Livelihood Officer, I-SING at Mercy Corps

Program/Department Summary

• Creating Alternatives to Early Marriage for Adolescent Girls (CAEMAG) is a 1 year funded project funded by Ford Foundation. The position will be based in Gombe with travel to Biu on a regular basis.
• The main office that houses majority of the staff is based in Biu thus the need to travel.
• The project’s focus is to provide primarily out-of-school adolescent girls with the necessary vocational skills to start safe and economically viable income-generating activities.
• The project works with IDPs, returnees and the host community. This program will leverage on the current I-SING program implemented in Borno and Gombe States.

General Position Summary

• The Livelihoods Program officer, will be responsible for supporting activities in the intervention communities of the CAEMAG program.
• S/He will be responsible for supporting the implementation of strategic, impactful, and high-quality programming. The project officer will report to the 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 Responsibilities
Strategy & Vision:

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Develop and organize activities to secure resources for programs and convince stakeholders to provide support.

Program Management:

• 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 fieldwork, 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.

Finance & Compliance Management:

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency programming.
• Responsible for expenditure tracking of activities carried out in the field

Influence & Representation:

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with the community, government and other stakeholder’s
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets are met.

Security:

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.

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:

• None

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: The Program Manager
• Works Directly With: Deputy Program Manager, and with other I-SING officers in the program

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

• Strong Work Ethic, having the ability to learn the most efficient way of learning the most efficient way to complete tasks and finding ways to save time while completing daily assignments.
• Dependability and Responsibility, having the ability to come to work on time, are there when they are supposed to be, and are responsible for their actions and behavior. Adaptability, being adaptable and maintaining flexibility in completing tasks in an ever-changing workplace.
• 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.