Company Details: Company Information 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.

Senior Program Development Advisor

General Position Summary
The Senior Program Development Advisor will be a full-time member of the New Initiatives team, supporting the Africa portfolio and will work closely with the Regional Director and Deputy Regional Directors. He/she will support strategic program development efforts by: 1) supporting prepositioning efforts, including tracking the pipeline of potential new business opportunities for the region; 2) leading and/or supporting proposal development processes; 3) writing, editing and reviewing proposal documents; 4)helping to enhance the overall state of practice vis-a-vis proposal development process within the region. He/she will help enhance agency competitiveness by working with NI team members and other stakeholders to develop/improve tools and guidance on the proposal process; and 4) Providing mentorship and guidance to country proposal development teams.
Essential Job Responsibilities
Program & Proposal Development (approximately 85% time)

Program/Proposal Design and Development: Responsible for leading and supporting the development of strategic proposals, applying the agency’s best practices in proposal development for institutional donors. Special emphasis is on medium and mid level proposal opportunities; 2) the many emergency and humanitarian proposal opportunities that are generally smaller value but frequent; and 3) support work on larger strategic proposals, multi country opportunities and or European contracts in partnership with the NI team.
Strategic Pre-Positioning: Assist country teams in efforts to pro-actively prepare for strategic opportunities and influence donor strategies. This may include activities such as 1) support for targeted assessments that will help create funding opportunities or increase competitiveness of the agency in solicitations; 2) facilitating strategic planning sessions with country programs and 3) track donor trends for potential opportunities in the emergency space that busy country teams might not be able to monitor or respond to. Helps promote good pre-positioning practices amongst field and desk teams.
Donor and Partner Engagement: Regularly attend meetings with potential partners or donors to represent Mercy Corps in particular as part of ongoing proposal development opportunities. Additionally, provide support to RDs, DRDs or country teams to cultivate relationships with potential partner organizations for future opportunities
Provide “Real Time” Technical Support and Capacity Building: Time permitting, provide guidance, support, and reviews to field teams on small-medium size proposal efforts. Through team-work during actual proposal efforts, mentoring or tailored training activities, the Advisor will help build capacity of Mercy Corps’ staff within the region to work on proposals and run strong proposal and program development processes

Contribute to Activities That Raise Overall Agency State of Practice (Approximately 10%)

As a member of the NI team, the Senior Program Development Manager will spend a small portion of his/her time supporting agency-wide initiatives that enable Mercy Corps to more efficiently produce competitive submissions. (e.g. developing improved reference materials for proposal writers, contributing to efforts that capture learnings and results from our programs, and/or assisting with networking activities).
Keep up to date on relevant donor strategies being developed or applied by significant governmental, academic, and non-profit groups. Work with Mercy Corps to determine how the agency can best work with and/or influence such materials.
Deliver proposal development trainings to staff in field offices when appropriate.

Supervisory Responsibility None
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Deputy Regional Director with a dotted line to Sr. Director, New Initiatives
Works Directly With: Country Directors, Director of programs, Africa Senior Program Development Advisors, Regional Program team, TSU and New Initiatives
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

Bachelor’s degree required. M.A, M.S., M.Sc., or equivalent in International Development, International Relations or related field is preferred.
5-7 years of experience in International Development highly preferred, including experience living and/or working overseas
At least 2-3 years experience in field-based roles, with knowledge of Africa region
Successful track record in program design and proposal development in a variety of sectors and geographic locations.
Experience/knowledge of emergency and development programming preferred.
Exceptional writing skills – writing samples will be requested of finalist candidates.
Proven ability to work productively with a wide variety of stakeholders to run both participatory process and also meet tight deadlines with an emphasis on producing quality products.
Strong negotiation skills and experience developing and negotiating multiple-partnership arrangements for proposal development
Strong understanding of personnel and staffing requirements for USAID, European and other institutional donor proposals. Experience with corporate donors a plus.
Experience developing budget and cost proposal submissions for USAID, European and/or other institutional donors.
Experience with professional representation (e.g. donors, partner agencies, host governments, etc.).
Native-level spoken and written English required.
High level of spoken and written French preferred.
Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.

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November 2, 2024
Senior Technical Advisor – Seed Systems in Conflict-Affected and Humanitarian Settings

The Position
Mercy Corps seeks an experienced seed system technical advisor who has significant program and partnership management experience. They will be responsible for the overall management and technical direction of Mercy Corps’ two ISSD action learning topics and the relevant seed system components of PWS. Both programs are founded in collaboration and consultation and will require working with various stakeholders such as other INGOs, local organizations, research institutions and donors.
The Senior Technical Advisor will lead the technical seeds-related activities for the two programs, including conducting desk reviews on seed-related activities in conflict-affected areas, particularly linked to peace building, and on challenges, benefits and gaps in private sector practices that could contribute to more resilient, inclusive and productive seed systems in fragile contexts; pilot-testing and refining tools and guidance materials, building off of the CAT and SERT developed under the last ISSD phase; forging new connections and partnerships with seed system actors; convening online and in-person events with diverse stakeholders such as policy makers, implementing partners, donors and private sector actors; and documenting and disseminating learning and tools.
Alongside technical activities, the Senior Advisor will be responsible for management oversight of the two ISSD Africa action learning projects. This will include leading on project strategy, partner coordination and management, technical implementation, hiring and managing technical consultants where needed, and reporting and budgeting.
Essential Job Responsibilities
PROGRAM STRATEGY

