Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.
Driven by local needs, our programs provide communities in the world’s toughest places with the tools and support they need to turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve.
Mercy Corps is looking for committed and dynamic individuals to take up the following position:
Regional Manager East Southern Africa - Nairobi
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps’ operations in East & Southern Africa serve populations in Zimbabwe, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda.
Fragility and volatility sum up the context within which Mercy Corps East & Southern Africa is working, compounded by very low levels of capacity, endemic corruption and continued rapid population growth.
While in some countries progress towards greater economic prosperity is certainly being made (Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia), others are plagued by chronic conflict and stagnant, if not declining, economies.
These are countries undergoing dramatic transitions that have the potential to create significant opportunity for development and change. Mercy Corps is well placed to play a meaningful role in supporting forces for positive change in these countries.
Our path to being relevant and having significant impact will be through the clear identification of high leverage strategies and related resource mobilization, learning about what works in the current context and leveraging regional initiatives.
General Position Summary: Reporting to the Regional Program Director (RPD), the Regional Manager will support strategic, impactful, high-quality programming in the Region.
The position is a key point of contact for field management including, Country Directors and Mercy Corps country teams as well as headquarter support.
Playing a key role in ensuring effective communication between the regional office and the field, the Regional Manager links the country programs to a range of resources and represents the region to relevant stakeholders and other organizations/institutions in the Region.
S/he effectively supports and occasionally leads new program development; assists with recruitment of field teams when required; supports a broad range of initiatives; and assist in the response to all public relations and information-flow needs.
S/he works with the RPD to provide the secondary check and support the RPD to ensure all regional initiatives are adequately supported, addressed and executed.
The Regional Manager will be tasked with identifying and supporting new strategic partnerships with key peer organizations, government and donor agencies, private sector actors and academic institutions; supporting and assisting in the design of regional (multi-country) programming; supporting key office support functions (recruitment, administration, and logistics); and leading the coordination of regional workshops/conferences.
Essential Job Functions:
- Backstop and ensures high level of support to Regional Support staff (Resilience, IT, Recruitment, Security, SV), Mercy Corps visitors, and Consultants. This will include obtaining visas, facilitating travel, and ensuring all needs are met.
- Help ensure that new staffs transiting through the Region (Nairobi) are welcomed and properly oriented in Mercy Corps’ systems, procedures and protocols.
- Understand donor and Mercy Corps policies, procedures, rules and regulations to assist in monitoring and ensuring compliance. Support in all aspects of administration, HR and logistics across the Region. Assist Country Directors in the recruitment, selection, orientation and training of Mercy Corps’ program teams upon request.
- Liaises with regional stakeholders as required. Regional Manager represents regional interests and programs to external actors in the absence of the RPD. This will include attending workshops, briefings, meetings, working groups, and other outside events.
- Assists in the identification of partners in research and the private sector for country/regional programs to team with and stimulate innovative programming and improved research and learning. Includes new corporate donor prospects to expand the corporate portfolio in the East & Southern Africa region.
- Provide support to all proposal development efforts and assist the RPD to develop, expand and diversity fundraising tactics and sources in support of regional and country strategies. Will often acts as focal point for new regional initiatives through coordination of proposal development - monitoring the timeline, communicating to the relevant parties as appropriate. This may also include conducting assessments and partner negotiations.
- Work with RPD to assist country teams to develop powerful Annual Plans and country level strategies that capitalize on the potential of Mercy Corps’ innovation platform to have impact at scale. Mercy Corps should become the acknowledged leader in advancing solutions on a particular development challenge in every country in the region.
- Work with country teams to ensure that we learn from experience, assist with learning exchanges, develop interest stories and feed into program development. S/he will be a skilled writer and synthesizer of diverse and complex information helping country teams generate new insights into their work and improve cross-fertilization of skills, concepts and experience within the Mercy Corps world.
- Work closely with the Organizational Learning TSU to ensure the region is plugged into larger organizational learning initiatives, and that regional efforts are harmonized with the larger organization.
- Coordinate and successfully organize regional workshops and conferences.
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.
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:
- Accountability: Reports Directly To: Regional Program Director (RPD)
- Works Directly With: Mercy Corps Kenya Team, Mercy Corps country offices, regional desks, HQ Program and Technical Support units and departments, Mercy Corps Counterparts at MC HQ offices in Europe and partners.
Knowledge and Experience:
- BA/S in relevant international development field required; MA/S or equivalent preferred.
- 3-5 years of international relief and development program management experience outside Kenya preferred; demonstrated knowledge of relevant sectorial and/or operational areas (agriculture, relief to recovery, access to financial services, health/nutrition, economic development, IDP).
- Skilled writer and synthesizer of diverse and complex information.
- Experience managing the development, implementation, administration and compliance of US Government, EC/ECHO, UN, private foundation and corporate grants, and related programs.
- Experience representing the organization and its interests to a diverse range of local and international government officials, local civil society organizations, other international organizations, the media and the public preferred.
- Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point).
- Experience with monitoring and evaluation and other learning efforts.
- Experience with proposal development including support and writing with various donors.
Success Factors:
S/he is a skilled communicator, able to develop and utilize strong relationships with staff, partners and donors.
S/he will coordinate with his/her supervisor, the Regional Program Director, and be skilled at building highly effective working relationships with Country Directors and their teams.
S/he will harness the expertise, experience and ideas of Mercy Corps’ diverse program support teams.
A robust sense of humor is greatly appreciated.
Interested candidates who meet the above required qualifications and experience should submit on or before September 10, 2014 at 4.00 p.m. a cover letter, detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) listing three professional references (including a recent supervisor) to hr@ke.mercycorps.org.
The email subject Line must clearly show the job title and location they are applying for.
Applications without the right subject heading will be automatically disqualified.
Please do not attach any certificates.
(ONLY Qualified and selected candidates for the interview will be contacted)
NB: Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
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