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 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.
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 Nigeria continue to scale up and serve communities by transitioning them from humanitarian aid to early recovery programs.
General Position Summary
The Grants and Development Officer is a key supporting position on Mercy Corps Nigeria’s Programme and Quality (PaQ) team and supports the program teams as the point person for articulating Mercy Corps’ impact and innovation to donors. This includes working closely with program and project teams to support research and consolidation of information to feed in to clear narratives, statistical evidence and case studies. The Grants and Development Officer must develop and possess an understanding of compliance and reporting requirements for each donor and work with teams to deliver quality reporting. They 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. They are expected to have a strong operational understanding of all activities and strategy. They will also play a key role in the drafting of new proposals and developing the initial narrative and budget requirements, in close collaboration with program and technical focal points. As such, the Grants and Development Officer is expected to liaise across all departments. Finally, they will be 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.
Essential Job Responsibilities
Reporting & Grants Management
- Responsible for coordination, tracking and development of high volume of donor reports – ensuring they are of a high quality and submitted on schedule.
- Lead on the production of internal reports as needed, ensuring timely inputs from program, finance and operations teams, and ensure review and signoff processes are thorough and adhered to.
- Act as the primary focal point with the desk teams in Portland and Edinburgh in response to donor priorities and adhere to specific requirements and deadlines.
- Lead on capacity building on report writing and information management for staff.
- Provide draft answers upon request to donor questions and inquiries, while ensuring compliance with donor regulations.
- Liaise with sub-grant focal point to ensure reporting standards are upheld by partners.
Proposal Development
- As needed, support on the development of concept notes and funding proposals (including budgets), coordinating the process with all departments
- Support PaQ team to ensure proposals and concept notes are developed in a timely manner and with realistic deadlines, and that these are communicated and understood by focal points internal to the MC Nigeria team as well as the regional and HQ teams.
- Support to 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.
Program Quality
- As needed, support the Program Quality and Development Director with compliance to PM@MC minimum standards for program management.
- Work closely with program teams primarily on program monitoring, progress and quality to support ongoing reporting, proposals and other operational management tools.
- Ensure that program documentation meets 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.
- As a PaQ team member, support the CARM structure as needed for programs outside of NE portfolio.
Other Tasks
- As needed, represent Mercy Corps at select external meetings around compliance, donor regulations, new opportunity discussions, etc.
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: none
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Program Quality and Development Director
Works Directly With: Program teams, Finance Department, Sub-Grant and Compliance Manager, Operations, Security
Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills
- Bachelor degree or equivalent in related field. Graduate degree preferred.
- 2-3 years of experience related to humanitarian and/or developmental work
- Strong writing and analytical skills, and ability to edit with a critical eye to detail
- Ability to deliver to deadline under 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 (USAID, DFID, ECHO, EC).
- 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.
- Demonstrated ability to support in the development of proposals for new projects and programs from conception to submission.
- Demonstrated understanding of complex humanitarian and transitional contexts, specific contextual knowledge of Nigeria preferred.
- Excellent verbal and written communication, organizational and prioritization skills and the ability to multi-task and support and/or fill multiple positions at one time.
- Demonstrated attention to detail and ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work both independently and cooperatively with team members.
- Fluency in spoken and written English required.
Success Factors:
A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures, and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. They will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritize, take initiative, and be accountable for results, understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details, problem solving, work within a complex and sensitive setting and to follow laws and security protocols. The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions:
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The position will be based in Abuja, Nigeria and may require travel to other field locations as needed. 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.
Given the nature of the response, working hours require flexibility and working through weekends/evenings might be necessary.
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. 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.
More Information
- Job City Abuja
