Mercy Corps is a leading global organisation powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we collaborate to put bold solutions into action, helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
Enhancing resilience is at the heart of what Mercy Corps does and how we work. Resilience means that people and systems can protect and improve wellbeing in the face of shocks and stresses. Mercy Corps strengthens sources of resilience to enhance the capacities of people, markets, and institutions to handle shocks, reduce risk, build more equitable and responsive systems, and improve well-being. Through our programs, partnerships, and influence, we support communities to cope, adapt, and ultimately thrive.
Since 1986, Mercy Corps Afghanistan has supported communities to recover and build resilience to future shocks, and promote sustainable change by supporting community-led and market-driven initiatives, with a focus on the most marginalised. Our objectives include meeting immediate food and nutrition needs through cash, voucher, and WASH assistance, strengthening capacities for crisis preparedness and response, and in so doing, contribute to resilience through inclusive, climate-smart water systems, enhanced livelihoods opportunities, food security, and social cohesion.
About the Programme
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has launched a call for proposals for NGOs to deliver the Promoting Resilient & Equitable Recovery of Agriculture and Livelihoods in Afghan communities (PREVALE) programme. The overall aim of the 5-year programme is to increase multi-year food productivity and profitability for vulnerable farmers, herders, and land-poor Afghans, including women with intersecting and overlapping vulnerabilities, build community-level resilience to climate and environmental risk, and strengthen livelihoods and local markets.
The FCDO envisions the programme will deliver the following Outcomes, (i) Livelihoods for vulnerable Afghans - including women, smallholders, and the land-poor – are more accessible, productive, profitable, and sustainable, (ii) Targeted communities are better able to anticipate, prepare for, respond, and adapt to environmental and climate shocks and stresses, and (iii) Targeted households have improved food security and nutrition, and reduced harmful coping behaviours.
General Position Summary
Mercy Corps is seeking candidates for a Consortium Director who will provide overall leadership, management, and strategic direction of an expected five-year PREVALE programme in Afghanistan.
The Consortium Director will be responsible for the management and successful delivery of all outputs under the programme, in addition to providing strategic leadership to the programme, representation of the programme with FCDO, government ministries and partners and managing the programme design and delivery team.
The Consortium Director will manage a Programme Management Unit and report to a Steering Committee established for the programme. They will lead a consortium of partners to ensure the overall technical quality, including national and international partners, and will ensure an integrated vision among different components and actors with a focus on achieving the results. The Consortium Director shall coordinate and ultimately be responsible for all Agreement management and implementation. The Consortium Director will be expected to identify issues and risks related to activity implementation in a timely manner, and suggest appropriate adjustments.
Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND VISION:
● Lead the development of a vision and strategy for the programme shared with the consortium team and key stakeholders;
● Recognise opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative
viewpoints are welcomed;
● Set direction by prioritising and organising actions and resources to achieve objectives;
● Oversee the development of annual, integrated strategic work-plans for the programme;
● Foster a culture of collaborating, learning, and adapting for program effectiveness throughout the programme lifecycle;
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PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT:
● Oversee programme startup, management, and administration. Provide strategic guidance, oversight and quality assurance for all programme activities, outputs and deliverables;
● Assume overall responsibility for the effective implementation of work plans and ensure delivery is on time, within budget, meets donor and stakeholder expectations and is contractually compliant;
● Lead overall programme implementation; setting up team structures, Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanisms (CARM), safeguarding, and MEL systems;
● Monitor implementation progress, maintain up to date logs of issues and risks, work to resolve issues, manage and mitigate risks, and escalate material issues and risks as appropriate;
● Develop and implement plans for results measurement, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, value for money analysis and communication.
● Ensure that programme implementation is responsive to communities and partners and is consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant programme guidelines, principles, values, quality standards, and strategic plan.
● Confirm programme participants are targeted effectively according to transparent criteria.
● Develop partnership frameworks, partner agreements/Memorandum of Understandings, and oversee partner capacity strengthening.
● Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity, safeguarding and capacity building into all activities as appropriate. Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No
Harm principles, and programme participant accountability standards.
● Ensure programme strategies and activities represent global good practice in market systems development, climate-resilient agriculture, water resource management, gender equality, and social inclusion.
● Fulfil Mercy Corps’ Programme Management Minimum Standards based on the organisation-wide guide.
● Produce written reports on programme activities, capturing the impacts of activities.
● Oversee efforts to design effective M&E and research & learning systems for the programme, and linkages with internal M&E systems.
● Conduct frequent field visits to all programme sites – spending up to 30-40% of time in the field.
TEAM MANAGEMENT
● Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
● Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
● Oversee and supervise the Programme Management Unit (PMU).
● Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
● Supervise and manage all programme staff to ensure day-to-day activities are implemented in a coordinated fashion according to schedule, budget and quality.
● Supervise and manage all programme partnerships to ensure sound coordination in the context of an overall programme strategic and resilience-building framework.
● Manage and help with the recruitment, orientation, professional development and ongoing training of PMU staff to ensure they are of the quality and technical capacity necessary to ensure the successful implementation of activities.
● Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
● Assist team members with information, tools, and resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
REPRESENTATION
● In coordination with consortium partners, be responsible for the overall representation of the PREVALE consortium towards peer organisations, FCDO, de-facto Government representatives and other stakeholders.
● Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events in the field, in close coordination with the Country Director.
● Ensure close coordination and information sharing with consortium partners, sub-grantees, key stakeholders and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programmes.
● Engage with relevant coordination bodies in Afghanistan in cooperation with the Country Director, including but not limited to ACBAR, humanitarian clusters, UNOCHA, and relevant UN Agencies.
● Establish and maintain relationships with communities and local government.
● Coordinate with MC and partner communications and advocacy teams to promote programme successes through various forms of media in line with internal and donor priorities and regulations.
SECURITY
● Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.
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