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.
Mercy Corps seeks a Deputy Chief of Party (DCoP) for the USAID-funded “Sahel Regional Resilience Activity.” Funded and managed out of the USAID Sahel Regional Office, the anticipated program seeks to expand resilience in the Sahel by improving the ability of individuals, households, and communities to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from multi-faceted shocks and stresses. Implementation is planned for Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania – with the possibility of additional countries – and is expected to include the management of multiple awards under a single mechanism.
The Deputy Chief of Party is responsible for managing the program’s Technical Unit, which includes both Collaboration, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL). They are responsible for driving strategy, overseeing technical assistance including effective integration of CLA into Associate Award designs, and developing successful mechanisms for learning, including overarching responsibility of the Learning Fund. The DCoP will oversee the co-development and facilitation of collaboration and learning workshops with MEL and technical leads, the establishment and management of robust knowledge management systems, and the engagement of team members and partners in identifying evidence-based ways to increase efficiency, adapt and scale interventions. They will similarly ensure that the team effectively integrates real-time monitoring and learning back into the SRRA strategy and program implementation and ensures knowledge is shared with the broader Sahelian implementation and donor community.
● Provide overall leadership, management, and technical direction for program’s CLA and MEL activities. Develop and implement CLA and MEL strategy grounded in a resilience approach and aligned with the program’s goals and the USAID Sahel Regional Office’s objectives. Develop and oversee a CLA and MEL workplan of planned activities, ensuring the strategy is implemented impactfully and on-time.
● Oversee the strategic design and implementation of the program’s robust Learning Fund, ensuring it remains fit for purpose with evolving constraints and opportunities in the Sahel
● Promote and actively strengthen a culture of collaboration, learning and adaptation across the program and region.
● Design and facilitate CLA and MEL activities in co-creation with relevant technical representatives and partner organizations, including knowledge sharing, technical exchanges, learning events, and regular reflection sessions amongst both internal stakeholders (team members, partners) and external (peer agencies, local and regional institutions, and USAID implementing partners).
● Provide strategic guidance, technical assistance and capacity-building support to program staff and partners on CLA and MEL principles, practices and tools.
● Establish and nurture partnerships and regular communication with implementing partners, local organizations, donors, and other stakeholders to leverage resources and knowledge towards aligned objectives. Facilitate coordination and collaboration among these groups.
● Identify and build strategic linkages with complementary regional and local institutions and platforms to strengthen collective impact, reinforce local institutions’ resilience building efforts and make best use of resource allocation.
● Ensure the coherent design and implementation of the Leader Award’s systems for monitoring, evaluations, internal and external reviews and learning agenda to assess the quality and effectiveness and impact of CLA efforts and adapt accordingly.
● Ensure that data collection and analysis is both systematic and properly utilized to support adaptive management. Use MEL findings to inform project decision-making and adapt strategies.
● Establish and manage the project’s knowledge management systems to track, curate and share knowledge products among partners.
● Ensure that tasks are performed to a high professional standard and fulfill donor and Mercy Corps’ CLA and MEL requirements, and that all deliverables are of high quality and met in a timely fashion.
● Lead the program’s large Technical Unit, with diverse roles of CLA and MEL specialists
● Actively hire, orient and lead team members and consultants as necessary, ensuring effective onboarding mechanisms are in place across the team. Actively support succession planning.
● Strengthen the capacity of the team as needed, both as individuals and as a cohesive unit. Facilitate mechanisms for effective collaboration.
● 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.
● Develop and oversee implementation of the Technical Unit and partner capacity building strategy that promotes a culture of learning through systematic analysis and reflection of program data.
● Identify and foster knowledge sharing and capacity strengthening across CLA and MEL points of contact across the countries, awards and partners.
● Build the capacity of all relevant team members to develop and maintain an excellent CLA and MEL systems grounded in resilience approach principles, including regular reflection and analysis of program monitoring data.
● Work closely with Program Managers, Human Resources and Finance to ensure that CLA and MEL skills are incorporated into all program position descriptions and positions are budgeted for.
● Contributes to the knowledge management repository with best practices in CLA and MEL and ensure that it is accessible to all staff and partners.
● Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
● Identify key stakeholders and partners at both the country and regional level and establish mechanisms for collaboration. Actively contribute and collaborate with regional and global counterparts to promote the use of CLA and MEL best practices.
● Stand-in for the CoP in external events and program representation, as needed
● Share program learnings and impact with regional and host-county stakeholders including consortium partners, subgrantees, public and private sector entities, local government and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.
● Maintain close working relationships with CLA and MEL counterparts in other relevant international actors and USAID implementing partners across both the Sahel Regional Office and relevant country missions (Mali, Niger).
● Facilitate the dissemination of data, lessons learned, and best practices to program teams, local and regional stakeholders, USAID, and peer organizations across the Sahel region.
● Communicate effectively with USAID, program teams, partners, and stakeholders to ensure alignment with CLA objectives.
CLA Manager; Senior MEL Manager
Reports Directly To: Chief of Party
Works Directly With: Partnership Director, Rapid Response Director, Technical Leads, Senior Program Management Officer; HQ and Regional Technical Resources and Quality team; Evidence & Learning team; partner organizations
● 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.