ACT for Impact Program Officer, Temporary - US (12 months duration)

Programs and Technical Specialities Various, United States

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Description

Location: United States, Home base 

Position Status: Full-time, fixed term  (grant funding ends Sept 30 2026)

Duration: 12 months 

 

 

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

Mercy Corps’ Technical Support, Evidence, and Program Quality (TEQ) Unit is a key part of the program department. Mercy Corps’ TEQ unit houses subject matter experts whose mission is to help our global teams apply the most effective solutions to the world’s toughest challenges, while building our global reputation and resources to do so. By advancing technical excellence, the Unit plays a key role in driving Mercy Corps’ impact, innovation and influence around the world. The TEQ unit helps set agency-wide strategy and develops strategic approach documents and other technical briefs for their practice area to inform the entire organization’s work. In addition, it offers technical expertise to offices worldwide - supporting country strategy development and assessments and engaging throughout the program life cycle from project design and proposal development to quality implementation and evaluations.

 

ACT for Impact is an institutional capacity strengthening grant that aims to support Mercy Corps’ commitment to safety, diversity, and inclusion in our work. The grant has two objectives: (1) building alignment and a clear and unified purpose across the agency to support inclusive and resilient communities, including within our global operations; and (2) creating healthy accountability mechanisms to ensure that the agency measures and tracks internal and programmatic progress towards its commitment to inclusive and resilient communities and allocates sufficient resources to these important activities in the long-term.

 

The Position

The Program Officer (PO) will provide grant coordination support for an institutional capacity grant that aims to help Mercy Corps strengthen its approaches to social inclusion in our operations and programs. The PO will also play a lead coordination role in a measurement project aiming to strengthen our ability to consistently measure progress towards inclusion in our program activities. The PO will participate in and provide administrative support to the Safe, Diverse, and Inclusive working group and community of practice. The PO is a part of the Social Integration and Development team, which includes Mercy Corps’ technical team members providing gender, youth, and protection technical support to programs around the world.

 

 

Essential Responsibilities

 

GENERAL PROGRAM COORDINATION

●        Maintain and update ACT for Impact Grant workplan in partnership with the Senior Director

●        Draft sections, edit, assemble, format, and support to ensure timely submission of donor reports, at the direction of the Senior Director.

●        Maintain ACT for Impact program documents and filing structure, in compliance with Mercy Corps’ program standards.

 

SMALL GRANT COORDINATION

●        Coordinate communications with small grant teams in country offices

●        Conduct progress check-ins with small grant teams to ensure grant implementation remains on time and budget, elevate any issues to the senior director

●        Coordinate with finance manager to update financial documents and track grant spending over time

 

MEASUREMENT WORKSTREAM

●        Coordinate planning sessions for the measurement project

●        Support consultant recruitment process for measurement project

●        Support Senior Director in providing guidance to consultants hired on the Inclusion Grant.

●        Help to plan key events and activities and participate in workshops

 

SUPPORT COORDINATION OF SAFE, DIVERSE, INCLUSIVE (SDI) WORKING GROUP

  • Participate in and provide administrative support to monthly SDI working group meetings, including scheduling meetings and capturing notes and actions
  • Participate in and provide administrative support to periodic SDI Community of Practice meetings, including agenda setting, scheduling, interpretation coordination.
  • Contribute to the SDI commitment communications plan roll out, including drafting blogs for internal posting and coordinating with Mercy Corps’ internal communications team as needed

 

 

Supervisory Responsibility

None.

 

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Director, Social Integration and Development

Works Directly With: Senior Director, Safeguarding; Social Integration and Development team members; ACT finance manager; regional and country team members, SDI working group and SDI community of practice.

 

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 fields is highly preferred.
●        Two years of experience in project management and/ or administration support is required. Previous budget management experience preferred.
●        Strong interpersonal skills required, including: demonstrated relationship management experience, strong networking skills, and an ability to work collaboratively with others across different time zones and cultures
●        Proficiency with MS Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Microsoft 365 required. Familiarity with data visualization tools like Power BI is a bonus.
●        Knowledge of relevant technical sectors (gender equality, social inclusion, youth, protection) is a plus.
●        Experience working with monitoring and evaluation is preferred.
●        Exceptional English written and verbal communication skills is essential. Language proficiency in French, Spanish, Arabic or Russian preferred.
 

Success Factors

The Project and Knowledge Management Officer must be a detail-oriented multi-tasker who is able to communicate clearly and work under pressure. They must demonstrate patience, flexibility, and taking initiative to independently solve problems. Vital skills include communication (both written and verbal), as well as 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 gender equality, diversity, and social inclusion issues.

 

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position can be based in Portland, Oregon or Washington, DC. Travel to support country programs may be required – sometimes on short notice – to areas with limited access to medical facilities and amenities.

 

 

 

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
 

Team Engagement and Effectiveness 

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.
We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.
 

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.
 

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.
As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected]).

As a safeguarding measure, Mercy Corps screens all potential US-Based employees. This is done following the conclusion of recruitment and prior to assuming full employment.

Our screening process is designed to be transparent and completed in partnership with new Team Members. You will have the opportunity to disclose any prior convictions at the conclusion of the recruitment process before the check is initiated. We ask that you do not disclose any prior convictions in your application materials or during the recruitment process.

 

 

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