Program Implementation Lead: GIRL-H

The Program / Department / Team (Program / Department Summary)
Girls Improving Resilience through Livelihoods and Health (GIRL-H) is a three-year, 10-million-dollar program implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Haiti and Nigeria and seeks to improve the well-being of adolescent and young people by increasing their access to skills and knowledge, health resources, formal education and economic opportunities. GIRL-H also fosters an enabling environment by working with communities to transform unhealthy social norms and create opportunities for girls and boys to access education and economic opportunity. Key to GIRL-H is a robust learning and research agenda that reaches across three countries to contribute to the evidence base on what works to secure access to opportunities for adolescent girls within the most marginalized communities and to better understand their contribution to household resilience. This evidence and learning will be shared to elevate Mercy Corps’ influence in the adolescent girl space and to bolster fundraising efforts to scale the model. The GIRL-H
Program Manager will coordinate and support the successful implementation of the GIRL-H program across the target countries, driving innovation and learning to refine a replicable and evidence-based GIRL-H programming model, and will play a critical role in leading regional and global expansion efforts for Mercy Corps’ adolescent girl programming.

General Position Summary

The Program Manager is responsible for supporting the country offices implementation of the GIRL-H program, including ensuring that project activities result in positive outcomes for male and female participants of different age groups.
S/he will have the responsibility for program start-up and implementing, while building team members’ and partners’ capacity to integrate a gender and youth perspective into project activities.
The Program Manager will support country Program Managers to ensure the effective and timely execution of all activities within this program, including social capital and life skills, linkages to formal, informal, and technical education, promotion of the enabling environment for young girls.
The Program Manager will be responsible for ensuring the integration of Safe Spaces into relevant programs. He/She is responsible for overseeing the implementation of training modules and the management of the Mercy Corps GIRL-H Safe Space activities for adolescent girls and boys, within relevant programs, including the GIRL-H program.

 Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION

Develop a clear vision for the program, as well as a clear and effective strategy for program implementation and evaluation and ensure that the vision and mission are aligned with contextual realities.
Ensure that the program strategy is clear and communicated to team members, local beneficiaries and partners.
Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and aligned with Mercy Corps’ principles and values.
Collaborate with other related Mercy Corps programs to create synergies wherever possible.
Guide the technical implementation of women’s and girls’ leadership country strategies based on Mercy Corps’ Country Strategy for Uganda, Haiti, Kenya and Nigeria.
Promote gender strategies across the country portfolio and adapt and improve them as needed.

 PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Manage and oversee program implementation, in cooperation with key project stakeholders, including local non-governmental organizations, local government officials, community- based organizations, other international agencies on the ground, and key donors;
Support transition of graduating participants across implementing countries
Work with MEL and country teams to tease out learnings and make adaptations where necessary
Develop communication materials including quarterly newsletters
Collaborate with program, finance and administrative staff to ensure systems comply with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures, including adherence to Mercy Corps program management minimum standards.
Ensure program implementation is on time, scope and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
Increase Mercy Corps and partner organization staff capacity by designing and delivering technical training and coaching plans on topics related to building resilience and achieving gender-equitable program outcomes.
Provide leadership and oversight in all aspects of program implementation, management, and evaluation.

 TEAM MANAGEMENT

Manage a specialized team dedicated to the specific project deliverables.
Work with different consultants – make documentaries, digitize curriculum
Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews;
Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
Oversee program staff and partner performance and quality of program implementation and if security context allows, conduct frequent field visits to all program sites.

 FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to gender, resilience, and safes spaces programming.
Draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget.
Establish and oversee effective program monitoring, evaluation, and reporting systems for both internal and external use and ensure high quality input is obtained from team members.
Use reporting results to monitor program success, measure impact, and calibrate program strategy accordingly.
Ensure documentation of achievements and lessons learned to ensure best practices are captured and disseminated in quarterly and final program reports.
Monitor adherence to the donor grant agreement as well as Mercy Corps’ and donor’s policies and procedures for procurement and compliance.

 KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Masters or equivalent experience in international development, political science, women’s or development studies, economics, sociology or other relevant field.
7-9 years’ experience in gender and youth development work including experience developing and conducting gender training, gender/youth mainstreaming and engaging in gender advocacy.
Experience in implementing adolescent and young people programs
Demonstrated ability to implement a program, manage a team and develop their capacities.
Demonstrated capacity to lead the collection, analysis and utilization of information from a broad range of sources to ensure effective integration of gender and youth concerns throughout the project’s duration. In-depth understanding of gender, age and other socio- cultural factors in the context of food security programming.
Ability to foster commitment and build capacity among project staff and in-country actors around gender and youth integration.
Experience in African preferred.
Strong public speaking and facilitation skills required.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
Excellent oral and written English skills
Capacity building experience especially for national organizations, local stakeholders and participants among others.
Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response preferred.

REGIONAL SYSTEMS AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS

Ensure that effective systems are in place in all country offices for the adequate management of human resources, financial and operational field support functions.
Review and support country team adherence to Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures.
Capture and disseminate best practices on operations, finance, and HR systems across country teams to ensure highest quality and standards.
Provide dedicated support to country teams in the event of an emergency or start up of a complex program that requires additional resources.
Collaborate with country finance leads in producing bi-annual master budgets.

 HUMAN RESOURCES, SAFEGUARDING AND DIVERSITY

Support Mercy Corps global and regional initiatives for human resources, including safeguarding and diversity, and talent development.
Collaborate with the people team to promote staff access to high quality learning opportunities, with a special emphasis on national team member development.
Assist with the on-boarding of senior team members, ensuring they are set up for success and familiar with agency systems, procedures, and protocols.

 RISK MANAGEMENT

Engage and support countries across the region to ensure that adequate risk management systems are in place.
Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events.
Engage with country teams on the internal audit process to track findings and ensure country team compliance with IA findings and recommendations.
Engage with country level Ethics and Assurance managers as well as the global Ethics and
Assurance department to track and analyze trends and needs across countries.

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