Mercy Corps is a leading global
organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40
countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action –
helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from
within. Now, and for the future.
We help communities survive and move beyond
emergencies. When natural disasters strike, economies collapse or conflict
flares, Mercy Corps is there.
Mercy Corps is looking for committed and
dynamic individual to take up the following position:
Position: County Project Coordinators (5)
Position: County Project Coordinators (5)
Location: Isiolo, Marsabit, Wajir,
Garissa and Turkana Counties
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
1) Peace and Conflict Management;
2) Livelihood / Market Systems;
3) Governance (particularly at the county
level); and
4) Youth Employment/Employability
(including the social and economic development of adolescents).
The four objectives serve to increase
community resilience to drought and other shocks and stresses, and to decrease
fragility with a particular focus on Kenya’s Arid Lands.
Mercy Corps’ vision for change requires the
private sector, government and civil society to work together to create
meaningful and sustainable change.
Mercy Corps is recruiting five County
Project Coordinators to oversee county-level activities for a five-year
USAID-funded Feed the Future (FtF) Livestock Market Systems Development
Activity for Northern Kenya.
This project will support USAID’s Feed the
Future Initiative specifically to improve households’ income, productive assets
and resilience to drought and other shocks.
Specific areas of focus include:
strengthened and sustained rangeland and water management; strengthened drought
risk management; strengthened conflict management; improved and sustained health,
nutrition, and hygiene practices; improved literacy, numeracy, and life skills;
and collaborative action and learning for community empowerment.
General Position Summary: Under the direction
and management support from the Deputy Chief of Party, the County Project
Coordinator will be responsible for the overall county-level planning,
coordination, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of the
Strengthening Community Capacities for Resilience and Growth
project.
S/he will ensures all project initiatives
are implemented to achieve maximum impact as per project objectives while
remaining on schedule and budget.
The Project Coordinator directly manages
the county-level staff on the project and has an informal reporting line to our
partner’s Regional Program Manager.
Strong day-to-day coordination with
the Regional Program Manager is required to ensure that office operations are
running effectively and are compliant with all internal and external
regulations.
S/he will be the primary liaison with
county government officials.
Essential Job Functions:
Essential Job Functions:
Program Management
·
Provide
overall managerial leadership for the project at the county level, ensuring
teams follow work plans so activities are on time, target and within the
approved budget, and project deliverables achieve desired impact;
·
Lead
effective coordination, collaboration and integration among all technical,
support and project units including with our lead partner – ACDI/VOCA and
implementing partner – the BOMA Project;
·
Partner
with county-level government and communities in areas of operation;
·
Ensure
effective and timely monitoring, documenting and reporting on all project
activities as per the policies and practices of the consortium lead, Mercy
Corps, USAID and the government;
·
Provide
timely updates to supervisor on progress and issues, identifying risks and
proposing solutions for action and early resolution;
·
Attend
all quarterly project meetings in Nairobi as well as facilitate planning
meetings and workshops with government, NGOs, private sector and community
partners to revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in;
·
Regularly
visit field sites to assess progress of activities and provide formal and
informal feedback;
·
Coordinate
with procurement, logistics, security, administration and human resources teams
to ensure operational systems support field activities.
Team Management
·
Assist
team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance and
achieve objectives;
·
Promote
accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback
informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews;
·
Create
and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to
achieve excellence;
·
Work
closely with the HR department to recruit, orient and lead team members as
necessary.
Influence & Representation
·
Represent
Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events, in close
coordination with the Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party and country
leadership;
·
Coordinate
activities with consortium partners, sub grantees, local government and other
implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.
Security
·
Work
closely with the county team’s security focal points to develop and maintain
systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.
Coordinate closely with our partner, ACDI/VOCA on security issues at the county
level;
·
Ensure
that programs are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and
understanding of security.
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 our
commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that
learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the
communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time
to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Accountability to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps team
members are expected to support all efforts toward 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: 3-5 project
team members
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Deputy Chief Of Party
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Deputy Chief Of Party
Works Directly With: Regional
Program Manager (partner), Chief of Party, finance and operations teams, HQ
Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support Unit, and Partner Organizations.
