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 long term impact.
The Program / Department / Team
Mercy Corps implements a variety of programming throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe Region (MENA/Europe) and it continues to respond to humanitarian and development needs across Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine by forging meaningful and trusted partnerships and designing impactful programming. The country programs face humanitarian crises and significant development challenges, and operate in fragile and conflict-affected areas, displacement settings, emergency responses, as well as more stable developed settings. Mercy Corpsโ focus in MENA/Europe has been in promoting good governance and conflict resolution, enhancing resilience, supporting market systems development, as well as gender and inclusion, and youth employment. Mercy Corps investment in thought leadership, continual learning, and adaptive programming allows us to make changes that are essential in a fluid context, with significant ambitions to learning and sharing through building an evidence base, investment in programme quality, including MEAL and additional specific research, to enhance adaptive and responsive programming in MENA/Europe.
The Position
The Assistant Program Officer (APO) will work with the Middle East Regional Program Team to support the administration of Mercy Corpsโ portfolio in the region. This temporary position will provide additional support as the region expands its portfolio from the Middle East to incorporate North Africa and Europe as well.
The APO is primarily responsible for administrative support and assisting the Program Officers (POs) with proposal development, donor reporting and communications as well as the Senior Program Officer (SPO) as needed. This includes providing assistance with new and existing programs, directing internal and external program information flows, liaising with other departments within Mercy Corps, and providing administrative support to the country programs. S/he plays a key role in managing information and data from the country teams to facilitate use and access of it by other HQ departments and for retention of institutional knowledge.
Essential Responsibilities
ADMINISTRATIVE AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT
- Support POs and SPO to maintain adequate records of all documentation and correspondence of grants, ensuring that grant information is entered into the Grant and Information Tracker (GAIT) database, the shared drive, the Digital Library and donor tracking systems as requested. Responsible for implementing HQ file retention policy.
- Track donor requirements for programs by reviewing grant agreements, tracking reporting requirements and deadlines, and sending regular reminders to POs about reporting deadlines.
- Provide logistical support for field and headquarters teams including processing invoices, consultancy requests, and travel.
- Ensure that requests from field staff, including invoice fulfillment, are accurately completed and submitted to corresponding HQ teams.
- Assist with setup of and maintenance of records of third-party services and accounts country teams utilize (i.e. Zoom, HubSpot, etc.)
- Work with POs and SPO to help ensure that program quality standards are maintained and that programs adhere to Mercy Corps and donor requirements, including retention of relevant documents
PROGRAM AND AWARD ADMINISTRATION
- Review content, edit, assemble, format, and support to ensure timely submission of donor reports, at the direction of POs.
- Participate in and maintain record/notes of bi-weekly check-in calls with country teams to track implementation challenges, upcoming new business opportunities, and other various support requests from field teams. Calls can be as early as 6am PST/9am EST, often occurring 2-3 times weekly.
- In coordination with the POs, prepare and communicate new award initiation summaries to the field teams.
- Support POs in donor portal reporting and content uploading for timely submission.
- Provide โgap fillingโ as necessary to cover PO responsibilities, portfolios, country support and donor communications in collaboration with the SPO.
PROPOSAL SUPPORT
- Provide administrative support for proposal development such as drafting Past Performance Reports, capacity statements, prior approval letters, waiver request letters and other required documents, copy-editing, formatting and final compilation for submission.
- Track upcoming proposal opportunities with potential donors in the region and notifying country teams of opportunities, at the direction of POs.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
- Maintain up-to-date country and grant information in Mercy Corpsโ online knowledge management tools, e.g., GAIT, Digital Library, Hub
INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
- Respond to requests for information from other HQ departments, particularly Resource Development and International Finance, at direction of POs and SPO
- Liaise between field offices and HQ departments, including Recruiting, Human Resources, Resource Development, Finance and Operations to provide support in the areas of recruitment and procurement as needed
Supervisory Responsibility : None.
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Senior Program Officer, Middle East
Works Directly With: POs and SPO; Middle East country staff; Program and Technical Support Units staff; Finance, Resource Development; Mercy Corps counterparts at MC HQ offices in Europe; Mercy Corps donors.
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
- BA/S in International Development or related field is highly preferred.
- Two years of demonstrated experience in providing administrative/coordination support required.
- Proven ability to communicate effectively with colleagues overseas from various backgrounds.
- Strong understanding of complex challenges faced by field teams in difficult operating environments.
- Proficiency with MS Office software (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Microsoft 365, and Google Suite tools (Google Docs, Sheets, Forms) required
- Prior NGO or international development experience.
- Preference given to candidates with prior work experience in MENA/Europe
- Knowledge of relevant technical sectors (emergency relief, economic development, youth, health, nutrition, or hygiene) is a plus.
- Arabic language proficiency is a plus.
Success Factors
The Assistant Program Officer must be a detail-oriented multi-tasker who is able to communicate clearly, work under pressure and manage time and prioritize tasks effectively. They must demonstrate patience, flexibility, and taking initiative to independently solve problems with competing deadlines. Vital skills include communication (both written and verbal), organization, time management, and building and maintaining effective internal and external relationships. They must demonstrate the ability to understand and follow agency procedures, meet deadlines, and work both independently and as part of a complex distanced-based, multi-cultural team. An exposure to and interest in international development and/or humanitarian issues is important, and an understanding of the complex challenges faced by program teams operating in overseas environments is critical. They must demonstrate a passion for, and a clear empathy with, the organizationโs aims and values.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position can be based in Portland, Oregon, Washington, DC or remote.
Ongoing Learning
In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.
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 worldโs 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 opportunity 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 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, color, 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 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 to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
- Maintain up-to-date country and grant information in Mercy Corpsโ online knowledge management tools, e.g., GAIT, Digital Library, Hub