Senior Project Officer at Mercy Corps

Program / Department Summary

• The Educating Nigerian Girls in New Enterprises (ENGINE) Programme is an initiative to improve learning outcomes and the economic status of marginalized adolescent girls aged 16-19 in the Northern Nigerian states of Kano and Kaduna, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria.
• ENGINE through funding from the UK Department for International Development’s Girls Education Challenge, the Coca-Cola Company and other stakeholders supported over 18,000 marginalized girls to reduce education and financial barriers in its first implementation phase.
• In its second phase, ENGINE 2 will facilitate transition of these girls into functional literacy, numeracy and scale up their business opportunities and linkages.
• ENGINE 2 will further increase girls’ and young women’s access to (1) financial education and life skills; (2) peer to peer networks and mentoring; and (3) direct assets (materials and savings). Beneficiaries will be integrated into value chains as well as conduct other market-driven employment opportunities.
• ENGINE 2 will also work with girls in formal and informal education to increase their learning opportunities and outcomes to prepare them for future economic activities and work in the policy environment to provide an enabling environment for girls to flourish in their chosen pathways.

General Position Summary

• The Senior Project Officers will support field implementation of the ENGINE program including coordinating sub-grantee partner, schools/community stakeholders and resources to ensure that the program meets performance-based targets on time and within budget, per DfID requirements.
• S/he will monitor sub-grantee partner in the state and ensure program funds are spent efficiently and maximize Value for Money per DfID requirements.
• S/he will supervise and build the capacity of partner staff and ensure accountability to Mercy Corps policies and donor rules and regulations.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Program Support:

• Provide field support to ENGINE functional literacy, numeracy and school to work programming for both in school and out-of-school marginalized girls.
• Coordinate sub-grantee activities including programmatic implementation, budget & liquidation process and timely reporting.
• Provide linkages to opportunities for additional networks within schools, link girls with Islamic and/or community-based education, increasing economic assets through savings clubs and links to financial institutions.
• Ensure implementation of activities is on time, target and budget, using effective systems to reach desired impacts in order to assess the ENGINE effectiveness and impact and propose recommendations for improvements.
• Maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely reporting especially for sub-grantee partners.
• Implement and model Mercy Corps’ philosophy of social entrepreneurship and leverage Mercy Corps’ best practices.
• In collaboration with the Monitoring Evaluation and Learning team, implement relevant surveys, need assessments, data and information collection for on-going monitoring in the state assigned. 

Team Management:

• Sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
• With the Deputy Project Director, supervise, hire and orient new field team members as necessary.
• Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
• Implement performance planning and management systems, establish performance expectations with team members, and regularly provide constructive feedback on team members’ performance.

Finance & Compliance Management:

• Ensure compliance of sub-grantee partners with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to field programming.

Influence & Representation:

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with sub-grantee, local governments and other stakeholders.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.
• Participate in education coordination and other donor coordination meetings or workshops and/or as requested by the Project Advisor. 

Security:

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that field 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

• Master's Degree or its equivalent in Education, Management, Social Sciences, International Development or other relevant field.
• A minimum of 4 years of progressive work experience including at least 1 year in a technical coordination role on education, gender- focused or skills building program.
• Experience working on a large-scale education or school to work and especially targeting marginalized girls or young women programs required. Prefer expertise in at least one of the following areas: accelerated learning programs, Islamic and/or community-based education targeting community acceptance of girl’s education, increasing economic assets through savings clubs and links to financial institutions. Experience using SMS for training or messaging preferred.
• Strong understanding of DfID compliance issues.
• Strong management skills, with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues in high security environment.  Experience managing a multi-organizational team (international and national partners) is a plus.
• Experience working in Northern Nigeria strongly preferred.
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English required, including report development, writing and editing. Hausa language skills preferred
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Demonstrated experience working with state-level ministries and government officials, Ministry of Education experience preferred.

Success Factors

• The successful candidate will combine exceptional leadership, management and technical skills with a focus on innovative interventions to engage adolescent girls in informal education and skills building linked with private sector entrepreneurship and employment opportunities in a culturally and religiously conservative environment.
• S/he will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement and manage innovative and complex programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in the region. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. 
• The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.
• Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours .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.