Lead the implementation strategy development and refinement of Mercy Corps’ ISSD action learning projects, in collaboration with project partners and other relevant stakeholders
Act as Mercy Corps’ lead point of contact with WCDI, including engaging in the ISSD Africa management meetings and representing Mercy Corps at partner events
Work with PWS leadership on implementation strategy for emergency BHA partners, specifically focused on partners’ seed system priorities
Identify opportunities for synergies with Mercy Corps’ seed system activities

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Ensure that program implementation is responsive to implementing partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
Manage the workplan, budget and reporting for Mercy Corps’ two ISSD action learning projects
Lead on procurement processes, recruitment, and contracting of consultants, sub-awardees and other vendors
Manage project partnerships (SeedSystem and IFDC) and relevant consultants, ensuring clear communication, roles and responsibilities and completion of deliverables on time and within budget
Ensure delivery of action research, knowledge sharing and learning activities on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts..
Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards

PROGRAM TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

Contribute to influential analysis and derive new insights from desk reviews, assessments and pilot tests; incorporate those results and best practices into learning documents, practical tools or other outputs. Technical focus areas may include: seed systems in conflict-affected areas; private sector practices that could contribute to more resilient, inclusive and productive seed systems in fragile contexts; linking seed system interventions with resilience design and related outcomes (e.g., nutrition, food security); and anticipatory action and scenario planning for seed activities.
Lead online and in-person technical consultations to harness learning and share best practices and lessons learned; document learning and develop guidance documents/tools based on lessons learned; and facilitate knowledge sharing events with relevant stakeholders.
Forge new connections and partnerships with seed system actors;
Document and disseminate learning and tools widely to ensure best practices are shared, endorsed and utilized amongst relevant stakeholders

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND IMPACT MEASUREMENT

Manage the M&E system for Mercy Corps’ two ISSD Africa action learning projects; externally, this will include tracking key indicators (through collating documentation and annual or end-of-project surveys with project stakeholders) for reporting to WCDI; internally, this will include ensuring data is entered into Mercy Corps’ online tracking system and annually reporting on participant counts.
Contribute to PWS’s M&E and report systems, as relevant and when needed

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

Ensure compliance with donors and Mercy Corps regulations.
Work closely with finance officer to ensure ISSD budget is managed effectively, on time and within scope.
Communicate effectively to ensure overall program targets and donor obligations are met.

INFLUENCE, REPRESENTATION AND PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Identify, build and manage strategic partnerships with SeedSystem, IFDC, other ISSD Africa partners, USAID, as well as with networks and stakeholders.
Represent both programs and Mercy Corps with different stakeholders, in relevant practitioner and learning networks and at key events, as well as through developing industry wide papers, conference presentations, and online fora.
Build external visibility on relevant technical areas.

Supervisory Responsibility
The position will supervise consultants and sub-awardees, including the technical partners engaged in ISSD Africa. They may occasionally supervise interns and/or volunteers on special assignments.
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Director of Agriculture Systems TSU
Works Directly With: PWS Technical Director, Agriculture Advisors and other team members; Agriculture Systems and other relevant TSU team members, Mercy Corps country program teams in priority countries; Wageningen University and Research and other ISSD Africa Partners; SeedSystem; IFDC; Save the Children; and IDEAL, PRO-WASH, REAL, PCS and other USAID/BHA learning award staff.
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

At least 4 years of experience implementing emergency projects with a focus on seed system development and/or technically leading or advising on seed system interventions.
Advanced degree at master’s level or above in a field relevant to agriculture or international development, or at least 7 years of relevant work experience.
Demonstrated program management experience, including budget management and multi-partner, multi-country coordination experience
Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied technical expertise in formal and informal seed system development; practical experience with seed system assessments, strongly preferred.
Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied knowledge of market-based programming, including using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking, preferred.
Experience developing knowledge sharing strategies, learning tools, and leading/facilitating learning events.
Demonstrated ability to engage stakeholders at different levels from various agencies to collate learning and develop frameworks for implementation.
Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills and the ability to develop collaborative relationships
Strong presentation and communication skills in English required.
Willingness and ability to travel to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
Fluency (written and verbal) in English is required; working knowledge (verbal) of French is preferred.

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November 2, 2024
Assistant Livelihoods Officer – 3 Posts (2 Lodwar, 1 Maralal) Gender, Youth & Social Inclusion Officer – 2 Posts (Maralal) Livelihoods & Food Security Officer – 1 Post (Lodwar) Alternative Livelihoods & Inclusive Markets Officer – 3 Posts (Baragoi, Wamba & Maralal) Adaptive Learning and Communications Officer – 2 Posts (Lodwar & Maralal) Social, Structural & Behavioural Change Officer

Essential Job Responsibilities
Program Management

Facilitate community / Household visioning process for resilient livelihoods using community participatory appraisal tools
Coordinate with the Ward/ sub county level of County Government to mobilize actions and ensure effective communication channels.
Coordinate with community leadership to facilitate activity integration and targeting of participants / groups within selected irrigation schemes.
Coordinate with County government to build capacity for poor HHs on appropriate crop production systems and relevant climate smart agriculture approaches and technologies
Facilitate business to business linkages for targeted small scale irrigation schemes / farmers associations / groups that include poor and ultra-poor for increased access to farm inputs, finance and markets.
Facilitate Increased access for poor and ultra-poor HH to productivity enhancement inputs, climate smart agriculture and post-harvest technologies
Facilitate identification of youth and women agri-preneurs and lead support them establish interventions; i.e. establish fruit tree nurseries.
Support small-scale vegetable production gardens utilizing home garden techniques (permaculture) to promote nutrition dense vegetables for enhanced household consumption and income generation targeting poor households
Participate in monitoring and evaluation of project activities
Coordinate with the livelihoods officer to develop activities work plans, directly implement and report for each activity undertaken
Mobilize communities and support SBC initiatives for transformed practices at household level
Coordinate with public and private service providers (crop husbandry, inputs suppliers, aggregators, local financial institutions etc) to reach USAID Nawiri participants.
Collaborate with Nawiri health and nutrition staff to integrate messaging into crop and livestock production training curriculum.

