Cash and Voucher Program Officer at Mercy Corps

Reference Number: MDG/HUMOPS/2018/00029
Location: Ngala and Dikwa - Borno State

Program/Department Summary

• Mercy Corps Nigeria’s humanitarian program aims to provide assistance to populations affected by the crisis in Northeast Nigeria. With funding from humanitarian donors including OFDA, FFP, EU, and ECHO the humanitarian programs engage in several interventions including but not limited to food assistance, non-food items (NFI), protection, livelihoods, cash transfers, WASH and capacity building of humanitarian response actors.
• Mercy Corps is scaling-up and expanding its humanitarian response in Northeast Nigeria to reach more beneficiaries with additional assistance in a wider geographic area.

General Position Summary

• The Cash Transfer Programming (CTP)/Cash for Work (CFW) Program Officer is responsible for assisting in the implementation of CTP and CFW activities in the intervention communities of southern Borno State. With support from the Senior Program Officer – Cash & Vouchers, s/he will supervise all projects, project selection and planning, project assets, local government and community liaison work, monitoring and payment.
• The CTP/CFW Program Officer will report to the Cash & Vouchers Senior Program Officer and work collaboratively with fellow program and MEL staff. S/He may also support other livelihood sector interventions including unconditional cash transfers, livelihood grants and VSLAs.

Essential Job Functions

• Plan and ensure the effective implementation of CTP/CFW.
• Contribute to all CTP/CFW related field work, including community mobilization, beneficiary identification/registration, distributions, and monitoring.
• Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to established vulnerability criteria.
• Review labor and time-line requirements for CFW activities, determining staffing requirements.
• Coordinate payment procedures, including documentation, approval and actual payment.
• Oversee procurement of all materials for CFW projects.
• Maintain all documentation relating directly to CTP/CFW activities required to ensure accountability to the donor, particularly where labor is concerned.
• Oversee administrative matters relating directly to CFW activities: time-sheets, payment schedules, required paper-work and liaison with finance department.
• Maintain all documentation relating directly to cash transfer activities required to ensure accountability.
• Oversee administrative matters relating directly to cash transfer activities including reconciliation with cash-out agents following distributions.
• Contribute to effective program reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems for both internal and external use in coordination with the other program staff.
• Work with the Senior Program Officer – Cash & Vouchers to prepare monthly cash requirement forecast for CFW activities, including the purchase of materials at site and CFW labor payments.
• Provide information on CTP/CFW activities as requested by the Team Leader, Deputy Team Leader, Senior Program Officer – Cash & Vouchers or MEL team.
• Support orientation for all new staff on CTP/CFW.
• Report on any problems encountered in the field such as project participant complaints, local authority interference, and security threats to MC staff and activities. Coordinate with MC Security Officer and Livelihoods Manager on any threats to MC staff and activities; follow up on incidents/security threats in areas of operation.
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Other duties as assigned.

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.

Accountability

• Supervisory Responsibility: None
• Reports Directly To: Cash and Voucher Senior Program Officer
• Works Directly With: Program, Operations, MEL, and support team

Knowledge And Experience

• BA/S in relevant field required;
• 3 years of experience working on the development, implementation, administration and compliance of a field-based international development or humanitarian program; general program management experience required.
• Prior experience implementing distributions is required, preferably in a non-camp setting. Experience with CTP/CFW or other community micro-projects strongly preferred.
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders to identify beneficiaries according to criteria required.
• Experience with running assessments, monitoring and evaluation and other learning efforts required.
• Experience representing the organization and its interests to a diverse range of local and international government officials, local civil society organizations, other international organizations, the media and the public.
• Commitment to renewing and maintaining knowledge of best practices
• Demonstrated training and facilitation experience
• Ability to work under pressure
• Demonstrated strengths in analytical skills, monitoring and evaluation, and report writing
• Strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills
• Excellent oral and written skills and computer skills
• Fluency in English; fluency in Hausa is required.

Success Factors

• The successful candidate will have a can-do attitude. Ideally s/he will have previous experience in working in large-scale emergency programs in insecure and conflict-affected contexts. S/he is a problem solver, an effective community mobilizer who is adept in successfully dealing with issues of complexity. S/he is an active listener and contributor, working to create a strong team share ideas and learn.
• 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 MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.