Nutrition Program Manager at Mercy Corps

The Program / Department / Team

• Mercy Corps has been present in Nigeria since 2012, focusing its interventions on humanitarian assistance, economic development, and conflict mitigation. With the ongoing insurgency in Northeast Nigeria causing the displacement of millions of individuals, Mercy Corps started its humanitarian response in 2014 to address the rising humanitarian needs. Mercy Corps has been implementing multi-sectoral life-saving humanitarian programming across several Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Northeast Nigeria, particularly in Borno State, reaching vulnerable host communities and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Programming spans Nutrition, WASH, Food Security, Cash Assistance, Protection, and early recovery interventions delivered in complex and high-risk environments. In anticipation of humanitarian funding requiring immediate mobilization and scale-up, Mercy Corps seeks an experienced Nutrition Program Manager to support the rapid start-up and implementation of timely life-saving Nutrition program interventions.

The Position

• The Nutrition Program manager is a key role in the Mercy Corps’ Nigeria Humanitarian team. The role is critical to the mission and is responsible for delivering quality and impactful technical programming across the Mercy Corps Nigeria mission. The position supports programs across the portfolio funded by multiple donors, supports lessons learned, incorporates MC's global technical expertise, and ensures new business development incorporates technical expertise and experience.
• The Nutrition Program Manager is a member of the technical support unit in the country and contributes to conversations within the team, shares lessons learned, and visioning across the mission. S/he will actively participate in relevant coordination mechanisms to share back with relevant stakeholders within the mission, as well as ensure participation at the sub-office level through technical coordinators and program staff. S/he plays a key role in program development, proposal writing, and shaping Mercy Corps’ overall program strategy for emergency to resilience programming.
• The Nutrition Program Manager will be responsible for providing technical direction and scale-up of the nutrition sector component through program design, implementation, monitoring, and reporting. He/she will take the lead and provide technical support to teams in the set-up as well as scaling up nutrition interventions across country operations, help monitor and improve program quality and relevance, stay current on industry innovation and best practices, write competitive proposals for submission to donors, deliver training, and disseminate information to internal and external partners. S/he will take the lead role in representation at various fora/clusters. The position will monitor the context and implementation environment as well as the program quality to ensure it remains conducive for Nutrition intervention expansion; work with other sectors, i.e., WASH, MPCA, Protection, Early Recovery, and Market System development (ERMS) for better integration and synergies to maximize the impact for program participants.

Essential Responsibilities:

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING

• Contribute to and support in carrying out the situational analysis for the nutrition sectors to ensure timely and current data are available for the designing, development and management of nutrition and food security projects.
• Identify opportunities for program and proposal development in line with the MC's and donor guidelines
• Participate in proposal writing and budget development processes for nutrition programs.
• Lead technical assessments as a basis for nutrition program development when necessary to monitor evolving needs of the target communities and adjust the programmatic priorities as necessary.

PROGRAM QUALITY AND IMPLEMENTATION

• Contribute to program quality through active participation in coordination meetings, sharing lessons learned, and contributing to new business development efforts.
• Ensure quality and timely field-level implementation of nutrition program activities in line with approved objectives, targets, and work plans.
• Lead the MCN nutrition team in developing project-specific strategies, tools, systems, and implementation plans.
• Ensure nutrition programs adhere to international best practices, policies, and guidelines, in alignment with Ministry of Health standards and WHO/UNICEF guidance.
• Oversee the collection, analysis, and timely reporting of program data and statistics in accordance with Mercy Corps guidelines and donor requirements.
• Regularly monitor project implementation through field visits, surveys, and coordination with partners to assess progress, identify bottlenecks, and take timely corrective actions or escalate issues to relevant authorities when necessary.

LEADERSHIP FOR CASH & VOUCHER ASSISTANCE FOR NUTRITION TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP

• Provide technical support and guidance to the Sector partners on CVA for nutrition programming.
• Provide technical support in the development of a CVA for the nutrition operational guideline for NE Nigeria.
• Keep the sector informed of developments in CVA for nutrition programming, both globally and locally.
• Share implementation plans and identify areas for collaboration and complementarity within nutrition and other sectors.
• Coordinate the implementation of CVA for nutrition activities to ensure a harmonized implementation approach among sector partners and streamlined reporting.
• Conduct capacity needs assessments, support capacity strengthening, and identify strategies for improving the monitoring and evaluation of CVA for nutrition activities as needed.

CAPACITY BILDING AND SUPERVISION

• Ensure the capacity building of the nutrition team and partner staff through on-the-job training, technical guidance, and coaching sessions while ensuring staff performance evaluation plans are developed.
• Ensure appropriate support through regular field visits and provide targeted technical feedback
• Develop capacity building plans and strategies and identify relevant training opportunities for MC staff to advance knowledge and skills in nutrition.
• Monitor staffing needs and assist in the recruitment of local staff and support staff development through mentoring to enhance the capacity of project and partner staff.
• Develop a process for ensuring the quality and safety of nutrition-related activities and products.

COORDINATION AND REPRESENTATION

• Represent MC at nutrition sector working group meetings and coordination forums, UN, international and national NGOs for nutrition coordination as needed at the LGA and state level
• Ensure good coordination with other partners' staff, nutrition and food security field teams, and provide frequent feedback and updates
• Develop new and manage existing relationships with key stakeholders and potential collaborators for nutrition programs.

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.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Senior Nutrition Program officer, Senior Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture officer

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Humanitarian Programs Director

Works Directly With: Senior Programs Manager, Sector Program Managers, PaQ Director, Finance Department, Human Resources Department, Operations Department, and Regional and Global PaQ and TSU teams.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor’s degree required. A master’s degree (M.A., M.S., M.Sc., or equivalent) in Nutrition, Public Health, or a related field is preferred. Relevant technical certifications are an asset.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience providing technical support in a relevant field, including:
  • Proposal development, including writing and technical analysis.
  • Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied knowledge in the field of expertise.
  • Experience applying integrated approaches and systems thinking in program design and implementation.
• Practical field experience, which may include:
  • Emergency response assignments or crisis response work demonstrating the ability to adapt support and assistance methodologies to complex operational contexts.
  • Delivering capacity-building initiatives, including training, mentoring, or other support processes for field teams.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including areas with challenging security environments.
• Familiarity with major donors such as UNOCHA, the European Commission (EC/ECHO), and other institutional donors, foundations, and corporations.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.