Senior Ethics & Assurance Officer

Program / Department summary: 

Mercy Corps is an international, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency with headquarters in the U.K and U.S.A operating in over 44 countries. The agency exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps’ work emphasizes community led, market driven interventions through public, private and civic partnerships. For the past 13 years, Mercy Corps has applied market driven solutions to communities across Uganda, equipping individuals and households with knowledge, skills and confidence to generate improvements in their access to markets, livelihoods, health, nutrition, security and their overall resilience. In 2018, we operated in 26 districts, stretching across northern agro-pastoral and pastoral regions bordering South Sudan and Kenya, and further into Central Uganda including major urban areas such as Kampala. With a burgeoning youth population, our programs have expanded to incorporate a youth and gender lens to ensure vulnerable populations, such as adolescent girls, are provided with economic growth opportunities.

Mercy Corps Uganda has eight offices across the country, and around 300 staff. From the Kampala office, we provide support to our program and supporting function teams in sub-offices.

General position summary: 

The Senior Ethics & Assurance Officer will serve as the Mercy Corps Uganda focal point for ensuring compliance with Mercy Corps’ Code of Ethics and ethics policies and procedures. He/she will examine, review, and analyze records, reports, financial information and management practices to ensure compliance with laws, regulations and Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures and will investigate potential violations of the Code of Ethics with an emphasis on fraud, corruption, bribery, and human trafficking.  The Senior Ethics & Assurance Officer will assist the country management team in developing, implementing and monitoring effective financial and operational controls over activities and offices to mitigate risk.

Essential job functions: 

Code of Ethics Incident Response:

• Following Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures, serve as country focal point for the internal reporting of any allegations of Code of Ethics violations, including fraud, corruption, bribery or human trafficking.
• Maintain the country Corruption Incident Register and liaise with the Headquarters Ethics team, and other teams as needed, in the resolution of all reported incidents.
• As agreed with the Headquarters Ethics department, conduct inquiries and investigations to determine the facts, circumstances and scope of any allegations raised.
• Collect, analyze and document the results of investigations and communicate observations and recommendations with the collaboration of the Country Director and senior management team, as appropriate.
• In coordination with the Headquarters Ethics team and the country management team, assist in the preparation of any final reports to fully document the investigation and resolution of incidents.
• Liaise with program teams in implementing the country Community Accountability Response Mechanism (CARM). Respond to Code of Ethics violation referrals received through the CARM.

Code of Ethics Training and Awareness:

• Assist the country management team with the implementation of new Headquarters or country Code of Ethics policies and procedures, acting as a catalyst for change and acceptance and supporting smooth implementation.
• In coordination with established on-boarding processes, assist with the on-boarding of new country team members to ensure awareness and understanding of Code of Ethics policies. Conduct and/or coordinate regular anti-corruption, fraud prevention and other Code of Ethics trainings for country staff and partners.

Internal Controls:

• Assist the country management team in determining effective and efficient solutions to operational issues that ensure compliance with Mercy Corps’ policies and donor regulations, mitigate the risk of fraud or corruption, and also facilitate the achievement of program objectives.
• Assist program, operations and finance teams with implementing standard procedures or, as necessary, developing and documenting enhanced procedures for high-risk program activities, in particular those providing a direct financial benefit to participants (e.g. vouchers, cash distributions), requiring high value procurement, or the distribution of in-kind goods.
• In coordination with the country management team and program managers, maintain the country-level Risk Register to identify key risks and document strategies to mitigate these risks. Manage the quarterly update process and ensure communication of action plans.
• In coordination with relevant teams, perform periodic internal control reviews of in-country financial, procurement, human resource, and logistics procedures in both the main country office and field offices. In coordination with program and monitoring and evaluation staff, conduct field reviews of program activities to ensure that adequate controls are in place and are functioning properly.  Communicate findings and work with the relevant departments to correct weaknesses and improve controls as needed.
• As agreed with the program and finance teams, advise on the development of monitoring plans for partners, including subrecipients, key vendors and other partners that must adhere to ethics policies. In coordination with relevant teams, perform periodic compliance reviews of partners.
• In coordination with the country management team and HQ Finance, assist with the follow-up and resolution of external audit or Mercy Corps Internal Audit findings.
• Perform other related special projects and duties as determined and assigned by management.

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: None 

Reports Directly to:    Country Director

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH:    Headquarters Ethics team (with authority for Code of Ethics reporting and investigation matters), country senior management team, Program Directors/Managers, Finance, Compliance and Operations teams, HR Managers, Heads of Field Offices, and all MC Uganda staff. 

Knowledge and Experience: 

• Sc. university degree in finance, accounting or a related business field is required;
• An advanced degree is an added advantage
• 5 years+ related work experience with a not-for-profit organization implementing international programs or other reputable private sector entity;
• Strong background in compliance, systems and internal controls;
• Relevant experience in fraud investigation or auditing. Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) or Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) designations are strongly preferred.
• Solid understanding of a wide-range of ethics violations, including fraud, corruption and human trafficking in humanitarian and/or development settings; Understanding of best practice in ethics management and accountability within INGOs, including best practices for investigations of ethical violations;
• Demonstrated experience in successfully working with administrative and program staff at all organizational levels;
• Solid organizational and research skills with a broad understanding of various program sectors and activities;
• Demonstrated experience in financial and operational data analysis;

Success factors: 

The successful Ethics & Assurance Manager will possess an exemplary professional standard of ethics as well as the willingness and ability to enforce compliance with Mercy Corps’ internal policies and procedures and external regulations. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to interact effectively with internal and external stakeholders on sensitive and confidential matters is necessary along with the ability to navigate difficult circumstances with a calm demeanor, in an analytical and methodical manner.  A demonstrated ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities is necessary.  A broad understanding of humanitarian and development programs coupled with the ability to analyze financial operational data and clearly present conclusions and recommendations is essential.

The humanitarian objectives of Mercy Corps’ programs may require flexibility in working hours and frequent travel to field offices, program sites and subrecipient locations.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in 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 locations.

Closing date for applications: January 31, 2022