Knowledge and Experience:
·
Masters
Degree or equivalent in development studies, business, planning, social sciences
or other relevant field is preferred;
·
A
minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in multi-sectoral
programs, managing teams, strategic planning and implementing programs;
·
Strong
managerial skills, including effective personnel management, adaptive
management, coordination and decision-making;
·
Strong
facilitation and consensus-building skills;
·
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;
·
Internationally
recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to
obtain the qualification in the early months of work;
·
Excellent
and persuasive oral and written communication skills, including report writing,
in English and other language(s), as required;
·
Spoken
fluency is Swahili is required and primary local dialects in the respective
County is strongly preferred;
·
Previous
working experience in northern Kenya is desirable;
·
Demonstrated
attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work
independently and cooperatively with team members;
·
Ability
to work comfortably in a sometimes tense and changing security environment is
required.
Success Factors
The successful County Project Coordinator
will have a strong understanding of project approaches and represent the
project professionally at all times.
S/he will combine exceptional management
skills and capacity to manage relationships with different stakeholders. A
heavy emphasis will be placed on coordination with other actors implementing in
the areas of intervention.
S/he will be committed to long-term program
sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community
level.
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 and make effective written and verbal
communication a priority.
S/he will be committed to working closely
and collaboratively with the County Government structures and our lead partner,
ACDI/VOCA.
Position: Livelihood Officers
(2
Positions)
Location: Wajir and Garissa Turkana Counties
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
1)
Peace and Conflict Management;
2)
Livelihood / Market Systems;
3)
Governance (particularly at the county level); and
4)
Youth Employment/Employability (including the social and economic development
of adolescents).
The
four objectives serve to increase community resilience to drought and other
shocks and stresses, and to decrease fragility with a particular focus on
Kenya’s Arid Lands.
Mercy
Corps’ vision for change requires the private sector, government and civil
society to work together to create meaningful and sustainable change.
Mercy Corps is recruiting two Livelihoods Officers to support human capital development for resilient individuals for a commercial engagement for a five-year USAID-funded Feed the Future (FtF) Livestock Market Systems (LMS) Development Activity for northern Kenya. This position will support the ‘Expanding and Diversifying Economic Opportunities’.
This
project will support USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and specifically will
improve households’ income, productive assets and resilience to drought and
other shocks.
Specific
areas of focus include, diversifying livelihoods, improving access to financial
services, strengthening the policy environment, institutions and governance for
livestock and private sector development, improving employability and
work readiness skills for young men and women, improved and
sustained health, nutrition, and hygiene practices; improved literacy,
numeracy, and life skills; and collaborative action and learning for community
empowerment.
General
Position Summary: The
Livelihoods Officer will be responsible for technical oversight and management
of the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) a two year women poverty
graduation model aimed at supporting human capital development for resilient
individuals who are then placed in a commercial engagement.
S/he
will define implementation strategies in coordination with the County Project
Coordinator, Deputy Chief of Party, BOMA project and leadership team.
The
Livelihoods Officer will train staff and partners, providing them with
technical assistance; and ensuring that common strategies and approaches are
applied consistently in all communities.
S/he
will coordinate closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team and
BOMA Project to ensure that systems are in place to track, analyze and report
results.
S/he
will keep abreast of changing contexts and integrate new ideas and approaches
as appropriate, seek additional technical assistance as needed and ensure
effective working relationships with collaborating agencies.
S/he
will work closely with our partner ACDI/VOCA, who will be leading the
implementation of the LMS, and look for opportunities to link programming and
clients with their programming and programming across the LMS.
Essential Job Functions:
·
Contribute to team work plans and
guide successful implementation of Rural Entrepreneur Access Project
activities, ensuring teams follow work plans so activities are on time, target
and within the approved budget, and program deliverables achieve desired
impact;
·
Provide technical guidance on the
poverty graduation model and ensure that interventions are responsive to
stakeholders and consistent with Mercy Corps’ and BOMA project relevant program
guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan. Ensure
that interventions are evidence-based and adhere to adaptive management
principles;
·
Identify most vulnerable girls/women
in the village through community based wealth ranking, Participatory Rural
Appraisal and scoring through Participant Targeting Tool for inclusion in the project;
·
Train and mentor Field Facilitators
to mentor the girls/women to write a business plan of chosen viable businesses
and provide two years mentoring during monthly visits;
·
Facilitate disbursement of cash
grants in two instalments for girls/women to enable them to buy stock and
equipment for their business;
·
Train girls and women how to run a
business, supply and demand, profit and pricing, marketing and record keeping
including other trainings such as: life skills, family planning, nutrition,
WASH, girls’ education, rights of women and leadership;
·
Facilitate girls and women to form
savings associations of 5 to 7 businesses that meet monthly to deposit savings
which will enable members and village residents access credit for long term
expenses and business growth;
·
Link women to other traders, markets,
financial institutions, public and private institutions;
·
Generate and implement monitoring and
evaluation tools;
·
Play a key role in the development of
intervention designs, sector strategies and M&E frameworks.
