PROGRAM/ DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:
The BRIGE Program builds community resilience by increasing Mercy Corps’ capacity to better respond to gender-specific needs and vulnerabilities during complex and chronic crises.
Disasters and chronic stresses can undermine the foundations of communities, but may also provide opportunities to begin to transform deeply entrenched inequality. 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 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.
The BRIGE program will focus on three key objectives: 1.) ASSESS -Increase the capacity of Mercy Corps’ teams and the international aid community to develop and implement equitable and sustainable resilience-building programs in partnership with local actors by better understanding the gendered impact of disasters and the barriers and opportunities within program contexts. 2.) ACT – Adapt current resilience-focused programs and pilot new activities to better address the vulnerabilities of diverse stakeholders and empower women, youth, and other marginalized groups to cope, adapt, and transform. 3.) LEARN – Share lessons, ideas, and research to strengthen the effectiveness of communities, emergency responders, and development workers to support and empower vulnerable populations and build resilience.
GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:
The Program Director will provide overall leadership, management and strategic vision to the implementation of the BRIGE Program, managing resources to ensure that the program meets its objectives on-time and within budget. The Program Director will coordinate across the three BRIGE countries-Nepal, Niger and Indonesia. The Program Director will serve as Mercy Corps’ key representative on gender and resilience and will collaborate with others within and outside of the agency who are working on resilience.
ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategy and Vision
- Provide overall leadership and strategic vision in all aspects of program development, implementation and management.
- Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to program-wide strategy development.
Program Design, Implementation and Management
- Design and support gender assessments and audits in each of the three BRIGE countries.
- Monitor adherence to grant agreement, Mercy Corps policies and procedures, and relevant external rules and regulations.
- Develop centralized program implementation strategy, systems, tools, and materials.
- Compile and build on existing climate change, DRR, and gender toolkits to create the BRIGE Toolkit providing targeted guidance for practitioners and implementers focused on gender and resilience.
- Manage and oversee the gender action planning process and disbursement of the Gender Action Fund.
- Design capacity building materials in support of program activities, such as the gender assessment and audit, and the gender action planning process..
- Facilitate in-country trainings and workshops to support program goals.
- Ensure that program implementation is responsive to the needs of youth and women, and aligned with Mercy Corps principles, values and strategic plan.
- Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and Reporting
- Facilitate the design of effective M&E systems including the development of key indicators that will cut across country-specific programs, and the organization of information so that it can be easily accessed by program management and reported out to key stakeholders.
- Oversee review of data analysis from assessments and audits.
- Oversee the scheduling and production of formal and informal reports on all aspects of the program in a timely and efficient manner.
- Oversee the documentation of lessons learned from the program and the preparation of periodic case studies and beneficiary stories.
- Oversee the program’s research component including the conceptualization, design, and implementation of a research study on program-related impacts.
Team Management
- 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.
- Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
- Contribute to team-building efforts, help team members identify problem solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
Finance & Compliance Management
- Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations.
- Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
Representation
- Act as key Mercy Corps representative on gender and resilience.
- Collaborate with others within and outside of the agency who are working on resilience. including co-chairing a Gender and Resilience working group with Lutheran World Relief.
- Disseminate tools, research, best practices and lessons learned with the international development and aid community through publications, networks, working groups, events, and conferences.
- Identify, build and manage collaborative relationships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, local governments and other stakeholders as appropriate.
- Identify opportunities to collaborate and coordinate efforts with other organizations to ensure our activities build upon – rather than replicate – the work of others.
- Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.
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 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: None
ACCOUNTABILITY:
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: East Asia Regional Resilience Advisor
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: West and Central Africa Regional Gender Advisor, Indonesia BRIGE Program Manager, Nepal BRIGE Program Manager, Country Directors, Senior Gender Advisor, M&E Staff, Resilience Advisors, Senior Director of Strategic Programs and Resilience.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
- Graduate degree or equivalent in social science, management, international development or other relevant field.
- 5-7 years of field management experience including 3 years in a senior management position, preferably at a regional/cross-country level.
- 3-5 years’ experience working as a gender technical expert
- Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including report development, writing and editing.
- Strong project management skills, including budget management, working with local partners and program start up activities.
- Strong monitoring and evaluation skills, including both quantitative and qualitative methods.
- Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
- French language skills preferred.
SUCCESS FACTORS:
The successful Program Director will have a background in gender and development or humanitarian aid programming and will be an experienced trainer, researcher, and manager. S/he will have exceptional management skills and experience in maintaining donor and partner relationships. The Program Director will be an experienced negotiator and facilitator, able to understand and align to meet multiple priorities from different stakeholders. S/he will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement and manage innovative programs within the current and future Mercy Corps program structure. 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 in all situations.
LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:
The position is based in Washington, DC and requires up to 30% travel to Indonesia, Nepal and Niger. 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.
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