Program Quality (PaQ) and Reporting Manager

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To create a better world, 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.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of around 400 people working in Eastern DRC, with the overall country goal being to support vulnerable communities through crises, while fostering programs that build resilience and promote long-term change. Mercy Corps’ national office is in Goma with sub-field offices in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. Mercy Corps DRC’s 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; 4) Support peacebuilding and local governance. Mercy Corps DRC’s humanitarian programs aim specifically to assist populations affected by the conflict and crisis in Eastern Congo.

In September of 2023, Mercy Corps signed an agreement with the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA-USAID) for the implementation of the Graduating to sustainable Agriculture, Income, Nutrition, and food Security (GAINS) Program. The overarching goal of this 5-year Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA), with a start date of October 1st, 2023, and an end date of September 30, 2028, is: Food, nutrition and economic security is sustainably improved among vulnerable households.

General Position Summary

The PaQ and Reporting Manager plays a pivotal role in the management and oversight of our BHA-funded program, being responsible for the comprehensive narrative reporting of the grants and for providing significant programmatic quality support to the whole program. As part of the GAINS PaQ Unit, the PaQ and Reporting Manager will work under the supervision of the Program Performance, Quality and Learning Director and in close collaboration with the Local Partnership Manager to ensure high quality and timely reporting to BHA or as per Mercy Corps procedures including, but not limited to, bi-weekly program updates, monthly sector reviews, and quarterly, annual, and final program reports. S/he will also oversee the management of the Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM), to ensure accountability to beneficiaries and to flag any potential fraud or protection issues.
Under the supervision of the Program Performance, Quality and Learning Director, s/he will play a key role for ensuring capacity building for program staff to ensure a culture of providing training, coaching and integrating effective tools and techniques to improve program quality.
Lastly, the PaQ and Reporting Manager will champion and provide tangible technical support and guidance around Mercy Corps’ Program Management Policy and its associated agency’s quality standards (PM@MC) to ensure that the teams are driving transformational impact through executing a program that is of the highest quality.

Essential Job Responsibilities

REPORTING

• Lead the coordination, review, approval and submission of Program and MEL reports in adherence to the grant agreement and timelines. Create and maintain effective systems ensuring timely and informative reporting.
• Ensure FR-ENG / ENG-FR translation of key documents, including reports, as needed.
• Oversee the development of quality narrative reports, reflecting the progress and status of the program in a transparent, timely and professional manner, in liaison with program managers, the Program Performance, Quality and Learning Director and finance, which will contribute ultimately to steady cash inflow.
• Liaise with the finance and operations teams when preparing reports, esp. with finance to ensure greater coherence between financial and narrative reports by cross checking the matching of data in the narrative and financial reports.
• Work in close relation with the MEL team to incorporate MEL data (incl. data on outputs, outcomes and impact indicators, lessons learnt and best practices) in reports.
• Contribute to the design and drafting of communications material (annual report, social media, talking points, program updates, newsletters, success stories, etc).
• Provide capacity strengthening of program staff for reporting, to support developing high quality communication and reporting products.
• Work closely and in coordination with Mercy Corps offices in the US and in the Africa region, establishing a strong working relationship with HQ program officers to support the program implementation.
• Ensure program information shared with stakeholders is presented in languages, formats, and media that are appropriate for, accessible to, and can be understood by the target population.

Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM)

• Support CARM team to ensure the MC GAINS program adopts and adheres to Mercy Corps’ program accountability and CARM policies.
• Supervise the work of the CARM Officers and their team for the effective roll-out and maintenance of the Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM), raising to the program leadership potential investigation of cases.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Organize with GAINS Finance Manager and coordinate monthly “Budget versus Actuals” (BVA) to review spendings and projections with COP, DCOP, Purpose Leads and other partners’ leadership teams.
• Work with Program Managers and Program Performance Director to maintain effective systems ensuring timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
• Collect and organize key project management tools and documents and manage grant administration, including overseeing electronic filing systems for key program documents (donor agreements, proposals, approved budget, work plans, etc.) ensuring it meets PM@MC standards and sending reminders when needed.
• Ensure compliance with donor regulations and inform program staff of key compliance requirements for program implementation.

DONOR REQUESTS COORDINATION

• Draft and review program updates and respond to information requests for donors and other key stakeholders.
• Organize and conduct site-visits to the program sites and host visitors and donors, as needed.
• Act as day-to-day representative of Mercy Corps to organizations as requested by the Program Performance Director including attending key internal and external meetings.

Supervisory Responsibility: Grant Officer, CARM Officer

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Performance, Quality and Learning Director

Works Directly With: DCOP, Technical Leads, M&E and Learning teams, HQ Technical Support Unit, Local Partnership Manager

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 projects.

Knowledge and Experience / Qualification and Transferable Skills

• MA/S or equivalent experience in social science, political science, international development, or another relevant field.
• A minimum of 3 to 5 years of experience in the development sector (international or national).
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience with managing USAID programs, with significant strengths in grant management, coordination, and donor reporting.
• Strong understanding of BHA regulations, compliance requirements, and guidelines related to grant management in humanitarian settings is crucial.
• Strategic planning skills to identify potential risks in grant implementation and develop effective strategies to mitigate them.
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to maintain accurate records of all grant-related activities.
• Understanding of livelihood, economic development, and market systems programming
• Demonstrable ability to produce high quality deliverables at speed and with minimal direction
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, and the capacity to work at a strategic level with senior leaders (both internal and external) is essential
• Ability to multi-task and juggle several tasks and relationships at one time, with little to no direction
• Proven ability to work effectively in multicultural teams and with technical and administrative staff and consultants.
• Fluent in both English and French.
• Ability to work in a hardship environment with moderate to high levels of insecurity and significant restrictions on personal movement.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have excellent team and interpersonal relationship skills, with demonstrated ability to work effectively in complex environments and with tight deadlines. Very well organized, with excellent writing skills, s/he will combine strong communication skills, creativity, initiative, participatory leadership and tactful decisiveness to assist in program implementation and reporting. Multi tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. S/he must have the confidence and humility to work effectively with a diverse group of people – as well as be sensitive to political and cultural nuance. S/he must ­ be able to consistently apply excellent judgment to a variety of demanding and fast-­changing situations while working as part of a team and coordinating with program personnel.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

Mercy Corps offers a competitive benefits package for positions based in the Kasai province, which is an unaccompanied duty station. Tshikapa is the capital of the Kasai Province, a lively rural city of 971,000 inhabitants where humanitarian actors are present. In the city center water and power are quite stable thanks to the cash power system and hotels, small restaurants, shops and banks are reasonably accessible. There are 3 main hospitals which provide adequate health care services, with evacuation options to Kinshasa or surrounding areas as required. Telephone landlines, internet and mobile network capacity exist but are frequently at a less than optimal level. The temperatures is often between 30-35 degrees.

Mercy Corps’ sub-offices experience variable levels of insecurity, with the situation closely monitored by UN peacekeepers. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There are a number of health services available with evacuation options for serious illnesses. There’s reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

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 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.

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. 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.