COMMUNITY AND COUNTY ENGAGEMENT

Mobilize sub-county and ward level meetings with relevant stakeholders.
Lead community engagement and mobilization activities within the Ward(s) of operation
Support the facilitation of planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to revise and customize implementation plans.
Conduct community mobilization and sensitization meetings with ward and community-level leaders to enhance investment in crop production.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

Assist livelihoods and food security officers in activity coordination with local government and other implementers at the Subcounty level.
Participate in planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to develop and deliver capacity building of farmers
Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission

OTHER

Promote and adhere to the principle and objectives of the project and Mercy Corps.
Participate in other USAID Nawiri livelihoods program activities (Livestock and NRM)
Other duties as assigned.

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 Participants

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.

Knowledge and Experience

A Diploma in Agriculture (Crop & Livestock) related field (i.e., Agronomy, Agro-ecology, Horticulture, Dry land agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Agriculture Education & Extension).
Advanced technical certificate holders from reputable institutions plus proven experience of over 5 years will be considered.
Minimum 3 years of direct implementation of agriculture development activities.  Experience working directly with small scale irrigation is an added advantage.
Good spoken and written English required.
Must be able to work independently once in the field and show initiative.
Experience in farmers needs assessment and report writing.
Demonstrable experience in farmers training and community mobilization
Experience in community participatory appraisal tools
Practical experience in partnership building and collaboration with government and other partners
Computer and basic administrative and organizational skills is a plus.
Willingness to travel extensively throughout the project area.

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November 2, 2024
Senior Food Security Advisor

Essential Job Functions
PROGRAM QUALITY, TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND CAPACITY BUILDING (50%)

Participate as an active, integrated member of the regional team providing technical support to a portfolio of food security programs in countries including those in humanitarian and complex crisis environments.
Proactively engage with program managers and technical focal points to ensure the quality and impact of the design and delivery of complex multi-sectoral food security and livelihood programming across both humanitarian and development contexts, with a particular focus on ensuring innovative quality approaches in nexus programming.
Support effective interventions in food security programs using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking.
Help maintain standards of program delivery that apply agency priorities and comply with relevant regulations and requirements.
Help the country and program teams gather, refine, develop and disseminate tools such as training presentations and manuals, teaching notes, best practices and lessons learned, program examples, and monitoring and evaluation tools. Ensure these tools reflect Mercy Corps’ approaches to resilience, gender and youth as central cross-cutting dimensions of food security.
Support an increased focus on resilience and gender in food security, livelihoods and Markets in Crisis programs, promoting evidence for integration of resilience, Market systems development and Financial Inclusion.
Provide support across a range of complex multi-sectoral food security and livelihood programmes and initiatives focusing on one or more food security and livelihood approaches, including poverty graduation and social protection. Other themes could include gender within agrifood systems, Food security and livelihood in conflict settings, climate resilient food security and livelihoods, agro-ecological approaches for sustainable food security and livelihoods, last mile food market systems, early warning and anticipatory action.
Provide technical oversight to relief and long-term food security and livelihood interventions in the region (including to assessments, project implementation, budget management, project documentation) in line with global sector frameworks, country strategies and donor requirements.
Lead and/or provide significant support to program start-up for complex multi-sectoral food security and livelihood programs to ensure a livelihoods approach informs integrated assessments and analysis frameworks, theory of change refinement, and design of work plans and detailed implementation plans.
Work closely with country leaders and program managers to identify and set team and partner capacity-building priorities, and coordinate and deliver tailored capacity building support visits and training workshops to better design and implement food security and livelihoods programs..
Keep abreast of new thinking, research and innovations in food security synthesize, and regularly communicate findings for country teams.

REGIONAL STRATEGY, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AND REPRESENTATION (20%)

Collaborate with regional and HQ leadership to design and oversee the application of Mercy Corps’ strategic regional vision to enhance resilient food security and livelihoods.
Contribute to research, evaluation, and innovation projects in the food security and livelihood field to expand the knowledge base, promote a learning culture and identify new / enhanced approaches to amplify impact. Coordinate implementation of a regional research and learning agenda on resilient food security & livelihoods that advances frontier areas of research and learning and promotes Mercy Corps’ regional food security profile and platform, in close collaboration with the Global TSU and Research and Learning Teams.
Drive a culture of learning between programs, countries, and technical teams through consistent sharing of evidence-based best practices and lessons learned.
Contribute to regional food security and livelihood knowledge management and communications and to raising our external profile regionally, regularly sharing out findings and updates through appropriate internal and external channels.
Represent Mercy Corps as in appropriate donor, learning and policy forums. Support country teams to identify and participate in opportunities for external representation and thought leadership, including by developing talking points and presentations.
Facilitate information flow to Resource Development, Policy and Advocacy and regional and technical teams to drive our positioning and increase external visibility in resilient food security and livelihoods. ● Work with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team at regional and country level to ensure that monitoring and evaluation of food security programs is practical and reflects Global best practices.
Support new and ongoing programs with best practice advice and assistance on assessment, implementation, research, and evaluation needs.
Conduct assessments; write case studies, learning documents, short articles, and blogs; and develop internal and external dissemination plans for all products.
Lead and facilitate Food Security and livelihoods community of practice within the region to share lessons, best practices and enhance program impact through better collaboration and networking

