Deputy Chief of Party

Mercy Corps

Details / requirements:

Vacancy Announcement

Mercy Corps is an international, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency that exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. Mercy Corps works in more than 40 countries, and has been present in Nepal since 2005. In Nepal, Mercy Corps works to build the absorptive, adaptive, and transformative potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across the country. Through a systems-based approach to market development, financial services access, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and youth engagement, Mercy Corps builds resilience among target communities.

Mercy Corps invites applications from all interested and potential Nepali candidates for the following positions in PAHAL program:

Deputy Chief of Party -1 (Kathmandu based with frequent travel to PAHAL districts)

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

“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 COB March 05, 2017 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 on the subject line of the e-mail while applying]

Email to: np-jobs@mercycorps.org

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Position Title: Deputy Chief of Party, PAHAL

Duty Station: Kathmandu, with 55% travel to field as required

Position Category: Full-time AND Regular 

Salary Level: Level 8

Current Employee: N/A

BACKGROUND:

Mercy Corps is an international, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency that exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. Mercy Corps works in more than 40 countries, and has been present in Nepal since 2005. In Nepal, Mercy Corps works to build the absorptive, adaptive, and transformative potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across the country. Through a systems-based approach to market development, financial services access, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and youth engagement, Mercy Corps builds resilience among target communities.

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps Nepal, as the prime organization, is implementing a five year program – “Promoting Agriculture, Health and Alternative Livelihood” (PAHAL) program, funded by USAID. PAHAL seeks to strengthen livelihoods, improve nutritional status and increase the capacity of vulnerable households to mitigate, adapt to and recover from shocks and stresses in communities with deep poverty and high rates of malnutrition in critical zones of the Mid-Western and Far-Western Regions of Nepal. The goal of the PAHAL program is: Vulnerable populations in the middle and high hills of Far Western and Mid-Western Nepal are food secure. The target area of the program covers 14 districts in the Mid-West and Far-West regions of Nepal. The Mid-West region comprises of 7 districts; Surkhet, Dailekh, Pyuthan, Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan and Jajarkot while the Far-West region comprises of Dadeldhura, Doti, Accham, Baitadi, Bajhang, Bajura and Darchula districts.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

The Deputy Chief of Party (DCoP) will work directly with the Chief of Party (CoP) to help provide the overall leadership, management and strategic vision to the implementation of a five-year, multi-million dollar USAID/Food for Peace and USAID Nepal-funded Development Food Assistance Program (DFAP), tentatively titled by USAID as the "Community Resilience Program," actively working in 14 districts across the Far- and MidWest development regions of Nepal. The DCoP will provide the CoP advice, context, support and backstopping to ensure the program best helps meet the real, dynamic and complex needs of the people in the program implementation area. S/he will directly manage program and technical staff and resources related to the program to ensure that the program meets its targets and deliverables on-time, on scope, and within budget.S/he will be expected to drive an innovative, integrated technical approach to program implementation that focuses on long-term change and sustained impact. The DCoP will also serve as the government liaison. S/he will be responsible for supervising program staff and ensuring accountability to Mercy Corps' policies and donor rules and regulations. S/he will be the primary program representative to relevant government entities and local stakeholders, while assisting the CoP in representing the program and Mercy Corps with partners, other implementers and external stakeholders. As gender and social inclusion (GESI), governance and M&E are cross-cutting and core components of the PAHAL program, the Communications Specialist is required to own these components and ensure GESI sensitivity and integration, governance practices and M&E systems are integrated into his/her work area.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

The specific duties and responsibilities of the Deputy Chief of Party include, but are not limited to, the following:

Strategy and Vision

  • Under the guidance of the CoP, set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve program objectives.
  • Under the guidance of the CoP and with support from the Resilience Director, develop and drive a coherent, integrated vision, ensuring innovation, influence and impact across the program areas.
  • Support the development of annual, integrated strategic work-plans for the program.
  • Under the guidance of the Resilience Director, adopt and support the roll out of a program-wide resiliencebuilding framework to guide coordination and integrated implementation.

Program Implementation:

  • Lead the development of detailed implementation plans, flowing from annual strategic work- plans, and ensure the delivery of the same.
  • Lead the socialization of the program with Government of Nepal stakeholders in Kathmandu and Regions, ensuring necessary approvals and collaboration as required.
  • Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to vulnerability criteria.
  • With the CoP and Resilience Director, drive the development and roll out of systems that support program quality and integrated implementation approaches across sectors, partners, and program geographies.
  • Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
  • Provide managerial and programmatic oversight to partners and sub-grantee(s).
  • Produce written reports on program activities, capturing the impacts of activities.
  • Oversee efforts to design effective M&E systems for the program, and linkages with internal M&E systems.
  • Create and follow effective stakeholder management plans, ensuring sound and proactive communications with Mercy Corps Nepal, partner organizations, Mercy Corps headquarters, USAID, Government of Nepal authorities, and colleague agencies.
  • Conduct frequent field visits to all project sites - spend up to 45% of time in the field. 

