Program Intern at Mercy Corps

Program / Department Summary

• The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched one of its most comprehensive peacebuilding programs in Nigeria to date with Mercy Corps, a leading global humanitarian aid and development organization, which has been working with communities in Nigeria since 2012. The goal of the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP) program, which commences in 2019, is to prevent violent conflict in the most at-risk communities across 6 states and 24 local government areas (LGA) in Nigeria’s Northwest and North Central regions. CIPP builds on the accomplishments and deep contextual knowledge gained by USAID and Mercy Corps through their previous peacebuilding programs in Nigeria.
• Mercy Corps’ strategy has also expanded to address the root causes of the conflict and seek to build the long-term resilience of communities with integrated programs focusing on governance, protection of vulnerable populations, social cohesion, inclusion of women, youth and persons living with disabilities, and local conflict management.

The CIPP Program is implemented in six North Central & North-Western Nigerian states: Benue, Plateau, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina. Since 2019 is strategically building on the past four years of the Mercy Corps former peacebuilding programs to:

• Improve local capacity and skills to manage disputes
• Strengthen and enable more sustainable Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) mechanisms
• Increase collaboration among communities with government agencies, CSOs, and local leaders to address root causes of conflict
• Strengthen women’s capacities to prevent and resolve conflict
• Improve the ability to address violent extremist recruitment tactics

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Manage the CIPP activities’ travel arrangements.
• Maintain the office systems, including data management and filing.
• Assist Supervisor in researching and following up with actions on matters which fall within the program/administrative responsibility.
• Produce documents, briefing papers, reports, and presentations for Supervisor.
• Deal with appropriate requests.
• Support in organizing meetings and ensure that the Team is well prepared for those meetings.
• Support in preparing agendas and minutes of meetings.
• Process activity budget, PRs and write activity report.
• Receive, record, and keep custody of supplies such as workshop materials.
• Any other administrative duties as may reasonably be required by the DCOP/COP.

Finance & Compliance Management:

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to peace and conflict programming.

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.

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:Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP)
• Works Directly with:CoP, and the activity Team Members

Ethics and Integrity:

• All Mercy Corps staff members/interns are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate the highest integrity in their professional and personal lives. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance for any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment, or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.

Knowledge and Experience

• B.Sc./ BA in any Social Science field.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, to enable professional interaction with a wide range of contacts.
• Ability to organize and plan work schedule.
• Excellent attention to detail, with the ability to maintain a high level of accuracy.
• A flexible, pro-active approach to work including the ability to prioritize and re-prioritize.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision and take initiative.
• Ability to deal with sensitive information with discretion and to maintain confidentiality.
• Excellent IT skills, including a working knowledge of presentation software packages, preferably Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Internet surfing skills.

Working Conditions:

• The position is based in Abuja and may be required to travel to field locations where CIPP/Mercy Corps is working when required.

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.