Agriculture and Livestock Intern at Mercy Corps

Program / Department Summary

• Mercy Corps Nigeria’s humanitarian program aims to provide assistance to populations affected by the crisis in Northeast Nigeria. With funding from the Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs BHA, Mercy Corps is scaling up and expanding its humanitarian response in Northeast Nigeria to reach more beneficiaries with additional assistance in a wider geographic area under the project titled Transitioning Households to Recovery from Vulnerability THRIVE in Jere.
• The THRIVE project will provide context-specific humanitarian assistance with the goal of initiating early recovery in four wards in Jere LGA: Mairi, Mashamari and Dusuman.
• The two-year consortium project will operationalize an area-based approach to advance participants from lifesaving assistance to life-building support to increase the capacity of affected individuals to meet food production and subsistence needs with the resilience to manage shocks for IDP, returnee and host households.

General Position Summary

• The Agriculture and Livestock Intern will be providing support for the day-to-day implementation of the backyard permagardening and poultry production activities.
• Work closely with the ERMS & Agriculture Coordinator, Nutrition and Food Security team, MEL team, and operations staff (including finance and operations) to ensure that activities are implemented according to schedule and required quality.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Facilitate the step-down training of vulnerable smallholder farmers on kitchen gardening and poultry production.
• Participate in the identification of kitchen gardening participants and grouping.
• Provide guidance and mentorship to vulnerable smallholder farmers on kitchen gardening.
• Mobilize vulnerable smallholder farmers during Agricultural farm input distribution.
• Support in mobilizing project participants for project activities.
• Support in post-distribution monitoring of farm input disbursed to project participants (mobilization and survey activities).
• Conduct monitoring and supervision visits to vulnerable smallholder farmers’ farm.
• As part of each assignment, participate in briefings; carry out data collection, and/or reporting in a timely manner.
• Assist Smallholder farmers (SHF) by conducting home visits and follow-up activities when they are absent from meetings, training, and other program activities.
• Work closely with community structures such as the Community Resilience Group (CRGs) to ensure the success of the project.
• Relate issues and concerns by stakeholders to provide timely feedback.
• Ensure that project participants understand and are making use of the Complaint Response Mechanism(CRM), and feedback is provided in a timely manner to vulnerable smallholder farmers, community stakeholders and program staff as required.
• Provide support during assessments and End-line evaluation activities.
• Work according to the program’s needs and as assigned.

Finance & Compliance Management:

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency programming.
• Proactively ensure that members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

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 participants and international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging participants' communities as equal partners in designing, monitoring and evaluating our field projects.
• 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.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• None

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: Program Officer Agriculture-Livestock
• Works Directly With: Finance, Program, MEL, and Operation Teams, Partners

Knowledge and Experience

• HND or Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture, Animal Science or relevant field required from a recognized university.
• 1 year or less work experience with a local or international NGO working with marginalized communities
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills and capacity to maintain relations with the community
• Experience in building and maintaining strong/productive relations is required.
• Proficiency in computer use particularly Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is preferred.
• Knowledge of Hausa and any other local languages is an added advantage.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, and team building experience and ability to meet deadlines.
• Willingness to spend much time in the field and work closely with program target groups.

Success Factors:

• Strong work ethics, having the ability to learn the most efficient way to complete tasks and finding ways to save time while completing the daily assignments.
• 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 and procedures and values always and in all in-country venues.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

• The position is based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, this is a relatively insecure location where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

• Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have a sustained global impact.
• We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all.
• We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability, marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.
• In your statement, you are encouraged to discuss any relevant experience and demonstrate your interest. Your application will be reviewed by the Mercy Corps team and shortlisted candidates will be contacted directly for interviews.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

• Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges.
• We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.
• We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

• Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have a sustained global impact.
• We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all.
• We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics:

• Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity.
• We are committed to the core principles regarding the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary-General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.
• We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and adhere to the Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.