Senior Food Security Officer at Mercy Corps

Position Summary

• Mercy Corps is looking for a strong Senior Food Security Program Officer that will supervise a team of 4 program staff under the food security component of the program in Jere, Maiduguri areas and will be responsible for delivering quality food security programming within the project location with the support of the Cash and Food Security Advisor.

Essential Job Functions

Strategy & Vision:

• Implement all Food Security activities within the work plan and offer technical guidance to the food security team.
• Follow up on compliance with contractual commitments within the Food security unit, ensuring high technical quality and synergies in project implementation.
• Provide technical direction on the execution of the implementation of Food security activities in a timely manner.
• Maintain filing of all Mercy Corps beneficiaries and ensure all food distribution lists are well captured electronically and manually.
• Ensure that key learnings are extracted from Food Security implementation and incorporate them in Food Security implementation and staff development processes.
• Provide systematic training and build the capacity of the food security teams.
• Represent Mercy Corps in relevant forums/clusters, including with national authorities and donors when required.
• To promote the Food security strategy and its understanding among the teams.
• To ensure high-quality implementation by working closely with the Cash and Food Security Advisor and other technical leads.
• Work with all program teams, M&E on food security monitoring including baselines, end-lines, midterm reviews, lesson learning exercises and evaluations and ensure learning informs programming.

Program Management:

• Support program startup and ongoing program management and administration of teams across various field locations.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
• Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to established vulnerability criteria.
• Develop program implementation strategies, including partnership frameworks, beneficiary targeting and distribution process as well as psychosocial and capacity building of partners.
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
• Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
• Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
• Fulfil Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.

Team Management:

• Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Hire, orient and lead team members as necessary.

Finance & Compliance Management:

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency programming.
• Draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget.

Influence & Representation:

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, local governments and other stakeholders.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.

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 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:

• Food security Program Officers (s)

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: Cash and Food Security Advisor
• Works Directly With: All program Staffs, M & E teams, MC beneficiaries, MC Partners.

Requirements

• A Degree in Agriculture or any related discipline.
• Minimum 3 years of experience handling food security components.
• Excellent skills and experience in the assessment and supervision of agriculture projects at the community level.
• Ability to train others on the food security component or any related fields. Should have experience in assessment and surveys.
• Experience working in complex and volatile contexts.
• Experience in both emergency, resilience, and livelihoods programming.
• Ability to train others in agriculture-related fields. Should have experience in assessment and surveys.
• Knowledge of the Maiduguri context is an advantage.
• Experience with living in basic conditions.
• Experience from advocacy work is an advantage.
• Experience with emergency and recovery work and how to link the responses is an advantage.
• Fluency in English, Kanuri and Hausa.

Success Factors:

• The successful candidate will be capable of multi-tasking, rapid decision-making, have initiative, drive, and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with capacity building. S/he will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority.

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.

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. 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 Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.