STRATEGIC PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT (30%)

Working closely with country teams, develop or support high quality concept notes and proposals to increase funding for food security programs.
Source and document new ideas and innovations from within country programs, private sector partners, researchers and academics and link them with appropriate implementing partners and funding sources to begin to scale up ideas that are proven in programs.
Contribute to a strong and regularly updated network of technical experts and consultants that can serve as additional deployable resources for program development.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Technical Director – Africa
Works Directly With: Resilience Technical Support Unit; Regional Technical Team; Country Directors/Directors of Program; program managers and country program teams; regional and HQ technical staff.

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.

Knowledge and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in international development, Food Security, Nutrition, or relevant field
Five to seven years’ experience in resilience, food security and livelihood development programming in Africa is required. Additional experience in early recovery and/or emergency programming is a plus.
Demonstrated experience with the application of a resilience approach in fragile contexts preferred.
Demonstrated experience in leading and/or facilitating complex multi-sectoral assessment design processes, and translating analysis into program approaches.
Demonstrated experience using M&E to improve program learning and adaptive management.
Strong representation, networking, and facilitation skills.
Proven ability to synthesize and communicate complex subjects/topics effectively to multi-stakeholder groups.
Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through training, mentoring, and other formal and non-formal methods.
Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with a diverse geographically spread team.
French fluency strongly preferred.

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jobs.jobvite.com

November 2, 2024
Data Protection & Privacy Technologist

The Position

As the Data Protection and Privacy Technologist, your primary mission would be to:

act as system owner for our two primary data protection platforms (OneTrust, and Proofpoint) with an emphasis on configuring user roles and establishing workflows.
Partner in developing solutions to improve the use of technology at Mercy Corps to ensure the highest standards of data protection and privacy.
play an active role in developing data protection and privacy throughout the organization. We are looking for a skilled technologist with an entrepreneurial spirit who wants to help our team grow and define their role.
contribute to compliance frameworks such as CIS or Microsoft Purview and make appropriate enhancements or troubleshoot technical issues as needed.

As a member of DPP, you will help the team think strategically about the roles that technology can play in making data protection and privacy actions easier for staff including leveraging the potential of Microsoft tools such as PowerApps to facilitate responsible data practices for country teams.

Essential Responsibilities

Act as system owner for OneTrust, Proofpoint, and contribute to compliance frameworks in M365.
Maintain DPP’s PowerBI dashboard and help create new dashboard products to help prioritize DPP’s work.
Develop, implement, and maintain data protection-related policies, procedures and associated training plans for a range of software (examples include Ona, Commcare, PowerBI, and messaging apps).
Serve as a subject matter expert and provide internal consulting to teams who are building their own technical workflows or bespoke applications.
Perform privacy impact assessments on new technologies.
Provide direction and guidance for implementation of best practices as they pertain to data protection and privacy technology.
Analyze Data Protection and Privacy needs of the organization, particularly at the regional level, and identify opportunities for improvement.
Provide stakeholders with accurate, timely and relevant information to enable informed decisions.
Lead or co-lead regional working group meetings, trainings and other calls with DPP.
Create or co-create responsible data program materials, documentation and templates.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

Bachelor’s degree in a related field (Information Security, Computer Science, Law, Cybersecurity or equivalent)
4+ years of project management, stakeholder management, and business analysis in IT, compliance, cybersecurity, or related field.
3+ years of demonstrated experience with data protection, privacy or responsible data activities, or data management, preferably with a compliance focus or in a humanitarian context.
Experience with digital security awareness topics and best practices and/or implementing regulations such as GDPR, NDPR, CCPA, HIPAA or frameworks such as NIST, ISO, etc.
Experience working in a diverse global organization. Humanitarian experience is preferred
Experience creating and maintaining dashboards in Power BI is preferred.
IAPP certification or similar is preferred.
Experience with GSuite (Google) and Microsoft 365 is preferred.
Fluency in English is required. Fluency in Spanish, Arabic, or Asian languages is strongly preferred.
Effective written and oral communication and the ability to present technical material to a wide variety of audiences, including non-technical audiences.
Be able to run working groups and meetings in an entirely online environment. As a remote team, the ability to connect online and build consensus with each other and with stakeholders to help drive change is critical.
Be detailed oriented and well organized.
Prioritize communication, collaboration, and teamwork.

What makes an ideal candidate?

Our work spans the domains of technology, legal, compliance, and training: everybody on the team contributes something unique. We are looking for self-motivated people who prioritize collaboration and who are willing to take on new challenges. You may not have in-depth experience in every single thing on our list, but you are willing to learn and can make a clear case for how your experience is a good fit and provide examples of successfully taking on new technical or compliance challenges. This is a growth position, and we want to invest in someone who can contribute to humanitarian data protection over the long-term. Examples of our current projects include Mercy Corps’ Responsible Data Toolkit or the Data Protection and Privacy Guides.
Other helpful skills include successful project management experience and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously. A strong background in IT management and privacy; demonstrated experience applying security or privacy practices to ICT4D programs or data analysis pipelines.

