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.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Senior Program Officer – Policy/Advocacy
Reference Number: ABV/PRO/2019/0013
Location: Abuja, Nigeria (With an estimated 50% travel to other program locations)
Position Status: Full-time, Field-based, and Regular.
Program / Department Summary
- This is a five-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Community Initiative to Promote Peace (CIPP).
- The CIPP program aims to strengthen conflict prevention, mediation and early warning by facilitating community-led analysis and action to prevent, manage, and mitigate conflict and violent extremism. The program will work in twenty-four (24) high-risk local government areas in Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi and Plateau states.
General Position Summary
- Based in Abuja office and reporting to the CoP, the Program Officer – Policy & Advocacy will play a supporting role to the program team in the development and implementation of strategies to support CIPP decision making and advocacy efforts.
- S/he will enhance the effectiveness of the program’s advocacy efforts and help manage risk and reputation by developing an integrated approach to engaging key actors in government and other stakeholders (private sector, developmental agencies, communities), including CIPP implementing partners to advance CIPP’s support for the Government of Nigeria’s Peace agenda.
Essential Job Responsibilities
- Develop and implement advocacy strategies and corresponding work plans to achieve CIPP anticipated policy change at the state and federal levels in Nigeria.
- Develop supporting documentation (agenda, talking points, presentations, agreements, and meeting notes) for convening CIPP team led events.
- Engage policymakers directly to advance the case for peace, as well as specific issues important to Mercy Corps.
- Support, develop, and maintain relationships with local actors including the private sector, development partners and other institutions to achieve the desired impact of CIPP.
- Communicate and interact effectively with individuals across all political parties and stakeholders in Nigeria.
- Develop and maintain partnerships and networks with key Mercy Corps and policy development stakeholders in Nigeria, including key government ministries, LGAs, multi-lateral organizations, private-sector institutions, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), professional associations, and educational and research institutions.
- Organize coalition-building meetings and events, maintaining regular communication with members, representing Mercy Corps and CIPP program externally as may be appropriate.
- Gather evidence to support the development of advocacy documents and presentations, including policy memos, briefs, and fact sheets for both internal and external purposes.
- Work in consultation with communication colleagues to document and translate CIPP’s program implementation experiences for policymakers and advocacy partners.
- Provide technical assistance to CSO partners, and other organizations on the development and implementation of effective advocacy strategies/initiatives or approaches on key CIPP areas of interest and programmatic issues.
- Contribute to the development, documentation, and dissemination of cross-program lessons learned, best practices, and experience.
- Represent CIPP in national meetings and events, and on relevant policy and advocacy forums, coalitions and working groups, as necessary.
- Develop and ensure timely submission of project reports and other deliverables as may be directed by the chief of the party from time to time.
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 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 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: The Chief of Party
- Works Directly With: MEL manager, DCOP, Operations, Finance, Compliance, and country-level Technical Support Units.
Knowledge and Experience
- Advanced degree in Public Policy, Peace and Conflict Management or related field required.
- 4+ years of relevant experience with a preference for data policy and advocacy experience.
- Deep knowledge of issue advocacy and policy.
- Strong understanding of policy at the federal and state level.
- Deep understanding of how Development (in particular data) policies at the federal, as well as state-level, are formulated, enacted and implemented.
- Familiarity with data privacy and security issues in peacebuilding and other sectors.
- Ability to leverage and build advocacy partners to meet policy goals.
- Ability to work across teams in a highly matrixed environment.
- Shown ability to lead and constructively influence others and to build and sustain collaborative relationships internally and externally.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to effectively synthesize information to reach diverse audiences and build consensus.
- Strong quantitative analytic skills.
Success Factors
- The successful Sr. Program Officer will skillfully lead the implementation of CIPP activities within time, scope and budget and provide effective leadership to program officers and Assistants. S/he will have high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with peacebuilding conflict Transformation
- and will be committed to the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions:
- The position is based in Abuja and it requires up to 50% travel to field offices.
