Senior Program Officer - Protection / GBV 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, Dusuman, and Maimusari.
• The two-year consortium project will operationalize an area-based approach to advance participants from lifesaving assistance to life-building support. Under the Protection sector, the implementation is focused on GBV Prevention and response activities through WINN, the implementing partner.
• Under protection, the overarching goal is crisis-affected IDPs, returnees, and host communities in Jere LGA live in safe, dignified, and resilient communities.

General Position Summary

• The Senior Program Officer is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day implementation of Protection sector activities by the implementing Partner to ensure quality implementation including Adolescent safe space and Women and Girls centre activities, GBV case management, Protection community prevention activities, training on topics such as psychological first aid, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and the validation of referral pathways in Northeast Nigeria Maiduguri (will focus on Jere).
• The Senior Program Officer will also advise other sector teams on gender and protection mainstreaming and best practices.
• The Senior Program Officer will work closely with the Protection/GBV Coordinator, GBV/Protection Advisor, Head of Office, and support staff (including finance, operations, and administration) to ensure that activities are implemented according to schedule, budget and required quality.
• The position includes the daily management of program staff and supervision of partners. The Senior Program Officer reports directly to Protection/GBV Coordinators and will work closely with Protection Advisor and other sector leads.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Strategy & Vision:

• Oversee the implementation of protection activities and ensure adequate gender mainstreaming across program field locations.
• Develop protection strategy, harmonize activity work plans, and manage all field activity implementation related to protection/GBV by the partner.
• Ensure that program implementation mainstreams protection in coordination with other sectors in line with best practices.
• Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to vulnerability criteria.
• Lead where necessary community meetings to identify gender-related priorities and protection concerns.
• Establish and maintain effective program reporting, and monitoring and evaluation systems (to track, analyze and report on results) for both internal and external use.
• Integrate community approaches, protection mainstreaming, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
• Ensure program filing system is in place, adheres to internal and donor regulation and filing is regularly maintained.
• Adhere to all MC policies related to security, operations and transport/ logistics information related to programming.
• Support orientation for all new staff on MC guidelines on gender and protection mainstreaming. If necessary, organize capacity building sessions for other sector staff on gender and protection.
• Provide weekly field reports, capturing activities progress, lessons learned, success stories on the project as well as the general situation and community updates and needs.
• Report on any problems encountered in the field such as project participant complaints, local authority interference, and security threats to MC staff and activities. Coordinate with MC Security Officer and Protection Coordinator on any threats to MC staff and activities.
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Perform other related special projects and duties as determined and assigned by supervisor.

Program Management:

• Oversee 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.
• Undertakes regular (weekly, bi-weekly) field monitoring visits to assess progress and identify technical quality and/or other implementation issues, flag these to GBV/Protection coordinator/Advisor, provide solutions and implement modifications as required
• Guides and support implementation of all project activities (including overseeing case management, PSS, Skills acquisition, age-appropriate engagement, prevention, and risk mitigation), providing affirming feedback, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, and making recommendations for improvement
• Supports Mercy Corps and its partner in adapting case management tools and implementing the GBVIMS/ Primero, ensuring strict compliance with confidentiality policy and guidelines for information sharing of GBV data
• Ensure that program implementation mainstreams protection in coordination with other sectors in line with best practices.
• 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.
• Providing technical assistance to the field staff and partners, by designing and rolling out capacity building activities and training on all GBV/protection, ensuring on the job coaching and mentoring
• Under the supervision of GBV/Protection coordinators with staff and partners to assess training needs and develop a training and capacity development plan to ensure successful transfer of skills, knowledge, and attitudes to improve GBV responses. Organize trainings as per learning needs assessment and co-facilitate trainings.
• 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.
• 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:

• S/he will supervise Partner Program Officers.

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: Protection/GBV Coordinator
• Works Directly With: Finance, Program, MEL, and Operation Teams, partner staff

Knowledge and Experience

• B.A / B.Sc. Degree in relevant field required.
• 5 years of experience working on the development, implementation, administration and compliance of a field-based international development or humanitarian program; general gender and protection mainstreaming experience & knowledge required.
• Experience with conducting gender analysis, protection assessments, monitoring and evaluation and other learning efforts required.
• Demonstrated strengths in analytical skills, monitoring and evaluation, and report writing
• Strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills
• Excellent oral and written skills and computer skills
• Fluency in English and Hausa is required.

Success Factors:

• The successful candidate will have a can-do attitude. Ideally, s/he will be very committed and willing to learn and work in remote locations.
• S/he is a problem solver, an effective community mobilizer who is adept in successfully dealing with issues of complexity.
• S/he is an active listener and contributor, working to create a strong team that share ideas and learn.

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. 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.