps activities focus on the provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services in camps of internally displaced people, but also large-scale WASH infrastructure and service delivery development in urban centers. Mercy Corps also has Food Security, Economic Recovery/Development and Governance programs, with an increasing shift towards transitional and integrated development programming. The DRC team has a strong commitment to providing entrepreneurial and innovative solutions to development challenges. Mercy Corps is actively seeking to improve performance across and among its programs and teams and to enhance the mission's ability to learn through quality monitoring, evaluation, accountability and information management systems that will provide robust evidence to use in strategic decision-making and programmatic design and re-design.
GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:
The Grants Officer will fill a number of program development, coordination and monitoring roles to ensure that adequate systems are in place across all emergency/transition programs and that the teams can successfully implement activities on scope, on budget and on time.
S/he will ensure high quality and timely performance reports to Mercy Corps and donors of the portfolio including, but not limited to, weekly program updates, monthly/quarterly, annual, and final program reports per donor requirements. The Grants Officer will be responsible for program file documentation and will liaise with the Design, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (DMEL) Department to ensure lessons learnt and best practices are adequately captured, documented and filed.
The Grants Officer will play a critical role in supporting new program development, including overseeing field assessments, participating in design workshops and writing sections of the proposals as required.
Lastly, the Grants Officer will focus on operational research, designing research plans and overseeing their roll-out.
ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
Grants Compliance:
- Provide technical and management support for the reporting requirements to the portfolio.
- Prepare schedule of all official donor and partner reports and inform the relevant counterparts about deadlines.
- Review and coordinate all official donor reports for Mercy Corps-emergency/transition programs after drafting by program staff.
- Ensure project reports comply with donor and Mercy Corps' procedures and best practices.
- Support M&E staff and the Design, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (DMEL) Department in the fulfillment of donor M&E requirements, monitoring and reporting on program impact, and the documentation of lessons learned and best practices.
- Draft program updates for donors and other key stakeholders.
- Produce other reports as required by supervisor.
- Work closely and in coordination with Mercy Corps offices in the USA and UK to establish a strong working relationship with HQ program officers.
- Build the capacity of DRC staff and local partners in the area of reporting and in capturing lessons learned to enable them to develop high quality reports and other documents.
Program Quality Monitoring:
- Ensure that the emergency/transition programs have sufficient systems in place to meet program management standards and comply with donor regulations and good practice.
- Coordinate with the team to ensure that the program files are kept up to date and meet minimum program management standards.
- Facilitate the elaboration of inclusive program selection criteria and methodologies that take into consideration the needs of different vulnerable groups, and monitor beneficiary selection processes to ensure that these criteria are followed.
- Work with program staff to integrate quality monitoring processes based on protocols into program implementation, including internal and external reviews of program quality.
- Ensure that program information shared with stakeholders is presented in languages, formats and media that are appropriate for, accessible to, and can be understood by the target population.
Program Development
- Advise Director of Programs and Program Managers level on strategic priorities at the provincial and national levels.
- Coordinate proposal development process, including field assessments to identify and pursue new opportunities and partnerships in accordance with the mandate, objectives and guiding principles of Mercy Corps DRC's country strategy.
- Participate in the drafting and consolidation of project proposals and fundraising documents in close cooperation with the Country Director, the Director of Programs and the Program Directors/Managers.
- Ensure that all proposals incorporate lessons learned from past or ongoing programs.
Operational Research:
- Lead the design and rollout of the operational research component of Mercy Corps DRC's cash transfer program.
- Identify opportunities to increase Mercy Corps DRC's operational research initiatives across the mission.
- Coordinate the various ongoing operational research projects in the mission to draw lessons learned, improve program quality and ensure adequate dissemination of learning both internally and externally.
- Other duties as assigned.
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 towards 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: Not applicable
ACCOUNTABILITY:
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Director of Programs
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Program Managers and Directors, DMEL Department, Heads of Offices, Operations Director (and associated Managers including HR/Administration Manager), Finance Director.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
- Master's degree in one of the following: International Development or other related field
- 1-2 years of experience with European and US institutional donors, including grants management, and proposal development.
- Field experience in conflict and development environments. Exposure to gender, protection, and conflict mitigation and management programs.
- Ability to work in a sometimes solitary environment with moderate to high levels of insecurity and significant restrictions on personal movement.
- Advanced written and spoken English is required.
- Fluency in French is a strong advantage.
- Ability to deliver high quality reports within short deadlines.
- Demonstrable knowledge of DRC
- Ability to multi-task and juggle several tasks and relationships at one time.
- Excellent communication skills, experience in representing an organization.
- Demonstrated proficiency with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is required.
- Experience in designing and rolling-out operational research is preferred.
- Proven ability to work effectively in multi-cultural teams and with technical and administrative staff and consultants.
SUCCESS FACTORS:
A successful candidate will have an ability to work independently, take initiative in tasks and self-learning, and be proactive in communications and development of professional relationships. S/he will be able to live and work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment with demonstrated sensitivity to the people and issues in the region. S/he will demonstrate exceptional interpersonal, relationship and cross-cultural communication skills especially in high stress environments are essential for success. S/he will be committed to the values and mission of Mercy Corps; have the ability to creatively problem-solve, to juggle multiple priorities under tight deadlines and to calmly and diplomatically deal with unexpected and sudden events impacting program operations with patience, dynamism, tenacity and a good sense of humor.
LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:
This position is an unaccompanied position. Shared accommodation will be provided in Goma according to Mercy Corps DRC housing policy.
Goma is a provincial capital of over 700,000 inhabitants. Living in Goma is comfortable, although water and electricity can be unstable. Outside Goma, travel can be dangerous and unpredictable due to armed forces and rebel activity.
While conditions in the country are improving, and security is quite stable in Goma, there are still pockets of violence and insecurity. Mercy Corps' sub-offices experience variable levels of insecurity, with the situation closely monitored by UN peacekeepers. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There are a number of health services available with evacuation options for serious illnesses. There's reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive.
Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. 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.
How to apply:
Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=dGNoYWJvdW5pLjY1MDM0LjM4MzBAbWVyY3ljb3Jwcy5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20