Livelihoods Program Officer (ISING) at Mercy Corps

Location: Biu - Borno State

General Position Summary

• The Livelihood program officer will be responsible for supporting activities in the intervention communities of ISING program. S/He will be responsible for supporting the implementation of strategic, impactful, and high-quality programming.
• The project officer will report to the ISING Program Manager and work collaboratively with fellow program staff.
• S/he will work extensively with other sectors of the project to ensure that all activities are implemented successfully and timely.

Essential Job Functions

• Support ISING project management and administration of livelihood related activities including beneficiary identification, distribution site selection, planning and implementing the distributions, working with partners and facilitating monitoring.
• Contribute to all ISING project field work, including identifying target locations, beneficiaries and vendors, participating in distributions, monitoring and supporting beneficiaries during the shopping periods, coordinating with community leaders and other stakeholders and other field-based tasks as assigned.
• Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to established vulnerability criteria.
• Contribute to effective program reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems for both internal and external use in coordination with the other program staff.
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity, protection and capacity building into all livelihood activities as appropriate.
• Conduct monitoring and data collection as directed by the ISING Program Manager, assisting with specific surveys or assessments as needed.
• Contribute to providing the ISING Program Manager with up-to-date information on the affected and targeted community and coordinates beneficiary lists and numbers with different stakeholders.
• Ensure the cohesion of the overall livelihoods approach through a close working relationship with the livelihoods SPO and the protection/gender team.
• Contribute to applying well researched and thought out interventions to restart livelihood activities.
• Lead where necessary community meetings to identify Livelihoods priorities related to ISING project.
• Mitigation where necessary maintaining a clear impartial profile for Mercy Corps in confusions or disputes between community/association/group members.
• Adherence to all MC policies and procedures as outlined in MC policies and procedure manuals;
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission in country of operation;
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge and Experience

• BA/S in relevant field required; MA/MS/MBA or equivalent preferred.
• 3 years of experience working on the development, implementation, administration and compliance of a field-based international development or humanitarian program; general program management experience required.
• Prior experience implementing distributions is required, preferably in a non-camp setting. Experience with cash distributions strongly preferred.
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders to identify beneficiaries according to criteria required.
• Experience with conducting assessments, monitoring and evaluation and other learning efforts required.
• Experience representing the organization and its interests to a diverse range of local and international government officials, local civil society organizations, other international organizations, the media and the public.
• Commitment to renewing and maintaining knowledge of best practices
• Demonstrated training and facilitation experience
• Ability to work under pressure
• Demonstrated strengths in analytical skills, monitoring and evaluation, and report writing
• Strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills
• Excellent oral and written skills and computer skills
• Fluency in English; fluency in Hausa is required.

Success Factors:

• The successful candidate will have a can-do attitude. Ideally s/he will have previous experience in working in large-scale emergency programs in insecure and conflict-affected contexts, including remote management and capacity development.
• S/he is a problem solver, who is adept in successfully dealing with issues of complexity.
• S/he is an active listener and contributor, working to create a strong team share ideas and learn