Sub-awards and Compliance Officer at Mercy Corps

Program / Department Summary

• The Mercy Corps Subaward Unit 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 broad 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.

General Position Summary

• Working directly under the direction of the Sub award and Compliance Manager, the Sub-awards & Compliance officer will support in adherence to the compliance procedures related program, finance, and documentation with attention to USAID funded BEGE Project in Borno.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Sub-Grants:

• Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps and donors regulations related to sub-granting, including issuance, management and monitoring of sub-awards as well as supporting team members on processes and guidelines.
• Work closely with consortium-level sub-recipient organizations to ensure they are issuing, managing, and monitoring sub-awards in accordance with the sub-award policy.
• Provide Program & financial review for all local partner reports and follow up with any missing documents.
• Set up physical grant files and ensure all grant documents are properly filed, both financial and program reports.
• 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.
• Support in preparation of sub-award Journals and enter same on navigator for subgrantee liquidations.
• Update Reporting tracker and follow up with Partner for submission of a timely report
• Support in preparing for sub-grants kickoff meetings and sub-grants closeout meetings with close coordination with Deputy Sub-Awards and Compliance Manager.

Partnership & Capacity Building:

• Provide strategic program guidance and technical support for sub-grant award capacity building through the 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.
• Provide compliance guidance and consultations to sub-recipients on a demand-driven basis.

Strategy & Vision:

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to countrywide strategy development.
• Develop and organize activities to secure resources for programs and convince stakeholders to provide support.
• Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.

Team Management:

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
• Provide team members and sub-awardees with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.

Influence & Representation:

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, local governments and other stakeholders.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.

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 international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in designing, monitoring and evaluating our field projects.

Accountability:

• Reports Directly to: Deputy Sub-Awards & Compliance Manager based in Abuja.
• Works Directly with: Program and operational teams, finance and sub-award teams in Borno, Abuja and across Mercy Corps Nigeria

Knowledge and Experience

• A University Degree in Finance, Accounting or equivalent is required.
• At least three (3) years of Subaward, compliance and finance experience is required.
• One year of experience in the finance or Subaward & compliance Department of an international NGO is preferred.
• Demonstrated competency with computerized general ledger software
• Advanced computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel
• Prior management experience and strong organizational skills
• Excellent oral and written English skills
• Filing and organizational skills required

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 within the implementation location and outside the state capitals 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 always following security protocols 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 MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

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 possibility 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 a 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, colour, 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 the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary-General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.
• 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 adhere to the 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.