Assistant Program Officer

**Location**: Edinburgh, UK

**Position Status**: Full-time, Regular

**Salary: UK**:starting circa Edinburgh:22K - ranges flexible based on professional experience and location

**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 Department**

Mercy Corps Europe (MCE) has grown rapidly in terms of volume of activity and complexity. With offices in Edinburgh, London, Geneva and The Hague, we now attract over £90m in income. The breadth and impact of our programmes makes Mercy Corps a unique and truly rewarding place to work. Our teams are proud of what we achieve in the country programmes and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our passion and commitment.

Mercy Corps’ programs in Africa are undergoing both momentous humanitarian crises and significant development challenges that offer the opportunity to empower people to survive through crisis, build better lives and transform their communities for good. Against this backdrop Mercy Corps’ focus in Africa has been in promoting good governance and conflict resolution, enhancing resilience, facilitating market systems, access to finance and economic opportunities, as well as youth employment and empowerment. It is imperative that Mercy Corps presents itself as a key and credible partner with donors, government authorities and civil society actors in order to contribute to the process of positive change across the continent. Mercy Corps looks to actively engage and partner with an ever growing and innovative African private sector to achieve greater and sustained impact. It is also critical that we are executing our current and future programs on scope, on budget and on time across the continent, while looking at new approaches and opportunities and leveraging innovations for the greatest impact and influence in the region.

**The Position**

The Assistant Program Officer (APO) provides administrative support to the Senior Programme Officer (SPO), Programme Officers (POs), Regional Director (RD), Deputy Regional Director (DRD), other regional leaders and country teams for the growth and implementation of high quality and impactful programming in the Africa region.

**Essential Job Responsibilities**

GRANT ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAMME SUPPORT
- Support SPO/PO 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. Track reporting requirements and deadlines of program reports and help ensure that report deadlines are met. Responsible for implementing HQ file retention policy.
- Assist in monitoring and ensuring grant compliance with donor regulations and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
- Maintain up-to-date information about country programs on The Hub, Mercy Corps’ intranet.
- Track donor requirements for programmes by reviewing grant agreements, tracking reporting requirements and deadlines, and sending regular reminders to field teams about reporting deadlines.
- Work with SPO/POs to review, edit, assemble, and ensure timely submission of donor reports.
- Initiate, coordinate and send out New Award Initiation Summaries and project Close-out messages.
- Serve as the primary point for internal communications, facilitate use of Mercy Corps web-based information systems to draft and update program materials.
- Supports country teams with ad-hoc writing tasks such as drafting country and programme fact sheets/summaries, dollar handles, etc.

PROPOSAL COORDINATION
- Undertake donor research and identify appropriate funding opportunities from donors, also reviewing donor guidelines and carrying out eligibility checks for new funding opportunities identified.
- Provide administrative support for proposal development such as drafting Past Performance Reports/capacity statements/or other required documents, copy-editing, and final compilation for submission.
- For programmes requiring online submissions, lead on coordinating registration and submission via online portals.

EXTERNAL REPRESENTATION
- With guidance from the SPO/PO, represent regional interests and programmes with external stakeholders, in concert with the field teams.

OTHER
- Act as a focal point for backstopping for SPO/PO during field trips or short-term absences.
- Ad hoc administrative tasks for regional leadership as required.

**Accountability**

**Reports to**:Senior Program Officer - Africa

**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 s