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Program / Department Summary
Mercy Corps is responding to the Ukraine emergency since military operations were launched across the country in February 2022. The attacks set off a wave of displacement internally and into the countries along Ukraine’s western borders. Mercy Corps response program has focus on multi-purpose cash intervention and other key sectors, particularly food security, livelihoods, NFIs, and protection. Mercy Corps works in partnership with local government, local NGOs and other civil society actors currently supporting displaced populations and conflict affected communities. As Mercy Corps Ukraine program will increasingly focus on livelihood recovery and resiliency, and it is exploring possible support in the water security sector. Mercy Corps currently works from four offices with the head office in Kyiv.
General Position Summary
The Director of Programs ensures the efficient and effective implementation of all programs. She/he will be responsible for coordinating and implementing the delivery of the response programs, including management of program staff, and ensuring appropriate systems and support mechanisms are in place to track, analyze and report on results. They are a strong team leader who can balance the urgency of the work and the details of implementation with big picture thinking. They are able to develop and mentor team members across different programs and areas of operation. She/he will need to be an effective communicator who is able to work with internal and external stakeholders to achieve common objectives. They are responsible for managing relationships with local partners, beneficiaries, and donors, contributing to the achievement of the response program’s objectives.
Essential Job Responsibilities
Strategy & Vision
- Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to countrywide strategy development.
- Develop and organize activities to secure resources for programs and convince stakeholders to provide support.
- Identify and develop new program opportunities; prepositioning and developing new donor opportunities; coordinate the concept note and proposal development process with new business development teams.
Program Management
- Oversee program startup and ongoing program management and administration of teams across various field locations.
- Integrate the use of community approaches in the design, implementation, and maintenance of projects.
- Ensure program implementation is responsive to communities and partners, and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
- Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
- Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
- Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donors and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
- Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to established vulnerability criteria, and that feedback mechanisms are in place.
- Develop partners’ MoUs and contracts & oversee induction/training for program partners.
- Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Code of Conduct; Gender, Diversity and Inclusion guiding documents; Core Humanitarian Principles and Do No Harm.
Team Management
- Draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage team members and technical consultants
- Ensure team members improve performance & reach objectives.
- Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
- Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence, and cultivate resilience and well-being under challenging situations.
Influence & Representation
- Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with partners, sub-grantees, donors, local governments and other stakeholders.
- Ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.
- Demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and composure.
- Maintain high ethical standards and treat people with respect and dignity.
- Exhibit an awareness of their own strengths and development needs.
Security
- Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies
- Contribute to creating a secure environment for team members.
Supervisory Responsibility
Humanitarian program lead, Resilience program lead, Program Quality & Standards lead.
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Ukraine Country Director
Works Directly With: Senior Management Team including, Deputy Director, Finance Director, Operations Director, Safety and Security Director, HR Director, Roving Director, and with the , regional program support team for MEMA/Europe, and relevant program standards and quality teams in MC 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.
Knowledge and Experience
- 7+ years of experience in managing and leading programs in emergency contexts, with a proven track record in emergency response, recovery, and resilience programming at large scale
- Program Management Certification - PMD Pro - required
- BA/BS or equivalent in a relevant field; MA/S preferred.
- Excellent oral and written English skills required; proficiency in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish or Romanian is preferred.
- Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Mercy Corps Core Humanitarian Competencies (as defined in the Humanitarian Capacity Framework) preferred.
Technical competencies:
- Understands Sphere Standards and ensures they are met
- Can conduct rapid needs assessments, in line with Mercy Corps’ approach and industry’s best practice
More than 50% of Mercy Corps’ responses are cash/voucher-based programming so it is recommended the DoP possesses the following competencies:
- Understands theoretical and applied knowledge about CTP
- Can develop SOPs in line with Mercy Corps’ Minimum Standards (on CTP and Goods Distribution)
- Can identify and initiate setup of payment mechanisms