Program and Protection Mainstreaming Coordinator (Applications will only be accepted if submitted through the URL link provided below)

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions
into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.
Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps program addresses a large array of needs and gaps, going from urban and peri-urban scale projects to community level interventions, addressing food, livelihoods, protection and NFI needs. The program will be implemented through local and/or regional partner NGOs and will be managed remotely from the Beirut office, Lebanon.

General Position Summary

The Program Coordinator’s role is to support the management of a large multi-sectoral humanitarian program. Under the direct supervision of the Program Manager, the Program Coordinator is responsible for coordinating and assisting NFI, food, protection, and livelihoods interventions through partner organizations in the program areas. The position holder will work closely with implementing partners to ensure successful implementation of the program. The position also involves understanding how the collection of partner projects fits within Mercy Corps’ grant and Mercy Corps’ wider strategy, with support and guidance from the Program Manager. The position encompasses a wide range of project activities, including planning and coordination of high-quality interventions, monitoring and verification of activities, supporting budget and proposal development at partner and donor level, collating information collected from partners, reporting to donors, arranging trainings with partners and mentoring and coaching of specific partner staff members where appropriate.

Relevant technical sectors the Program Coordinator will be involved in include but are not limited to: Non-Food Items; Food; Livelihoods; and Protection.

The position holder will work closely with the Program Manager, who will seek to expand the skills of the Program Coordinator and delegate more responsibility during the duration of the contract Essential Job Responsibilities.

Safeguarding Responsibilities:

•  Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work including with external stakeholders and direct reports if applicable
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps as detailed in the Code of Conduct and safeguarding policies including respecting the dignity and well-being of community participants and fellow staff members
• Holds themselves accountable for making appropriate decisions that impact community members and team members
• Takes responsibility for their personal and professional behaviour 
• Encourages openness, transparency and communication in their team; encourages team members to make any reports if they have any concerns using internal reporting mechanisms (i.e. Integrity Hotline, HR etc.)
• Demonstrates a high level of integrity and treats others with respect

Strategy & Vision

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives.

Program Management

• Oversee projects startup and ongoing projects management. 
• Ensure that projects 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 partners’ agreements and modification processes
• Support and lead when needed on training and capacity building for partners.
• Support in developing program implementation strategies, including partnership frameworks, beneficiary targeting and distribution process as well as livelihoods activities 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.
• Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiaries accountability standards.
• Ensure that the program targets and schedules are met. This includes being responsible for the quality of periodical reports/updates and grants tracking system by ensuring that program records are kept up to date.
• Provide recommendations to the Program Manager on projects to fund.
• Closely supervise the implementation of partner activities from the design phase through to implementation and close out.
• Pay close attention to issues, trends or concerns that arise from partner reports, updates and meetings. Alert the Program Manager of these on a regular basis and offer possible solutions.
• Maintain positive and professional working relationship with partners as their primary focal point. Be responsive to their needs and challenges and report to Program Manager as necessary.
• Organize and participate in the facilitation of meetings/workshops/trainings to help increase the capacity of local staff and implementing partners in planning and implementation of emergency response programs. Provide specific coaching and mentoring to local partners, maintaining a consistent approach with other team members.
• Support in completing protection, gender, and safeguarding risk assessments.
• Facilitate planning, monitoring, and quality reporting of all integrated and mainstreamed protection activities in accordance with Mercy Corps’ minimum standards for program management.
• Support the development of protection, gender and safeguarding analysis and the development of mainstreaming action plans across program sectors.
• Organize periodic experience sharing sessions with sector level protection, gender and social inclusion focal points, document and share learning.
• Work closely with MEL teams and program managers to ensure protection needs assessment and gender analysis are considered in all project assessments.
• Provide training on gender and protection principles and safeguarding for assessment/data collection team members.
• Work closely with program managers and program teams to ensure the timely implementation of all protection-mainstreaming activities across projects.
• Work closely with program teams, including PaQ, to conduct periodic community safety audits and share findings for programming decisions.
• Work closely with program teams to ensure Mercy Corps programs and services reach the most vulnerable households. 
• Keep up to date with all contextual changes and the impact on current future projects.
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
• Lead on payments to partners and ensure the timely delivery of these payments.
• Maintain well-organized and consistent filing system and tracking system for all project documentation and information.

POGRAM SUPPORT

• Support in completing protection, gender and safeguarding risk assessments.
• Facilitate planning, monitoring and quality reporting of all integrated and mainstreamed protection activities in accordance with Mercy Corps’ minimum standards for program management.

Team Management

• Manage program officers and develop their capacity and 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.
• Coordinate internally with subawards, finance, compliance, security, HR, and humanitarian access teams, ensuring a consistent approach to project design, implementation, and close-out.

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.

SAFEGUARDING AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS

• Lead on safeguarding support for other departments as needed.
• Receive disclosure and refer to the Integrity Hotline; practice empathy and non-judgement.
• Engage with investigators as needed and practice confidentiality at all times.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
• 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.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

1. University Degree or Higher in a field relating to humanitarian and development aid, food security, and/or livelihoods.
2. 3-5 years of experience working in Non-Governmental Organization, ideally focused on humanitarian relief.
3. Desired demonstrated expertise in implementation of livelihoods, NFI and Food distributions and other relevant projects.
4. Demonstrated experience in emergency response programming in insecure environments.
5. Demonstrated experience in working with implementing partners. Remote Partnership Management is an asset.
6. Demonstrated capacity to collaborate closely with INGOs, national NGOs and Community Based Organizations.
7. Good organizational and project management and coordination skills.
8. Proven ability to work cooperatively with colleagues from other departments in a team environment, and to lead a diverse group of people.
9. Understanding of participatory methodologies for project design, implementation and evaluation.
10. Working understanding of procurement, administration and finance systems.
11. Demonstrated familiarity with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) is required.
12. Show great initiative and be able to work well in a team and independently.
13. Demonstrate knowledge of the Middle East context and understands project needs.
14. Commitment to high level of confidentiality with sensitive information.
15. Arabic and English language written and spoken is essential.

Supervisory Responsibility

Program officers, currently none

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Project Manager

Works Directly With: All Mercy Corps department and staff as well as staff from partner(s) organizations

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have proven experience working effectively and respectfully with NGOs and CBO representatives, and will have effective verbal and written communication as well as multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills. S/he will have demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines, and work independently and cooperatively with team members. S/he should have excellent coordination skills, the ability to manage multiple deadlines and show initiative to improve program implementation. Sensitivity to multi-cultural humanitarian and development work and ability to train and facilitate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals with various skill sets and working styles are all critical. An ability to creatively solve problems, juggle multiple priorities under tight deadlines, and to calmly and diplomatically deal with unexpected and sudden events impacting program operations are also essential.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours. 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 venues, in such a manner as to bring positive recognition to Mercy Corps and to not endanger Mercy Corps’ humanitarian mission.

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 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 to 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