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November 2, 2024
Director, Regional Human Resources Business Partner

The Position
The Director, Regional HR Business Partner, is responsible for leading and managing the human resources function for the Africa Region. The Director, HRBP works closely with Regional Senior Leadership to understand the needs and objectives of the Country Programs to develop and implement HR strategies and initiatives that support the regional strategy and contextual needs of individual Country Programs, while remaining aligned with Mercy Corps’ global strategy.
Essential Responsibilities

Advocates for and represents all areas of Mercy Corps’ People strategy. Actively participate as a strategic leader and member of the Regional senior leadership team with input, oversight, and accountability for the HRBP and Employee Relations functions
Work with the Regional Director and the Chief People Officer to guide the overall vision and approach of the People Team, delivering clear actionable plans aligned with program needs and the regional context, and gain support/ownership for that agenda with key stakeholders in the Region.
Strategically develops and manages cross-departmental and cross-functional relationships and activities to ensure that the human resource function is well integrated into wider agency objectives.
Developing capabilities of country HR teams and providing them with guidance and support to ensure that they are effectively carrying out their responsibilities.
Providing guidance and support to managers and team members on a wide range of HR-related topics, such as performance management, employee development, All Voices survey and leadership development
In collaboration with the Africa Regional Leadership team, Country Directors, and other People team functions like Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Leadership and Learning, People Operations and Total Rewards identifies areas of opportunity to develop and implement programs that foster employee engagement and success for the region.
Leverages and supports ongoing communication campaigns to strengthen the Global Human Resource team brand throughout appropriate digital, social media and in-person avenues within the agency. Apply lessons learned and best practices to achieve this objective at the country and regional level.
Partner with the Employee Relations Team to ensure strategic decision-making and compliance in all performance and conduct related issues.
Leverage Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Leadership and Learning, and Total Rewards -to develop and implement programs which foster employee engagement and success
Leading and assisting in the development and planning of organizational change/transformation, leading identification/framing of problems, creation of trusting relationships, action plan fulfillment
Working with the HR leadership team to develop and implement organization-wide HR policies and programs, and ensuring that they are consistently applied across the region
Analyzing HR data and metrics to identify trends and areas for improvement, and providing recommendations to senior leadership on how to address any issues or concerns
Actively promoting the organization’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and working with the HR team to develop programs and initiatives that support a diverse and inclusive workplace.
In addition to these specific responsibilities, the Director, Regional HR Business Partner must possess strong leadership skills, excellent communication and interpersonal abilities, and a deep understanding of HR best practices and regulations. They must also be able to work effectively in a fast-paced and dynamic environment and be able to adapt to changing business needs and priorities.

Supervisory Responsibility

Regional SR. HRBP, Country HR leaders (Co-Supervisor with CD)

Accountability

Reports directly to: Regional Director, and the Chief People Officer
Works directly with: Country Directors, Regional SMTs, Total Rewards, Talent Management, Leadership and Learning, Talent Acquisition, Employee Relations, People Operations, People Systems, Corporate Finance; Ethics, Legal and other teams as needed.

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 Qualifications & Transferable Skills

10 years of Human Resources experience in global roles with a bachelor’s degree in HR or related field.
A minimum of 5 years international experience.
Exposure to INGO Programming, Country Operations is highly preferable.
Experience leading a diverse team across geographies.
Demonstrated understanding of working in Africa, and significant experience with the challenges of operating and managing HR functions in the region.
Demonstrated capacity to utilize analytics and technology to improve efficiency.
Demonstrated capacity to incorporate best in class assessment approaches in global organization.
Demonstrated experience and ability to create, implement, maintain, and improve HR processes.
Demonstrated passion for staffing in international relief and development environments.
Ability to communicate and problem-solve effectively across diverse cultures with sensitivity.
Experience facilitating senior level conversations.
Fluency in French and English strongly preferred.

Apply via :

jobs.jobvite.com

November 2, 2024
Senior Program Development Advisor

General Position Summary

The Senior Program Development Advisor will be a full-time member of the New Initiatives team, supporting the Africa portfolio and will work closely with the Regional Director and Deputy Regional Directors. He/she will support strategic program development efforts by: 1) supporting prepositioning efforts, including tracking the pipeline of potential new business opportunities for the region; 2) leading and/or supporting proposal development processes; 3) writing, editing and reviewing proposal documents; 4)helping to enhance the overall state of practice vis-a-vis proposal development process within the region. He/she will help enhance agency competitiveness by working with NI team members and other stakeholders to develop/improve tools and guidance on the proposal process; and 4) Providing mentorship and guidance to country proposal development teams.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program & Proposal Development (approximately 85% time)

Program/Proposal Design and Development: Responsible for leading and supporting the development of strategic proposals, applying the agency’s best practices in proposal development for institutional donors. Special emphasis is on medium and mid level proposal opportunities; 2) the many emergency and humanitarian proposal opportunities that are generally smaller value but frequent; and 3) support work on larger strategic proposals, multi country opportunities and or European contracts in partnership with the NI team.
Strategic Pre-Positioning: Assist country teams in efforts to pro-actively prepare for strategic opportunities and influence donor strategies. This may include activities such as 1) support for targeted assessments that will help create funding opportunities or increase competitiveness of the agency in solicitations; 2) facilitating strategic planning sessions with country programs and 3) track donor trends for potential opportunities in the emergency space that busy country teams might not be able to monitor or respond to. Helps promote good pre-positioning practices amongst field and desk teams.
Donor and Partner Engagement: Regularly attend meetings with potential partners or donors to represent Mercy Corps in particular as part of ongoing proposal development opportunities. Additionally, provide support to RDs, DRDs or country teams to cultivate relationships with potential partner organizations for future opportunities
Provide “Real Time” Technical Support and Capacity Building: Time permitting, provide guidance, support, and reviews to field teams on small-medium size proposal efforts. Through team-work during actual proposal efforts, mentoring or tailored training activities, the Advisor will help build capacity of Mercy Corps’ staff within the region to work on proposals and run strong proposal and program development processes

