CHARITY JOBS IN AFRICA

Organization: Mercy Corps
Country: Liberia
Closing date: 09 Dec 2014

Position is contingent on anticipated funding.

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps has been operational in Liberia since 2002, most recently implementing programs in food security, peace building, and youth empowerment. Currently, Liberia is the epicenter of a fast-moving regional Ebola epidemic, which also includes Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria. To date, nearly 4,000 people in Liberia have been infected, with over 2,200 deaths (3 Oct 2014). As the Ebola epidemic spreads throughout Liberia, existing social and economic challenges are growing more complex, requiring adaptive and dynamic approaches to help support affected communities as they defend against, cope with, and recover from, this devastating disease.

Mercy Corps’ strategy to respond to the Ebola outbreak focuses on two approaches: 1) to engage local and international organizations through a national network of community organizations to promote healthy behaviors within communities that will help reduce the transmission of Ebola, and 2) address market and household economic challenges that emerge as a result of the Ebola outbreak, paying particular attention to food insecurity and declining livelihoods.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

The Program Director will provide overall leadership, management and strategic vision to the implementation of a $12 million E-CAP (Ebola Community Action Platform) program, to ensure that the program meets its targets and deliverables on-time and within budget. S/he will supervise program staff and ensure accountability to Mercy Corps policies and donor rules and regulations and will be the primary program representative to donors, relevant government entities, partners, other implementers and stakeholders.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Strategy and Vision

• Lead the implementation of the E-CAP strategy.
• Play an active role in identifying and developing new initiatives that foster and/or improve strategic objectives of the program and the country office.

Program Operations

• Oversee program start-up, management and administration. Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
• Ensure beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to transparent criteria.
• Develop partnership frameworks, partner agreements/Memorandum of Understandings, and oversee partner capacity investments, as necessary.
• Oversee performance of consortium partners and sub-grantees.
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
• Ensure program strategies and activities represent global good practice in subgrant management and behavior change communications.
• Supervise and/or review the work of program staff and consultants.
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.

Knowledge Management and Reporting

• Facilitate the achievement of program targets and objectives and lead efforts to design effective monitoring, evaluation and learning systems.
• Oversee the scheduling and production of formal and informal reports on all aspects of the program in a timely and efficient manner.
• Ensure that Knowledge Management and Reporting team focus on developing and supporting program staff and partners to generate information that can be used for ongoing program decision-making while also capturing results at the impact level.
• Support Knowledge Management Manager to document all lessons learned from the program and prepare periodic case studies, beneficiary stories and related publications.
• Work closely with Knowledge Management and Reporting advisers and oversee process of Knowledge Management and Reporting with support from program staff. Ensure easy public access to reports and data, using primarily online, digital methods, and make sure they are widely distributed.

Team Management

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Supervise, hire and orient new team members as necessary.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
• Provide team members with information and resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
• Help team members identify problem solving options
• Ensure the integration of team members into relevant decision-making.

Finance and Compliance Management

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations.
• 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.

Representation & Coordination

• Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, partner and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Country Director.
• Coordinate activities with partners, subgrantees, local government and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.

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 safety and security.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING:

As part of Mercy Corps’ agency-wide Organizational Learning Initiative, all team members are responsible for spending 5% of their work time in formal and/or non-formal professional learning, that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards 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: Direct supervision of E-CAP Team, including Subgrants Director, Project Lead, Program Manager, Communications Manager, Knowledge Management Manager and Digital Outreach Manager.

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Country Director

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Other program managers in-country, finance and operations teams, HQ Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support Unit

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• MA/S or equivalent in social science, management, international development or other relevant field, preference for experience in overseeing subgrant program and/or behavior change communication.
• A minimum of 5 to 7 years of overseas experience including 3 years in a senior management position.
• Strong skills and a track record in strategic visioning, leadership, and inspiring teams.
• Effective personnel management, coordination, and decision-making skills, with proven ability to be accountable for all components of the program.
• Competent in building networks, strong problem-solving skills, and ability to influence with effective listening, persuasion, negotiation and other techniques.
• Strong understanding of USAID compliance issues
• English proficiency required, including report writing.
• Preference for demonstrated technical expertise in subgrant management
• Experience in the country or region West Africa preferably Liberia
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful Program Director will combine exceptional management skills and experience in maintaining donor and partner relationships. S/he will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement and manage innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in the region and 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 with an appropriate sense of humor and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:

The position will be based in Monrovia, and may require travel to outlying counties and communities throughout Liberia. The security situation is stable but could change quickly in localized circumstances, although general unrest is not anticipated because of a significant UN, US military, and local police forces to maintain public safety. Monrovia is served by an international airport and has many hotels, restaurants and grocery stores. Health services are currently limited and while we have made provisions for emergency care, team members should not anticipate an environment where casual outpatient services are available. Because safe access to health services should not be anticipated, a degree of self-sufficiency in first aid and medications should be considered. Candidates must consider taking anti-malarials as a preventative measure and other measures to lower their risk of requiring medical services. Candidates with chronic health issues should consider disclosing and self-eliminating from this recruitment process. Currently there is an 11 pm curfew, which could change at anytime, and staff should expect some interruption of movement as the government manages the Ebola situation. Housing will either be at private residences as group housing or at nearby hotels. Traveling in and out of Liberia is increasingly complicated with many commercial airlines suspending service and many countries closing their borders (air, land and sea) to individuals coming from Liberia. Two commercial airlines continue to serve Liberia (Brussels Air and Air Maroc) and UNHAS is currently working to establish air service to Dakar, Senegal and Accra, Ghana.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of 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 Mercy Corps' policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

How to apply:

Please apply directly at:
http://mercycorps.silkroad.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.dspjo...