Mercy Corps is hiring a
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
Since the escalation of conflict in 2022, Mercy Corps has reached 1.38 million people in Ukraine and neighboring countries. The organization’s humanitarian response has focused on supporting local partners, providing urgent cash assistance to families, household, food and hygiene kits for the coming winter, and information services for newly arrived refugees to Poland. Mercy Corps previously worked in Ukraine from 2015-2017, delivering humanitarian assistance to over 200,000 following the 2014 conflict.
The Position
The Safety and Security Team is part of the wider “Security and Humanitarian Access department”, which consists of the Security & Safety Team, the Crisis Analysis Team (CAT), and the Civil-Military and Government Liaison Team. In Ukraine the Security and Safety Team consists of one Security and Safety Officer (SSO) in each office location (currently 4), one Senior SSO, two roving SSOs (still being recruited). The offices in Poland and Moldova also have 1-2 SSOs each, who, based on need, also occasionally deploy to Ukraine.
The Security and Safety Team is also supported by the Crisis Analysis Team’s Conflict Analyst to analyze security trends and events, and respond to incidents (e.g. air raids). The Security and Safety team also receives up to 50% assistance by an Admin Assistant who helps with the automation of processes and supports with administrative tasks. During January-February 2023, a staff satisfaction survey was conducted, based on which the Security and Safety Team received a 4.4/5 score from participating members across other departments.
The Response Security and Safety Manager is both, a strategic leadership position as well as an operational region-wide field position. The Security and Safety Manager is an individual who understands that enabling humanitarian and resilience programming is high-risk and hard-to-reach areas is the primary objective of their team, while also having to balance Mercy Corps’ legal and duty of care obligations towards its staff members. Through calmness under pressure, technical expertise related to NGO risk management, and people management skills, the Security and Safety Manager leads her/his/their team through the daily dilemmas and uncertainties that our work entails.
STRATEGY AND PLANNING
REGIONAL SYSTEMS AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
Supervisory responsibility
Senior Security Officers, Moldova Security and Safety Officers, Poland Security and Safety Officer, Roving Security and Safety Officers.
Accountability
Reports to: Director of Security and Humanitarian Access
(The Director of Security and Humanitarian Access dedicates 33% of their time to Security and Safety and are therefore limited to guiding on crisis management, strategic direction, external engagement at the regional and global levels)
Works closely together with: Crisis Analysis Team, Operations Team, Programs Team, partner and implementing partner organizations.
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 Qualifications and Transferable Skills
The perfect candidate is a person with a deep understanding of NGO’s best practices for security management and experience in a relevant field. The candidate is able to work in a high-risk environment and operate effectively under pressure. Confident in taking the lead of her/his/their team and able to clearly communicate and guide them.
Living conditions
The position can be based in Dnipro, Kyiv, or Lviv. Shared accommodation (in one apartment with 1-2 person max. mostly, with one other person). The position requires up to 50% travel across the region and to high-risk areas.
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 and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme**.** 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.