Mercy Corps Chief of Party - Rain - Ethiopia

PROGRAM SUMMARY

Mercy Corps is an international non-profit humanitarian organization with the guiding principles of Accountability, Participation and Peaceful Change. In Ethiopia, Mercy Corps currently operates in the following sectors: Water and Sanitation, Economic Development, Livelihoods, Capacity Building, Emergency Response, Health and Nutrition. Mercy Corps works with communities, public, and private sectors to implement appropriate relief, recovery and development interventions. Mercy Corps Ethiopia currently has programs in the Regions of Somali, Oromiya, Addis Ababa and SNNP employing a community-led, market-driven approach as it works with partners at the community, commercial, government, and research institution levels.

General Position Summary

The Chief of Party (CoP) is the senior management position for Mercy Corps’ Revitalizing Agricultural/Pastoral Incomes and New Markets for Enhanced Resilience and Recovery (RAIN+) project: a 4 year $20.7million USAID/OFDA funded initiative to increase resilience of households, communities and market systems to prepare for, cope with, and recover from external shocks. The CoP is responsible for the overall planning, coordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project, and ensures all project initiatives are implemented to achieve maximum impact while remaining on schedule and budget. The CoP ensures financial and administrative compliance and remains flexible in a continually changing environment. Responsible for the oversight of RAIN+ activities, the CoP is expected to travel frequently to the field to ensure the project is planned and executed with quality, accountability and measurable impact. The CoP works closely with the Field Program and Operations Clusters as well as the senior country leadership team. S/he also works closely with the Country M&E Manager ensuring all monitoring and evaluation activities are coordinated and feeding into the Mercy Corps Mission Metrics framework.

Essential Functions:

• Vision, Leadership and Strategy - Communicate a clear vision of the RAIN+ project and how it fits into Mercy Corps’ country and regional strategies and well as Mission Statement; provide leadership and direction; ensure program strategy is clear and communicated to team members, local beneficiaries and government, and the international community. Collaborate and ensure synergies with other relative Mercy Corps programs.
• Commitment to Quality Program and Staff Development - Assemble all components necessary to ensure quality programming and recruitment, facilitate training and management of an informed, motivated and efficient staff including a high focus on national team members.
• Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation - Establish and maintain effective project reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems for both internal and external use and ensure high quality input is secured from external evaluators. Monitor program implementation, measure impact and calibrate program strategy and implementation accordingly. Document process and achievements to ensure best practices are captured and disseminated.
• Representation & Diplomacy - Develop and maintain both internal and external relationships to ensure optimum program success: to include Mercy Corps headquarters and regional officers and staff, international and local NGOs, government officials, donor community officials particularly USAID, diplomatic corps and embassies, vendors, media and the general public.
• Fiscal, Compliance Management and Accountability - Coordinate and manage overall project budget within approved spending levels and ensure compliance with all donor and Mercy Corps’ rules and regulations. Ensure adherence to operational imperatives as per internal/ external audit requirements; utilize best practices based on Mercy Corps internal policies. Ensure accurate and timely program financial reporting to the donors and Mercy Corps’ headquarters.
• Communications - Nurture appropriate Mercy Corps public relations, USAID/OFDA and other agency relationships; represent Mercy Corps to national and international media as requested.
• Security - Conduct prudent and timely assessments of security environment in program areas, enforce necessary security protocols balancing program needs with security constraints and under direction of the CD.

additional Functions:

• Support all efforts towards accountability to beneficiaries and to international standards guiding development work, including understanding and following established international guidelines and actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of activities.
• Exercise sound judgment to ensure project expenses are reasonable, allocable and prudent. Ensure all project funds are spent in accordance with donor rules and regulations. Work with the Country Director and Finance Director to forecast expenditure surpluses and deficits to enable adjustments to be made to the program in a timely fashion.
• Recommend program priorities and explore, evaluate and present new country opportunities that leverage impact and/ or complement core activities.
• Provide direct and ongoing supervision and managerial support to all staff on the project.
• Ensure that all work follows international quality standards and best practices and that agriculture and water programs are technically and environmentally sound.

Organizational Learning

As part of Mercy Corps’ agency-wide Organizational Learning Initiative, all team members are responsible for spending 5% of their work time in formal and/or non-formal professional learning activities.

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 design, monitoring and evaluation.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: All program team members under the funded grant.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Ethiopia Country Director

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: PRIME COP, IHR Director, Finance Director, PALM Manager, Cluster Program Managers, Regional Finance Coordinators, and Mercy Corps HQ program officer.

Knowledge and EXPERIENCE:

• MA/S or equivalent in agriculture, agronomy, economics or related field preferred.
• Minimum of seven years’ senior-level field leadership experience required, 10-15 years preferred.
• Experience with USAID protocols preferred.
• Demonstrated success in programs related to market systems strengthening (M4P), private sector development, agricultural livelihoods, agro-processing, marketing and value chain programming.
• Proven skills in financial management.
• Demonstrated ability to function as a social entrepreneur and proven success with building, managing and leading a team of professionals and the ability to function as a team player among peers.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational, prioritization skills are necessary.
• History of working effectively and respectfully with host country government, private sector, INGO and NGO partners in complex environments.
• Prior experience in Ethiopia amongst pastoralist communities or in the Horn of Africa preferred; an ability to work comfortably, effectively and creatively within the cultural environment of Ethiopia and areas of poor security required.
• A dynamic, “outside-the-box” attitude is required, with proven ability to think and act creatively in challenging environments.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills in English are required.
• Multi-tasking, organizational, prioritization skills are necessary.

SUCCESS FACTORS

The successful Chief of Party will be a self-starter, multi-tasker, and able to work in ambiguous situations. S/he will be a tolerant and flexible individual able to work in difficult and stressful environments and follow procedures. S/he will be highly effective at building teams, problem solving, conflict resolution and capacity-building of national staff. S/he will also have the skill to engage, motivate and encourage staff to bring creative solutions to development issues, identify opportunities for increased impact, and pursue project objectives.

Living/ environmental Conditions

The position will be based in Addis Ababa with frequent travel (minimum 40%) to RAIN+ operational sites as well as regular domestic and occasional international travel. The CoP is expected to follow all security protocols including limited movement when necessary. Internet connectivity and communication across Ethiopia is improving but remains unreliable at times. Addis Ababa offers numerous international style restaurants, though security and cultural considerations are always to be taken into account. There are daily flights from Addis Ababa to several European, Middle Eastern and African cities.

How to apply: 

Apply online at our website:
http://mercycorps.silkroad.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.dspjo...