Shelter Program Officer at Mercy Corps

Overview

• Mercy Corps has been present in Nigeria since 2012, focusing its interventions on adolescent girls’ empowerment, economic development, and conflict mitigation. With the insurgency spilling over from the Northeast of Nigeria and causing displacement of millions of individuals, Mercy Corps started its humanitarian response in 2014 to address the rising humanitarian needs.
• With funding from institutional donors, foundations and private corporations, Mercy Corps continues to provide assistance to meet the basic needs of vulnerable populations in the areas of food security, shelter, water and sanitation, protection, and livelihoods.
• With the recognition of the protracted crisis in Northeast Nigeria, Mercy Corps’ strategy and expansion plans aim to address the root causes of the crisis and seek to build long-term resilience of communities with integrated programs focusing on the recovery of markets and livelihoods, social cohesion and social protection, and youth empowerment with emphasis on adolescent girls and boys.
• With multiple funding streams from large institutional donors and foundations, Mercy Corps’ programs in Northeast Nigeria continue to scale up and serve communities by transitioning them from humanitarian aid to early recovery programs.

Essential Job Functions

• The Shelter Officer is responsible for supporting the management of all shelter construction works and supports in conducting sectoral needs assessments in liaison with other relevant team members such as protection, WASH, Cash teams and community relief committee.
• He/she would assist in developing technical components to shelter and preparation of BOQ and Estimates, Planning, Technical Details, Drawings, improve development techniques for the safer building/shelter and other all Civil and Architectural related projects.
• Support in carrying out shelter needs assessments taking into account the current situation, projected population planning figures and the expected scale of returns.
• Support in the developments of shelter strategies which are framed by Mercy Corps’s Global Strategy for Settlement and Shelter and take into consideration the local context, age and gender, culture, climate, environmental protection and the availability of local resources, including materials, capacities and existing infrastructure.
• Support in providing clear guidance on standards for shelter, including minimum emergency standards to meet basic and essential needs as well as guidance for phased improvement of shelter conditions that will be necessary as the duration of the displacement prolongs.
• Compiling, analyzing and mapping available information on shelter options in the country taking into account relevant policies adopted by the Government and CCCM cluster.
• Ensuring that specifications, bills of quantities and drawings are produced in a technically sound and standardized manner.
• Establish monitoring and evaluation tools to ensure that works are implemented according to plans and completed within the designated timeframe.
• Ensure that local communities and the community relief community have been consulted on all activities so as not to create unnecessary tension between the displaced and host populations.
• When planning shelter works, ensure that the technical component reflects Sphere minimum standards for the provision of emergency and other types of shelter assistance and is within the budgetary requirements.
• Prepare project/contracts related documentation such as periodic progress reports, site monitoring reports, stakeholder meeting minutes, Engineer’s Instructions and Variation Orders, Contractor’s bills review reports, certifications, etc
• Preparation of payment certificate and work progress record for the review of the contractors
• Works closely with contractors in the field with the provision of technical support and guidance.
• Ensures that items procured meet specifications of the end-user while adhering to donor and Mercy Corps procurement guidelines and in a timely manner.
• Prepare the project engineering estimates and design drawings for the procurement and execution purpose
• Prepare the team work plans and project implementation plans
• Supervise the shelter assistants and field supervisors to ensure they are implementing program activities within the set timeline and are delivering according to the work plan.
• Build the capacity of the shelter assistants and field supervisors in program management
• Monitoring all shelter program activities, including the planning and execution of any required evaluations, to ensure that accurate and timely information is available.
• Supervise the construction works and administer the execution of the work as per the contractual provisions and the design specifications.
• Collect and share data according to evolving needs.
• Develop documents on Shelter/NFI best practices, through capacity mapping and gaps identification.
• Develop and maintain working relationships and coordinate with relevant international and local agencies active in the shelter working group and related coordination platforms.
• Regularly monitor program sites in order to ensure that shelter programs are adapted to local needs, provide quality control assurance, and conduct regular audits of program 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.

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:

• Shelter Program Assistants

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: Senior Shelter Program Officer
• Works Directly With: All program teams, Operations, MEL and MC beneficiaries.

Knowledge and Experience

• B.Eng in Civil Engineering, or other relevant fields.
• 2 - 3 years of experience implementing shelter programs/ activities.
• Experience with emergency Shelter programs with a view on sustainable infrastructure, Cash-for-Work programming required.
• Experience working with local stakeholders required.
• Good organizational and program management skills and the ability to anticipate program needs.
• Ability to effectively represent the organization and its interests to a diverse range of stakeholders, including local and international government officials, local civil society organizations, donors, other international organizations, the media and the community.
• Demonstrated proficiency with the MS Office and design software (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, AutoCAD) is required, with a strong focus on Excel.
• Ability to analyze databases resulting from surveys.
• Excellent oral and written English skills are an advantage, with local languages skills a bonus.
• Proven experience in working in an insecure environment and through remote management.
• Fluency in English, Kanuri, Hausa, and other relevant local languages is desirable.

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.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions:

• The position will be based in Maiduguri with travels across intervention areas in Borno State.

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.