Job Title: Subaward And Compliance Manager
Reference Number: ABV/OPS/2019/0026
Location: Abuja
Position Status: Full-time,
Country Program Summary
- Mercy Corps has been present in Nigeria since 2012, focusing its interventions on humanitarian assistance, economic development, and conflict mitigation. With the ongoing insurgency in Northeast Nigeria causing the displacement of millions of individuals, Mercy Corps started its humanitarian response in 2014 to address the rising humanitarian needs.
- As the crisis has persisted, Mercy Corps’ strategy has also expanded to address the root causes of the conflict and seek to build the long term resilience of communities with integrated programs focusing on governance, the recovery of markets and livelihoods, social cohesion and social protection, youth empowerment, and local conflict management.
General Position Summary
- The Sub-award & Compliance Manager is responsible for managing the programmatic, financial and operational aspects of sub-awards issued under all programs across Mercy Corps Nigeria. Working with an increasingly wide and diverse set of local and international partners at all levels of public, private and civil society, there is a need to strengthen programmatic and financial support to partners to enable more robust growth and development of sub-grantees.
- Compliance with the donor regulations and Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures is a critical part of the capacity building process and essential to enable sub-grantees to develop strong systems that will help in the delivery of programmatic interventions.
- The Sub-award & Compliance Manager oversees the Sub-award Team. S/he works under the Program Quality & development director and works closely with staff from the Operations Team, Finance Team, Program Teams and Monitoring and Evaluation Managers. In addition, the Subgrant and Compliance Manager will establish strong links to our Global and European Headquarters through regular consultation with Mercy Corps’ compliance and legal departments in both Edinburgh (EDI) and Portland (PDX).
Essential Job Responsibilities
Sub Awards Management:
- Participate in the development of the overall programmatic strategy and the strategy for the subawards program.
- Participate in the design of new initiatives that require partnership strategies and manage the relationships with prospective partners.
- Administer competitive processes in accordance with the sub-awards manual that clearly defines and communicates steps for selecting, negotiating and awarding sub-awards.
- Responsible for the review of sub-award applicants’ budgets and budget narratives for completeness, cost realism and compliance with budget requirements.
- Responsible for pre-award financial review and other due diligence of apparently successful applicants.
- Work closely with consortium-level sub-recipient organizations to ensure they are issuing, managing and monitoring subawards in accordance with the sub-award manual.
- Ensure that all sub-grantees are complying with the procedures in the sub-awards manual and that the annexes are fully utilized.
- Draft modifications to subawards, as needed.
- Review sub-recipient financial and programmatic reports for correctness and completeness and ensure that reports are submitted on time.
- Develop sub-recipient monitoring plans, conduct financial and programmatic monitoring of sub-recipients. Visit sub-recipients and produce regular financial and programmatic monitoring visit reports.
- Follow up on all sub-award compliance issues and audits and document resolutions.
- Create and update/maintain sub-award cards and ensure sub-award expenditure reports are entered into Navigator.
- Maintain sub-award files in accordance with the Field Finance Manual and Sub-Grant Manual.
- Process sub-recipient payments and reconcile sub-award financial tracking to general ledger reports.
- Responsible for sub-award financial close-outs, including ensuring that all requirements of thesub-award agreement have been met and that sub-award funds have been properly settled.
- Assist the program team with assessing sub-recipient organizational needs, so that the sub-award process strengthens the ability of local NGOs/CSOs to meet world-class standards.
Partnership & Partner Capacity Building:
- Provide strategic program guidance and technical support for sub-grant award capacity building through provision of support to partner organizations as required and in coordination with the relevant program team.
- Conduct the capacity assessment of identified organizations using Mercy Corps’ Organizational
- Capacity Index (OCI) tool and using OCI findings, support partner organizations to create capacity development plans.
- Refine organizational development tools and recommend best approaches for partner capacity development based on existing Mercy Corps knowledge and experience.
- Deliver training to build partner capacity and technical competencies.
- Support peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and peer mentorship opportunities, including field site visits and learning events.
