Vacancy: Program Officer - Peaceful Empowerment in Arid Lands (PEARL)
Mercy Corps exists to alleviate
suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive
and just communities.
Mercy Corps has had a presence in
Kenya since its humanitarian response to the post-election violence in 2008.
Mercy Corps works almost exclusively
in high-risk conflict and post-conflict environments.
While we recognize that these are
difficult places to operate, we believe that transitional environments –
countries affected by civil wars, economic and political crisis, or natural
disasters – also offer tremendous opportunities for positive change.
We currently implement over 30 peace
building programs in some of the world’s toughest places, including Iraq,
Somalia, and Sudan. Our current work builds on an exceptionally strong
historical foundation.
Since the late 1990s, Mercy Corps has
implemented over 95 peace building programs in over 30 countries and regions,
making Mercy Corps a true leader in the field.
We are presently looking for a
committed and dynamic individual to take up the following position.
Program Officer: Peaceful Empowerment in Arid Lands (PEARL)
Program/Department Summary: Mercy Corps is implementing a two year USAID funded
peacebuilding program to increase stability in Northwestern Kenya by supporting
Pokot and Turkana communities, government and the private sector to peacefully
manage change and increase prosperity.
General Position Summary: The Program Officer will be responsible for the
implementation of Peaceful Empowerment in Arid Lands (PEARL) Program at the
community level out of Lodwar office.
S/he will be in constant contact with
stakeholders and the Turkana and Pokot communities to ensure full participation
and implementation.
Essential Job Functions:
- Organize, facilitate and conduct trainings and
workshops related to PEARL Program.
- Assist communities using participatory
methodologies to identify and implement PEARL related projects;
- Meet regularly with the program team to
evaluate project progress; identify successes, challenges and
lessons-learned; and adjust practices as necessary to improve performance.
- Implement activities and monitor project
progress.
- Maintain and strengthen the partnerships with
relevant government and private sector stakeholders and target
communities.
- Prepare and submit to the Program Manager
reports of specific events, field trips and meetings attended.
- Provide on-going feedback on the Performance
Management Plan and database management of the PEARL Program, to enhance
measuring the impact of the program against objectives and indicators.
- In coordination with the Program Manager
conduct regular field visits to ensure that all stakeholders fully
understand and utilize PEARL approaches and methodologies.
- Provide the M&E officer monthly and
quarterly data analysis reports, to feed into quarterly review and
reflection meetings.
- Support the team in effectively utilizing
established monitoring and evaluation formats, and provide feedback for their
improvement.
- Develop case studies and success stories to
better articulate qualitative changes as a result of PEARL Program.
- Maintain updated (paper and electronic) filing
system for all M&E forms/ surveys, protocols, planning tools, and
manuals.
- Write reports and project documents and submit
to Program Manager as required.
- Conduct himself/herself both professionally
and personally in such a manner as to positively acknowledge Mercy Corps
and to support its humanitarian mission.
- Any other duties as assigned by your
supervisor.
Accountability to Beneficiaries: 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.
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 activities.
Supervisory Responsibility: None
Reports Directly To: PEARL
Program Manager
Works Directly With: PEACE
III Program Manager, GIRL Program Manager, Field Finance Officer, Procurement
and Logistics Officer.
Knowledge and Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in conflict/peace studies
preferred, or appropriate social science discipline, community
development, or related field.
- Minimum of three years professional experience
in implementing peace and conflict related projects
- Excellent written and oral communication
skills.
- Demonstrated ability to interact effectively
with diverse project stakeholders
- Knowledge of the Pokot/Turkana languages is an
added advantage
- Work experience in conflict or post conflict
settings and conflict sensitive programming.
- Work experience with stakeholders including
the private sector, government, youth and women groups.
- Experience in project Monitoring and
Evaluation.
- Excellent analytical and report writing skills
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office packages
including: Word, Excel, Power Point and Internet retrieval.
Success Factors:
- Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and
appropriate flexibility.
- Ability to effectively communicate with Mercy
Corps target populations and partners.
- Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to
meet deadlines, and work independently and cooperatively with team
members.
- Willingness to travel frequently to remote and
difficult locations.
- Ability to quickly learn and implement new
information/concepts.
- Flexibility and adaptability.
Interested candidates who meet the
above required qualifications and experience should submit a cover letter,
detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) listing three professional references (including
a recent supervisor) to hrkenya@ke.mercycorps.org on or before Tuesday 20th
October by 4.00pm.
The email subject line must clearly
show the job title and location they are applying for.
Applications without the right
subject heading will be automatically disqualified.
Please do not attach any
certificates.
(Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We will only get in touch with shortlisted candidates.)
NB: Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
