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.
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 Manager is a key position on Mercy Corps Nigeria’s Programme and Quality (PaQ) team and supports the Northeast program teams as the point person for communicating Mercy Corps’ impact and innovation to donors and other external parties. 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 Reporting Manager must develop and possess an understanding of compliance and reporting requirements for each donor and work with teams to deliver quality reporting. 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 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 Quality and Development Director as needed. As such, the Grants and Reporting Manager 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.
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, 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.
- 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 Northeast 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, lead on the development of concept notes and funding proposals (including budgets), coordinating the process with all departments of the Northeast team
- 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.
PROGRAMME QUALITY
- Support the Program Quality and Development Director with compliance to PM@MC minimum standards for program management.
- Work closely with program teams primarily in Northeast 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.
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 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: Reporting and Communications Officer
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Program Quality and Development Director
Works Directly With: Program teams, Finance Department, Sub-Grant and Compliance Manager, 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 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. S/he 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:**
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.
- 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.
PI116998225
More Information
- Job City Maiduguri
