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 a 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 Director of Grants Management 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 Director of Grants management, as well as working relationships with the relevant Finance, Program Performance and Quality (PaQ), Program Managers, Security, Procurement, and all other field departments in coordinating all grants/reporting-related tasks. Additionally, the Grants Manager will coordinate closely with the Regional Program Team at 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 Director of Grants management 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 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 on 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 promptly 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 before 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 in tracking funding opportunities, including calls for funding progress of proposals, submission deadlines, and 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 Director of Grants Management and Finance, attend monthly BvA meetings, keep track of 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 the focal point for all queries and information requests from Mercy Corps and donors.
• Represent Mercy Corps to donors and other key stakeholders, as required.

Supervisory Responsibility

None.

Accountability

Reports Directly to: Director of Grants Management

Works Directly with: Program Teams, Finance Department, Program Performance and Quality (PaQ), Operations, Security & Access, Crisis Analytics Syria (CA-SYR) 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, FCDO, 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.

How to apply:

Preferable to receive CVs before Wednesday April 03, 2024.

*If you are interested, kindly apply as soon as possible, since resumes will be reviewed on rolling basis. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted before the submission deadline.

“Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision, and we encourage people from all backgrounds, especially women, to apply.”

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.

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 the capacity building of other national staff and have strong program support and information management skills.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Amman, Jordan, or Beirut, Lebanon, and requires 30% regional travel. This location is accompanied and secure