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Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.
Driven by local needs, our programs provide communities in the world’s toughest places with the tools and support they need to turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve.
Mercy Corps is looking for committed and dynamic individual to take up the following position.
Finance and Sub Grants Manager – BRACED
Programme / Department Summary: The Mercy Corps Building Resilience in Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) is a flagship programme of the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID) under the International Climate Fund (ICF).
BRACED is a global initiative that aims to benefit up to 5 million vulnerable people, especially women and children, in developing countries by helping them be more resilient in the face of climate extremes and disasters. DFID has funded BRACED programs around the world including Africa and Asia.
Mercy Corps has received funding for implementation BRACED consortium in Kenya and Uganda which will enhance resilience to climate extremes in northern Kenya and Northern Uganda through community-led and systems-driven programmes.
General Position Summary: The Finance and Sub-grants (F & S) Manager will support program implementation of the BRACED programme, in Northern Kenya and in Northeastern Uganda by working with the BRACED Mercy Corps team and consortium members including local and international partners.
The Finance and Sub-Grants Manager will work very closely with all consortium members to ensure accountability, adherence to DFID compliance requirements, capacity building of local partners, and support to programme monitoring and adaptive management.
Essential Job Functions:
Programme Implementation: The F&S Manager works under the guidance and supervision of the Kenya Finance Director and with direct interaction with the BRACED Programme Director, Managers, Consortium Members and the Mercy Corps Home Office Finance Team.
The F&S Manager is expected to be an integral part of the senior management team in-country and work closely with the management, technical and operations field and country teams in Kenya and Uganda.
- Support the Programme Director in managing all financial operations of the project, including acounting and reporting, cash management, and budget management.
- Travel between field locations including Nairobi, Wajir, Kampala and Karamoja
- Provide direct oversight of the BRACED subgrants and finance team including staff of consortium partners. Manage financial operations and financial reporting of BRACED. Provide monthly management reports to the Country Directors in Kenya and Uganda, Programme Director and Programme Managers, including expenditures by fund and country, subgrantee reporting and other financial information, in a timely and accurate manner.
- Participate in developing of annual fiscal year budgets with the Finance Director and Country Directors and implement grant budgeting and forecasting systems with Programme Managers
- Ensure that the project financial operations are in compliance with all DFID and Mercy Corps policies and procedures
- Ensure that monthly transactions are reviewed and entered in the General Ledger accurately and on timely basis
- ssist with monthly review and reconciliations of balance sheet accounts (receivables, payables, advances, bank & cash reconciliations, etc.) and all the BRACED related expenditures.
- Review BRACED related payment documents, national staff payroll and other supporting documents ensuring their compliance with the local laws, donor regulations and MC Kenya internal policies.
- Be prepared to respond to any budgetary and financial inquiries from the donor, consortium members and Mercy Corps senior management within East Africa and home office in Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Prepare monthly cash flow projections and request funds from the home office.
- Provide financial advisory on overall strategic programme decisions
- Oversee and coordinate management of sub-grant agreements and financial management of sub-grants
- Review and track expenses and proper documentation as per Mercy Corps procedures and donor requirements for record keeping and accountancy
- Responsible for processing of sub-grants and issuance of payments, transfers and transactions between BRACED consortium members as well as locally engaged partners.
- Oversee pre-award and post-award activities include asset control, timely reporting and contract fulfillment to check against payment
- Work with BRACED programme team to verify and track budget and expenditures vis-Ã -vis sub-grant awards and ensure proper reporting, documentation and overall deliverables are reviewed by Senior Management and signed off on prior to issuance of payment.
- Ensure consistency across sub-grantees on basic provisions and highlight issues that could be viewed as bias or discrepancies.
- Provide regular reports on BRACED , issues, recommendations that need to be considered for operational adjustment
- Work with Mercy Corps Kenya and Uganda Finance Directors to conduct ad-hoc audit review of BRACED field operations
- Other financial and subgrant tasks as required
Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and Reporting:
- Work with the BRACED Senior Management, M&E and finance staff in Nairobi and home office to ensure that BRACED deliverables are aligned with value-for-money objectives and that financial milestones are proportionate to programme milestones. Provide financial perspective in management and decision-making to enhance BRACED Mercy Corps’ adaptive management.
Staff Management, Professional Development and Team building:
- Create a work atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development of personnel at all levels.
- Implement, and ensure all staff are effectively using the performance planning and management system, establishing performance expectations and regularly providing constructive feedback.
- Promote accountability by conducting staff annual performance reviews with direct supervisees, and ensuring that supervisory staff do the same.
- Contribute to country team-building efforts, and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
Programme Support Operations:
- Ensure that BRACED financial systems are efficient and are based on smooth-running infrastructure that facilitate timely and efficient programme implementation. Provide regular review of field operations to ensure cost-effectiveness and provide guidance on improved operational practices for value-for-money.
Security:
- Work with field office management teams to establish financial reporting and management systems that ensure the safety and security of BRACED financial resources including cash assets and records.
Other duties as assigned.
