This position is pending funding

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, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been operating in Somalia since 2008. With a staff of around 100 people and programs operating throughout the country, Mercy Corps’ overall country goal is building a peaceful and prosperous Somalia where all people feel secure, are economically empowered, and are meaningfully engaged. Mercy Corps’ current portfolio in Somalia focuses on humanitarian response and resilience; inclusive economic growth; enhancing trust and accountability between communities and their government; and improving youth livelihood and education opportunities. All Mercy Corps interventions in Somalia are implemented in a conflict and gender sensitive manner.

Mercy Corps is seeking a Deputy Chief of Party (DCoP) – Learning and Adaptive Management – to play a key leadership role in the expected five-year USAID-funded Somalia Resilience Portfolio Measurement (RPM) Activity. The proposed associate award, under the Leader with Associates “Livestock Market Systems” (LMS), aims to develop and lead a resilience measurement system on the collective resilience outcomes at a population level and build the capacity of participating stakeholders to estimate individual contributions to collective resilience outcomes. The program will establish a common measurement and analytics process among diverse actors in Somalia to link single-program-focused resilience capacity measurement methodologies previously piloted in Somalia and advance analytics to link diverse stakeholder-level contributions to collective, population-level, resilience outcomes.

General Position Summary

The DCoP -- Learning and Adaptive Management will support the Chief of Party through establishing and guiding the implementation of the program’s strategic vision to advance global methodological best practices in Resilience Measurement and population-level evaluations of collective outcomes, and will ensure that the program meets its targets and deliverables on-time and within budget. In partnership with the CoP, the DCoP -- Learning and Adaptive Management will provide technical leadership and oversee day-to-day implementation for the overall strategic vision of the Activity. In addition to being the overall technical lead on Objective 1, she/he will support the COP to ensure a unifying strategy and approach to both Objectives. In particular, the DCoP will lead the development of, and manage, the Activity’s technical approach to working with participating stakeholder organizations to facilitate the adoption of resilience measurement and resilience-based learning and adaptive management, drawing on technical expertise in adult-learning and human-centered design methods. In close partnership with the Activity’s Director of Research, the DCoP will integrate robust learning and adaptive management systems in support of the overall program goal. This position will work in collaboration with Mercy Corps’ Resilience Technical Support Unit to advance regional and organizational resilience strategies.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategy & Vision

• Co-lead the development of a vision and strategy for the program towards the adoption of Collective Resilience Outcomes by participating stakeholder organizations.
• Build and maintain a network of participating stakeholders, including fostering long-term technical relationships and continuously engaging partners operating in the focal zone towards Collective Resilience Outcomes.
• Develop and oversee a robust learning agenda and adaptive management strategy for the program.

 Program Management

• Design and successfully lead efforts to enhance resilience-focused learning and adaptation among participating stakeholders in the focal zone, drawing upon human-centered design and adult learning methods.
• Establish and nurture cross-organization systems and methods for enhancing joint learning and adaptation of measurement approaches.
• Coordinate efforts to provide stakeholder-specific, tailored analysis to participating organizations.
• Design and facilitate processes in collaboration with partner focal points to assist organizations to develop measurement frameworks and incorporate learning into technical strategies, interventions, and processes.
• Support the creation of an evidence-based learning culture through consistent analysis of lessons learned and best practices to encourage adaptive management.
• In close collaboration with the Director of Research, develop the program’s learning agenda and adaptive management strategy for the program.
• Oversee and support the development of tailored communications that advance shared understanding of and buy-in to Collective Resilience Outcomes.
• In support of the CoP, develop partnership frameworks, partner agreements/Memorandum of Understandings
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
• Supervise and/or review the work of program consultants.
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.
• Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.

 Team Management

• Develop the capacity of Short-Term Technical Assistant team members, 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.
• Hire, orient and lead team members as necessary.

 Finance & Compliance Management

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps’ regulations.
• Support the CoP to create and maintain systems to ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with program, donor and Mercy Corps’ needs.

 Influence & Representation

• Engage resilience champions within local government to build their buy-in and capacity on resilience measurement.
• In support of CoP, represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events.
• Coordinate activities with local government and other implementers.

 Security

• Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.
• Ensure that programs are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of security.

 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.

Supervisory Responsibility

Objective 1 Team and Short-term Technical Assistants (STTA)

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Chief of Party, Resilience Portfolio Measurement Activity

Works Directly With: Director of Research, Short-Term Technical Assistants, Country Director, Somalia finance and operations teams; participating stakeholder organizations, other implementers; Mercy Corps Africa Region support team (Technical Support Unit, Performance and Quality, Research, MEL), Mercy Corps HQ Research & Learning and Performance and Quality Teams, HQ Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support Unit

Job Requirements

Knowledge and Experience

• MA or equivalent in Development Studies, Agriculture, Conflict Management, Economic Development or other relevant field pertaining to rural development in conflict-affected settings.
• A minimum five years’ management experience in resilience capacity-focused programming, including in non-permissive contexts.
• Demonstrated expertise facilitating project design, learning and adaptive management using modern design thinking or human-centered design
• Demonstrated experience with the use of resilience measurement for program adaptation.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.
• Demonstrated ability to build and foster an adaptive team culture and a record of accomplishment in strategic visioning, leadership, and inspiring teams.
• Experience working in East Africa required, experience in Somalia strongly preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.

 Success Factors

The successful DCoP will regularly draw on his/her exceptional resilience and/or systems-thinking skills and expertise of facilitation in learning and adaptive management using analysis to drive towards new frontiers in resilience measurement. They will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement and manage innovative programs. They will also have proven experience with cross-cultural teams and capacity building, individual staff development, and strong mentoring skills. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members 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 split between Mercy Corps offices in Mogadishu and Baidoa, Somalia, and it may require some travel to other regional offices if and when required for meetings and other functions. Accommodation is provided in group housing. The COP will support activities throughout Somalia. Mobility in Somalia is restricted and must first be cleared with the Security Advisor. This is an unaccompanied post and eligible for Hardship and R&R. The standard Somali workweek is Sunday – Thursday.

 Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDT to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures and values et all times and in all in-country.

How to Apply

click here