About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
The Program
Mercy Corps leads implementation of the five year USAID/Feed the Future Rural Resilience Activity in four states of Northeast Nigeria ($30 million USD + $15 million emergency cash component). The program’s overall goal is to bring long-term sustainable improvements to markets in Northeast Nigeria that promote stability, improved nutritional status and sustainable progress out of poverty for vulnerable conflict-affected populations. It involves promoting systemic change in agriculture based market systems by removing barriers to entry and drawing in new market players, growing input and other support functions, building the capacities of market actors in accordance with their incentives, and sustaining widespread adoption of farmer/microenterprise group models to boost productivity and quality. It also involves supporting increased economic participation of women, youth and other marginalized groups, building trust and networks between market actors to improve power dynamics, facilitating information flows, and strengthening transparency mechanisms in markets, information and policy.
The Position
The Senior Technical Advisor – Market Systems (Senior Advisor) is a temporary role that will work directly with senior leadership and technical managers to guide the program through critical stages to deliver a refreshed strategic vision, operational strategy and Year 3 workplan.
The Senior Advisor will employ best practices in Market Systems Development (MSD) and program management to plan and lead strategy and design sessions and work planning, in partnership with a multisectoral technical team, in order to ensure the program is set up to deliver a sequenced, layered and integrated approach for nutrition-sensitive market systems development (MSD). She/he will convene decision forums to set the program’s technical vision, drawing from a recently completed market systems analysis, including analysis on market systems resilience, and other analysis from the program’s cross-cutting themes, and work with program teams to develop clear intervention strategies for achieving high level outcomes. She/he will identify and lead steps to build the refreshed technical strategy into the Year 3 workplan (due in September 2021), including leading a revised overall program results framework, working closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager, and inputting into a learning agenda. By facilitating collaborative planning and strategic alignment between thematic managers, the Senior Advisor will also contribute to strengthening a foundation for improved technical coordination systems and practices, as well as contribute to building a common understanding, technical confidence and a unified program voice across program leadership, consortia partners and implementation teams.
The Senior Technical Advisor will also coordinate closely with the DCOP and COP to regularly liaise with and update USAID counterparts on the strategic direction of the program. This includes involving USAID in customized strategic discussions, and developing materials to document and communicate the program’s technical progress and direction.
Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND VISION:
- Collaborate with the Market Systems Development Specialist and Thematic Leads to develop and implement a detailed plan for creating intervention results chains for selected sectors in line with best practice for MSD, ensuring findings from program assessments and analyses are applied and including steps for incorporating cross-cutting strategies. This includes:
- Setting the vision for market systems change for several sectors (crops, livestock, microenterprises);
- Designing intervention strategies, activities and partnerships; and
- Checking feasibility of the proposed solution and partner (i.e. business models).
- Lead collaborative processes to design intervention results chains that enhance the integration of nutrition sensitivity, gender and youth engagement, climate resilience, conflict management and technology
- Identify gaps in technical vision and convene and lead decision-making forums to address them in ways that prioritize improving the program’s systems for long-term technical management and coordination
- Plan and lead the revision of the Rural Resilience Activity Overall Results Framework, coordinating closely with with the MEL Manager
- Provide support to thematic managers to develop and/or revise coherent technical strategies flowing from the intervention designs and revised results framework, ensuring they contribute to the program’s unified vision
- Engage with Mercy Corps Technical Support Unit team members to strengthen technical delivery of thematic strategies
- Ensure market systems resilience analysis is incorporated effectively into program vision and operational strategies
- Provide technical leadership to guide the program to develop an annual, integrated workplan reflecting the updated results framework and intervention plans
- Coordinate with the MEL Lead to convene sessions with thematic leads to review targets and indicators per revised results framework
- Coordinate with leadership to create adequate time and space for meaningful participation of all key stakeholders in building and refining the program’s revised design and workplan
- Engage with program leadership and thematic managers to recognize opportunities to create a culture of technical excellence grounded in cross-team collaboration and joint learning
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
- Regularly consult with team leaders to identify, diagnose and address constraints that impede the program from delivering a unified, high quality technical approach
- Convene and lead meetings across thematic areas to smooth out technical issues around planned activities, and ensure action items are captured and shared with leadership for accountability
- Work with program leadership and technical teams to strengthen their processes for developing detailed implementation plans flowing from the annual workplan, ensuring plans are contextualized to local state conditions and opportunities
- Provide technical review of concept notes for new activities prior to final submission for approval, and identify opportunities for enhanced cross-program activity coordination and integrated implementation
- Support thematic managers to identify problem-solving options and ensure their integration into relevant decision-making processes
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING
- Support the capture, tracking and sharing of outputs and decision points to strengthen knowledge management across thematic components and with partners
- Coordinate with the Collaborate, Learn and Adapt Advisor to organize and work with thematic leads to revise the RRA Learning Agenda based on revised program logic, ensuring the agenda contributes to thought leadership on resilience and market systems development in conflict settings
- Identify gaps in documentation of RRA’s technical strategy, and draft documents to fill gaps, including reviewing thematic/cross-cutting strategies to ensure integration and complementarity
- Work with thematic leads to identify technical and operational capacity building needs within RRA and create a plan to address them
INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION
- Work with program leadership and technical teams to strengthen skills and tools for consistently and confidently representing the program’s vision with external stakeholders
- Develop and/or facilitate development of high-impact materials to represent RRA’s strategic vision and technical approaches for enhancing internal and external understanding
- Coordinate with the COP and DCOP to enhance a shared technical vision and communal understanding for RRA with USAID/Feed the Future
SECURITY
- Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership
- Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies
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.
ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS
- Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our partners 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.
Supervisory Responsibility
- None
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Chief of Party, Rural Resilience Award
Collaborates With: Deputy Chief of Party; RRA Program Management Unit and other Program and M&E Teams; and with various Technical Support Unit teams from Headquarters
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 economics, agriculture, environmental management, governance or other relevant international development field.
- Minimum four years of experience in senior technical leadership roles in market systems development-related program management, with proven ability to coordinate and manage diverse, complex initiatives.
- Demonstrated ability to design and facilitate the development of high quality intervention plans using MSD best practices. Thorough understanding of market systems development required, with an understanding of Mercy Corps’ approach to resilience a plus.
- Strong representation, networking and facilitation skills. Proven ability to synthesize and communicate complex subjects/topics effectively to multi-stakeholder groups.
- Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills.
- Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through training, mentoring, and other formal and non-formal methods.
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with a diverse, geographically spread team.
Success Factors
The successful candidate will be an intrepid technical manager experienced in relationship building and facilitating teams around a common vision. With a high capacity to quickly analyse and navigate multiple priorities, the Senior Technical Advisor will have the ability to guide a course of action collaboratively and confidently. Commitment, flexibility and openness to new practices, concepts, ideas and change for continuous improvement will serve the position and team well.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Abuja, Nigeria and it requires up to 40% travel to program offices in Northeast Nigeria, which may include travel to rural areas where amenities are limited. Somes travel will be to areas that can be insecure. Housing for this role is in individual housing and staff will have access to good medical services and the living situation is of a good standard in Abuja.
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.**
How to apply
https://jobs.jobvite.com/mercycorps/job/otIvffwF