Contribute to Activities That Raise Overall Agency State of Practice (Approximately 10%)

As a member of the NI team, the Senior Program Development Manager will spend a small portion of his/her time supporting agency-wide initiatives that enable Mercy Corps to more efficiently produce competitive submissions. (e.g. developing improved reference materials for proposal writers, contributing to efforts that capture learnings and results from our programs, and/or assisting with networking activities).
Keep up to date on relevant donor strategies being developed or applied by significant governmental, academic, and non-profit groups. Work with Mercy Corps to determine how the agency can best work with and/or influence such materials.
Deliver proposal development trainings to staff in field offices when appropriate.

Supervisory Responsibility None

Accountability
Reports Directly To: Deputy Regional Director with a dotted line to Sr. Director, New Initiatives
Works Directly With: Country Directors, Director of programs, Africa Senior Program Development Advisors, Regional Program team, TSU and New Initiatives

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

Bachelor’s degree required. M.A, M.S., M.Sc., or equivalent in International Development, International Relations or related field is preferred.
5-7 years of experience in International Development highly preferred, including experience living and/or working overseas
At least 2-3 years experience in field-based roles, with knowledge of Africa region
Successful track record in program design and proposal development in a variety of sectors and geographic locations.
Experience/knowledge of emergency and development programming preferred.
Exceptional writing skills – writing samples will be requested of finalist candidates.
Proven ability to work productively with a wide variety of stakeholders to run both participatory process and also meet tight deadlines with an emphasis on producing quality products.
Strong negotiation skills and experience developing and negotiating multiple-partnership arrangements for proposal development
Strong understanding of personnel and staffing requirements for USAID, European and other institutional donor proposals. Experience with corporate donors a plus.
Experience developing budget and cost proposal submissions for USAID, European and/or other institutional donors.
Experience with professional representation (e.g. donors, partner agencies, host governments, etc.).
Native-level spoken and written English required.
High level of spoken and written French preferred.
Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.

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November 2, 2024
Senior Technical Advisor – Seed Systems in Conflict-Affected and Humanitarian Settings

The Position

Mercy Corps seeks an experienced seed system technical advisor who has significant program and partnership management experience. They will be responsible for the overall management and technical direction of Mercy Corps’ two ISSD action learning topics and the relevant seed system components of PWS. Both programs are founded in collaboration and consultation and will require working with various stakeholders such as other INGOs, local organizations, research institutions and donors.

The Senior Technical Advisor will lead the technical seeds-related activities for the two programs, including conducting desk reviews on seed-related activities in conflict-affected areas, particularly linked to peace building, and on challenges, benefits and gaps in private sector practices that could contribute to more resilient, inclusive and productive seed systems in fragile contexts; pilot-testing and refining tools and guidance materials, building off of the CAT and SERT developed under the last ISSD phase; forging new connections and partnerships with seed system actors; convening online and in-person events with diverse stakeholders such as policy makers, implementing partners, donors and private sector actors; and documenting and disseminating learning and tools.

Alongside technical activities, the Senior Advisor will be responsible for management oversight of the two ISSD Africa action learning projects. This will include leading on project strategy, partner coordination and management, technical implementation, hiring and managing technical consultants where needed, and reporting and budgeting.

Essential Job Responsibilities

PROGRAM STRATEGY

Lead the implementation strategy development and refinement of Mercy Corps’ ISSD action learning projects, in collaboration with project partners and other relevant stakeholders
Act as Mercy Corps’ lead point of contact with WCDI, including engaging in the ISSD Africa management meetings and representing Mercy Corps at partner events
Work with PWS leadership on implementation strategy for emergency BHA partners, specifically focused on partners’ seed system priorities
Identify opportunities for synergies with Mercy Corps’ seed system activities

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Ensure that program implementation is responsive to implementing partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
Manage the workplan, budget and reporting for Mercy Corps’ two ISSD action learning projects
Lead on procurement processes, recruitment, and contracting of consultants, sub-awardees and other vendors
Manage project partnerships (SeedSystem and IFDC) and relevant consultants, ensuring clear communication, roles and responsibilities and completion of deliverables on time and within budget
Ensure delivery of action research, knowledge sharing and learning activities on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts..
Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards

PROGRAM TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

Contribute to influential analysis and derive new insights from desk reviews, assessments and pilot tests; incorporate those results and best practices into learning documents, practical tools or other outputs. Technical focus areas may include: seed systems in conflict-affected areas; private sector practices that could contribute to more resilient, inclusive and productive seed systems in fragile contexts; linking seed system interventions with resilience design and related outcomes (e.g., nutrition, food security); and anticipatory action and scenario planning for seed activities.
Lead online and in-person technical consultations to harness learning and share best practices and lessons learned; document learning and develop guidance documents/tools based on lessons learned; and facilitate knowledge sharing events with relevant stakeholders.
Forge new connections and partnerships with seed system actors;
Document and disseminate learning and tools widely to ensure best practices are shared, endorsed and utilized amongst relevant stakeholders

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND IMPACT MEASUREMENT

Manage the M&E system for Mercy Corps’ two ISSD Africa action learning projects; externally, this will include tracking key indicators (through collating documentation and annual or end-of-project surveys with project stakeholders) for reporting to WCDI; internally, this will include ensuring data is entered into Mercy Corps’ online tracking system and annually reporting on participant counts.
Contribute to PWS’s M&E and report systems, as relevant and when needed

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

Ensure compliance with donors and Mercy Corps regulations.
Work closely with finance officer to ensure ISSD budget is managed effectively, on time and within scope.
Communicate effectively to ensure overall program targets and donor obligations are met.

