Deputy Project Manager (STRESS) at Mercy Corps

Location: Maiduguri

Program / Department Summary

• The Deputy Project Manager will play an integral role in the implementation of a Strategic Resilience Assessment (STRESS) that is being conducted in North East Nigeria from May 2017 to February 2018.
• The STRESS is taking place to gain a better understanding of the humanitarian and development challenges faced in Borno and Adamawa States, and furthermore identify strategic axes of intervention not only for Mercy Corps, but for a wider group of stakeholders engaged in supporting the long-term success of the North East.

General Position Summary

• The Deputy Project Manager will work closely with the STRESS Manager to design and conduct the assessment process in Borno and Adamawa States, contributing technically and operationally to all critical assessment activities.
• S/he will assist with the overall design of each phase, assist in the development of technical assessment tools and communications products, and lead coordination for key activities at each stage as determined by the Manager.
• As such, s/he supports the overall implementation of the STRESS process through both technical research-related work, and operational process management. 
• The Deputy Project Manager will also play an important role with internal and external coordination as s/he will interface with and manage relationships across Mercy Corps’ program teams who are engaged in the STRESS, supporting the Manager to build capacity and practical use of the findings.
• S/he will also work closely with STRESS implementation partner(s) and play a leadership role in coordination with an identified group of external stakeholders, ensuring their on-going inclusion and participation.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Project Management and Technical Oversight:

• Work closely with the STRESS Manager to design assessment phases and lead implementation of key activities under each stage, helping ensure the STRESS activities both progress on time and maintain high standard of quality.
• Assist in the development of research frameworks and data collection plans, conduct and organize data collection, help train enumerators, and supervise field-level collection, as directed by the Manager.
• Support the STRESS Manager to recruit, contract, and manage external research firms.
• Lead identification of further external STRESS partners and plan activities for their participation.
• Liaise with internal program directors and managers to coordinate participation and engagement of Mercy Corps program teams at key moments of the STRESS process.
• Work with the STRESS Manager to organize major workshops and informal working group sessions, as needed. 
• Develop and manage clear organisational structures to maintain documentation of all project materials and iterative learning outputs, in line with Mercy Corps’ document retention procedures and program management standards.
• Support the development and management of the STRESS strategic communications plan, helping produce key communications materials and reporting products, as well as tracking their dissemination.
• Develop a strategy for staff engagement and capacity building with the STRESS Manager and track its on-going progress.

Operations and Management:

• Oversee the smooth flow of routine project operations in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures.
• Ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures.

Representation and Coordination:

• Proactively liaise with private sector actors, government officials, NGOs and civil society organizations, university contacts, religious leaders, and other notable local stakeholders to gather and share information, as well as advocating for the Mercy Corps’ STRESS process. 
• Maintain close working relationships with such stakeholders and external partners, including representing Mercy Corps at local coordination meetings, as assigned.
• Ensure high-quality communication and strong coordination with STRESS implementing partners, facilitating regular partnership reviews.
• 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.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Security:

• Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to ensure that all activities under the STRESS assessment prioritize safety and incorporate the latest security plans and procedures.
• Ensure that the STRESS process is implemented with a clear understanding of security management priorities.

Organizational Learning:

• As part of Mercy Corps’ agency-wide Organizational Learning Initiative, all team members are responsible for spending 5% of their work time in formal and/or non-formal professional learning activities.
• Accountability to Beneficiaries
• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards 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

• MA/S in a related field, such as International Development, Public Policy, Economics, Food Security or Agriculture, with coursework in qualitative and quantitative research and analysis.
• Minimum 5 years of active work experience in humanitarian and/or development programming required as a Deputy Project Manager. The ideal candidate will combine proven skillsets in project management with both theoretical and practical background in research and/or M&E, with demonstrable knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research techniques.
• Experience working in North East Nigeria required, with familiarity of resilience programming preferred.
• Fluency in English and Hausa required, while a working knowledge of other local languages is valued.
• Strong management skills, with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues.
• Demonstrated experience in training and capacity building of partners and team members.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines, and work independently and cooperatively with team members required.
• Highly developed computers skills (including expertise in Microsoft Word and Excel) are mandatory. Further experience working with GIS, and any of the following will be considered a plus: Epi-Info, Epi-Data, SPSS, Access, SQL, and any other statistical packages.
• Candidate must be willing to travel and work in Borno and Adamawa States in North East Nigeria.

Success Factors

• The successful candidate will have strong project management skills combined with relevant experience managing or helping coordinate multi-sector assessments, integrated research and/or program monitoring, evaluation and learning.
• S/he also will have a keen interest or passion for resilience and/or improving integration of humanitarian and development interventions for sustained impact.
• S/he will bring excellent proactive diplomacy skills in coordinating across a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders to balance expectations, increase engagement, and produce results.
• S/he will have excellent contextual knowledge of North East Nigeria and ideally established relationships with key external actors.
• She/he will use effective communication and team-building techniques, have excellent organizational and strong interpersonal skills, and display an even temperament and good sense of humour.