This Position is contingent

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is an international Humanitarian organization operating Water and Sanitation, Economic Development, Livelihoods, Capacity Building, Emergency Response, Health and Nutrition, and similar sectors in the regions of SNNPR, Somali, Oromia, Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Mercy Corps works with communities, public and private sectors to implement appropriate relief, recovery and development interventions. Mercy Corps Ethiopia invites motivated and qualified candidates to apply for the following vacant position.

Position Title:  program area manager

Duty Station:  Gambela, Ethiopia

Post Position: One

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps works in places of transition, where conflict, disaster, political upheaval, or economic collapse present opportunities to build more secure, productive, and just communities. Providing emergency relief in times of crisis, we move quickly to help communities recover and build resilience to future shocks, and promote sustainable change by supporting community-led and market-driven initiatives.

Globally, and in Ethiopia, Mercy Corps is a leading practitioner of market systems development (MSD) approaches to poverty reduction, with particular expertise in implementing MSD programs in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. This program will apply our market systems expertise to refugee and host community contexts in the Gambella region, with the objective of finding durable solutions to the protracted refugee situation. This program is part of a broader portfolio of markets and refugee programming for Mercy Corps in Ethiopia.  The position is currently covered in the inception phase and will likely be extended.

General Position Summary

Mercy Corps seeks an experienced and entrepreneurial leader with past experience of managing market systems development programs in refugee contexts.  The Program/ Area Manager will manage the implementation of a new market systems development program in Gambella and head Mercy Corps’ new field office. As such, s/he is responsible for all programmatic and operational aspects of field office, working collaboratively to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures as well as donor regulations. The Program / Area Manager will have overall responsibility for management of the program and manage a growing portfolio of MSD programming in the region.

S/he works under the direction of the Director for Humanitarian Response and Durable Solutions and is responsible for all programmatic and operational aspects of the field office, including Finance, Operations, Logistics, and HR.  The Program/ Area Manager will provide timely reports and assistance to the Director for Humanitarian Response and Durable Solutions and team to ensure that all the resources are used efficiently and effectively.

This is a new program, so the Program / Area Manager will be responsible for building the program team and spearheading the design of programming. This will include leading market assessments and analysis, developing the detailed program design, and leading implementation of interventions in the next phase of the program. The Program / Area Manager is expected to play a lead role in maintaining close working relationship with government authorities at the Regional Level, and with donor representatives. He/she will also play a lead role in representing Mercy Corps’ work externally, through participating in relevant coordination and learning events.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program management

·         Lead the conceptualization, implementation and continual improvement of the program;

·         In coordination with program team members, lead program start-up, management, administration and closeout. Ensure implementation is on time, target and budget.

·         Lead assessments and analysis across all target locations, drawing on external technical expertise as needed;

·         Build and maintain an excellent working relationship with partners based on trust and close coordination;

·         Lead the process of developing partnership frameworks to support program implementation, partner agreements and ensure partner capacity building;

·         Coordinate, manage and motivate the program team, ensuring they have clear objectives / individual work plans as part of performance management, and receive meaningful feedback on their performance;

·         Ensure that the program is managed adaptively, through periodic reflection exercises and use of data;

·         Submit high quality reports to donors;

·         Build and maintain close relationships with key government partners at all levels;

·         Monitor work and targets closely to ensure that the program is able to provide maximum benefit to our beneficiaries within its timeframe;

·         Work closely with the program team and partners ensuring we adhere to humanitarian principles, Mercy Corps’ gender policies, Do No Harm principles and beneficiary accountability standards;

·         Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities;

·         Fulfill Mercy Corps Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.

