Program Officer at Mercy Corps

Essential Responsibilities
PROGRAMME AND GRANT ADMINISTRATION
The PO is the HQ point of responsibility for overall monitoring of grants/programmes for external/donor requirements as well as Mercy Corps’ internal policies and requirements. They provide ongoing monitoring of the status of programmes and complete regular check-ins on grant requirements (such as co-financing, budget versus actuals, data aggregation, etc.). They support country teams’ adherence to Mercy Corps internal policies and Programme Management minimum standards. They review and contribute to high quality reports and other donor deliverables.

PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT

The PO leads HQ coordination for proposals. Throughout the proposal process, the PO monitors the timeline, status of proposal, provides input into the design and communicates to the relevant parties as appropriate. The PO reviews the final draft for coherence and donor requirements, and manages submission. They may be appointed a different role in the design process and travel to the field if needed.

EXTERNAL REPRESENTATION

With guidance from the SPO, RD, DRD, Country Directors and other relevant stakeholders, the PO represents regional interests and programmes with external stakeholders.

STRATEGY, PLANNING & LEARNING

With guidance from the SPO, the PO supports country teams with strategy development and planning. The PO facilitates learning across country portfolios and regions and shares lessons learned and knowledge of agency resources/tools/best practices/etc.

OTHER

• Internal Communication: In coordination with the APO, the PO supports internal communications and ensures knowledge management systems are up to date and accurate to support communication with other teams.
• Knowledge Management: In coordination with the APO, the PO ensures management of agency systems and adherence to HQ-related Programme Management minimum standards, etc.
• Orientation: For new-hires visiting HQ, PO provides briefings on context, country strategy and programmes prior to their departure as initial step in the on-boarding process. As requested, PO supports supervisors with on-boarding of new expatriate team members.
• Accountability to Participants 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 communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Educated to Bachelor's level, or equivalent experience.
• French and English fluency required
• 2-4 years of field-based experience in international relief and development; demonstrated knowledge of relevant sectoral and/or operational areas. Africa experience preferred.
• 2-4 years of experience managing the development, implementation, administration and compliance of grants; general programme management experience preferred. Similar experience with contracts is also preferred.
• Experience with proposal development with various donors, particularly European institutions (ECHO, EC, FCDO, Sida etc.), private foundations and corporations.
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation, and other learning efforts.
• Experience representing an organisation and its interests to a diverse range of local and international government officials, local civil society organisations, other international organisations, the media and the public is preferred.