Since 1979, we have helped people grappling with the toughest hardships survive – and then thrive. That’s the heart of our approach: We help communities turn crisis into opportunity. Throughout our history, Mercy Corps has demonstrated innovation, timeliness and the ability to adapt quickly to changing realities.
- Experience 7 years
- Location Not specified
Program / Department Summary
Mercy Corps’ Technical Support Unit (TSU) is a key part of the Program Department. TSU subject-matter experts help set agency strategy and provide consultation – from assessment and design through project implementation and results measurement – to field offices worldwide.
Mercy Corps continues to position itself as a key and credible partner with many donors, government authorities and civil society partners, enhancing our ability to empower people to survive through crisis, build better lives and transform their communities for good. Gender and social inclusion is a priority that is woven throughout all programming, and involves using a systems-based approach that builds on proven solutions, accesses new ideas and information, and integrates multiple sectors and partnerships to promote transformative development outcomes. The Gender Advisor will be part of the Regional Technical Support team based within the Africa Region, working closely with our country teams to deliver high-impact programming through a strong gender transformative approach.
General Position Summary
The West Africa GESI regional advisor is an exciting new role for the region and the successful candidate will have the opportunity to further define the position over time. This position will spend 30% of its time providing technical support to specific programs. The remaining 70% of time will be allocated to strategic support, country level capacity strengthening and program development.
The GESI Advisor will support country and regional teams to develop and advance gender equality and social inclusion by working with regional leadership, country teams, global and regional technical support teams, and partners to: 1) provide remote and in-person technical support to Mercy Corps program teams to conduct GESI analysis, integrate GESI specific approaches into programs, and use data to achieve GESI outcomes; 2) facilitate capacity sharing support and mentorship to country and program level managers and GESI specialists and animate a lively working group to promote cross-learning, resource sharing and collective visioning; 3) Support priority proposal development efforts to embed strong GESI transformative approaches from the outset of program design.
This position will be the West Africa regional representative of the global Gender and Social Inclusion technical support team, and will work closely with the global team to ensure that Mercy Corps’ priority approaches and tools are effectively rolled out within the region. The position will be housed within the regional team and reporting to the Technical Director for the Africa region, supporting our regional and country teams to advance our Africa regional strategy and ensure that agency GESI strategies, approaches, and standards are applied in action across the diverse portfolio.
Essential Job Responsibilities
STRATEGY & VISION
- Serve as a key technical resource within the region for the GESI elements of Mercy Corps’ Pathway to Possibility 10 year strategy.
- Facilitate the integration of GESI mainstreaming into regional strategic and annual planning efforts.
- Support research initiatives which advance the agency’s learning on innovative and transformative approaches to GESI work in the region.
- Support internal and external communication efforts (articles, case studies, conferences and forums) to highlight Mercy Corps’ GESI work in the Middle East.
TEAM CAPACITY SHARING
- Co-lead the Africa GESI community of practice of regional, country-level, and project based GESI specialists to promote learning and capacity sharing across the region
- Support equitable and inclusive hiring processes for GESI advisors, program managers on GESI specific programs, and other positions that require significant GESI experience
- Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach GESI objectives
- With the global GESI team, participate in training/capacity sharing efforts aimed at strengthening the skills of GESI specialists and champions across the region
PROGRAM AND PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT
- Help teams design and run participatory, inclusive data collection process to understand community needs and priorities and incorporate those needs and priorities into program design
- Contribute to or advise program design efforts including supporting secondary GESI data review, designing/ co-leading gender analyses, participating in design workshops, providing technical review of logical frameworks and proposal narratives, supporting GESI indicator selection and occasionally drafting portions of proposal documents
- Support recruitment of regional consultants to support program design and GESI key personnel for programs
- Guide country teams to build GESI responsive budgets that reflect GESI commitments at the agency and country-level
PROGRAM QUALITY
- Support program teams to roll-out and adhere to Mercy Corps’ GESI integration minimum standards across all programs
- Support proactive GESI integration and protection mainstreaming into humanitarian response programs
- Provide technical support, coaching, training and capacity sharing to support high quality GESI equality outcomes within programs, especially during program start-up and kick off
- Support teams to contextualize GESI tools for their country and program contexts
- Work closely with monitoring, evaluation and learning teams in the region to establish assessment, monitoring and evaluation frameworks to measure and improve upon program quality and impact, specific to GESI integration
- Conduct program quality field or support visits as required
LEARNING AND IMPACT
- In collaboration with the program quality department, contribute to the set-up and implementation of a lessons learnt system to capture learnings on GESI integration across the region
- Ensure GESI is integrated across program performance tools, theories of change, indicators, and log frames.
- Contribute to country-level initiatives such as research agendas and internal learning exercises
- Track GESI-related learning and evidence across the region and help teams use that knowledge to advocate for distinctive GESI approaches and tools.
INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION
- Represent Mercy Corps at relevant regional coordination mechanisms and meetings
- Cultivate and activate relationships with women’s rights, gender equality, and social inclusion focused civil society organizations across the region for shared learning and potential partnership
- Support internal and external communication efforts (articles, case studies, conferences and forums) to highlight to Mercy Corps’ GESI work in West Africa
- Contribute to agency-wide GESI integration efforts and communities of practice as appropriate
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 BENEFICIARIES
- Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Supervisory Responsibility
Consultants, Short-Term assignments, Interns as may be required
Accountability
Reports Directly to: Africa Technical Director with a dotted line to the global Director for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
Works Directly with: Anglophone Africa GESI Advisor, Regional Director, Deputy Regional Directors, Regional PAQ lead, Country Directors and Directors of Programs, Program Directors/Managers implementing GESI-focused or multi-sector programs, Country GESI leads, Regional and Global Technical Support Unit, Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative Leads
Knowledge and Experience
- Master’s degree in International Development, Women’s Studies, Gender or a comparable area of study preferred. Bachelor’s degree with 10 years of experience is also acceptable.
- 7 years of experience in international development work, with a minimum of 5 years of experience in GESI technical work
- Experience directly implementing programs is required
- Substantial background in GESI and development work including experience conducting GESI analyses, capacity sharing/training, gender and inclusion outcomes
- Experience working in the West Africa is required
- Strong facilitation skills are required
- Fluency in French and English is required
- It is expected that this position will travel to Mercy Corps country missions within the West Africa region, including insecure environments, for up to 30% of time
Success Factors
The Regional GESI Advisor will demonstrate experience designing, implementing and advising programs, ensuring their ability to adjust technical theories to meet real world complexities. The Regional GESI Advisor role requires strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills, as well as strong time management skills. Being aware and sensitive to international development issues and diverse cultures is critical.
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
Method of Application
Interested and qualified? Go to Mercy Corps on jobs.jobvite.com to apply