General Position Summary
This position provides technical oversight on all Mercy Corps Nigeria Cash & Voucher Assistance and Financial Inclusion interventions, including identification of appropriate channels and methods for delivery of conditional and unconditional cash and access to financial services to the communities. This position will be part of the Technical Support Unit and hosts Mercy Corps Nigeria’s think tank on everything cash and voucher and financial inclusion solutions. The position coordinates activities on a technical level, collaborating with humanitarian and early recovery sector leads in Food Assistance, Shelter & Settlements, WASH, Nutrition, Protection, ERMS. This position also works closely with the market systems intervention leads in our peace
building, water security, resilience, and adolescent programs. This position is an active member of CVA technical group both at the regional and national level and keep the management informed about any development in CVA and financial inclusion space in Nigeria.
Essential Job Responsibilities
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
- Establish and rely on a robust primary and desk research framework for building a compelling body of evidence to drive innovations and adaptations within cash and voucher assistance, and financial inclusion activities in Mercy Corps and external collaborators.
- Develop position papers on emerging trends, relying of support from Mercy Corps Nigeria Analytics Team.
- Be the voice of clarity and go-to person in CVA, and financial inclusion interventions framework for Mercy Corps Nigeria program leads and leadership.
- Troubleshoot emerging issues within the interventions in Mercy Corps Nigeria and provide alternative solutions pathways to the affected program.
- Grow Mercy Corps influence in the Nigeria Cash Working Groups (national and regional level), to be measured by the quality of feedback Mercy Corps gets from members of the group.
- Identify new training opportunities for team members in Mercy Corps Nigeria, and work with Program Leads to outline appropriate schedules for team members to benefit from the trainings.
- Provide inputs to the design and implementation of training in any areas related to the Cash an inclusion activities for staff, communities and project beneficiaries.
FINANCIAL INCLUSION PROGRAMMING
- Identify and integrate best practices and trends in the financial inclusion space in programs and proposals.
- Develop, adopt and implement financial inclusion models to increase access to financial products and services for the targeted communities.
- Provide targeted training to the communities in financial and life skills by developing contextually relevant curriculum.
- Work closely with the MEL team to monitor, evaluate and document impact and learnings from the trainings.
NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
- Scope for new opportunities for collaborative cash and voucher, and financial inclusion interventions within Nigeria.
- Design lead for technical approaches in CVA/financial inclusion interventions proposed in new opportunities and applications.
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
- Provide technical input to the Program Teams across MCN portfolio in setting up and operationalizing cash and voucher assistance and related financial inclusion interventions whenever needed
- Strengthen capacity of the Cash and Voucher and financial inclusion team members ensuring fluent communication channels, sustained integrity and compliance in delivery processes, adaptation to evolving contexts, as well as ensuring that assistance is provided with integrated financial inclusion.
- Participate and facilitate coordination and collaboration with other agencies.
- Coordinate closely with the Program Leads and relevant administrative and finance staff to ensure proper logistics, administration, human resources and transport needs of the projects are availed within MC policy and with the maximum benefit to the projects.
- Manage the CVA platforms used by MCN, i.e. NAGIS and RedRose, ensuring information sharing with other field level teams.
- Other duties as assigned.
FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT
- Ensure compliance with donor, sector and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency cash
transfer interventions.
- Support Program Leads and team members in budget tracking and projecting.
- Draft and/or review scope of work, contracts to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget
INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION
Provide effective and impactful representation of Mercy Corps to the Nigeria Cash Working Group, CaLP, and any other community of cash and voucher practitioners.
SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES.
- Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work ·
- Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members ·
- Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.
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
This role will supervise Sector Coordinators.
Accountability
Reports Directly To: PaQ Director
Works Directly With: Program Leads and Sector leads (Food Assistance, Nutrition, WaSH, Shelter Protection and GBV, GEDSI), HSSD, DoP, PAQ unit, MEL, and Field Program Managers.
Knowledge and Experience
- Demonstrated skills in planning, organizing and reporting.
- At least seven years of cash transfer and financial inclusion programs in Nigeria.
- 5 years of experience in project implementation or working with local partners or in any role that includes training and capacity building of staff or partners.
- Proven understanding of cash and voucher mechanism, as well as CVA scene and coordination architecture in Nigeria
- Bachelor’s degree in relevant field or equivalent master’s degree is preferred.
- Ability to work under pressure.
- Strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills.
- Excellent oral and written skills and computer skills.
- Verbal and written fluency in English is must, and with other local languages is highly recommended.
Gmail
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