INFLUENCE, REPRESENTATION AND PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Identify, build and manage strategic partnerships with SeedSystem, IFDC, other ISSD Africa partners, USAID, as well as with networks and stakeholders.
Represent both programs and Mercy Corps with different stakeholders, in relevant practitioner and learning networks and at key events, as well as through developing industry wide papers, conference presentations, and online fora.
Build external visibility on relevant technical areas.

Supervisory Responsibility

The position will supervise consultants and sub-awardees, including the technical partners engaged in ISSD Africa. They may occasionally supervise interns and/or volunteers on special assignments.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of Agriculture Systems TSU

Works Directly With: PWS Technical Director, Agriculture Advisors and other team members; Agriculture Systems and other relevant TSU team members, Mercy Corps country program teams in priority countries; Wageningen University and Research and other ISSD Africa Partners; SeedSystem; IFDC; Save the Children; and IDEAL, PRO-WASH, REAL, PCS and other USAID/BHA learning award staff.

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

At least 4 years of experience implementing emergency projects with a focus on seed system development and/or technically leading or advising on seed system interventions.
Advanced degree at master’s level or above in a field relevant to agriculture or international development, or at least 7 years of relevant work experience.
Demonstrated program management experience, including budget management and multi-partner, multi-country coordination experience
Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied technical expertise in formal and informal seed system development; practical experience with seed system assessments, strongly preferred.
Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied knowledge of market-based programming, including using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking, preferred.
Experience developing knowledge sharing strategies, learning tools, and leading/facilitating learning events.
Demonstrated ability to engage stakeholders at different levels from various agencies to collate learning and develop frameworks for implementation.
Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills and the ability to develop collaborative relationships
Strong presentation and communication skills in English required.
Willingness and ability to travel to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
Fluency (written and verbal) in English is required; working knowledge (verbal) of French is preferred.

Apply via :

jobs.jobvite.com

November 2, 2024
Assistant Livelihoods Officer – 3 Posts (2 Lodwar, 1 Maralal) Gender, Youth & Social Inclusion Officer – 2 Posts (Maralal) Livelihoods & Food Security Officer – 1 Post (Lodwar) Alternative Livelihoods & Inclusive Markets Officer – 3 Posts (Baragoi, Wamba & Maralal) Adaptive Learning and Communications Officer – 2 Posts (Lodwar & Maralal) Social, Structural & Behavioural Change Officer

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program Management

Facilitate community / Household visioning process for resilient livelihoods using community participatory appraisal tools
Coordinate with the Ward/ sub county level of County Government to mobilize actions and ensure effective communication channels.
Coordinate with community leadership to facilitate activity integration and targeting of participants / groups within selected irrigation schemes.
Coordinate with County government to build capacity for poor HHs on appropriate crop production systems and relevant climate smart agriculture approaches and technologies
Facilitate business to business linkages for targeted small scale irrigation schemes / farmers associations / groups that include poor and ultra-poor for increased access to farm inputs, finance and markets.
Facilitate Increased access for poor and ultra-poor HH to productivity enhancement inputs, climate smart agriculture and post-harvest technologies
Facilitate identification of youth and women agri-preneurs and lead support them establish interventions; i.e. establish fruit tree nurseries.
Support small-scale vegetable production gardens utilizing home garden techniques (permaculture) to promote nutrition dense vegetables for enhanced household consumption and income generation targeting poor households
Participate in monitoring and evaluation of project activities
Coordinate with the livelihoods officer to develop activities work plans, directly implement and report for each activity undertaken
Mobilize communities and support SBC initiatives for transformed practices at household level
Coordinate with public and private service providers (crop husbandry, inputs suppliers, aggregators, local financial institutions etc) to reach USAID Nawiri participants.
Collaborate with Nawiri health and nutrition staff to integrate messaging into crop and livestock production training curriculum.

COMMUNITY AND COUNTY ENGAGEMENT

Mobilize sub-county and ward level meetings with relevant stakeholders.
Lead community engagement and mobilization activities within the Ward(s) of operation
Support the facilitation of planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to revise and customize implementation plans.
Conduct community mobilization and sensitization meetings with ward and community-level leaders to enhance investment in crop production.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

Assist livelihoods and food security officers in activity coordination with local government and other implementers at the Subcounty level.
Participate in planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to develop and deliver capacity building of farmers
Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission

OTHER

Promote and adhere to the principle and objectives of the project and Mercy Corps.
Participate in other USAID Nawiri livelihoods program activities (Livestock and NRM)
Other duties as assigned.

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 Participants

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.

Knowledge and Experience

A Diploma in Agriculture (Crop & Livestock) related field (i.e., Agronomy, Agro-ecology, Horticulture, Dry land agriculture, Agricultural Economics, Agriculture Education & Extension).
Advanced technical certificate holders from reputable institutions plus proven experience of over 5 years will be considered.
Minimum 3 years of direct implementation of agriculture development activities.  Experience working directly with small scale irrigation is an added advantage.
Good spoken and written English required.
Must be able to work independently once in the field and show initiative.
Experience in farmers needs assessment and report writing.
Demonstrable experience in farmers training and community mobilization
Experience in community participatory appraisal tools
Practical experience in partnership building and collaboration with government and other partners
Computer and basic administrative and organizational skills is a plus.
Willingness to travel extensively throughout the project area.