·
Coordinate assessments, evaluations
and monitoring surveys in area of operation. This will entail development of
Scopes of Work, development of survey tools, trainings and management of data
collectors, report write and facilitating results discussion;
·
Integrate community approaches,
gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate
including certifying all interventions to adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy,
Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards;
·
Facilitate planning meetings and
workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to
revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in;
·
In coordination with the MEL team,
monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and
assessments to ensure program quality and impact. Document approaches,
successes and lessons learned;
·
Coordinate with procurement,
logistics, security, administration and human resources teams to ensure
operational systems support field activities;
·
Assist team members with information,
tools and resources to improve performance and reach objectives;
·
Promote accountability, communicate
expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via
regular one-on-one and performance review;
·
Create and sustain a work environment
of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence;
·
Work closely with the HR department
to orient and lead team members as necessary;
·
Represent Mercy Corps at government,
NGO and other relevant community events, in close coordination with the Deputy
Chief of Party and County Program Coordinator;
·
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 our commitment to
organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning
organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities
they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning
activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Accountability
to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps
team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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: REAP Village Mentors
Accountability
Reports
Directly To: County Project Coordinator with
a dotted line to BOMA Project focal person
Works
Directly With: Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of
Party, GIRL project officer, Community Facilitators, Technical Advisors,
finance and operations teams, HQ Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support
Unit, Partner Organizations, and broader LMS team.
Knowledge and Experience:
Knowledge and Experience:
·
Degree in Community Development,
Economic Development, Business, Agriculture, Livestock, Monitoring and
Evaluation or related field or diploma with over 3 years’ hands on work
experience;
·
Minimum of 3 years’ experience
working with NGOs/CBO’s in civic engagement, livelihoods and education;
·
Should have knowledge of quantitative
and qualitative data collection, reporting techniques. S/he should understand
and be able to apply basic measures of central tendency and spread;
·
Demonstrated computer competency of
Microsoft Excel and knowledge of at least one data management software
including Ms Access, SPSS, STATA;
·
Commitment to working with Women,
Girls, youth and vulnerable groups in need, regardless of race, tribe, religion
or gender;
·
Understanding of working with local
partners and commitment to working with the greater Boma Project and LMS team;
·
Good problem solving, written and
oral communication skills;
·
Strong written and spoken English and
Swahili;
·
Local language skills required
·
Ability to work without constant
supervision and as part of a mixed team;
·
Good knowledge of MS Office software
such as Excel, Word, and Access;
Success
Factors:
S/he
will combine exceptional management skills and capacity to manage relationships
with different stakeholders including the greater LMS team.
The
position requires an ability to think creatively about improving opportunities
for women and adolescent girls.
The
Officer will have the capacity to spark innovative and entrepreneurial
approaches to programming and to inspire groups to collaborate closely to
implement high-quality programs.
S/he
will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of
high-impact activities at the community level.
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 and make
effective written and verbal communication a priority.
Position: GIRL Project Officers
(5
Positions)
Location: Turkana, Marsabit, Isiolo, Garissa And Wajir
Counties
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
1)
Peace and Conflict Management;
2)
Livelihood/Market Systems;
3)
Governance (particularly at the county level); and
4)
Youth Employment / Employability (including the social and economic development
of adolescents).
The
four objectives serve to increase community resilience to drought and other
shocks and stresses, and to decrease fragility with a particular focus on
Kenya’s Arid Lands.
Mercy
Corps’ vision for change requires the private sector, government and civil
society to work together to create meaningful and sustainable change.
