Regional Community Accountability Advisor, West & Central Africa

Description

Position Description

Location: Any Mercy Corps Office in West & Central Africa

Position Status: Short Term Assignment, 3 months

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.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps is currently operational in 18 countries in Africa including Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Senegal, Mauritania and Benin. The Mercy Corps Africa region is splitting into two regions namely East and Southern and; West and Central Africa to enhance more support to Country Offices and Programs. Mercy Corps’ country programs in Africa face momentous humanitarian crises and significant development challenges, and operate in fragile and conflict-affected areas, displacement settings, emergency responses, as well as more stable developed settings. Against this backdrop Mercy Corps’ focus in Africa has been in promoting good governance and conflict resolution, enhancing resilience, facilitating market systems, access to finance and economic opportunities, as well as youth employment and empowerment. It is imperative that Mercy Corps presents itself as a key and credible partner with the many donors, government authorities and civil society actors in order to contribute to the process of positive change across the continent. Mercy Corps looks to actively engage and partner with an ever-growing and innovative African private sector to achieve greater and sustained impact.

The Program Performance and Quality (PaQ) Unit in the Africa region consists of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) functions, program management, gender integration, and integrated program standards, including Community Accountability Reporting Mechanisms (CARM). The team’s approach supports both foundational and innovative approaches to program management, with design, monitoring, evaluation and learning functions as key processes and benchmarks to ensure evidence-based decision making for quality program implementation.

General Position Summary

The regional Community Accountability Advisor, Short Term Assignment (STA) will serve in a technical advisory role to support country programs (in West and Central Africa) to adopt and implement CARM in accordance with the CARM Policy to ensure programs are impactful and responsive to community needs. In addition to their Regional PaQ colleagues, the Regional Community Accountability Advisor will work closely with other Regional Community Accountability Advisors and the HQ Program Standards team to share learning and best practice from countries within their region, with a view to build knowledge and understanding of CARM across Mercy Corps.

Essential Job Responsibilities

PROVIDE SUPPORT TO REGIONAL CARM

• Support CARM in country by supporting the hiring process, selection and onboarding of new in country CARM staff as well as skills building and coaching of CARM staff

• Provide remote technical support to field teams, through one-on-one country outreach, regional calls, webinars, etc.

• Working with country teams to design and document their CARM processes and support the process of developing or revising CARM SOPs

• Provide remote training and support to team members serving in CARM short term assignment positions

• Provide in-country technical support to high risk country programs to guide them in designing and implementing their CARM

• Lead teams in process mapping to identify gaps in their CARM

• Identify countries requiring increased technical support and liaise with the HQ CARM team and Regional Director as needed

• Track CARM progress at a regional level

• Support country programs in CARM analytics, establishing processes for using CARM data for learning and improved programming and prepare regional aggregations and reports

SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY & LEARNING

• Identify and compile case studies of CARM best practices, success, and lessons learned in country programs to facilitate cross-country and regional learning

• Contribute to the development of additional CARM tools and resources

• Lead facilitation of the regional community of practice for country CARM focal points

• Collate and share CARM best practice from Country Offices on monthly basis

• Review existing reporting templates and ensure they conform to country needs

• Submit biweekly CARM briefs to the Technical Director

INTERNAL & EXTERNAL COLLABORATION

• Coordinate closely with Program Performance and Quality Unit team members to ensure CARM guidance and best practice is well aligned with our broader performance and quality work

• Build and maintain positive working relationships across country programs

• Represent Mercy Corps as needed with peer agencies and external accountability focal points.

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.

Supervisory Responsibility

None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Technical Director, Africa Region (Technical line management to Global Community Accountability, Senior Advisor)

Works Directly With: Regional Director, Deputy Regional Director, Country Directors, PaQ Team members, HQ, regional and field team members.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards 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.

Knowledge and Experience

• BA in relevant field required

• 2-4 years of experience in international relief and development

• 1-3 years of field-based experience in international relief and development required

• Field-based experience with community feedback and accountability reporting mechanisms required

• Demonstrated knowledge of grant-based funding models, emergency response and development strategies and operational challenges in the sector;

• Proficiency with MS Office software required (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), and Google suite (Google drive, docs, sheets).

• Proficiency with data analytics software such as Tableau or Power-BI preferred

• Strong team coordination, listening, and consensus building skills

• Fluent in English and French is required.

Success Factors

The individual needs to be a creative problem solver, able to support field teams to overcome contextual challenges in the design and implementation of their CARMs. They will also be a skilled communicator, able to develop and utilize strong relationships with term members and departments internally, as well as with external bodies. They will have a positive and dynamic working style that enables them to adapt to challenges as they arise. They will harness the expertise, experience and ideas of diverse Mercy Corps team members and external partners to strengthen CARMs within Mercy Corps.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is based in a location where Mercy Corps operates in Africa with up to 40% of time spent traveling. International travel may be to insecure and/or remote locations.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/short term assignment 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.

Every voice matters and diversity is powerful are critical elements of Mercy Corps’ values that allow us to achieve our mission of alleviating suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. We embrace diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have sustained impact.  Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.

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.