I BELIEVE we all have our roles to play in making the world a better place, wherever we are located. From the small gestures we can take daily to help each other, to the larger, more long-term programmes that culminate after years of work to lift people out of poverty. This is what my organisation, Mercy Corps, seeks to do in over 40 countries around the world.
From our office in Scotland every day, 50 team members support our humanitarian and development programmes in some of the most difficult and insecure environments.
These programmes include providing relief to Yemenis caught up in a civil war, working in partnership with business to offer entrepreneurial opportunities to young people in Kenya and Nigeria so they can make their way in the world, and supporting communities to build resilience to climate change.
We have a global outlook from our local base and, while we work internationally, the statistic we’re most proud of is that more than 87% of our team members around the world are local to where they live and work. We believe that local insight and knowledge will create the long-term, sustainable change we are striving for, and partnering with our teams right here in Scotland is integral to that. Scotland’s place in the world doesn’t need to be defined by us being there, but rather in how we support others to create a more fair and equitable world, wherever it is needed, both at home and abroad. For Mercy Corps, this can mean working from our offices in Leith, but standing up for someone across the world we may never meet.
Our community of humanitarians is a team of technical experts and specialists seeking to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges.
My team at Mercy Corps is responsible for supporting our field teams on budgeting, accounting and other financial functions to help ensure our funding is spent in accordance with Mercy Corps’ internal policies as well as donor regulations. I’m a management accountant and have also worked for both Lloyds and Standard Life, doing finance business partnering and commercial negotiations with asset managers.
Some might say that finance is the less “interesting” side of aid work, but we know that without responsible financial management and donor compliance, programmes would not be able to function and we, as an organisation, would not be able to secure follow-on funding. Furthermore, and crucially, our roles are fundamental to ensuring that donors and supporters, and the British tax-payers, receive the best value for their money. My team is experienced in finance and accounting, speak multiple languages, and will travel to countries for weeks at a time to support and build capacity, often at a moment’s notice.
Whatever our roles within Mercy Corps, we are united by a common purpose: to offer hope where others see only desolation, and encourage action in the face of indifference.
Scotland has a long history of standing side-by-side with vulnerable people around the world, and with those who may have had fewer opportunities. We are proud that Mercy Corps is based here and that our community is committed to redressing the inequity of opportunity and believe that a better world is possible.
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