Mercy Corps is looking for committed
and dynamic individual to take up the following position.
Position: Program Director
Location: Nairobi
About Us: Mercy
Corps is a leading global relief and development agency saving and improving
lives in the world’s toughest places.
In more than 40 countries, we partner
with local people to put bold ideas into action, help them overcome adversity
and build stronger communities.
Working with communities, we leverage
local logic to help people transform their lives to grow more food, earn higher
incomes and ultimately advocate for their needs.
We see global challenges as an
invitation to pioneer innovative, sustainable solutions.
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps implements high-quality, analytical
development work in very difficult places. We have been operating in Kenya
since 2008 and are presently implementing development programs across the
Central, Rift Valley, North Western and Northern Eastern regions of Kenya.
Mercy Corps is seeking a strong and
proven Project Director who can lead the implementation of establishing early
warning and early response hubs in select hot spots in Nairobi, the coast and
possibly in other areas of Central.
The Project Director will lead the
management and implementation of a one-year election violence prevention and
response program beginning in December, 2016.
The program will pursue three
inter-related objectives;
1) Identify and map the relationships
between key influential actors, in identified at-risk areas, capable of
mobilizing people toward and away from violence;
2) Develop or expand upon existing
structures that facilitate coordination and information sharing related to
electoral security planning and response between identified local influencers,
including community leaders, local administrators, and the security sector,
and;
3) Electoral security structures
develop plans and processes that enhance prevention and responses to early
indicators of violence.
The Project Director will be
responsible for managing and supervising project activities and the performance
of project partners.
He/she and his/her team will work
with electoral bodies and the security sector—along with civil society—to
establish and strengthen existing local networks, establish county level Early
Warning Early Response (EWER) Hubs, and link them to Uwiano platform.
The project team will leverage different
players and networks to preempt political manipulation by providing
administrative and logistical support to enable stakeholders to monitor risks,
and develop actionable plans for prevention and response.
General Position Summary: The Project Director will provide overall leadership and
management over the election violence prevention activities in the Nairobi, the
coast and possibly other locations as required and will ensure that the program
meets its targets and deliverables on-time and within budget.
The Project Director will supervise
project staff, ensure Mercy Corps is focused on facilitating transformational
and peaceful change and ensuring strong quality and accountability to policies
and donor rules and regulations.
S/he will be the primary project
representative to donors, relevant government entities, partners, other
implementers and stakeholders in cooperation with the Country Director.
Essential Job Functions:
Project Management & Leadership
·
Oversee project start-up, management
and administration. Ensure program implementation is on time, target and
budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts. Strive
for excellence on assessing project progress, and analyzing results and
communicating those results out internally and externally;
·
Ensure that program implementation is
responsive to our needs assessment and mapping outcomes, consistent with Mercy
Corp’s relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and
strategic plan;
·
Develop partnership frameworks, partner
agreements/Memorandum of Understandings, and oversee partner capacity building
and growth;
·
Keep the lead agency up to speed on
project progress and provide regular reporting to the lead agency as required
and set out contractually between Mercy Corps and the lead agency;
·
Increase staff capacity by ensuring
high quality technical training on election violence prevention, conflict
management and peacebuilding for Mercy Corps staff and local partners, and
providing ongoing coaching and mentoring;
·
Supervise and/or review the work of
program consultants;
·
Coordinate with the procurement,
logistics, administration ,security, and human resources teams to ensure
operational systems support field activities;
·
Promote learning and knowledge
management through documentation and knowledge sharing around best practices
and lessons learned;
·
Ensure donor reporting is submitted
on time and is of excellent quality.
Team Management
·
Create and sustain a work environment
of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence;
·
Supervise and regularly coordinate
with project staff and support departments to ensure smooth planning,
preparation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of program
activities;
·
Complete team members’ review in a
timely way and ensure team members understand their strengths and areas that
need improvement;
·
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;
·
Ensure all team members remain
non-partisan throughout the project person and keep their personal views about
political candidates to themselves.
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, NGO and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Country
Director;
·
Coordinate activities with partners,
local government and other implementers, and other Mercy Corps programs.
This is especially true with Mercy
Corps’ other election violence prevention program – Kenya Election
Violence Prevention and Response program (KEVP).
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 the project team understands
Mercy Corps security protocols and adheres to them and make recommendations on
modifications to procedures as needed.
Other
·
Conduct himself/herself both
professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy
Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;
·
Other duties as assigned.
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 project team (approximately 7 team
members) based in both Nairobi and Mombasa.
Reports Directly To:
Country Director
Works Directly With: KEVP Chief of Party, Project Directors, Program Managers,
Finance, Operations and Human Resource departments, HQ Regional Program Team,
and HQ Technical Support Unit
Knowledge and Experience:
·
MA/S/MBA or equivalent in social
sciences, conflict mitigation, management, international relations, is strongly
preferred. A BA/BS is relevant field is required;
·
Minimum 7 years of experience
including 4 years in a senior management position and prior experience
implementing conflict management and peacebuilding programs;
·
Demonstrated experience working on
past Kenyan election violence prevention programs and with electoral processes
and stakeholders is a MUST;
·
Knowledge of people-to-people
peacebuilding programs and ‘Do No Harm’ principles;
·
Experience with remote management of
field teams is strongly preferred;
·
Strong facilitation and
consensus-building skills;
·
Proven experience working closely
with and managing expectations and active engagement of senior donor and
stakeholders;
·
Familiarity and experience with USAID
regulations is preferred;
·
Must be able to work independently
while being a strong team player;
·
Fluency in both English and Swahili
are required;
·
Commitment to excellence, and
willingness to experiment with new techniques and innovations;
·
Must be travel up to 40% of the time;
·
Proven track record measuring and
reporting on project results through regular reporting is required.
·
Strong English writing and report
writing skills are required;
·
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.
Success Factors: The successful Program Director will be highly strategic
in their approach to gathering and disseminating information while effectively
linking networks of people together to obtain the maximum impact for change. Be
a self-starter, multi-tasker, and able to work in a complex environment.
S/he will be able to facilitate
change through influencing key stakeholders to change their behavior or
approach.
S/he will be a tolerant and flexible
individual able to work in difficult and stressful environments and follow
procedures.
S/he will be a team-player with
positive attitude to problem solving and conflict resolution, inspiring others
through engaging in an enthusiastic and compelling way.
S/he will also have the skill to
engage, motivate and encourage staff to bring creative solutions to development
issues, identify opportunities for increased impact, and pursue project
objectives.
How to Apply
Interested candidates who meet the
above required qualifications and experience should submit a cover letter and
detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) listing three professional references (including
a recent supervisor) to ke-hrkenya@mercycorps.org on or before Monday
28th November, 2016 by 4.00pm.
The email subject line must clearly
show the job title and location they are applying for.
Applications without an appropriate
subject heading will be automatically disqualified.
Please do not attach any
certificates.
Applications will be reviewed on a
rolling basis and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
NB:
Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.