Hygiene Promotion Officer

Position Status: Contingent on funding

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been operating in Ethiopia since 2004, working in rural, peri-urban and urban areas in five regional states – Somali, Oromia, Afar, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples, Amhara – and the capital city of Addis Ababa. We engage in both development and humanitarian work, and seek to integrate approaches, programs and geographies as much as possible. Our partners include government, academic institutions, development and private sector actors, civil societies and communities. Mercy Corps envisions contributing to the emergence of a peaceful, prosperous, and resilient Ethiopia which is inclusive of youth and women. Our strategic focus in the country includes in promoting dynamic and inclusive markets; natural resource management; peace and social cohesion, and humanitarian responses.

General Position Summary

Under the guidance of the humanitarian programs team leader, the emergency project coordinator will be responsible to coordinate humanitarian response activities in the Afar region. He/she will support the project officers in coordinating and standardizing of program implementation to ensure the quality of our emergency response based on the standard guideline. He/she will be expected to coordinate with the Mercy Corps RiPA program team to improve coordination, planning, implementation; monitoring and reporting processes. Establishing and strengthening well organized reporting systems among partners working with Mercy Corps. He/She will also be responsible to manage Mercy Corps relationship with key regional government partners, NGOs, UN agencies and responsible to monitor the progress and status of all emergency activities in the woredas and Zones in the region according to the project implementation plan. He/She will also provide technical assistance to officers in planning, capacity building for government staffs, coordinating with other Mercy Corps support staffs like finance, Logistic and HR team at Semera and woreda based operations.

Essential Job Responsibilities

 Strategy & Vision

·       Collaborate and work closely with all Mercy Corps team members to make sure effective implementation of emergency programs and integration of Multi sectoral approaches including cross cutting themes in humanitarian programs

·       Collaborate with relevant government and non-governmental actors to effectively implement and identify humanitarian needs to inform project designs and contribute to humanitarian strategy

·       Work closely with the Humanitarian Programs Team Leader and RiPA team members to develop an implementation plan and scale up of Humanitarian Programs in the region

·       Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcome

Program Management

·       Coordinate Mercy Corps HURECA program and provide support for the project staff, collaborate with RiPA team

·        Establish and maintain systems for work planning, implementation of activities, monitoring progress, reporting and capacity building. Designing systems to support high quality performance and results, efficient time and resource allocation, feasible workloads assignment among team members and setting timeframes, motivating team members, and ensuring accountability

·       Coordinate humanitarian assessment teams, representation, and coordination with other actors

·       Ensuring protection and GBV related services mainstreamed in all humanitarian responses and follow up with the humanitarian response team to make sure MC programs are providing gender sensitive humanitarian services and MC program participants are safe and protected in collaboration with country gender advisor

·        Work closely with the humanitarian programs team leader and other technical advisors to ensure timely and high-quality humanitarian responses.

·       Design and implement context-specific capacity-strengthening for the local government in collaboration with regional authorities and other concerned agencies. Document and disseminate evidence on successes stories, performance, impact and lessons learned. Support mechanisms for continued sharing of information for local stakeholders at national level

·        Support enforcement of guidelines for safety and security of staff and assets. Ensure a proper phase-out and plan for transition to full operations.

·        Review written products prepared by program officers, and other members of the cluster and provide comments, written input to improve the quality of the products

·       In collaboration with the humanitarian team leader, respond to requests from Donor for information on project progress, any changes from the plan, challenges and actions taken to make progress towards the goal of the project

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.

 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.

Knowledge and Experience

●      MSC or equivalent, preferable in Development and or Disaster Risk Management Studies

●      5 years Emergency Programs Coordination experience

●      Previous experience working on USAID funded programs preferred

●      Relevant experience in field of WASH, Shelter and Settlement, Agriculture and Cash assistance

●      Ability to manage and work in a team consisting of people with different technical backgrounds and varying levels of technical training.

●      Demonstrated managerial, leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills.

●      Ability to facilitate relationships and interact smoothly and effectively with clients, colleagues, and partners including Regional governments, sub-recipients, and peer organizations

●      Ability to work with others to translate technical materials into practical tools and approaches and be able to communicate these options using print, electronic and presentation services.

●      Ability to undertake problem analyses and organize diverse information in a systematic way while thinking creatively to propose approaches to improve program design, implementation and results reporting.

●      Strong analytical ability is essential.

●      High level of report writing skills and oral presentation skills.

●      English fluency is essential and knowledge of local language is a plus.

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have the ability to live and work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment with a capacity to spark innovative approaches to programming and inspire groups to collaborate closely to implement high-quality programs. S/he will have proven ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results, with an ability and willingness to remain mobile for short-term and/or long-term as necessary within the region, based on programmatic needs. An ability to work independently and as part of a team, with curiosity about and sensitivity to new cultures, a desire and ability to learn and grow, both personally and professionally, and a great sense of humor.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Semera, and it requires up to 40 % travel to field offices.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside 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.

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision.  Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.