Finance And Subawards Coordinator at Mercy Corps

Job Description

Description

Location: Lusaka, Zambia

Position Status: Full-time, Exempt, Regular

Risk Level: ☐ Level 3 ☐ Level 2 x ☐ Level 1

(Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.

Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children.

Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data)

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, for the future.

Mercy Corps is a recognized global leader in Market Systems Development (MSD) where we apply a systemic, inclusive approach to catalyze sustainable improvements in markets that benefit vulnerable groups—particularly women and youth. Resilience building is an agency priority and involves using a systems-based approach that builds on proven solutions, accesses new ideas and information, and integrates multiple sectors and partnerships to strengthen food and water security, economic opportunities, and climate change adaptation. Southern Africa continues to experience recurrent environmental, economic and social shocks affecting the wellbeing of its communities and undermining development investments. Mercy Corps will continue to contribute to the well-being of rural and urban communities by building household capacities and strengthening systems and institutions.

The Program / Department / Team

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)-funded Building Enterprise Development and Employment Creation program (BEDEC) aims to increase the productivity and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the agricultural sector, thereby driving income growth and productive employment in the Zambian economy. BEDEC will target over 100,000 SMEs, with a particular focus on women and youth. Specifically, BEDEC supports SMEs in becoming more productive and competitive by improving their access to key services for smallholder farmers, youth, and women. The program promotes SME growth to enhance employment opportunities and strengthens enabling environments and institutional capacity for SMEs within Zambia’s economy. BEDEC employs a strong and rigorous market systems development approach, playing a key facilitation role to drive scale, sustainability, and impact.

The Position

The Finance and Subawards Coordinator is part of the Mercy Corps Zambia Finance Department, and as such is responsible for all aspects of project financial management, working collaboratively to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures as well as donor regulations. S/he works under the direction of the Zambia Team Leader and Finance Manager and is responsible for all project financial functions, including accounting, payments and banking, payroll, budgeting, financial reporting, and grant financial management, sub-award management and compliance in Zambia. S/he will assess and develop plans to strengthen programmatic and financial capacities of partners to facilitate effective delivery of programmatic interventions. S/he will provide timely reports and assist the Finance Manager and the Program teams to ensure that financial resources are used efficiently and effectively.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION

Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to countrywide strategy development.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

Ensure effective, transparent use of financial resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures.
Maintain banking relations and plan and monitor field cash flow requirements to ensure the smooth implementation of Mercy Corps programs.
Ensure monthly standard accounting submissions from the respective field offices, including account reconciliations, financial analysis of month end transactions by award for accurate coding, as well as other financial analysis and information in a timely and accurate manner.
Provide monthly management reports to the Program Managers and senior management teams including expenditures by fund/project, cost analysis reports, and other financial information, in a timely and accurate manner.
Monitor and analyze grant budgets and spending, and in coordination with program managers initiate and prepare required budget realignments
Lead the proposal budget development and play key role on the proposal development team; ensure that budgets are in line with Mercy Corps’ requirements and donors’ regulations.
Develop and regularly update grant budgeting and forecasting systems with Program Managers.
Set up and maintain the grant files, maintain, and distribute current copies of the approved coded budgets to all relevant parties.
Lead in the roll out of finance systems and procedure documentation in the field offices, ensure that all finance transactions follow Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
Manage grant closeout process ensuring that all final expenditures are captured in time, expenses and program commitments fully reconciled against the budget balance and process documented. Ensure all finance files are archived and secured as per the Mercy Corps procedures
Perform the financial review of purchase requests, purchase orders, and payment requests to ensure compliance with MC policies and procedures and donors grants and contracts requirements.
Ensure that any required donor exemptions and/or pre-approvals are secured prior to incurring the expenditure
Perform compliance reviews of field office processes including procurement, logistics, stock management, HR, Admin, and coordinate with the relevant departments to correct and improve as needed
Provide advice, training, and consultation on compliance with MC policies and procedures as well as donor compliance requirements.
Support the creation and maintenance of systems that ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donors’ and Mercy Corps policies and procedures
Help identify efficient and effective solutions to issues while ensuring compliance with Mercy Corps’ policies and donor regulations,
Perform follow-up and resolutions for internal and external audit recommendations to improve or enhance the internal control environment.

SUB AWARDS MANAGEMENT:

Participate in the design of new initiatives that require partnership and support the program team in managing relationships with partners.
Maintain coherent and assertive coordination and communication with the BEDEC management team and partners.
Work with the Program team to facilitate competitive partners selection processes in accordance with the BEDEC partnership Toolkit and SOP and sub-awards manual.
In coordination with the program team, review sub-award applicants’ proposal, budgets and budget narratives for completeness, cost realism, and compliance with budget requirements.
Conduct detailed pre-award assessment and other due diligence and provide the report to inform teams’ partnership decisions.
Support the program team in timely drafting, modification, and submission of subaward agreement and coordinate and follow up on required approvals.
With support of the program team to develop partner monitoring plans and regularly monitor field activities and financial utilization.
Review partners’ financial reports for correctness and completeness and ensure that reports are submitted on time.
Develop and maintain sub-award records and ensure sub-award expenditure reports are filed in accordance with the field finance manual and sub-award manual.
Ensure timely review of sub-awardee financial related documents to facilitate timely processing of partners’ payments and reconcile sub-award financial tracking to general ledger reports.
Facilitate sub-award financial close-outs, including ensuring that all requirements of the sub-award agreement have been met and that sub-award funds have been properly settled.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT & REPORTING

Prepare and update monthly grant spending reports (Budget vs. Actuals, BvAs) including administrative/operational projections; work with the Finance Manager to ensure program projections are updated; together with the relevant program managers and staff members, review BvAs and projections, to ensure program implementation is on time, on scope and on budget.
Lead the consolidation of the monthly cash-flow projections for the project
Consolidate and prepare financial reports including budget projections of the project
Participate in key programmatic initiatives; provide necessary guidance and support from finance and compliance perspective with effort to remove any bottlenecks in the implementation process and support efficient programming.
Develop and maintain effective working relationships with in-country program and operations teams, and Mercy Corps stakeholders.

Safeguarding Responsibilities

Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Supervisory Responsibility

Project Finance Department staff (Finance Assistant).

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Team Leader – BEDEC and technical reporting to Finance Manager

Works Directly With: Program Team, HR Department, Operations Department, MCG/MCE HQ Compliance, and others

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

A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in relevant field Accounting, Finance and Commerce.
At least 5 years of relevant experience in donor funded grants accounting, sub award management, partnerships, program narrative, expense reporting and administration.
At least 5 years’ experience in grants management as well as an understanding of UN agencies, US Government, EU, FCDO, SIDA and other bilateral donors’ regulations
Demonstrated experience and skill with budget preparation and analysis, financial reporting preparation and presentation, and the proven ability to translate technical financial data into informative reports.
Strong accounting skills and experience, including management of the general ledger, journal entries, payroll, payables, and balance sheet.
Advanced computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel and Navigator accounting system.
Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have the ability to interact effectively across international and national program and finance teams successfully, both in managerial as well as training capacity. S/he will be able to support programmatic objectives with timely and meaningful financial information, have demonstrated ability to multi-task, and meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities. An impeccable professional standard of finance and procurement ethics and the willingness and ability to enforce compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures is essential. The Finance and Subawards Officer must be willing to travel regularly to Mercy Corps field offices and project sites. S/he must 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.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in LUSAKA-ZAMBIA and it requires 25% travel to support country programs.

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 Efficiency 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 that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out different 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 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]).