Program Manager - Market-Based Resilience for Marginalized Populations Program -Baidoa, Somalia

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

Mercy Corps has been present in Somalia since 2005, with current programming in Somaliland, Puntland, Hirshabelle, Galmudug, Jubaland, South West State and Banadir. Our programming spans multiple sectors and is framed by a high-level strategy for advancing resilience and peace. Seeing ability in vulnerability, we work with and through local communities, including IDPs and returning refugees, to address immediate needs of crisis-affected populations while supporting and strengthening systems that facilitate collective advancement towards long-term and inclusive socio-economic growth, peace, and prosperity. Grounded in core resilience principles of systems thinking, partnership and facilitation, and adaptive management, Mercy Corps’ approach encourages crisis-affected populations, the private sector, government, and civil society to work together towards meaningful and lasting change.

Mercy Corps is a sub-grantee partner to the USAID / Somalia Market-Based Resilience for Marginalized Populations (MB-RMP) five year activity, led by DT Global. MB-RMP aims to build social and economic resilience among rural and urban crisis affected populations in Somalia, including by promoting and facilitating drought-resistant agriculture, livelihood diversification for rural and urban households, and robust private sector engagement that helps expand inclusive economic opportunities for marginalized groups. Among other priorities, MB-RMP will provide targeted technical support and capacity-building to strengthen resilience to climatic shocks for agriculture systems (including livestock), increase the capacity of the private sector to integrate and supply opportunity to urban migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and increase access to finance and domestic remittances among marginalized citizens, households and business to strengthen livelihood diversification.

The Position

The Program Manager will provide overall leadership, management and strategic vision to the implementation of the MB-RMP program. S/he will manage the program staff, resources and partnerships to ensure that the program meets its milestones on-time, with high quality and within budget. The Program Manager will supervise program staff and ensure accountability to Mercy Corps’ policies, DT Global subgrant requirements and USAID rules and regulations. S/he will be the primary programmatic focal point contact for DT Global team, relevant government entities closely collaborating and supporting the program, other sub partners and MB-RMP other stakeholders. He/She will report to the Mercy Corps Somalia Director of Programs (DOP) and coordinate closely with the DT Global DCOP/ COP, DCoP and other partners’ leadership. The Program Manager will also closely work with other Mercy Corps key departmental leads, including close coordination with the humanitarian portfolio and other resilience programs, including the Somalia Resilience Partnership (SRP) and Somalia Resilience Measurement Program (RPM).

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND PLANNING

• Lead coordination across consortium partners to ensure integration of program activities and CLA, ensuring alignment with overall program approaches for resilience and market systems strengthening.
• Provide leadership and strategic vision in all aspects of program implementation, development and management.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners, and aligned with Mercy Corps principles, values and strategic plan.
• Maintain a strategic plan for the implementation of program activities in line with best practice for market systems development and resilience, including updating and finalizing activities, methods of operation, and means of monitoring and measuring for success.
• Work closely with Mercy Corps implementing teams and partners to surface, model, and promote the replication of new ideas and promising practices, growing the evidence base on what works and what doesn’t for building resilience in protracted crises

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Oversee program start-up, management, and administration
• Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using innovative systems to achieve and measure success.
• Establish and support systems to regularly monitor the quality of implementation, and lead actions to course-correct to address quality issues.
• Create and foster an environment for adaptive management, including championing the timely use of data for decision-making.
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate. Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.
• Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.

HUMAN RESOURCES, SAFEGUARDING AND DIVERSITY

• Assist with the on-boarding of senior team members, ensuring they are set up for success and familiar with agency systems, procedures, and protocols.
• Develop the capacity of the program team, deepen understanding of their roles, identify and source technical capacity strengthening support, and assist with career development.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Support Mercy Corps global and regional initiatives for human resources, including safeguarding and diversity, and talent development.

FINANCE AND COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps’ regulations.
• Create and maintain systems to ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with program, donor and Mercy Corps’ needs.

INFLUENCE AND REPRESENTATION

• Work closely with Mercy Corps Somalia teams and DT Global to develop and maintain a strategic learning, influence, and communication strategy, including a schedule for the regular production and release of written products, to include case studies, return on investment studies, and policy briefs.

• Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Mercy Corps Somalia Director of Programs and Country Director.

• Coordinate activities with consortium partners, subgrantees, local government and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.

SECURITY

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

RISK MANAGEMENT

• Engage and the country initiatives on risk management systems are in place;
• Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events;
• Engage with country teams on the internal audit process to track findings and ensure country team compliance with IA findings and recommendations;
• Engage with country level Ethics and Assurance managers as well as the global Ethics and Assurance department to track and analyze trends and needs across countries;

Supervisory Responsibility

The Program Manager will be overall responsible for supervising the MB-RMP program team. The number of direct and indirect reports is to be determined.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Mercy Corps Somalia Director of Programs (DOP)

Works Directly With: Mercy Corps Somalia Program Managers, finance and operations teams, HQ Technical Support Unit, and partner organizations.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• MA/S or equivalent experience in humanitarian assistance, international development, or related field preferably with a background in either market systems development / value chain strengthening OR livestock systems development.

• Minimum of 3+ years’ relevant experience, with strong preference for significant experience in Somalia or in the Horn of Africa region.

• Internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work

• 5+ years of progressive experience and proven high level of competence in socio-economic development, economic development-related programs, ideally in in a vulnerable context;

• Demonstrated experience with market systems approaches and designing private sector development activities

• Demonstrated understanding and considerable experience in the following:

• Organizational capacity development, holistic organizational learning and/or organizational development approaches such as CLA.

• Design- and systems-thinking for more efficient and effective programming in complex crises, and strengthening capacity of others in the same

• Forging consensus among diverse actors around a shared vision, and leading and inspiring them towards that vision

• Innovating solutions that enable teams in protracted crises better collaborate, learn and adapt across sector and funding streams

• Capturing, analyzing, documenting and communicating evidence and knowledge to inspire and influence change.

• Knowledgeable of USAID’s and global best practices for CLA approaches and tools; experience on USAID programs strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain relationships with colleagues, implementing partners, donors, local organizations, and partners.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English (required) and Somali (highly desirable).

• Strong representation, communication and program marketing skills

Success Factors

The successful Program Manager will be a design thinker who combines innovation and enthusiasm with a deep commitment to influencing transformative change in the way international assistance is designed and delivered in Somalia. The ideal candidate is able to inspire CLA and forge consensus across implementing partners and other stakeholders with diverse and often competing agendas. She/he must be flexible and opportunistic and must model a positive challenge culture that promotes and inspires innovation and learning.  S/he combines exceptional management skills with experience in maintaining donor and partner relationships.  S/he will also have proven experience with cross-cultural teams and capacity building, individual staff development, and strong mentoring skills. 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 ideal candidate for the Program Manager position is willing to be based in Baidoa with frequent travel to other project sites for implementation and meetings when necessary. The location is unaccompanied and eligible for hardship and R&R benefits.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues. Notably all Somalia staff are expected to comply with all country security protocols as guided by the country management.

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.