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November 2, 2024
Senior Food Security Advisor

Essential Job Functions
PROGRAM QUALITY, TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND CAPACITY BUILDING (50%)

Participate as an active, integrated member of the regional team providing technical support to a portfolio of food security programs in countries including those in humanitarian and complex crisis environments.
Proactively engage with program managers and technical focal points to ensure the quality and impact of the design and delivery of complex multi-sectoral food security and livelihood programming across both humanitarian and development contexts, with a particular focus on ensuring innovative quality approaches in nexus programming.
Support effective interventions in food security programs using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking.
Help maintain standards of program delivery that apply agency priorities and comply with relevant regulations and requirements.
Help the country and program teams gather, refine, develop and disseminate tools such as training presentations and manuals, teaching notes, best practices and lessons learned, program examples, and monitoring and evaluation tools. Ensure these tools reflect Mercy Corps’ approaches to resilience, gender and youth as central cross-cutting dimensions of food security.
Support an increased focus on resilience and gender in food security, livelihoods and Markets in Crisis programs, promoting evidence for integration of resilience, Market systems development and Financial Inclusion.
Provide support across a range of complex multi-sectoral food security and livelihood programmes and initiatives focusing on one or more food security and livelihood approaches, including poverty graduation and social protection. Other themes could include gender within agrifood systems, Food security and livelihood in conflict settings, climate resilient food security and livelihoods, agro-ecological approaches for sustainable food security and livelihoods, last mile food market systems, early warning and anticipatory action.
Provide technical oversight to relief and long-term food security and livelihood interventions in the region (including to assessments, project implementation, budget management, project documentation) in line with global sector frameworks, country strategies and donor requirements.
Lead and/or provide significant support to program start-up for complex multi-sectoral food security and livelihood programs to ensure a livelihoods approach informs integrated assessments and analysis frameworks, theory of change refinement, and design of work plans and detailed implementation plans.
Work closely with country leaders and program managers to identify and set team and partner capacity-building priorities, and coordinate and deliver tailored capacity building support visits and training workshops to better design and implement food security and livelihoods programs..
Keep abreast of new thinking, research and innovations in food security synthesize, and regularly communicate findings for country teams.

REGIONAL STRATEGY, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AND REPRESENTATION (20%)

Collaborate with regional and HQ leadership to design and oversee the application of Mercy Corps’ strategic regional vision to enhance resilient food security and livelihoods.
Contribute to research, evaluation, and innovation projects in the food security and livelihood field to expand the knowledge base, promote a learning culture and identify new / enhanced approaches to amplify impact. Coordinate implementation of a regional research and learning agenda on resilient food security & livelihoods that advances frontier areas of research and learning and promotes Mercy Corps’ regional food security profile and platform, in close collaboration with the Global TSU and Research and Learning Teams.
Drive a culture of learning between programs, countries, and technical teams through consistent sharing of evidence-based best practices and lessons learned.
Contribute to regional food security and livelihood knowledge management and communications and to raising our external profile regionally, regularly sharing out findings and updates through appropriate internal and external channels.
Represent Mercy Corps as in appropriate donor, learning and policy forums. Support country teams to identify and participate in opportunities for external representation and thought leadership, including by developing talking points and presentations.
Facilitate information flow to Resource Development, Policy and Advocacy and regional and technical teams to drive our positioning and increase external visibility in resilient food security and livelihoods. ● Work with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team at regional and country level to ensure that monitoring and evaluation of food security programs is practical and reflects Global best practices.
Support new and ongoing programs with best practice advice and assistance on assessment, implementation, research, and evaluation needs.
Conduct assessments; write case studies, learning documents, short articles, and blogs; and develop internal and external dissemination plans for all products.
Lead and facilitate Food Security and livelihoods community of practice within the region to share lessons, best practices and enhance program impact through better collaboration and networking

STRATEGIC PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT (30%)

Working closely with country teams, develop or support high quality concept notes and proposals to increase funding for food security programs.
Source and document new ideas and innovations from within country programs, private sector partners, researchers and academics and link them with appropriate implementing partners and funding sources to begin to scale up ideas that are proven in programs.
Contribute to a strong and regularly updated network of technical experts and consultants that can serve as additional deployable resources for program development.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Technical Director – Africa
Works Directly With: Resilience Technical Support Unit; Regional Technical Team; Country Directors/Directors of Program; program managers and country program teams; regional and HQ technical staff.

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.

Knowledge and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in international development, Food Security, Nutrition, or relevant field
Five to seven years’ experience in resilience, food security and livelihood development programming in Africa is required. Additional experience in early recovery and/or emergency programming is a plus.
Demonstrated experience with the application of a resilience approach in fragile contexts preferred.
Demonstrated experience in leading and/or facilitating complex multi-sectoral assessment design processes, and translating analysis into program approaches.
Demonstrated experience using M&E to improve program learning and adaptive management.
Strong representation, networking, and facilitation skills.
Proven ability to synthesize and communicate complex subjects/topics effectively to multi-stakeholder groups.
Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through training, mentoring, and other formal and non-formal methods.
Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with a diverse geographically spread team.
French fluency strongly preferred.

Apply via :

jobs.jobvite.com

November 2, 2024