Mercy
Corps is recruiting five GIRL project Officers to support human capital
development for resilient individuals who are well placed for commercial
engagement for a five-year USAID-funded Feed the Future (FtF) Livestock Market
Systems (LMS) Development Activity for northern Kenya. This position will
support the Strengthening Community Capacities for Resilience and Growth
component.
This
project will support USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and specifically will
improve households’ income, productive assets and resilience to drought and other
shocks.
Specific
areas of focus include strengthened and sustained rangeland and water
management; strengthened drought risk management; strengthened conflict
management; improved and sustained health, nutrition, and hygiene practices;
improved literacy, numeracy, and life skills; and collaborative action and
learning for community empowerment.
General
Position Summary: The GIRL
Project Officer will be responsible for technical oversight and management of
the Girls Improving Resilience with Livestock and Learning (GIRL), a 9-month
adolescent girl personal agency empowerment safe space model aimed at
supporting human capital development for resilient individuals who are well
placed for commercial engagement.
S/he
will define implementation strategies in coordination with the County Project
Coordinator, Deputy Chief of Party and leadership team.
GIRL
project Officer will train staff and partners, providing them with technical
assistance; and ensuring that common strategies and approaches are applied
consistently in all communities.
S/he
will coordinate closely with the M&E team to ensure that systems are in
place to track, analyze and report results.
The
Project Officer will keep abreast of changing contexts and integrate new ideas
and approaches as appropriate, seek additional technical assistance as needed
and ensure effective working relationships with collaborating
agencies.
S/he
will work closely with our partner ACDI/VOCA, who will be leading the
implementation of the LMS, and look for opportunities to link programming and
clients with their programming and programming across the LMS.
Essential
Job Functions:
·
Contribute to team work plans and
guide successful implementation of GIRL and Learning activities, ensuring teams
follow work plans so activities are on time, target and within the approved
budget, and program deliverables achieve desired impact;
·
Provide technical guidance on a
9-month adolescent girls personal agency empowerment safe space model and
ensure that interventions are responsive to stakeholders and consistent with
Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards
and strategic plan. Ensure that interventions are evidence-based and adhere to
adaptive management principles;
·
Engage community members (community
representatives, teachers, religious leaders, government officials and
gatekeepers) to form an Advisory Committee to support and inform program
activities;
·
Organize community events to
sensitize communities on human capital development for resilient communities;
·
Assist in the creation of technical
curricula, basic education (numeracy & literacy), basic nutrition literacy,
WASH awareness and campaign, financial literacy and reproductive health;
·
Participate in recruitment and train
Community Facilitators and Girl mentors to deliver technical curricula to
girls;
·
Identify and recruit girls in the
community to participate in safe space groups;
·
Identify and engage local animal and
human health workers to provide training and technical assistance to safe space
groups;
·
Monitor and track the success and
failures of safe space groups;
·
Link women to other traders, markets,
financial institutions, public and private institutions;
·
Generate and implement monitoring and
evaluation tools;
·
Play a key role in the development of
intervention designs, sector strategies and M&E frameworks;
·
Coordinate assessments, evaluations
and monitoring surveys in area of operation. This will entail development of
Scopes of Work, development of survey tools, trainings and management of data
collectors, report write and facilitating results discussion;
·
Integrate community approaches,
gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm
principles, and beneficiary accountability standards;
·
Facilitate planning meetings and
workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to
revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in;
·
In coordination with the MEL team,
monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and
assessments to ensure program quality and impact. Document approaches,
successes and lessons learned;
·
Coordinate with procurement,
logistics, security, administration and human resources teams to ensure
operational systems support field activities;
·
Assist team members with information,
tools and resources to improve performance and reach objectives;
·
Promote accountability, communicate
expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via
regular one-on-one and performance reviews;
·
Orient and lead team Community
Facilitators.
·
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 our commitment to
organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning
organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities
they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning
activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Accountability
to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps
team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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: Community Facilitator and GIRL mentors
Accountability
Reports
Directly To: County Project Coordinator with a
dotted line to WASH/Nutrition Advisor
Works
Directly With: Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of
Party, Livelihood Officer, Technical Advisors, finance and operations teams, HQ
Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support Unit, Partner Organizations, and
broader LMS team.