Security

·         Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership;

·         Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies;

·         Assist the country-level Security Manager to develop appropriate security systems and procedures in Gambella; and advise all staff to adhere to these procedures;

·         Serve as a security focal person for Mercy corps and brief staffs including security guards and drivers, and guests on any immediate security threats and provide training as necessary and provide security briefing to all new staff (advising on current security phase of the area);

·         Assist Security Manager, as required, in developing strategies to continue work in times of heightened security;

·         Ensure that all necessary measures are taken to provide staff a working environment as detailed in existing guidelines, including responsibility of fire regulations and building evacuation procedures;

·         Facilitate any incident reporting requirements as required;

·         Represent Mercy Corps, as advised by supervisor, to local governments and authorities and at routine security meetings/briefings;

·         Monitor and assess security and risk issues and trends in the cluster and inform program planning appropriately;

Team Building and Management

·         Lead and manage recruitment and training of all team members for the program, working closely with Mercy Corps’ Human Resources Department;

·         Oversee the documentation and filing system for the program, and ensure that information is organized according to the reporting and auditing needs. Ensure required levels of confidentiality;

·         Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that ensure the safety and security of the team in all aspects of its work;

·         Develop the capacity of the program team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development;

·         Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback;

·         Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence;

Finance and Operations Management

·         Ensure proper logistics, administration, human resources and transport needs of the program are conducted within Mercy Corps policy;

·         Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps’ regulations related to programming and operations.

·         With support of the Operations Manager, ensure adequate operational systems are in place to provide for program implementation;

·         Manage the program budget as the primary budget holder;

·         Exercise sound judgment to ensure program expenses are reasonable, allocable and prudent. Ensure all program funds are spent in accordance with donor rules and regulations. Forecast expenditure surpluses and deficits to enable adjustments;

·         Strictly follow Mercy Corps’ Fraud and Prevention guidelines;

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

·         Ensure that the program team is continually gathering and digesting operating environment data and activity reports, and that teams are holding frequent activity review sessions to continually re-examine the relevance and impact of their programming;

·         Coordinate and share information to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are being achieved. Advise on suggested improvements, as required;

·         Working with the MEL team, develop a Learning Agenda for the program, and support successful execution of learning and impact studies;

·         Ensure program teams have community complaint and feedback mechanisms in place and that complaints and feedback being received are responded to within a timely manner;

policy, advocacy, Representation

·         Represent Mercy Corps at academic events, conferences, media forums, and other events; contribute to thought leadership on Durable Solutions in Ethiopia and globally;

·         Identify and nurture strategic partnerships with other organizations and institutions working on durable solutions for refugees;

Organizational Learning 

·         As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

·         Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

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

Knowledge and Experience

·         Bachelor’s degree required. M.A, M.S., M.Sc., or equivalent in a field related is preferred;

·         At least 5 years’ experience working in international development, with senior-level management experience;

·         Experience undertaking market assessments and writing market assessment reports;

·         Practical field experience working in refugee contexts or fragile contexts is preferred;

·         Demonstrated success building, managing and leading a team of professionals in a fast-paced challenging environment with high standards for success (with limited burnout);

·         Excellent coordination and representation experience is needed, especially in building and maintaining strong/productive relations with implementing and strategic partner agencies and government agencies;

·         Strong financial management experience;

·         Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required;

·         Experience working in Gambella, with strong contextual knowledge of relevant cultures and clans;

·         Experience effectively initiating and maintaining productive relationships with private, public, civil society and research sector partners;

·         Excellent MEL, data analytics and quantitative skills are strongly preferred;

·         Excellent computer skills, including all Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, Outlook & PowerPoint);

·         Excellent communicator in English with demonstrated excellent report writing and speaking skills, proficiency in Amharic and the local language(s) greatly advantageous;

·         Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response preferred.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will possess excellent leadership skills, with the ability to maintain a broad perspective. He/she will undertake innovative approaches, be agile in the conceptualization of new program ideas, and will be well versed in strategic thinking and planning. The ideal candidate will have a strong curiosity for understanding and working effectively within the complex cultural, political, security and social environment of Ethiopia. He/She will be an excellent communicator, multi-tasker, and able to work in ambiguous situations. He/She will be a tolerant and flexible individual able to work in difficult and stressful environments and follow procedures. The successful candidate will be focused on team building and capacity-building of team-members; be a strategic thinker, have strong skills in design monitoring and evaluation of development programs and maintain a sense of humor.