Niger: Regional Gender Advisor and Program Manager- Niger (220031-927)

PROGRAM/ DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

In the West, Central and North (WCN) Africa Region, Mercy Corps is a leader in innovative programming that is widely recognized by donors and policy makers for evidence-based solutions that have lasting impact and build resilience. Strong gender integration throughout our program design, implementation and measurement approaches in the WCN Africa region-and embedded in our organizational culture-is a priority for Mercy Corps, with the overall aim of increasing impact and fostering inclusive development throughout the region.

The BRIGE Program, a flagship program in the region, builds community resilience by increasing Mercy Corps' capacity to better respond to gender-specific needs and vulnerabilities during complex and chronic crises. Disasters and chronic stresses can undermine the foundations of communities, but may also provide opportunities to begin to transform deeply entrenched inequality. Although men, women, boys, and girls are all vulnerable to the impacts of disasters, women and youth are often exposed to additional barriers - such as constraints on their mobility or insufficient access to land, education, and finance - that decrease their capacity to adapt to adversity and contribute to change. At the same time, women, youth, and other vulnerable groups often have critical knowledge and skills that can help their households and communities respond to and recover from crises. The BRIGE program will support the aid community to better identify and utilize these untapped resources while empowering women and youth to be part of household and community decision-making. Ultimately, BRIGE seeks to empower women and youth as agents of resilience, thereby increasing the coping capacities of households and communities to manage the impacts of recurring disasters, slow-onset crises, climate change, and poor governance.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Niger Country Director and the Regional Program Director for WCN Africa, the WCN Africa Regional Gender Advisor will manage the BRIGE Program in Niger, implementing its gender assessments and audit in close coordination with the BRIGE team. She/he is also responsible for providing a regional focus, serving as the agency's focal point for gender integration in the WCN Africa region. This position will work in close unison with program teams in the region by sharing learning and evidence from BRIGE and integrating findings into programming in Niger and other West, North and Central African Mercy Corps countries. Working closely with the Regional Resilience Advisor for WCN Africa, s/he will also contribute to the development of a regional gender and resilience strategy and support establishment of a measurement approach to strengthen Mercy Corps' gender and resilience evidence base.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategy and Vision

• Working closely with country and regional teams, develop and deliver regional gender and resilience strategy for WCN Africa, including a research and learning agenda.
• In line with country and regional strategies, develop or support development of innovative high quality concept papers and proposals to increase funding for gender and resilience programs.

Program Design, Implementation and Management:

• Working closely with the Program Director and national program staff, manage the implementation of the BRIGE program in Niger, ensuring adherence to Mercy Corps' Program Management Minimal Standards.
• Support design of and conduct gender assessments and audits in Niger, and support organizational mapping activities.
• Support the design of capacity building materials for the gender assessment and audit process.
• Oversee the development and implementation of the Niger team's gender action plan and contribute to the execution of the region's gender and resilience strategy in Niger.
• Provide training, on-going coaching and gender and resilience capacity building to program and technical teams in the region, with strong focus on Niger programs and the existing Niger Gender Taskforce.
• Support the development of the BRIGE Toolkit providing targeted guidance for practitioners and implementers focused on gender and resilience. Working with the BRIGE Program Director, ensure harmonization with other relevant Mercy Corps toolkits and initiatives.
• Share tools and learnings from BRIGE in Niger with other Mercy Corps' teams in WCA, integrating findings into Mercy Corps' efforts in Nigeria, Mali, Liberia, DRC, Tunisia and CAR.

Team Management:

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
• Contribute to team-building efforts, help team members identify problem-solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations.
• Support systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.

Representation

• Develop a strategic communications plan for raising the WCN Africa region's profile internally and externally with regards to gender and resilience
• Act as a Mercy Corps representative on gender and resilience in the region including at donor meetings and thematic working groups.
• Proactively collaborate with others within and outside the agency who are working on resilience, and manage partnerships with key regional partners.

Security

• Comply with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.

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 towards 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: Niger Senior Program Officer

ACCOUNTABILITY:

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Niger Country Director (50%) and WCN Africa Regional Program Director (50%)

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: BRIGE Program Director, Niger Country Director, Niger BRIGE Program Officer, Niger BRIGE Program Assistant, WCN Africa Regional Resilience Advisor, Indonesia BRIGE Program Manager, Nepal BRIGE Program Manager

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• Masters in International Development or relevant field or at least three years management experience with specific experience and skills in program design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, learning and partnerships.
• At least three years of experience as a field based gender technical specialist
• Experience in rural West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa strongly preferred.
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including report development, writing and editing.
• Skills in monitoring and evaluation.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently as well as cooperatively with team members.
• Patience, perseverance, initiative and a sense of humor required.
• Proficiency in written and spoken French required.

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful candidate will have a background in gender and development programming. S/he will apply a strong combination of program leadership and relationship-building abilities with an outstanding ability to contribute to learning and development of innovative programs within the current and future structure of country operations in the Region. Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural negotiation and communications skills are vital for working effectively across varied team structures and across geographies. S/he will be a skilled team builder and facilitator.

LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:

The position is based in Niamey, Niger and will require occasional travel up to 25% within Niger and occasionally within the region (possible travel to Mali, Nigeria, CAR, DRC, Liberia and Tunisia). Niamey is relatively secure. Housing is individual accommodation with freedom of movement beyond the house/office. All Mercy Corps Niger employees are expected to work a five-day work week and may be required to work evenings and weekends as required by schedule. There are international schools in Niger. Staff will have access to electricity and water, though they should expect occasional outages. Access to health care is limited. This is an accompanied post with international schooling available for children.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. 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.

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=dGNoYWJvdW5pLjY3OTIzLjM4MzBAbWVyY3ljb3Jwcy5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20