Knowledge and Experience:
Knowledge and Experience:
·
Minimum of 3 years’ experience
working with NGOs/CBO’s in civic engagement, livelihoods and education;
·
Degree in Community Development,
Economic Development, Business, Agriculture, Livestock or related field or
diploma with over 3 years’ experience;
·
Should have knowledge of quantitative
and qualitative data collection, reporting techniques and should understand and
be able to apply basic measures of central tendency and spread;
·
Commitment to working with Women,
Girls, youth and vulnerable groups in need, regardless of race, tribe, religion
or gender;
·
Understanding of working with local
partners and commitment to working with the greater BOMA Project and LMS team;
·
Good problem solving, written and
oral communication skills;
·
Strong written and spoken English and
Swahili;
·
Local language skills required;
·
Ability to work without constant
supervision and as part of a mixed team;
·
Good knowledge of MS Office software
such as Excel, Word, and Access.
Success
Factors: S/he will combine exceptional
management skills and capacity to manage relationships with different
stakeholders including the greater LMS team.
The
position requires an ability to think creatively about improving opportunities
for women and adolescent girls.
The
Project Officer will have the capacity to spark innovative and entrepreneurial
approaches to programming and to inspire groups to collaborate closely to
implement high-quality programs.
S/he
will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of
high-impact activities at the community level.
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 and make
effective written and verbal communication a priority.
Position: WASH / Nutrition Officer
Location: Nairobi
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
1)
Peace and Conflict Management;
2)
Livelihood/Market Systems;
3)
Governance (particularly at the county level); and
4)
Youth Employment / Employability (including the social and economic development
of adolescents).
The
four objectives serve to increase community resilience to drought and other
shocks and stresses, and to decrease fragility with a particular focus on
Kenya’s Arid Lands.
Mercy
Corps’ vision for change requires the private sector, government and civil
society to work together to create meaningful and sustainable change.
Mercy Corps is recruiting a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)/Nutrition Advisor to ensure the delivery of high quality WASH and nutrition interventions for a five-year USAID-funded Feed the Future (FtF) Livestock Market Systems (LMS) Development Activity for northern Kenya.
This
position will support the Strengthening Community Capacities for Resilience and
Growth associate award. This project will support USAID’s Feed the Future
Initiative and specifically will improve households’ income, productive assets
and resilience to drought and other shocks.
Specific
areas of focus include: strengthened and sustained rangeland and water
management; strengthened drought risk management; strengthened conflict
management; improved and sustained health, nutrition, and hygiene practices;
improved literacy, numeracy, and life skills; and collaborative action and
learning for community empowerment.
General Position Summary: The WASH / Nutrition Advisor will provide leadership and oversight to the project’s WASH and nutrition component.
General Position Summary: The WASH / Nutrition Advisor will provide leadership and oversight to the project’s WASH and nutrition component.
The
Advisor is responsible for overall planning, coordination, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of WASH and nutrition activities; ensuring all
project initiatives are implemented to achieve maximum impact while remaining
on schedule and budget.
The
nutrition component uses a variety of tailored social and behavior change
strategies, which enhance nutrition practices, increasing the demand for
nutritious food, improving household decision-making for equitable access to
nutrition, leveraging private sector investment for nutrition support and
informing policy practices regarding nutrition and food security.
The
WASH component centers on community projects, drought cycle management and
improved hygiene practices.
S/he
will work closely with our partner ACDI/VOCA, who will be leading the
implementation of the LMS, and look for opportunities to link programming and
clients with the greater programming across the LMS.
The
WASH/Nutrition Advisor also should work with management team to coordinate and
plan closely with USAID’s other water initiatives, particularly Kenya RAPID, to
ensure assistance in well-coordinated, leverages each other’s programming and
is not duplicative.
