Program Director Job in Nairobi, Kenya – NGO

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.
We help communities survive and move beyond emergencies. When natural disasters strike, economies collapse or conflict flares, Mercy Corps is there.
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.