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.
Position SummaryMercy Corps began working in Myanmar in 2008 to help communities recover from Cyclone Nargis. Our goal is to enable communities to determine their future through food and water security, inclusive and equitable access to economic opportunity, climate change resilience, and equal rights leading to peace and prosperity. We approach our work through a resilience lens, to ensure households and communities can manage the shocks and stresses that threaten these outcomes.The Director of Programs (DoP) will direct the strategic development and implementation of the country-level portfolio. The DoP will be responsible for management oversight of all programs, building and sustaining motivated and creative cross-cultural teams, ensuring technical quality and fundraising strategically in collaboration with the Country Director. S/he represents Mercy Corps Myanmar (MCM) programs and is responsible for coordinating with the larger MC network to ensure that connections are build-out, taking full advantage of regional and global expertise.
Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND PLANNING
Work with the Country Director, the Program Development & Quality Manager and the Senior Management Team and other team members to translate MCM’s strategy into relevant fundable projects. Serve as a key member of MCM’s Senior Management Team Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed. Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to countrywide strategy development. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Manage and oversee all program activities in cooperation with senior program staff and key project stakeholders, including local non-governmental organizations, local government officials, community-based organizations, other international agencies, and key donors. Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts. Collaborate with the MEL team and the Country Director to drive the research agenda for MCM. Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures Implement and model Mercy Corps’ philosophy of social entrepreneurship and leverage Mercy Corps’ best practices. Build national staff capacity by designing and leading technical training sessions for Mercy Corps staff and local partners and providing ongoing coaching and mentoring. Promote learning and knowledge management through documentation and knowledge sharing around best practices and lessons learned; BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Drive a resource development strategy to ensure the portfolio remains funded and aligned with strategy Pro-actively identify new business opportunities and translate these into concepts Lead / write new proposal development to ensure a fully funded portfolio TEAM MANAGEMENT
Participate in recruitment and selection, orientation and training of key personnel 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 performance reviews. 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. Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance & reach objectives. Supervise and regularly coordinate with project staff and support departments to ensure smooth planning, preparation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of program activities Provide coaching and mentoring to team members with an eye to building national staff leadership with the intent of ultimately nationalizing positions. FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT
Collaborate with program, finance and administrative staff to ensure systems are in compliance with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures. Draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget. INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION
Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, local governments and other stakeholders. Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met. Maintain good working relationships with the donor, the host country government and local leaders, partner agencies, and other key stakeholders; Document and disseminate lessons learned and best practices to internal and external stakeholders, including at international conferences and similar forums. Represent MCM’s vision and strategy in internal meetings such as All Staff and Senior Management Team meetings. Lead the implementation of MCM’s policy agenda, together with the Country Director 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. Supervisory Responsibility:
Program Managers, Program Development Manager, Senior Accountability & Inclusion Advisor, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning team members
AccountabilityReports Directly To: Country DirectorWorks Directly With: Country Leadership Team (Ops, Finance, HR, Security). Also works directly with local national staff and affiliated relevant Mercy Corps headquarters units as necessary.
Accountability to Participants and StakeholdersMercy 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 & Transferable Skills
Masters degree in international development, economics, agriculture, conflict mitigation, social sciences or other relevant fields. Minimum 8 years’ relevant professional experience implementing conflict management and/or governance programs, market development projects preferably in transitional environments. Interest in developing linkages between ‘development’ and ‘humanitarian’ is a plus Practical knowledge and experience in successfully leading and managing a thematically diverse portfolio of projects, as well as national and international staff Knowledge of key Mercy Corps sectors (e.g., market development, resilience, basic needs support) is preferred. Demonstrated experience bringing in new business and working with market actors (e.g., private sector, foundations, etc.); including innovative design and leading the proposal development process Strong written and verbal cross-cultural communication skills, presentation and representation Aware of the sensitivities of working in Myanmar Strong facilitation and consensus-building skills. Must be able to work independently while being a strong team player. Success FactorsThe successful DoP will combine strong leadership and management skills while building diverse programs and managing donor and partner relationships. S/he will have an ability to think creatively about improving the quality and impact of programs. The DoP will have proven experience with cross- cultural team and capacity building, individual staff development and strong mentoring skills. S/he will be able to bring diverse views and programs together for a common vision. Prioritizing, problem solving and the capacity to balance attention to detail and maintaining strategic vision are essential. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.
Living Conditions / Environmental ConditionsThe team is flexible on working location for this role and can accommodate remote-work, depending on adequate time-zone coverage with Myanmar and legal working status in selected country. The decision will be made on a case-by-case basis alongside HR depending on the profile of the selected applicant. Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
Ongoing LearningIn 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 & InclusionAchieving 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.