Country Subawards Manager - Asia
Description
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 long term impact.
The Program / Department / Team (Program / Department Summary)
Mercy Corps sees greater potential for impact in the response to the conflict in the Asia Region, if the strengths and contributions of both the international community and National NGOs, CSOs and CBOs groups are effectively leveraged. This partner-centered project takes a learning-by-doing approach to providing direct financial and capacity development support to selected partners delivering humanitarian assistance in Asia.
The Position (General Position Summary)
Complementing the in-country Finance and Compliance responsibility for overall financial and compliance management, the Subawards Manager will provide strategic leadership for the sub-granting, financial, and compliance management of local partners within the country. They will play a key role within the country based project, responsible for building strong and compliant systems within the project to 1) enable smooth, efficient, and effective sub-award implementation, 2) capitalize on capacity strengthening opportunities to support local partners’ efforts to strengthen their own financial management systems in coordination with the Partnership Manager, and 3) ensure linkages between Mercy Corps’ technical, organizational, humanitarian, and financial management support to partners. In addition, they will oversee a team of national Subawards Coordinators, and Officers capable of and committed to supporting partners throughout the sub-grant lifecycle. They are also responsible for all aspects of subawards management, working collaboratively with program teams to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures and donor regulations. They provide timely reports and assistance to the Director Finance & Compliance and the program & partnership team to ensure that financial resources are used efficiently and effectively. The subaward Manager position reports to the Director Finance and Compliance, however, coordinates closely with the country program team as well as HQ finance and compliance colleagues.
Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND PLANNING
- Help foster an enabling environment for collaborative, inclusive, and mutually accountable partnerships with local organizations.
- Contribute to the development of the project’s partnership strategy and programmatic direction and help shape our overall humanitarian response to the crisis.
- Identify creative solutions and build flexible systems that are compliant with donor regulations and Mercy Corps policies yet facilitate the achievement of the project’s capacity development goals and partnership strategy.
- Engage with key regional and Headquarter stakeholders to strategically streamline and adapt Mercy Corps sub-grant practices and processes through a partnership lens.
- Provide leadership and direction with regard to any sub-grant or contract functions needed for the project’s success.
SUB-GRANT MANAGEMENT AND COMPLIANCE
- Responsible for all partnership compliance processes and guidelines, including oversight for due diligence, issuing, managing, and monitoring sub-grants in accordance with Mercy Corps policies and donor regulations.
- Accountable for compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations while ensuring that systems are not causing partners undue administrative burden.
- Oversee the review of potential partner budgets and relevant components of the narratives for completeness, cost eligibility, and compliance with requirements.
- Develop and support staff to deliver sub-grantee financial, operational and compliance trainings and workshops, and oversee on-going support and coaching to partners in these areas.
- Ensure high quality and compliant partner sub-award management documents throughout the design, implementation and close-out phases, including reports, payment requests, modifications, close-out checklists and reconciliation forms.
- Oversee sub-award tracking and filing, including reports, payments, and other relevant documentation.
- Work closely with the wider program and partnership team to identify and support partner’s organizational capacity priorities in order to ensure that the sub-grant process strengthens their ability to deliver quality programming.
CAPACITY STRENGTHENING
- Oversee the entire capacity strengthening process for partners related to Finance and Operations, starting from capacity assessments, design of capacity strengthening workplans, and monitoring and measurement.
- Oversee the implementation of the Finance & Operations team’s capacity strengthening activities with partners, ensuring timely delivery of training and coaching, and supporting the team to adapt and respond to partners actual needs.
- Oversee the development of all Finance & Operations training and coaching materials.
- Build more equitable and mutually beneficial and accountable partnerships with local partners
- Using organization’s influence and capacity to inclusively advocate for more effective, locally driven, and accountable humanitarian aid and financial development systems.
TEAM MANAGEMENT
- Employ a participatory management style and provide regular constructive feedback on team performance.
- 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 with information, tools and other resources as well as constant mentoring to improve performance and help them constructively identify problem solving options.
- Proactively identify and pursue opportunities for collaboration and learning across the different project teams.
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 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.
Supervisory Responsibility
A Subawards team of 5 individuals
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Director - Finance and Compliance
Works Directly With: Finance, Program & Partnership Teams, Grant Support Compliance Unit, Ethics & Assurance and Integrity teams, as well as key HQ teams (mainly Subgrants and compliance).
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
- At least 5 years of progressive subaward's management experience, including supervisory experience, required.
- At least 4 years’ experience in grants management from USG sources and excellent knowledge of donor rules and regulations required.
- Proven success managing the administration and compliance of US government funding, including the oversight of complex sub-granting mechanisms.
- Experience in grants management, including USAID/OFDA (other donors a plus, namely FCDO) and donor rules and regulations.
- Experience in high-risk, complex programs and remote programming.
- Strong accounting skills and experience, and experience with the Navigator accounting system is preferred.
- Demonstrated experience in partners’ budget preparation and analysis, financial reporting preparation and presentation and the proven ability to translate technical financial data into informative reports.
- Experience of working with Informal Money Transfer Agencies and excellent negotiating and communications skills.
- Experience building compliant, yet responsive and contextually appropriate, sub-grant systems, tools and processes.
- Demonstrated commitment to capacity development and dedication to partner-driven approaches.
- Multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills are necessary, as are patience, a sense of humor, and interest in working with diverse teams.
- Excellent oral and written English skills; fluency in local language (Burmese) is highly advantageous.
- BA/ S or equivalent ; advanced degree preferred
Success Factors
The successful candidate will be capable of multi-tasking, rapid decision-making, and creative problem-solving. They have initiative, drive and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with capacity strengthening of local partners. They will be known for flexibility and creativity in project planning and building responsive systems, and are able to solicit and understand diverse perspectives, build consensus among a variety of stakeholders, and effectively and clearly communicate decisions.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in any Mercy Corps location in Asia and it requires up to 20% travel to support the country program's
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
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.
As a safeguarding measure, Mercy Corps screens all potential US-Based employees. Any offers of employment or continued employment are dependent on the successful completion of the screens which include, but are not limited to our Background Check and Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme processes.
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.