Grants Management Specialist Vacancy-Job Ref: JKCDMC/1409/202357

Grants Management Specialist Vacancy-Job Ref: JKCDMC/1409/202357
Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

JOB DESCRIPTION
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.

Department Summary
Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of approximately 400 people working in Eastern DRC. Mercy Corps’ national office is in Goma with sub-field offices in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces. Mercy Corps’ key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to:
1) Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas;
2) Improve food security and nutrition;
3) Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development.

Mercy Corps DRC’s humanitarian programs aim specifically to assist populations affected by the conflict and crisis in Eastern Congo with multi-purpose cash assistance and emergency WASH support to displaced and host populations. Currently, the DRC program represents one of Mercy Corps’ largest country programs world-wide.

General Position Summary
The Grants Management Specialist will strengthen grants management processes for existing and new programs for the Mercy Corps DRC country program.
S/he will support the Director of Programs and country leadership in identifying priority growth areas and in making improvements to resource development processes.
S/he will build out tools and processes for landscape mapping and design donor engagement plans for strategic focus areas.
S/he will contribute to the production of high-quality applications for funding, collaborating with global New Initiatives (NI) colleagues to coordinate large proposal teams.
In addition, s/he will support programs in documenting learning and developing communications and advocacy materials as part of donor engagement.

Essential Job Responsibilities
STRATEGY & VISION
Support the Country Director and the Director of Programs in defining priority focus areas for new business in line with the DRC Country Strategy.
Improve resource development processes through the development of guiding documents such as strategies or SOPs.
Refine or create appropriate team member development materials (training, distance learning, self-study) to support building of capacity in program design and proposal development skills and basic elements of donor compliance.

LANDSCAPE MAPPING & DONOR ENGAGEMENT
Help develop and maintain tools, guidelines and templates for donor mapping, competitor mapping and landscape mapping.
Maintain accurate pipeline tracker and use analysis to inform senior management decisions.
Devise donor engagement plans for strategic focus areas aiming to improve Mercy Corps’ competitive positioning.

Work with the DRC PaQ Team and programs to maintain data on capacity and past performance for use in positioning efforts.
Collaborate with the DRC PaQ Team and programs to document learning for use in donor engagement.
Work with country learning, communications and advocacy team members to deliver on donor engagement plans, positioning Mercy Corps in strategic focus areas.
Build relationships with donors, potential partner organizations and other collaborators.

GRANTS MANAGEMENT
Contribute to proposal development processes to ensure timely submission of high-quality proposals that are responsive to donor requirements, applicable regulations, and Mercy Corps’ technical standards.

Lead in-country coordination of proposal development teams and liaise with NI Team Lead on major proposals to ensure adequate communication and effective teamwork.
Support partner identification, negotiation of consortia roles, and review of teaming agreements as part of opportunity pursuit.

Contribute to non-technical writing on proposals; integrate inputs from reviewers into proposals.
Track proposal submissions; assist with analysis of successes and failures and dissemination of lessons learned.

Supervisory Responsibility: None
Reports Directly To: Director of Programs
Works Directly With: Country Director, Programs Directors and Chiefs of Party/Managers, DRC PaQ Team, Program MEL Teams, Crisis Analysis Team, as well as Regional and Global New Initiatives, Corporate Donors and Foundations, and Technical Support Unit teams.
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 Qualifications & Transferable Skills
Bachelor’s degree required. Masters or equivalent in a field related to Humanitarian or International Development or relevant fields is preferred.
At least 3 to 5 years’ experience in grants management and/or business development.
Very strong writer with expert command of English grammar and Associated Press (AP) style.
Demonstrated experience with competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to Mercy Corps.

Familiarity with USG funding mechanisms and proposal requirements. Experience with non-USG public donors highly desirable (FCDO, ECHO, EU, SDC, SIDA, etc.).
Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.

Experience working in the Africa region and high-risk contexts preferred.
Proven ability to work cooperatively with internal and external stakeholders, and to play a leadership role in convening groups. Astute skills in relationship building and coordination.
Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.

Excellent listening, interpersonal, communication and networking skills; and the ability to work with diversified populations
Skilled at delivering and facilitating training and capacity building interventions, e.g. coaching, mentorship.
Analytical, problem solver, with strong experience and understanding of project cycle management and coordination.

High level of self-awareness and self-development with the maturity to deal with constructive feedback
The willingness and ability to adapt leadership and management style as appropriate
Fluency in English and French is required.

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