Grants Manager

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps works in places of transition, where conflict, disaster, political upheaval, or economic collapse present opportunities to build more secure, productive, and just communities. Providing emergency relief in times of crisis, we move quickly to help communities recover and build resilience to future shocks, and promote sustainable change by supporting community-led and market-driven initiatives. Recognizing both the great potential and the complex challenges faced by the Middle East, since 1989 Mercy Corps has been implementing a range of humanitarian assistance and development programs tailored to the specific needs of the region and of those communities where we work.

In Syria, Mercy Corps has been implementing emergency and life-sustaining activities since 2012. Mercy Corps currently operates with multiple institutional donors and a rigid, reporting regime.

General Position Summary

The Grants Manager will support the program department as the point person for communicating Mercy Corps humanitarian activities through donor reports. This includes collation of information from each operational department into concise and clear narratives, supported by statistical evidence and case studies. The Grants Manager must develop and possess an understanding of compliance and reporting format requirements for each donor and communicate those to program teams as needed. They will also serve as the focal point to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal systems of Program Management @ Mercy Corps (PM@MC) and must possess a basic understanding of internal standards in monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) and accountability. They are an integral part of the Mercy Corps team working inside Syria as well as the Whole of Syria grants unit and are expected to have a strong operational understanding of all activities and strategy. They will also be the point person for drafting new proposals and developing the initial narrative and budget requirements, in close collaboration with the Senior Grants Manager and Grants Management Director in Amman. As such, the Grants Manager is expected to liaise across all departments. Finally, they will be 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.

The Grants Manager will work under the direct supervision of the Senior Grants Manager, as well as working relationships with the relevant Area Director, Finance, Program Performance and Quality (PaQ), Program Managers, security and all other field departments in coordinating all grants/reporting-related tasks. Additionally, the Grants Manager will coordinate closely with the Regional Program Team in Mercy Corps’ headquarters.

Essential Job Responsibilities

GRANTS MANAGEMENT

• Coordinate across program, Program Performance and Quality (PaQ), finance and support functions, as well as HQ offices throughout the grant cycle to ensure appropriate set up of new grants, ongoing reporting and close out of grants.
• Coordinate the preparation of accountable donor and internal reporting in compliance with internal and donor requirements, ensuring timely inputs from program, PaQ, finance and operations teams, and ensure review and signoff processes are thorough and adhered to.
• Maintain an up to date grant filing system that meets minimum PM@MC and donor standards.
• Update project management tools, including funding trackers, grant trackers and dashboards.
• Work closely with the Senior Grants Manager on effective coordination and management of grants to ensure they remain on-time, on scope and on budget. This includes:
• Providing regular information on project progress and burn-rates;
• Working closely with the Area and Program Directors and Finance, to ensure accurate forecasting, flagging challenges and opportunities;
• Coordinate and document all program kick-off, review and close-out meetings, track action points for follow-up and record/document all lessons learned;
• Prepare for and participate in complex board meetings and update board members of program progress against indicators and milestones, as well as program support needs.

NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Lead the development of concept notes and proposals, coordinating across departments, with the region and HQ, engaging particularly with the Program Performance and Quality (PAQ) team, technical advisors, program leads and finance to ensure the production of high quality proposals that are reflective of Mercy Corps and donor strategic objectives, are operationally viable and accurately reflect the cost of doing business.
• 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 office as well as the region and HQ.
• Coordinate both internally and externally, to ensure that prior to submission all proposals are reviewed and approved by management and HQ, as appropriate.
• Lead on modification of programs in response to changing contexts and implementation realities.
• Support the Grants Management Director and Senior Grants Manager in tracking funding opportunities, including calls for funding progress of proposals, submission deadlines, financing available. Ensure all appropriate donor and Mercy Corps proposal formats are available in country.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Ensure programs are executed in alignment with the donor agreement and the applicable donor regulations, staying abreast of changes in the regulatory environment related to donor/grant compliance.
• Ensure that key contributing staff and partners have a clear understanding of donor requirements and expectations at all stages of the grant cycle.
• Provide support and training to the field teams to ensure that PM@MC minimum standards for program management, including complex program management, are met.
• In coordination with the Senior Grants Manager and Finance, ensure comprehensive monthly BvA meetings and lead grant review meetings presenting up to date information, identifying issues to be addressed and following up on action points.
• Support the finance team with budget development and ensure consistency with program planning.
• Support to Value for Money (VFM) initiatives across Mercy Corps Syria.
• OTHER TASKS
• Produce other information and communications products for both internal and external audiences as required.
• As delegated, act as focal point for all queries and information requests from Mercy Corps and donors.
• Represent Mercy Corps to donors and other key stakeholders, as required.

Accountability

Supervisory Responsibility: None.

Reports Directly to: Grants Management Director

Works Directly with: Syria Area Directors, as well as Program Teams, Finance Department, Programme Performance and Quality (PaQ), Operations, Security & Access, Humanitarian Access Team (HAT), and the rest of the Grants team.

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

• Bachelor degree or equivalent in related field. Masters or equivalent in a field related to Humanitarian Assistance or International Development is preferred.

• Minimum of 3 years of experience providing coordination or management support program implementation in humanitarian contexts, including:
  • Preparing writing and analysis on programmatic activities;
  • Budget development and management experience;
  • Managing work plans;
  • Representing programs with donors and external stakeholders.

• Excellent writing and communication skills required.
• Ability to produce and edit documents under deadline pressure.
• Experience working with key institutional donors (USAID, ECHO, EC, etc.) preferred. 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, ECHO, EC, etc.).
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation and other learning efforts.
• Strong understanding of key humanitarian principles and good practices.
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving.
• Ability to efficiently deal with competing priorities.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
• Experience working in a multicultural setting.
• Graduate degree in a relevant field preferred.
• Experience working in the Middle East region and Syrian context preferred.
• PM@MC certified preferred.
• Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in Arabic or Kurdish is a plus.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will combine exceptional organizational abilities and writing skills with good humor under pressure. They will learn and move between all departments to consolidate essential information for accurately reporting Mercy Corps activities in Syria. They will be able to capture strategy and planning into concise and clear documents in new proposal development. It is critical that the Grants Manager is an excellent communicator, who is supportive and solution-focused. They need to be highly motivated, self-driven and able to support complex programs with limited daily support and direction; they will be able to work remotely with internal and external stakeholders to achieve common objectives. They will be a multi-tasker with the proven ability to organize and prioritize competing priorities. The candidate will be organized and maintain a clear electronic and paper filing system. They will ensure donor compliance and best practices are upheld throughout the entire grants management process. The successful candidate will ultimately be able to provide constructive input to large relief programs and therefore, must be willing to learn from others. In particular, best practices in cross cutting issues including accountability, gender and protection. They must be focused on capacity building of national staff; have strong program support and information management skills.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Amman, Jordan and it requires 30% regional travel. This location is accompanied and secure. Housing is individual accommodation with unlimited freedom of movement beyond the house/office. There are several good International schools in Jordan. Staff have easy access to services – medical, electricity, water, etc.

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.

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.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

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