Administration Officer at Mercy Corps

Location: Maiduguri - Borno State

Program/Department Summary

• With the insurgency affecting North East Nigeria and displacing millions of people, Mercy Corps is expanding its humanitarian programming to support the conflict-affected population in Borno.
• In response to the ongoing crisis, Mercy Corps is scaling-up food security, non-food items, nutrition, protection, livelihoods, and water sanitation hygiene (WASH) activities in Dikwa, Ngala, and Jere Local Government Areas in Borno State to address emergency needs.

General Position Summary

• Mercy Corps is looking for an Administration Officer to support all administration tasks for mercy Corps in Maiduguri. 
• The Administration Officer will be responsible for the smooth running of all administration functions in support of the humanitarian program.

Essential Job Functions

• Facilitate the smooth flowing of routine, administrative work of the Mercy Corps office and program support operations;
• Enforce adherence to Mercy Corps administrative, IT, HR and logistics procedures and staff policies by support staff;
• Responsible for the smooth running of the following office functions: receiving visitors and ensuring they are going to the right offices
• Responsible for all travel and accommodation arrangements for Mercy Corps guests and staff in Maiduguri.
• Ensuring all photocopiers, printers, scanners, mail services, telephones etc are running within the office and any calls for repairs or maintences needed are properly reported to the right department focal persons.
• Oversees cleaners, gardeners that will maintain office premises are cleaned and general cleanliness is maintained.
• Oversee the smooth flow of routine, administrative work in Maiduguri office is in compliance with mercy corps field administration manual and national staff policy handbook.
• Responsible for maintaining an accurate inventory of office supplies to include stationery, consumables and cartridges/tonner.
• Conduct him/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to mercy corps and not to jeopardize its humanitarian mission
• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by Mercy Corps Country Program.
• 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.

Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum 2 years’ experience in office administration roles;
• Good computer skills– at a minimum strong familiarity with Microsoft Word, Excel and other common Windows programs.
• Must be an independent thinker and have strong organizational skills;
• Minimum of a degree in business or public administration, social work, education or other related field.
• Demonstrated excellence in administration, particularly in a multi-cultural environment, including staff training, motivation, and discipline
• Good writing and communications skills.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Good negotiation and representation skills and the ability to work comfortably with an ethnically diverse staff.
• Ability to demonstrate innovative approaches to solving problems.
• Ability to communicate fluently verbally and in writing in English Hausa, and preferably also in Kanuri.

Success Factors:

• The successful candidate will be capable of multi-tasking, rapid decision-making, have initiative, drive and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with capacity building.
• S/he will be committed to long-term program sustainability and 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.
• In particular, the successful candidate will be willing to travel to locations such as Dikwa and Ngala according to the needs of the Mercy Corps program.
• This will mean sometimes staying and working in stressful environments with very basic living conditions, strictly following security protocols at all times and sometimes working long and irregular hours.
• Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps' policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.