About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

Mercy Corps has been present in Ethiopia since 2004 working to drive bold and transformative ideas, working closely with government, the private sector and civil society actors to build a more resilient country, ensuring that programs are responsive to and influenced by participants and stakeholders. Our vision is to enhance the resilience of climate and conflict-affected communities through market systems development for improved livelihoods, access to food, and safe and clean water to thrive in the face of crises. Our strategy focuses on the four outcome areas of: 1) Economically marginalized populations have improved and diversified livelihoods, income, and assets; 2) Pastoralists, farmers, and households have access to sustainably produced, safe, nutritious food; 3) Social cohesion and inclusive governance processes are built in crisis-affected communities; and 4) People have equitable, sustained access to clean water and sanitation for domestic and productive use. Currently we operate in the regional states of Afar, Amhara, Gambella, Oromia, Somali, Sidama, Southern Ethiopia, Tigray and Addis Ababa city administration working with a diverse base of donors that includes United States Agency for International Development (USAID), European Union, GAC, Hilton Foundation, United Nations (UN), JOA, Sweden, EKN, and other foundations.

The USAID-funded Highland Resilience Activity (HRA) will contribute to the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) 5’s “Big Push” initiative and has the overarching goal of strengthening resilience among vulnerable households in Ethiopia’s Highlands, resulting in 120,000 PSNP households reaching the graduation threshold. HRA will support these households in moving above the graduation threshold and to where they no longer require social safety net programming for household food security and have the capabilities and assets to withstand regular and predictable shocks. The Activity will achieve this goal by directly supporting households in increasing their on-farm, off-farm, and employment incomes while facilitating improvements in the market systems required to increase demand for goods and services in PSNP communities. HRA is a five-year program that started during October 2023.

The Position:

Mercy Corps seeks an experienced governance and partnerships specialist to lead institutional strengthening and stakeholder engagement efforts with HRA’s civil society and government partners. They will have extensive experience working in institutional capacity development and strengthening with government and civil society stakeholders in Ethiopia, particularly within the context of economic inclusion and Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) programming. They will have a strong understanding of the PSNP platform and related policies, alongside advocacy skills to support improved application and/or development of policies that support PSNP programs, and PSNP graduation. They will be an experienced partnership manager, with knowledge of how to execute and manage performance-based sub-awards across local partners, as well as government agreements. They will be responsible for tracking and supporting partner performance at all levels, while working in a participatory manner to execute capacity and performance strengthening plans that increase both government and civil society’s ability to execute on economic inclusion and PSNP graduation programming.

Essential Responsibilities

PARTNER ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

● Develop tailored capacity building material to support HRA partners and Government agencies to increase their institutional and technical capacity to support market-based economic inclusion initiatives across HRA households.

● Use a combination of self-assessment (e.g., Organizational Readiness/Capacity Index tools) and performance-based analysis to establish an understanding of the strengths and areas of improvement of HRA’s partner organizations in relation to technical and operational areas of economic inclusion programming.

● In partnership with the operations and technical teams, develop and periodically update a capacity and performance-strengthening plan for local partners based on assessments.

● Support HRA Partners to regularly refine and update their performance goals and objectives in line with HRA’s resilient livelihoods, market systems development and social cohesion lens.

● Facilitate ongoing application of organization capacity review and monitoring tools; adapt and apply tools to monitor and support partners to reflect on their performance.

PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT:

● Building off established good practices, develop a partnership management Standard Operating procedures for local partners and government engagement in the context of HRA.

● Work with DCoP, operations and finance team, to actively manage partners against agreed upon procedures and mechanisms.

● Support Program Coordinators in partnership management, and lead partner management meetings at Addis-level, including sub-award kick off and close out.

● Develop and track workplans for partner management, including execution and regular updates of partner sub-agreements linked to performance milestones, and regional agreements.

● Liaise with MC Head Office to prepare subgrant agreements, ensuring necessary clauses are added, and subgrant documents are complete and reviewed.

● Work closely with the compliance team to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps and donors regulations related to subgrating, including issuance, management and monitoring of subawards as well as training team members on processes and guidelines.

● Maintain partnership tracking and issues log with input from the HRA Finance Director – subgrants and Programs department and report monthly to Senior Management Team.

● Review monitoring and close-out visits reports and follow up on all subgrant compliance issues and audits and document resolutions.

● Participate in BVA meetings as required to discuss with Program Managers and other support department on subgrants’ status for each grant.

GOVERNMENT AND POLICY ENGAGEMENT

● Lead the design and successful delivery of a government engagement and policy strategy for the HRA program.

● Work with the CoP and DCoP to identify and nurture a strong network of government stakeholders critical to the success of HRA, including regional government bodies and PSNP management departments.

● Serve as HRA’s principal government liaison with key government departments critical to the impact and influence of the program.

● Identify and support government in key areas of institutional strengthening and policy development related to the success of economic inclusion and PSNP graduation approaches in rural areas of Ethiopia.

● In partnership with the CoP and DCoP regularly represent the program vision, objectives and mechanisms of working with relevant government stakeholders.

● Regularly communicate government expectations and determined shared strategies of engagement with program team.

● Design and lead the facilitation of critical sessions designed to engage government stakeholders in key program processes.

Supervisory Responsibility: None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Deputy Chief of Party

Works Directly With: MEL/CLA Director, Program Quality Manager, MEL Manager, Program Coordinators, Technical and Implementation Director

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.

Job Requirements

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

● MA/S or equivalent in social science, law and governance, management, international development or another relevant field

● A minimum of 5 to 7 years of experience in the development sector (international or national)

● A minimum of 3-5 years’ experience in roles substantively focused on building the capacity of third parties, including (but not limited to) national NGOs, local government bodies or local civil society organizations.

● Understanding of livelihood, economic development and market systems programming

● Demonstrated experience of developing and implementing organizational management tools, strategies and/or standard operating procedures.

● Knowledge of PSNP and Ethiopia policy environment in relation to poverty reduction and economic inclusion.

● Demonstrated experience leading relationship building with key-stakeholders to support fulfilment of a given organizational or program objective.

● Experience working on Positive Youth Development, Peacebuilding and/or CVE programs preferred.

● Good English writing skills required.

Living /Environmental Conditions:

The position will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with regular travels to the field. This position requires up to 50% of travel by air and road to field offices in relatively secure environments.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY 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 at all times and in all in-country venues.

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

How to Apply

Register using the following link CLICK HERE

All qualified individuals are invited to apply for the advertised position. All applications, including a CV, three references, and all applicable official papers, must be sent electronically. 

Only candidates that are short-listed will be acknowledged and called for interviews.

“Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer promoting gender, equity and diversity. Qualified female and young candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. We are committed to empower women and youth.”

DEADLINE FOR ALL APPLICATIONS: 20 November 2023/ 4:00 PM