Team Management and Capacity-Building

  • Provide strategic guidance and mentor team members to achieve PAHAL objectives to the highest quality standards.
  • Drive a culture of learning, curiosity and urgency among program team, supporting innovation, influence and impact.
  • Ensure all teams members and partners have internalized the programs vision and theory of change as per the resilience framework and related learning.
  • Identify where capacity development is necessary, and directly provide guidance or identify technical support.
  • Facilitate opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
  • Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
  • Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
  • Set-up regular team-building efforts and regular review and reflection processes among team members and, ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
  • Supervise and manage all program staff to ensure day-to-day activities are implemented in a coordinated fashion according to schedule, budget and the highest quality standards.
  • Supervise and manage all program partnerships to ensure sound coordination in the context of an overall program strategic and resilience-building framework.
  • Manage and help with the recruitment orientation, professional development and ongoing training of OFAP staff to ensure they are of the quality and technical capacity necessary to ensure the successful implementation of activities.

Finance & Compliance Management:

  • In collaboration with the country program's operations and finance departments, ensure proper financial management, procurement, administration, human resources and logistics (including transport, warehousing and asset management) needs of the program are conducted within Mercy Corps' policy and with the maximum benefit to the program
  • Monitor adherence to grant agreement, Mercy Corps' policies and procedures and relevant external rules and regulations, including those of the Government of Nepal.

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and Reporting:

  • Facilitate the achievement of performance-based targets and outcomes and lead efforts to design effective, proactive, and iterative M&E systems following the program's logical framework and results chain measurement.
  • Oversee the scope of work, deliverables and overall quality of work of any internal or external evaluation or research partners.
  • Oversee the scheduling and production of formal and informal reports on all aspects of the program in a timely and efficient manner.
  • Ensure program data and analysis is used for learning by holding and leading semi- annual program workshops with all program partners.
  • With the support of the M&E Advisor, support the roll out of resilience monitoring and evaluation framework, and strategic research that contributes to program learning related to resilience.
  • Document achievements/impact of innovative program components of the program.
  • Ensure that M&E and all team members’ together focus on assisting the program to generate practical information that can be used for ongoing program analysis and decision-making while also capturing results at the impact level.

Representation and Coordination:

  • Facilitate the development and management of positive relationships with the agencies and ministries within the Government of Nepal relevant to PAHAL’s successful implementation.
  • As agreed with the CoP, liaise with and represent program to USAID and other cooperating stakeholders.
  • As directed by the CoP, represent Mercy Corps at government donor, NGO and other relevant events in the field, in close coordination with the CoP and Country Director.
  • Develop clear coordination plans and with support of the CoP, drive systematic coordination and information sharing with consortium partners, sub- grantees, local government and other implementers as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.

Security:

  • Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
  • Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Program Support Operations:

  • Coordinate with program, finance and administration/logistics staff to ensure operational systems are in place to support field activities including logistics (transport, warehousing and asset management), procurement, security, administration and human resources.
  • Propose design of new local policies as needed and in accordance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations.

Others

  • Oversee and ensure GESI aspects are addressed across institutional strategic and programmatic levels.
  • Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to the program and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;
  • Other PAHAL duties as assigned by the Chief of Party.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNINGS: 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.

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.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Direct supervision of Program Units at central level and with and through them, of the Program Units at the regional levels

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Chief of Party

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Resilience Director, Chief of Party, M&E Manager, Finance & Compliance Manager, Sub-Award & Compliance Manager, Operations Manager, HR Team, Program Component Managers and, Mercy Corps Global Technical Support Unit (TSU) team members 

ACCOUNTABLE TO: Chief of Party PAHAL, Position Description; National Staff Policy Handbook; Code of conduct and Mercy Corps policy and procedures.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Master’s degree in international development, management, economic development or other relevant field.
  • At least 10 years of relevant professional experience with positions of progressively greater responsibilities.
  • At least five years of experience in a senior management role with experience in program management related to multi-sectorial program activities strongly required.
  • Strong knowledge of integrated programs and resilience concepts
  • Experience in at least two, and ideally more, of the following sectors is required: resilience, food security, alternative livelihoods, agriculture, nutrition, maternal & child health, water, sanitation and hygiene, adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction.
  • History of working effectively and respectfully with national government, L/INGOs, contractors and other partners.
  • Demonstrated experience working with country-level ministries and government officials, Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Federal Affairs and Local Development and/or Home Affairs experience is preferred.
  • Experience coordinating with private sector actors to leverage investment and increase scale of activities.
  • Experience working at national level required.
  • Excellent spoken and written English and Nepali language skills and ability to interact effectively with international and national staff.
  • Strong computer literacy with a full knowledge of office applications.
  • Self-initiator and ability to work independently on several tasks with minimal supervision 
  • Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to multi-task and process information into action as to not delay program activities
  • Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
  • Previous experience with USAID rules, regulations and requirements is preferred.
  • Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment
  • Willingness to travel domestically across PAHAL districts as needed.

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful Deputy Chief of Party will combine exceptional management skills and experience in building and maintaining donor and partner relationships. S/he will have an ability to think creatively about improving food security, community development and resilience. The DCoP will have proven experience with crosscultural team 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 team 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. Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. 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

Overview

Category Administrative / Management
Openings 1
Experience 10+ years
Education Please check vacancy details
Posted Date 23 Feb, 2017
Apply Before 05 Mar, 2017
City Kathmandu