Ethics & Assurance Manager at Mercy Corps

General Position Summary

The Ethics & Assurance Manager (EAM) will serve as the Mercy Corps Kenya focal point for ensuring compliance with Mercy Corps’ Code of Conduct and ethics policies and procedures. He/she will examine, review, and analyze records, reports, financial information and management practices to ensure compliance with laws, regulations and Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures and will investigate potential violations of Mercy Corps’ Ethics policies, with an emphasis on fraud and corruption. The Ethics & Assurance Manager will assist the country management team in developing, implementing and monitoring effective financial and operational controls over activities and offices to mitigate risk.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Ethics Incident Response

• Following Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures, serve as country focal point for the internal reporting of any allegations of Ethics violations, including fraud and corruption.
• Liaise with the Headquarters Ethics team, and other teams as needed, in the resolution of all reported fraud and corruption incidents.
• As agreed with the Headquarters Ethics department, conduct inquiries and investigations to determine the facts, circumstances and scope of any fraud and corruption allegations raised.
• Collect, analyze and document the results of fraud and corruption investigations and communicate observations and recommendations with the collaboration of the Country Director, as appropriate.
• Prepare final reports to fully document the investigation and resolution of incidents. Reports will be reviewed by the Headquarters Ethics team.
• Liaise with program teams in implementing the country Community Accountability Response Mechanism (CARM). Respond to Ethics violation referrals received through the CARM.

Ethics Training and Awareness

• Assist the country management team with the implementation of new Headquarters or country Ethics policies and procedures, acting as a catalyst for change and acceptance and supporting smooth implementation.
• In coordination with established onboarding processes, assist with the onboarding of new country team members to ensure awareness and understanding of Ethics policies. Conduct and/or coordinate regular anti-fraud and anti-corruption prevention for country response staff and partners.

 Internal Controls

• Assist the country management team in determining effective and efficient solutions to operational issues that ensure compliance with Mercy Corps’ policies and donor regulations, mitigate the risk of fraud or corruption, and facilitate the achievement of program objectives.
• Assist program, operations and finance teams with implementing standard procedures or, as necessary, developing and documenting enhanced procedures for high-risk program activities, in particular those providing a direct financial benefit to participants (e.g., vouchers, cash distributions), requiring high value procurement, or the distribution of in-kind goods.
• In coordination with the country management team and program managers, maintain the country-level Risk Register to identify key risks and document strategies to mitigate these risks. Manage the quarterly update process and ensure communication of action plans.
• In coordination with relevant teams, perform periodic internal control reviews of in country financial, procurement, human resource, and logistics procedures.
• In coordination with program and monitoring and evaluation staff, conduct field reviews of program activities to ensure that adequate controls are in place and are functioning properly. Communicate findings and work with the relevant departments to correct weaknesses and improve controls as needed.
• As agreed with the program and finance teams, advise on the development of monitoring plans for partners, including sub recipients, key vendors and other partners that must adhere to ethics policies. In coordination with relevant teams, perform periodic compliance reviews of partners.
• In coordination with the country management team and HQ Finance, assist with the follow-up and resolution of external audit or Mercy Corps Internal Audit findings.
• Perform other related special projects and duties as determined and assigned by management. 

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

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 and stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
  to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting or a related business field is required; and an advanced degree is a plus.
• 5 years+ related work experience with a not-for-profit organization implementing international programs or other reputable private sector entities.
• Strong background in compliance, systems and internal controls.
• Relevant experience in fraud investigations or Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) or Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) designations are strongly preferred.
• Solid understanding of a wide-range of ethics violations, including fraud and corruption in humanitarian and/or development settings; Understanding of best practice in ethics management and accountability within INGOs, including best practices for investigations of ethical violations;
• Demonstrated experience in successfully working with administrative and program staff at all organizational levels.
• Solid organizational and research skills with a broad understanding of various program sectors and activities.
• Demonstrated experience in financial and operational data analysis.
• Advanced computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel.
• Fluent written and oral communication in English.