MCEurope recruits 01 Grants and Partnerships Manager

MCEurope recruits 01 Grants and Partnerships Manager

This position is pending donor approval

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.

About Mercy Corps in the DRC

Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of approximately 400 people working in Eastern DRC. Mercy Corps’ national office is in Goma with sub-field offices in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces. Mercy Corps’ key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to: 1) Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas; 2) Improve food security and nutrition; 3) Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development. Mercy Corps DRC’s humanitarian programs aim specifically to assist populations affected by the conflict and crisis in Eastern Congo with multi-purpose cash assistance and emergency WASH support to displaced and host populations. Mercy Corps is also currently responding the unfolding Ebola epidemic in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces. The current annual budget includes resources from DFID, USAID, ECHO, UN-donors, Government of Netherlands, OFDA, FFP, SDC and others.

Program Summary

In 2008, Mercy Corps and USAID launched a project to rehabilitate and extend the municipal water system of Goma and it was extended through other various donors.  In 2013, Mercy Corps signed a new $60M (USD) grant agreement with DFID-DRC to replicate and scale-up the Goma water project in two cities in Eastern Congo. The program involves designing, rehabilitating, extending and constructing city water and sanitation infrastructure as well as working to reform management structures to ensure that the systems are managed profitably and sustainably. In 2019, Mercy Corps is pursuing expanded peri-urban water and sanitation programming with an anticipated USAID funded project valued at up to $50M.

General Position Summary

The Grants and Partnership Manager is responsible for supporting coordination among the program partners. This involves leading programmatic and financial oversight of established work plans and budgets, nurturing synergies and cross-learning among the consortium partners, supporting partners with technical resources and guidance on grants management and M&E systems and tools, and ensuring timely narrative and financial reporting in compliance with donor standards and templates.

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION

• Ensure that partners are operating in alignment with the strategic goals of the program.
• Identify and support opportunities for innovative action and synergies among partners.
• Create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed and learning is leveraged to ensure adaptive program strategy.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Manage sub-award portfolio, including monitoring grant performance, financial oversight, disbursements and M&E requirements.
• Create and maintain effective grant management information, documentation, compliance and tracking systems, in line with Mercy Corps and the donor’s standards and requirements.
• Ensure grants implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective grants management standards and systems.
• Consult program Managers and M&E Officer as needed for enhanced monitoring and evaluation exercises according to Mercy Corps’ best practices and compliance requirements.
• Identify potential problems during implementation by the consortium partners and collaborate with the Program Managers to make recommendations.
• Ensure that Consortium partners complete narrative and financial reports in a timely manner in line with templates provided by Mercy Corps, and integrate partner reporting into reports and communications for the donor.
• Ensure that Consortium partners reporting is properly embedded into overall reports to USAID.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Ensure the grants management is transparent and compliant with donor and Mercy Corps regulations and procedures.
• Monitor all approved grants and ensure timely financial projections and reporting is completed in line with Mercy Corps and donor templates.
• Liaise with Finance to address any reporting challenges in a timely manner.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

• Develop and manage collaborative relationships with Consortium partners
• Maintain communication tools and systems to ensure effective coordination and reinforce Mercy Corps’ ability to represent the Consortium.
• Document success stories and lessons learned among partners and coordinate with wider team to publicize the work of the Consortium.

MONITORING, EVALUATION & CONSORTIUM LEARNING

• In collaboration with M&E Team, support Consortium partners to develop and maintain program monitoring tools and systems and utilize data and analysis to inform program management and ensure timely, efficient and reliable monitoring of program outputs and outcomes.
• Foster a community of practice, whereby partners share lessons learned and best practices.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO BENEFICIARIES

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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.
• Team and Consortium 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.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Chief of Party

Works Directly With: Partner Team Leads and finance personnel, Mercy Corps Technical Leads, Finance and Operations staff and MEL team

Supervisory Responsibility: N/A

Knowledge and Experience

• BA/S: sociology, economics, finance, business administration, international development or related field. MA/S preferred.
• 2-4 years of experience in international development, with notable experience in grants management and report writing.
• Experience working on USAID-funded assistance projects of a similar size and scope and familiarity with USAID rules, regulations and requirements is preferred.
• Experience with grants management.
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
• Fluent in spoken and written English and French.
• Excellent computer literacy is required.

Success Factors

The successful Grants and Partnerships Manager will have a track record of experience in contracts and grants management with international organizations in fragile contexts. Meticulous, well organized, and detail-oriented with an eye towards accountability, transparency in project management, grants disbursements, monitoring and evaluation for high performance to achieve desired impact. S/he will have proven experience in be an excellent coordinator with experience in complex and challenging contexts. S/he will be comfortable working with cross-cultural teams and bring excellent communication and mentoring skills. Multitasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential for this position. The most successful Mercy Corps staff 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. Patience, tenacity, diplomacy and a sense of humor will contribute to the success of this position.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position will be based in Goma (DRC). Accommodation will be provided in Goma within group housing. Goma is a provincial capital of over 700,000 inhabitants. Living in Goma is comfortable, although water and electricity can be unstable. There are different restaurants and leisure activities available.

While conditions in the country are improving, 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.  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 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.

Diversity is powerful. To achieve transformational change, we seek out team members with different origins, beliefs, backgrounds and ways of thinking. Diversity helps us unlock complexity