Program Support Officer at Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a global humanitarian aid agency engaged in transitional environments that have experienced some sort of shock: natural disaster, economic collapse, or conflict.

General Position Summary

Program Support Officer will provide general administrative support for USAID Nawiri (for program Heads and technical teams based in the country office/Nairobi) and across overall program operations and liaising with the National and County government in managing government agreements and other requirements.
The position holder will provide targeted support for all USAID Nawiri teams across the field offices in Turkana and Samburu where central teams are organizing activities, events or processes, overall program support tasks including daily administrative workflows, logistical support for conference & meetings, compile periodic program reports and follow closely the procurements, finance and P&C need of the project - as well as broader engagement with government as stipulated in detail in the job function section.

 Essential Job Responsibilities
 General Project Administration:

Manage the daily administrative workflow of the USAID Nawiri Project under the Chief of Party. This includes providing basic administrative support, including scheduling meetings, taking notes, managing letters and invitations, updating the team calendar with events such as training, completing forms, updating program documents, and streamlining Nawiri processes and procedures.
Conference/Meeting Logistics Support: Assist with the logistical coordination and planning of meetings and conferences (which includes venue arrangement, workshop materials, event participant travel & accommodation) working closely with Program team and Operations team.
Procurement: Assist Program team in procurement processes including procurement planning, raising PR and following closely with Procurement Coordinator the progress of ongoing procurements.
Travel: Assist travel arrangement for USAID Nawiri team, including reserving and booking flights, booking accommodation, preparing TARs and other travel details as necessary.
Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, finance, administration, and People & Culture teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.
People & Culture Support (Hiring): Assist USAID Nawiri CoP in recruitment process - which includes raising PRF for open vacancies and following closely with P&C for a timely recruitment process.
HR Support (Team Movement & Leave Balances): Track USAID Nawiri team leave plans and, working closely with P&C, update team leave balances. Also, provide a periodic summary update of team leave plans and balances with the USAID Nawiri CoP & Component Leads.
Support assessments, evaluations, and monitoring surveys relevant to Nawiri component including support in the development of Scopes of Work, survey tools, trainings, and management of data collectors.
Provide administrative support in preparing procurement and expense requests, following up with relevant departments for field activities.
Prepare accurate and timely monitoring and field reports on a weekly basis and other project documentation as required.
In coordination with the MEL team, monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and assessments to ensure program quality and impact.

Team Coordination Support:

Support cross-team administrative coordination: with the SLT, Field, program, operations, and finance teams to ensure timely operations support for Nawiri Program activities implementation.
Meeting Management and Notetaking: Manage the organization and record the Nawiri Leadership Team Nawiri meetings. This includes producing agenda documents (where required) and taking notes during team meetings and disseminating them in a timely manner, always highlighting action points. Support following up on action points as necessary.
Filing and Folder Tracking: Support Nawiri with structuring, updating and overall maintaining a filing system accessible to all program stakeholders. Ensure key files are appropriately maintained including, agreement documents with various NGO and Private sector partners, reports, research documents, discussion papers, videos, posters, etc.

Communications Support:

Team Communications: Assist the SLT and Field Directors in managing communication flows within and across program teams, including across Nairobi and county-based teams. Ensure communication flow protocols are in place.
Product Communications: Support communications team to publish, produce and distribute internal and external communications to facilitate learning throughout the project. Keep track and manage dissemination plans and progress against them. Procure graphics. Facilitate connecting with HQ digital library and posting on internal and external sites.  Ensure Nawiri information held within the site is accurate and up to date, creating communications resources when requested,

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 toward 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.
Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values always and in all in-country venues.

Supervisory Responsibility: None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: USAID Nawiri Chief of Party

Works Directly With: Nawiri SLT, including DCOP, Implementation Director, Program Quality and Learning Director, Technical advisors and leads including Component Leads & Field/Area Coordinators, Operations, Finance, and HR Team members.
Requirements
Knowledge and Experience

Two or three years of general administration or program support experience is required.
A university degree or equivalent in a related field (community development, business, accounting, international relations, political science) is required.
Excellent oral and written English skills are required.
Proven interest and commitment to humanitarian and development issues.
Excellent organizational skills: the ability to work independently & productively in a fast-paced environment and to effectively see projects through from start to finish.
Flexible work attitude and demonstrated creativity: the ability to work productively in a team environment and the ability to problem solve creatively with minimal guidance.
Excellent Computer skills (especially Microsoft Excel, Word, and Outlook)

Success Factors

Must be confident, self-starter, an independent thinker.
Strong organizational, interpersonal and communication skills
Team oriented; Demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse groups of people.
Excellent communication skills, written and oral are required.
Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and appropriate flexibility.
Excellent organizational skills with ability to successfully manage multiple tasks.
Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail are essential.
The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.