Program Officer

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, economic development and opportunities, financial services, youth engagement, natural resource management and disaster risk reduction/ climate change adaptation, with gender as a cross-cutting issue.

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

1.Program Officer -  1 (Dhangadhi based with frequent travel to field)

2.Program Officer -  1 (Sindhupalchowk based with frequent travel to field)

Please refer to nepal.mercycorps.org for the full position description.

“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 to apply. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer”.

Interested candidates are requested to submit cover letter and Mercy Corps Application Form available at http://nepal.mercycorps.org by May 31, 2016 to the address below: 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further selection process. Telephone enquiries will not be entertained.

Attn: Human Resources Department

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

Email to: np-jobs@mercycorps.org

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Position Title:  Program Officer-2 

Duty Station:  Dhangadi-1, Sindhupalchock-1

Position Category:  Full-time AND Regular

Salary Level:  3

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. 

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. Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused 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, the program  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 Program Officers willbe based in field (one in Dhangadi and one in Sindhupalchock) and have the responsibility for supporting the Program Manager in the overall achievement of objectives, and the day-to-day administration and implementation of Gender/Inclusivity and Resiliencefocused program.  This will include establishing close collaboration with the Program Managers and M&E Officers of participating MC-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 Program Officers are overall responsible for working with other program field teams in mapping the various potential community-level groups for inclusion in the Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused program and being the field- and community-facing representative of the program and its approach. The Program Officers will keep a detailed calendar of workplans, events and meetings with all program stakeholders as relevant to the program. The Program Officers 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 Program Officers will be the district government- and field/program-facing person responsible for supporting, advising, coordinating and serving as the focal point for Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused 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 Program Officers 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, team-oriented way. 

The Program Officers will provide on-the-ground support to Mercy Corps teams in Nepal for the implementation of the Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused program activities. Along with the Program Manager, the Program Officers will conduct gender assessments and audits, and organizational mapping activities. The Program Officers and her/his 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: 

• Support the process of increasing team capacity by designing and leading technical training sessions on gender and inclusivity for Mercy Corps staff and local partners and providing ongoing coaching and mentoring around the barriers to inclusion, issues of access and control, and issues of voice and agency for more inclusive and resilient individuals, households, groups and communities;
• With support from the Program Manager, coordinateand conductfield survey and logistics for assessment, audit, and organizational mapping processes to understand how gender influences the needs, vulnerabilities and capacities of community members and how current programs can better account for differential impacts of crises, particularly through a gendered and more inclusive lens; 
• Support the process of adapting the global for Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused assessment and audit tools to be more appropriate and relevant for the Nepal context;
• Support thorough and effective analysis of findings from the assessment and audit and compilation of data from organizational mapping;
• Support team to produce Nepal contextualized and appropriate training and capacity-building materials;
• Participate in program M&E planning and system development at program start-up, including facilitation of thorough indicator plans, designing data collection tools and methodologies, and conducting secondary research to inform baseline assessments and measurement frameworks;
• Work with partner programs’ M&E focal points and program teams and partners’ staff to develop program data collection tools, M&E work flow, and database design and protocols, ensuring a high level of standardization with support from the Program Manager and the country-level MEL Unit;
• Support the inclusion of qualitative data collection and analysis for both direct and supplemental measurements of program performance. Along with the MEL Unit, work with teams in appropriate setting up and carrying out of focus group discussions and key informant interviews and lead field-based qualitative data collection as needed;
• Work with the partner program team and independently to develop community and group profiles for the target groups receiving Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused support;
• 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;
• Participate directly in, leading when necessary, data collection events, including data collected through mobile applications, together with the partner program teams;
• Organize regular field visits to ensure implementation of work is being carried out with desired quality and within stipulated time and resources or to troubleshoot issues as they arise;
• Prepare regular progress reports with input from the partner program team to high quality standards to the Program Manager;
• Regularly conduct project site visits to target groups to provide handsâ€on training and support, independently or together with the partner program team;
• Coordinate and play a role in field visits and other events for country office members, HQ, government, donor or other representatives as requested;
• Assist the Program Manager to prepare factsheets, reports and other informational or promotional material as requested;
• Liaise with communities, local media and other stakeholders, including local government bodies, as required by the Program Manager, always maintaining transparent, professional, accountable and excellent relations as a representative both of the Gender/Inclusivity and Resilience focused program and Mercy Corps in Nepal;
• Work with the Program Manager to ensure proper monthly work plans are created, complement the country level programwork plan, are adapted and communicated as needed, and are well followed and reported against. These should adhere to the overall program objectives and activities and assist local partner program staff in the integration of these workplans within their own;
• Conduct herself/himself 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: Program Manager 

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: 

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: 

• Minimum of Bachelor’s degree in public policy, gender, community development/mobilization or related field, with a Master’s degree preferable.
• At least three years of experience in gender, social policy or related sector, specifically related to in-the-field, community-level work.
• 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 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 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.