Organizational Learning: As part of Mercy Corps’ agency-wide Organizational Learning Initiative, all team members are responsible for spending 5% of their time in formal and/or non-formal professional learning activities.
Supervisory Responsibility: Direct supervision of Finance Officers
Accountability: Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards 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.
Reports Directly To: Mercy Corps Kenya Finance Director
Works Directly With: Kenya and Uganda Country Directors, BRACED programme team, finance and subgrant staff in Nairobi, Kampala, Wajir and Karamoja, and technical and support staff from Mercy Corps office in Portland, Oregon and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Knowledge and Experience:
- A BA/S or equivalent in accounting or finance required; advanced degree preferred.
- Professional accounting certification highly preferred
- At least four (4) years of demonstrated professional experience managing financial and administrative aspects of large international development projects, preferably DFID-funded projects
- Significant experience managing and supervising financial and administrative personnel
- Strong accounting skills and experience, including management of the general ledger, journal entries, payroll, payables and balance sheet
- Commitment to excellence in financial systems and management, and commitment to identifying and combatting fraud and corruption, and ability to train staff in the same
- Strong analytical and computer skills, with emphasis on budget and financial analysis and advanced computer skills in MS Office programmes, particularly Excel. Fluency in the English Language, excellent communications and interpersonal skills
Success Factors:
The successful candidate will have the following characteristics:
- A strong team player, with good communication, written and diplomatic skills.
- Proven ability to work independently as part of a regional team and with international professionals.
- Excellent analytical and information management skills.
- Good organizational skills and ability to work under stress and in austere contexts of remote locations.
- Flexible and creative in planning and problem solving.
- Attention to detail, ability to follow procedures and meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
- Proven excellence maintaining professional internal and external relationships.
- Demonstrated ability to be flexible and work in intense work environment with a fast-moving team.
- A focus on building staff capacity.
Resilience Documentation & Communication Intern
Programme / Department Summary: Mercy Corps’ Resilience Hub for the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region supports program design, implementation, measurement and knowledge sharing that builds resilience across the region.
Individually, the hubs are responsive to local contexts, build local capacities, design resilience interventions and generate and share findings across countries and communities facing similar shocks and stresses.
Collectively, they are networked to advance, funnel and operationalize learning into the agency, our partners and to the global development community.
General Position Summary: Currently, there exists a tremendous amount of grossly aggregated information about building and measuring resilience (e.g. documents, websites, reports, case studies, etc.).
However, very little useful cataloguing of this information has been completed in order to make this information more accessible and user-friendly to field practitioners.
Therefore, the primary purpose of this internship is to develop an annotated bibliography of approximately 200 priority resources which will be shared with Mercy Corps staff and partners.
The secondary purpose of this internship is to provide interested humanitarian development professionals an opportunity to experience working within a premier humanitarian agency like Mercy Corps as a short-term volunteer.
Internship Assignment Responsibilities:
- Design template for annotated bibliography of resilience resources (e.g. documents, websites, reports, case studies, etc.) in consultation with his/her supervisor
- Create one consolidated folder on Google Drive and populate with Resilience Hub team’s resilience docs for cataloguing
- Compile list of resources to be catalogued
- Prioritize resources to be annotated first, second, third priority, etc. with supervisor’s consultation
- Complete annotated bibliography of approximately 200 top priority resources
- Prepare a 20-30 min presentation of annotated bibliography to senior Mercy Corps’ Regional/Kenya team
- Support the hub in organizing for one resilience workshop/seminar
- Participate in at least one field activity aimed at supporting youth, women or pastoralist communities
Learning Objectives:
The intern will:
- Learn how to support knowledge management in an organizational setting
- Gain experience in organizing learning events
- Gain field experience in resilience programming with a globally recognized leading NGO
Deliverables:
- Template for annotated bibliography (based on academic best practice)
- Folder of consolidated resilience resources
- Comprehensive list of resources to be catalogued
- Electronic document containing approximately 200 annotated references to priority resources
- 20-30min presentation and PPT on final product for internal, senior management
- Field report and/or any other immediate deliverable determined by the field team
Reports Directly To: Resilience Hub Program Officer
The ideal candidate should possess the following:
- A recent graduate with a bachelor’s degree in development/social science. A postgraduate qualification will be an added advantage.
- Interest in understanding the development dynamics and issues in the dry lands of the Horn of Africa
Success Factors:
The successful candidate will have the following characteristics:
- A strong team player
- Excellent analytical and information management skills
- Attention to detail, ability to follow procedures and meet deadlines
- A good sense of humor
Mercy Corps interns and volunteers represent the agency both during and outside of work hours and 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
Interested candidates who meet the above required qualifications and experience should submit a cover letter, detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) listing three professional references (including a recent supervisor) to hr@ke.mercycorps.org on or before Friday, 15th January 2016 by 4.00pm.
The email subject line must clearly show the job title and location they are applying for.
Applications without the right subject heading will be automatically disqualified.
Please do not attach any certificates.
(Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
We will only get in touch with shortlisted candidates.)
NB: Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