Essential Job Functions:
Essential Job Functions:
Program
Management
·
Communicate a clear vision for
WASH/nutrition activities and how they fit into the project’s overall
objectives, ensure that the project strategy is clear, and communicated to team
members, local beneficiaries, the government and other actors;
·
Plan and implement the project’s nutrition
Social and Behavior Change (SBC) strategy including designing compelling
informational messages (edutainment), culturally sensitive Information
Education Communication (IEC) materials and mass media outreach, as
appropriate, to effectively influence behavior change at the individual and
community level;
·
Ensure SBC concepts and/or messages
achieve project objectives, such as increasing knowledge, changing attitudes,
enhancing motivation to change behaviors, and increasing the perceived benefits
of new behaviors. Lead in the research design, pretesting, production and
distribution of SBC/IEC materials;
·
Based on the findings of the Barrier
Analysis and other research findings, suggest new areas of SBC content for both
the immediate causes of nutrition and underlying causes such maternal/child
nutrition, household income, household decision making and design SBC through
suggestions and advice from designated audience groups;
·
Pursue other innovative ways to
deliver compelling messages such as the use of schools and other culturally
sensitive media/channels of communications to reach adolescent girls, women,
Youths and Men;
·
Develop and maintain harmonious
relationship with partner organizations, line ministries and audience groups.
This includes planning activities and coordinating closely with the greater LMS
partners and Kenya Rapid;
·
Monitor project implementation,
document processes and achievements to ensure best practices are captured and
disseminated;
·
Regularly visit field activities to
assess progress and provide formal and informal feedback.
Influence
& Representation
·
Represent Mercy Corps at government,
donor, NGO and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Chief of
Party, Deputy Chief of Party and country leadership;
·
Coordinate activities with consortium
partners, sub grantees, 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 security.
Organizational
Learning: As part of our commitment to
organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning
organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities
they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning
activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Accountability
to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps
team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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: None
Accountability
Reports
Directly To: Deputy Chief of Party
Works
Directly With: Chief of Party, County Project
Coordinators, GIRL program officers, Livelihood Officers, finance and
operations teams, HQ Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support Unit, Partner
Organizations
Knowledge and Experience:
Knowledge and Experience:
·
BA/S or equivalent in nutrition,
communications, development, public health or Nutrition and Dietetics, other
relevant field;
·
A minimum of four years of relevant
professional experience working on similar types of programming. Experience
with behavior change communications is preferred;
·
Previous experience working on USAID
grants is preferred;
·
Excellent and persuasive oral and
written communication skills, including report writing, in English and
Kiswahili is required. Fluency in Northern Kenyan regional dialects also
are desirable;
·
Previous working experience in
Northern Kenya desirable;
·
Demonstrated attention to detail,
ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and
cooperatively with team members.
Success
Factors: The WASH / Nutrition Advisor will
have a strong understanding of project approaches and contextual knowledge of northern
Kenya.
S/he
will combine technical leadership skills, communication skills and capacity to
manage relationships with different stakeholders.
A
heavy emphasis will be placed on coordination with other actors implementing in
the areas of intervention.
S/he
will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of
high-impact activities at the community level. 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 and make
effective written and verbal communication a priority.
Environmental
Conditions: This position will be Nairobi based,
with regular travel to field sites.
This
position requires approximately 50% travel regularly by road and air to program
offices in often insecure environments.
Mercy
Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when
deployed in a field posting or on a visit.
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.
Position: Natural Resource Management and Conflict Officer(3)
Location: Isiolo, Wajir and Turkana Counties
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:
1)
Peace and Conflict Management;
2)
Livelihood / Market Systems;
3)
Governance (particularly at the county level); and
4)
Youth Employment / Employability (including the social and economic development
of adolescents).
The
four objectives serve to increase community resilience to drought and other
shocks and stresses, and to decrease fragility with a particular focus on
Kenya’s Arid Lands.
Mercy
Corps’ vision for change requires the private sector, government and civil
society to work together to create meaningful and sustainable change.
The
Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Conflict Officer will provide technical
support in promoting peaceful co-existence around natural resources management
for a five-year USAID-funded Feed the Future (FtF) Livestock Market Systems
(LMS) Development Activity for northern Kenya.
This
position will support the Strengthening Community Capacities for Resilience and
Growth component.
This
project will support USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and specifically will
improve households’ income, productive assets and resilience to drought and
other shocks.
Specific
areas of focus for the position include: strengthening and sustaining
rangeland and water management; strengthening drought risk management and
conflict management; improved and sustained health, nutrition, hygiene
practices; literacy, numeracy, and life skills; as well as collaborative action
and learning for community empowerment.
General
Position Summary: The NRM and Conflict Officer
will be responsible for technical oversight and ensuring management for all
activities related to conflict management and peaceful co-existence around
natural resource management.