- Provide technical guidance to develop/strengthen the partner organization’s administrative and financial management systems and structures.
- Work closely with consortium-level sub-recipient organizations to ensure they are issuing, managing and monitoring subawards in accordance with the sub-award manual.
Compliance:
- Ensure that sub-awards are executed in alignment with the prime award agreement and the applicable donor regulations, staying abreast of changes in the regulatory environment related to donor/grant compliance.
- Identify and communicate compliance risks associated with program implementation. Work with program teams to ensure that program activities are designed to be compliant while facilitating the achievement of the program objectives.
- Review procurement and program transactions, contracts and other documents for compliance requirements and ensure these requirements are met.
- Ensure timely and accurate submission of approval requests to the donor and MC HQ.
- Prepare prior approval, waiver and other compliance requests to the donor. Assist sub-recipients, as needed with sub-recipient compliance requests to Mercy Corps.
- Prepare and maintain internal and donor compliance-related reports.
- Provide leadership and direction concerning any grant or contract functions needed for the program’s success and to provide input on program functions.
- Provide regular compliance guidance and consultations to sub-recipients on a demand-driven basis.
- Develop and conduct sub-recipient financial and compliance training workshops;
Team Management:
- Develop the capacity of the Sub-Grant team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
- Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
- Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
- Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
- Hire, orient and lead team members as necessary.
Influence & Representation:
- Interface with the (donor) representatives to convey information about programs as appropriate.
- Participate in sharing best practices with NGOs and governmental agencies.
- Consistently demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and composure, even under difficult circumstances.
- Maintain high ethical standards and treat people with respect and dignity.
- Demonstrate an awareness of his/her strengths and development needs.
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:
- 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.
Supervisory Responsibility:
- All Sub-Award Team members: Sub-Award Compliance coordinator, Sub-Award partnership Officer, Sub-Award Officers
Accountability:
- Reports Directly To: Program Quality and development director
- Works Directly With: Finance Department, (with authority for technical financial matters); Operations Department, Program Managers, MCG/MCE HQ Compliance, and others
Knowledge and Experience
- A Master or equivalent in relevant field Social science, Management, finance required; advanced degree preferred.
- At least 7 years of relevant field or management experience of complex, multi-dimensional programming including administering small subawards in an international environment.
- At least 4 years’ experience in grants & sub-grant management as well as an understanding of USAID, DFID and EU regulations required.
- At least 3 years’ international experience required; international NGO/PVO field office experience is preferred.
- Demonstrated experience and skill with administrating solicitations for sub-awards, assessing potential sub-recipients and the proven ability to oversee a team that is responsible for monitoring sub-recipients.
- Strong skills and experience working with donors to obtain approvals and waivers as necessary for compliance with donor regulations.
- Prior management experience and strong organizational skills.
- Advanced computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel.
- Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
- Excellent oral and written English skills required;
- Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
- Previous experience in insecure environments
Success Factors:
- The successful candidate will have an ability to interact effectively across international and national program teams successfully, both in a managerial as well as training capacity.
- S/he will be able to support programmatic objectives with timely and meaningful financial information, have a demonstrated ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities.
- An impeccable professional standard of program, finance and procurement ethics and the willingness and ability to enforce compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures is essential.
- The Sub-Grant and Compliance Manager must be willing to travel regularly to Mercy Corps field offices and project sites.
- 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.
Living Conditions I Environmental Conditions
- The Sub-Grant & Compliance Manager is based in the capital city of Abuja. Housing, health care, water, electricity and consumer goods are all reasonably accessible and there are good international and domestic travel options from Abuja Airport. Air travel is necessary to reach some field locations. Mobile phones services are widely available. This position requires travel by air to field offices.
- Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TOY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves professionally and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
- Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.
Deadline: 16th August, 2019.
Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and Cover Letters in one document, addressing the position requirements, reference number and location to: ng-recruitment.nigeria@mercycorps.org
Note
- All applications must include the position title and reference number in the subject line
- Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interview
- We are an equal opportunity organization so women are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.
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