Program Manager (Applications will only be accepted if submitted through the URL link provided below)

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

Mercy Corps is looking for an experienced Program Manager for the 42-month (Nov 2021 to April 2025) AFD-funded BASATINE Program (Bolstering Agriculture Systems’ Ability to Invest, Nourish, and Employ). CARE International is the consortium lead while Mercy Corps is the lead on two of the five components. The intervention aims to immediately address food insecurity and provide needed income and technical support to farmers to survive the current crisis in the short-term, and to improve the capacity of food systems to maintain employment and growth over the longer term via stronger domestic production and system linkages. Mercy Corps is leading on improved market linkages within the agricultural sector by working with input suppliers and with SMEs within the agro-food industry, and on the generation of evidence through research and regular MEL activities to promote evidence-based sector development.

The program seeks to strike a balance between short-term urgent and ever evolving humanitarian needs of agricultural producers, and the longer-term building up and facilitation of more efficient market systems supporting the sector. It seeks to address barriers and challenges to increased domestic production along the agriculture value chain(s) that is operationally and financially sustainable. It seeks to identify and scale up potential import substitutes for domestic market consumption and increased food security, while also identifying and addressing barriers to access export markets for improved trade and hard currency generation. The program will have a strong MEL, research and learning agenda to provide ongoing evidence-based adaptation internally and the generation of actionable, contextualized research for humanitarian and development practitioners, donors, local and national level public sector, and private sector actors

The Position

The Program Manager will be based in Beirut and reporting to the Director of Programs. The person will bring a strong and evidenced understanding of and background in market systems development, private sector engagement/facilitation, and the agricultural sector in Lebanon. They will demonstrate a keen understanding of the current Lebanese context and its challenges, while constantly pushing to adapt and innovate. They will provide overall leadership, management and strategic vision to the implementation of the BASATINE program, to ensure that the program meets its targets and deliverables on time and within budget, while modeling and nurturing processes and systems that are equitable, promote transparent and equal partnerships. The Program Manager will supervise program staff and ensure accountability to Mercy Corps policies and donor rules and regulations. They will be the primary program representative to the consortium led by CARE International, donors, relevant government entities, partners, other implementers and stakeholders. They will ensure the coherence and quality of the program interventions, seeking out innovations and adaptations to ensure that they lead to the desired impact in the rapidly changing political, economic and political context of Lebanon. They will evidence a strong commitment to contributing to a stronger, adaptive, less aid reliant and confident private sector in Lebanon

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION

• Lead the development of a vision and strategy for the program shared with the consortium members, the program team and key stakeholders;
• Play an active role in identifying and developing new initiatives that foster and/or improve strategic objectives of the program and the country office and across Mercy Corps Lebanon’s program portfolio;
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create a positive collaborative environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed, recognized, and have the opportunity to create ownership by all team members
• Represent Mercy Corps at consortium, government, donor, NGO and other relevant forums in close coordination with the Director of Programs and MERG Sector Lead;
• Coordinate activities with consortium partners, subgrantees, local government and other implementers as well as with other Mercy Corps programs. Contribute to fostering a positive collaborative and mutually beneficial working relationship between Mercy Corps team members and partners;
• Serve as an active contributor and collaborator with regional and global counterparts to promote best practices;
• Contribute to country program direction by inputting on actions & resources, in collaboration with other livelihood PMs to achieve objectives and contribute to country and regional-wide strategy development. Participates in proposal writing, report writing, strategy development, and other processes that may lead to additional funding opportunities.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Ensure that the program targets are well understood and achieved according to the implementation work-plan, and adapt the work-plan when required. This includes being responsible for the quality of periodical reports/updates and grants tracking systems by ensuring that subgrant and grant records are kept up to date while ensuring coordination with the Director of Programs;
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities’ needs and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan;
• Ensure that program participants are effectively targeted according to established vulnerability criteria;
• Integrate inclusive community approaches and gender sensitivity into all activities as appropriate;
• Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, and collaborate with the MEL Manager and PAQ Manager to monitor desired impacts; and communicate major risks and bottlenecks to Director of Programs;
• Fulfil Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organisation-wide guidelines;
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, Safeguarding, and beneficiary accountability standards;
• Ensure proper implementation of referral mechanisms in Mercy Corps.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Hire, orient and lead high performing, dedicated, and professional team members as necessary;
• Develop the capacity of the team both as individuals and as a group, deepen understanding of their roles, and assist with career development;
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance and 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 as individuals and as a team.

FINANCE AND COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations;
• Keep track of forecasting and expenditures in coordination with the Program Support Coordinator; 
• Ensure financial monitoring of expenditures and financial reporting by any partner(s) in coordination with the Finance Department and represent the program during monthly BvA meetings.

REPORTING AND COMMUNICATION

• Develop communication material for internal and external audiences;
• Contribute to and review all internal and external reports to ensure coherence, accuracy, high professional standards, and timeliness.

REPRESENTATION

• Maintain productive relationships with internal and external constituents such as consortium partners, private partners, national government, foundations, the private sector, etc.

• As required by the supervisor, represent Mercy Corps at donor meetings, and government and sectoral coordination forums/meetings.
• Represents Mercy Corps in the agriculture and food security sector and any other coordination forums for livelihoods programming.

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 and adhere to policies.

Supervisory Responsibility

Project Coordinator, MEL Coordinator and Program Support Coordinator

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of Programs

Works Directly With: Consortium MEL Manager, Consortium Director, PAQ Manager, other Program

Managers, Finance, Operations, and HR teams, relevant HQ Technical Support Units.  

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• University degree in a field relating to development work or degree relevant to one or more of the following technical sectors: Agriculture, Economics, Business;
• At least 5-6 years of experience working in Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), ideally focused on agricultural development programs and/or on business development programs;
• Demonstrated experience working on complex and large consortium projects;
• Experience working on an AFD-funded projects is an asset; 
• Knowledge of the Market System Development approach is a strong asset;
• High level of all aspects of managerial experience, including managing multi-million-dollar budgets and ability to keep an eye on the bigger picture;
• Demonstrated high level of expertise in representation and negotiation with governments and donors;
• Ability to work independently and provide leadership to the team;
• Commitment to local capacity development and past experience engaging and working with local stakeholders, particularly in the private sector, in program design and implementation.
• Creativity and sense of humor to adapt to challenging circumstances; 
• Ability to effectively manage stressful, highly unpredictable situations professionally and with empathy;
• Arabic and English language written and spoken are essential. Excellent written English is strongly desired.

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have a passion for supporting and facilitating the success of freelancers and believes in the potential of the digital economy. S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results. A strong asset would be her/his ability to test and propose new creative ideas, with a forward-driven mentality that is solution-oriented and optimistic. Ability to work independently and as part of a team, with curiosity about and sensitivity to new cultures, a desire and ability to learn and grow, both personally and professionally, and a great sense of humour.

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.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Beirut, Lebanon it requires up to 40% of local field movements to various regions in the country, with the possibility to support other country offices and which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. Housing for this role is in individual housing and staff will have access to good medical services and the living situation is of a high standard.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organisations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organisation 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 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 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.