MCEurope recruits 01 Consortium Program Director / CAPE (Community Action Platform – Ebola)

MCEurope recruits 01 Consortium Program Director / CAPE (Community Action Platform – Ebola)

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of around 400 people working in North and South Kivu, Ituri and Tshopo with the overall country goal to support vulnerable communities through crises, while fostering programs that build resilience and promote long-term change. Mercy Corps’ national office is in Goma with sub-field offices in Butembo (North Kivu) and Bukavu (South Kivu). Mercy Corps’ key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to: 1) Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas; 2) Improve food security and nutrition; 3) Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development.

Mercy Corps DRC’s Ebola programs focus on IPC (Infection Prevention and Control), WASH and Community Engagement. Ten months after the start of the epidemic, Mercy Corps’ Ebola portfolio is now at a turning point, expanding both in parts of North Kivu directly affected by the epidemic, as well as in and around Goma.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

The Consortium Program Director (CPD) will provide overall leadership, management and strategic vision to the implementation of a USD multi-million community based Ebola prevention program, to ensure that the intervention meets its targets and deliverables on-time and within budget. S/he will have supervisory oversight of all principle consortium partners, and will line manage Mercy Corps senior management and advisory staff within the program, providing strong leadership and ensuring proper coordination in order to operate effectively and deliver on the program’s intended impact.

S/he is detail oriented and has excellent planning and strategic thinking skills. S/he will also be experienced in networking and donor representation. S/he will be an effective communicator with exceptional team building and coordination skills. The CPD will coordinate the delivery of inclusive high-quality programming and reporting, and overview the relationship with the donor, OFDA. S/he will be the primary program representative to donors, coordination system, relevant government entities, partners, other implementers and external stakeholders.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Strategy and Vision

• Lead the implementation of the CAPE strategy.
• Together with the Ebola Program Director, maintain and reinforce Mercy Corps’ primary position in the Ebola response, by ensuring alignment with the Ebola Strategic Response Plan and priorities and seeking opportunities for expansion of Mercy Corps Ebola programming.
• Play an active role in identifying and developing new initiatives that foster and/or improve strategic objectives of the program and the country office.

Program Management

• Oversee program start-up, management and administration. Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
• Ensure participants are effectively targeted according to transparent criteria.
• Develop partnership frameworks, partner agreements/Memorandum of Understandings, and oversee partner capacity investments, as necessary.
• Oversee performance of consortium partners and sub-grantees.
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
• Ensure program strategies and activities represent global good practice in subgrant management and behavior change communications.
• Supervise and/or review the work of program staff and consultants.
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.

Knowledge Management and Reporting

• Facilitate the achievement of program targets and objectives and lead efforts to design effective monitoring, evaluation and learning systems.
• Oversee the scheduling and production of formal and informal reports on all aspects of the program in a timely and efficient manner.
• Ensure that the Knowledge Management and Reporting team focus on developing and supporting program staff and partners to generate information that can be used for ongoing program decision-making while also capturing results at the impact level.
• Support the Knowledge Management Manager to document all lessons learned from the program and prepare periodic case studies, beneficiary stories and related publications.
• Work closely with Knowledge Management and Reporting advisers and oversee process of Knowledge Management and Reporting with support from program staff. Ensure easy public access to reports and data, using primarily online, digital methods, and make sure they are widely distributed.

Team Management

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Supervise, hire and orient new team members as necessary.
• 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.

Finance and 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 DRC.

Representation & Coordination

• Create, implement and follow effective stakeholder management plans, ensuring sound and proactive communications with Mercy Corps DRC, partner organizations, Ebola coordination, Mercy Corps headquarters, Mercy Corps’ donors, and local and national authorities.
• Participate in external representation of Mercy Corps Ebola portfolio with various groups including donors, government and the coordination system.
• Maintain strong and transparent communication with Mercy Corps’ donors and partners.
• Share learnings from Mercy Corps Ebola portfolio with the greater humanitarian community within DRC.
• Represent Mercy Corps programs with national and international media, donors, and participate in community activities as appropriate.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership. Monitor and foster a high level of compliance with Ebola occupational safety standards and procedures.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Accountability to Participants

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our participants and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging participant 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, that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Direct supervision of CAPE consortium partners and Mercy Corps senior management and advisory team, including Subgrants Director, Project Lead, Program Manager, Communications Manager, Knowledge Management Manager and Digital Outreach Manager.

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Ebola Program Director

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Other program managers in-country, finance and operations teams, HQ Regional Program Team, HQ Technical Support Unit

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• BA/S or equivalent experience in international development, management, humanitarian response or other relevant field; MA/S preferred.
• At least 7 years of international relief and development program management experience, in emergency and recovery program management, with progressively greater responsibility.
• Prior Ebola and consortium management experience is an asset but not required
• At least 3 years in a senior management role is required with experience in managing humanitarian assistance projects in developing countries; experience managing multi-sectoral projects including cash, health, WASH, non-food items (NFI), Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), community engagement or protection, preferably in insecure settings.
• Previous experience in managing consortiums or international sub-grantees preferred.
• Combination of direct and remote management experience preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, other donor- funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.
• Experience managing programmatic and financial reporting requirements. Experience with UNICEF rules, regulations and requirements is preferred.
• Experience working in West or sub-Saharan Africa is preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and French required; other languages a plus.
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
• Strong computer literacy with a full knowledge of office applications.
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful Consortium Program Director will combine exceptional management skills and experience in building and maintaining donor and partner relationships. S/he will possess high level of adaptability and be able to adjust to the constantly changing programmatic and working environment. S/he will have previous experience in implementing large scale emergency programs in insecure and conflict context. S/he will have an ability to approach complex humanitarian challenges through a systems-thinking lens and have an ability to think creatively about humanitarian response across sectors.

The Director will have proven experience with cross-cultural team and capacity building, individual staff development and strong mentoring skills. S/he will provide the space and support for the team members to realize their full potential in a highly stressful environment. S/he will be passionate about learning and adaptive management techniques as fundamental strategies to improve program impact. 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. The successful Director must be comfortable operating and traveling in a volatile security environment and therefore, changing plans and program tactics accordingly.

LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:

This position is an unaccompanied position. The position is based in Goma and eligible for R&R. Travel may be required up to 30% of the time to program areas beyond Goma. Outside Goma, travel can be dangerous and unpredictable due to armed forces and rebel activity.

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. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside 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.

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.

Diversity is powerful. To achieve transformational change, we seek out team members with different origins, beliefs, backgrounds and ways of thinking. Diversity helps us unlock complexity.

Include a CV and a motivation letter.

FRENCH FLUENCE IS MANDATORY