S/he
will define implementation strategies in coordination with the Chief of Party,
Deputy Chief of Party and leadership team.
The
NRM and Conflict Officer will train staff and partners, providing them with
technical assistance; and ensure that common strategies and approaches are
applied consistently in all communities.
S/he
will coordinate closely with the M&E team to ensure that systems are in
place to track, analyze and report results.
The
NRM and Conflict Office will be required to keep abreast of the latest research
and evolutions in the field of conflict management around natural resources and
integrate new ideas and approaches as appropriate, seek additional technical
assistance as needed and ensure effective working relationships with
collaborating agencies.
S/he
will work closely with our partner ACDI/VOCA, who will be leading the implementation
of the LMs, and look for opportunities to link programming and clients with
their programming and programming across the LMA.
Essential
Job Functions:
Program
Management
·
Contribute to team work plans and
guide successful implementation of conflict management and natural resources
management activities, ensuring teams follow work plans so activities are on
time, target and within the approved budget, and program deliverables achieve
desired impact;
·
Provide technical guidance on
conflict management/natural resource management and ensure that interventions
are responsive to stakeholders and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant
program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
Ensure that interventions are evidence-based and adhere to adaptive management
principles;
·
Conduct, participate in and/or update
conflict and/or NRM assessments, involving a variety of stakeholders;
·
In collaboration with National
Drought Management Authority (NDMA), facilitate discussions within communities
aimed at promoting Disaster Risk Reduction approaches including for drought
cycle management as important components of NRM;
·
Plan and work in partnership with the
Rangeland Specialist and consultants to be in sync in approaches and plans;
·
Integrate community approaches,
gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm
principles, and beneficiary accountability standards;
·
Facilitate planning meetings and
workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to
revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in;
·
In coordination with the MEL team,
monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and
assessments to ensure program quality and impact. Document approaches,
successes and lessons learned;
·
Coordinate with procurement,
logistics, security, administration and human resources teams to ensure
operational systems support field activities.
Influence
& Representation
·
Represent Mercy Corps at government,
donor, NGO and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Chief of
Party, Deputy Chief of Party and country leadership.
·
Coordinate activities with consortium
partners, sub grantees, 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 security.
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 our commitment to
organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning
organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities
they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning
activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Accountability
to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps
team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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: None
Accountability
Reports
Directly To: County Project Coordinator with
a dotted line to the Rangeland and Conflict Specialist
Works
Directly With: Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of
Party, Community Facilitators, Technical Advisors, finance and operations
teams, HQ Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support Unit, Partner
Organizations, and broader LMS team.
Knowledge and Experience:
Knowledge and Experience:
·
BA/S or equivalent in development
studies, Disaster Risk Reduction, Range management, conflict mitigation, social
sciences or other relevant field;
·
A minimum of three years of relevant
professional experience in NRM where there is Natural Resource based conflicts
with hands on experience in peace building initiatives;
·
Experience drafting contingency plans
with communities in ASAL areas is required;
·
Strong management skills, including
effective personnel management, adaptive management coordination and
decision-making Strong facilitation and consensus-building skills;
·
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;
·
Internationally recognized
qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the
qualification in the early months of work;
·
Excellent and persuasive oral and
written communication skills, including report writing, in English and other
language(s), and fluency in Kiswahili. Local dialects spoken in Northern
Kenya are also a plus;
·
Previous work experience in northern
Kenya desirable;
·
Demonstrated attention to detail,
ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and
cooperatively with team members.
Success
Factors: The NRM and Conflict Officer will be
familiar with the particular challenges of natural resources management in
northern Kenya.
S/he
will combine exceptional management skills and capacity to manage relationships
with different stakeholders including the greater LMS team.
The
position requires an ability to think creatively about improving opportunities
for peaceful co-existence.
A
heavy emphasis will be placed on coordination with other actors implementing in
the areas of intervention including county government.
The
NRM and Conflict Officer will have the capacity to spark innovative and
entrepreneurial approaches to programming and to inspire groups to collaborate
closely to implement high-quality programs.
S/he
will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of
high-impact activities at the community level.
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 and make
effective written and verbal communication a priority.
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 1st November, 2017.
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.
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.
Only
shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
NB: We do not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process