BRIGE Senior Program Officer

Vacancy Announcement

Mercy Corps is an international, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency that exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping to build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps began operations in Nepal in 2005, and since then has implemented projects in the sectors of agriculture, food security and nutrition, financial services, youth engagement, and disaster risk reduction/ climate change adaptation.

Mercy Corps currently invites applications from all potential Nepali candidates for the following position:

BRIGE Senior Program Officer – 1 (Kathmandu based with frequent field trips) (Women candidates strongly encouraged to apply)

“Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision, and we encourage people from all backgrounds, especially women and members of disadvantaged groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer”.

Interested candidates are requested to submit a CV and cover letter by December 05, 2015 to the address below. 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview. Telephone enquiries will not be entertained.

Attn: Senior Human Resources Officer

[Please mention the title of the Position on the subject of the e-mail while applying]

Email to: jobs@np.mercycorps.org

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Position Title: Senior Program Officer, Building Resilience through the Integration of Gender and Empowerment (BRIGE)

Duty Station: Kathmandu, Nepal

Position Category: Full-time AND Regular 

Salary Level: 3-4

Current Employee: N/A

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps began operations in Nepal in 2005, and since then has implemented projects in the sectors of agriculture, food security and nutrition, financial services, youth engagement, and disaster risk reduction/ climate change adaptation. To date, this programming has reached nearly over 1.8 million people in 43 districts. Mercy Corps Nepal works to build the absorptive, adaptive, and transformative potential of vulnerable individuals, communities and groups across Nepal. The goal is attained through a systems-based approach to market development, financial services, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and youth engagement.

The BRIGE Program is a 2-year program funded by the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation (MAC Foundation) that seeks to build community resilience by increasing Mercy Corps’ capacity to better respond to gender-specific needs and vulnerabilities during complex and chronic crises. The program, within Mercy Corps’ overall resilience framework, seeks to identify and empower those groups at the community level which can serve as inclusive ‘drivers of resilience’.

Disasters and chronic stresses can undermine the foundations of communities, but may also provide opportunities to begin to transform deeply entrenched inequality and inequities. Although men, women, boys, and girls are all vulnerable to the impacts of disasters, women and youth are often exposed to additional barriers – such as constraints on their mobility or insufficient access to land, education, and finance – that decrease their capacity to adapt to adversity and contribute to change. At the same time, women, youth, and other vulnerable groups often have critical knowledge and skills that can help their households and communities respond to and recover from crises. The BRIGE program will support the aid community to better identify and utilize these untapped resources while empowering women and youth to be part of household and community decision-making. Ultimately, BRIGE seeks to empower women and youth and the community level groups that have the greatest potential of more inclusively representing, supporting, and empowering them as agents of resilience, thereby increasing the coping capacities of households and communities to manage the impacts of recurring disasters, slow-onset crises, climate change, and poor governance.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

The Nepal BRIGE Senior Program Officer will have responsibility for supporting the Program Manager in the overall achievement of objectives, and the day-to-day administration and implementation of the MAC Foundation-funded Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused BRIGE program. This will include establishing close collaboration with the the Program Managers and M&E Officers of participating Mercy Corps Nepal programs and assisting them in the identification, organizing, mobilizing, capacity building, support, and monitoring of up to 8 community-level groups with the greatest potential to serve as ‘drivers of resilience’ for their members and their wider communities with a focus on inclusivity, good governance, social capital development, and resilience building. These community groups will be followed, nurtured, and supported through local, area, and national development and representative within the larger resilience framework of Mercy Corps and fitting within the ongoing and iterative resilience research and learning agenda of Mercy Corps Nepal. The Senior Program Officer is responsible for working with other program field teams in mapping the various potential community-level groups for inclusion in the BRIGE program and being the field- and community-facing representative of the program and its approach. The Program Officer will keep a detailed calendar of workplans, events, and meetings with all program stakeholders as relevant to the program. The Senior Program Officer will suggest to the Program Manager the most appropriate and necessary coordination forums and approaches, either to attend and represent the program and Mercy Corps her/himself or recommend the most suitable technical person. S/He will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining excellent relations with  government stakeholders at an individual, VDC, and district levels to ensure they are well and appropriately informed, well coordinated, and that the program achieves excellent government, civil society and, where appropriate, private sector buy-in.

The Senior Program Officer will be the district government- and field/program-facing person responsible for supporting, advising, coordinating, and serving as the focal point for BRIGE activities. Mercy Corps and its partners will work with national, district, and local authorities and stakeholders to ensure responsive gender/inclusivity structures and participatory governance mechanisms in target areas that reinforce community resilience. The Senior Program Officer must be a dynamic and effective individual who understands and appreciates Gender/Inclusivity approaches and who is motivated by finding new solutions and working in a positive, teamoriented way.

The Nepal BRIGE Senior Program Officer will provide on-the-ground support to Mercy Corps teams in Nepal for the implementation of the BRIGE program. Along with the Program Manager, the Senior Program Officer will conduct gender assessments and audits, and organizational mapping activities. The Senior Program Officer and his/her team will craft gender and resilience tools; implement capacity building and action planning workshops; provide on-going coaching and mentorship; and document and share lessons learned.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Coordinate field research and logistics for assessment, audit, and organizational mapping process to understand how gender influences the needs, vulnerabilities, and capacities of community members and if current programs are adequately accounting for differential impacts of crises;
• Assist Monitoring and Evaluation manager and officers in data collection activities;
• Support analysis of findings from the assessment, audit, and organizational mapping processes;
• Coordinate logistics for Nepal team workshops and action planning;
• Assist with on-going coaching and support to teams during implementation of action plans and piloting of new activities;
• Disseminate information and program lessons to appropriate parties, including Program Managers from other country programs;
• 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.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: None

ACCOUNTABILITY

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: BRIGE Nepal Program Manager

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH:

BRIGE Nepal Program Manager, Nepal Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, country-level MEL Unit, including expatriate MEL Specialist, participating Program Managers and their M&E Officers, local partners.

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.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE: 

• At least three years of experience in gender, social policy or related sector, specifically related to in the field, community-level work.
• BA in public policy, gender, community development/mobilization or related field.
• Ability and willingness to spend significant proportion of time in the field, sometimes in difficult to access, rural areas and with a multi-disciplinary team in often quite varied social and cultural contexts across Nepal.
• Demonstrated ability to work in complex environments under tight deadlines. Previous experience is highly preferred.
• Strong organizational and logistical skills with demonstrated experience in strategic planning and ability to work independently are required.
• Strong understanding of gender and inclusivity issues and dynamics in Nepal are a must.
• Good writing and computer skills, including preliminary research and information gathering from the internet, MS Word, Excel, and Power Point preparation is required.
• Good command of written and spoken English and fluent Nepali required.
• Effective writing skills to contribute to the preparation of reports, analyses, and presentations.

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful Senior Program Officer will combine serious professional technical skills and experience in the field of Gender/Inclusivity, as well as in building and maintaining government, community and partner relationships. S/he will have an ability to think creatively about contributing directly and measurably to community resilience through Governance, community mobilization, inclusive mechanisms for the same, and have excellent experience in both community mobilization and government engagement. The Senior Program Officer will have proven experience with diverse teams and capacity building, individual staff development and strong mentoring skills. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail as well as 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 in all situations.

SIGNATURES:

________________________________________________________ _____________________

Employee Date

_______________________________________________________ _____________________

Supervisor Date