Project Officer-GIRL(Amudat, Moroto, Kaabong)

Program / Department Summary

Girls Improving Resilience through Livelihoods and Health (GIRL-H) is a three-year, 10-million-dollar program to be implemented in Kenya, Uganda and Haiti that seeks to improve the well-being of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and boys/men by increasing their access to skills and knowledge, health resources, formal education and economic opportunities. GIRL-H also fosters an enabling environment by working with communities to transform unhealthy social norms and create opportunities for girls to access education and economic opportunities. Key to GIRL-H is a robust learning and research agenda that reaches across three countries to contribute to the evidence base on what works to secure access to opportunities for adolescent girls within the most marginalized communities and to better understand their contribution to household resilience. This evidence and learning will be shared to elevate Mercy Corps’ influence in the adolescent girl space and to bolster fundraising efforts to scale the model. In coordination with APOLOU Gender & Youth and Adolescents team, the GIRL-H Program Officer will support the Program Manager in the routine implementation of the GIRL program activities.

General Position Summary

Under the Program Manager’s direct supervision, the Program Officer will respond to the needs of communities through GIRL-H services.  The PO will work with APOLOU’s Adolescents Coordinator, safe space mentors and community structures to ensure that eligible adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and boys are transitioned and enrolled into GIRL program.  In coordination with the mentors, Senior Economic Empowerment Officer, Public-Private Partnerships Officer and MEL Officer, s/he will ensure that quality and timely safe space services and interventions are delivered to the enrolled AGYW and boys, within scope and target.  S/he will build and maintain essential relationships with relevant community stakeholders, DLG, partners and CBOs. S/he will work directly with girl mentors and build their capacity to ensure quality and timely implementation of GIRL activities. The Program Officer will be responsible for the supervision of partner CSO activities.  S/he will work closely with the Apolou Gender & Youth, Adolescents, Livelihoods, and Health Teams, District Implementation Team Leads, MEL, and Chief of Party to ensure that GIRL-H program is implemented to the highest standards possible with strong community engagement, within the agreed project timeframe and to the approved budget. 

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program Implementation

• Provide leadership and daily oversight for planning and implementation of GIRL-H Activities including; mentorship and support supervision to mentors in the respective District.
• Support the Program Manager in the development of activity plans and reporting format for activity implementation
• Support the Program Manager in advocacy and maintenance of partnership with the relevant departments of the Local Government at Sub County and District level to elevate GIRL-H objectives.
• Support the Program Manager in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the program activities, in accordance with Mercy Corps Apolou-GIRL-H objectives.
• Contribute in the development of training curriculum, project tools, and IEC materials; facilitate GIRL-H related training for girl mentors
• Supervise the activities and performance of the partners, mentors and TOTs; conduct routine team meetings, adhere to performance reviews timelines, troubleshoot challenges and standardize implementation approaches.
• Identify and document best practices and failures in GIRL-H program and provide timely feedback to the Program Manager.
• Work with APOLOU Finance team to ensure that CSOs budgets are prepared and payments/sub-grants processed in a timely manner
• Ensure timely and consistent submission of project reports, success stories and other relevant data to MEL Officer and the Program Manager (weekly, monthly and quarterly reports)

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Provide ongoing mentorship to implementation team on data collection processes for completeness, accuracy and timely submission.
• Oversee the governance structures filling system in the GIRL-H program implementation districts and ensure that information is organized according to the reporting and auditing needs of the program.
• Responsible for data collection including gender and age disaggregated data, data validation, assuring quality control measures, timely data submission in coordination with MEL Officer/team
• Through the field staff, support and mentor community partners and structures on data collection and use.
• Supervise the GIRL Program partner CSOs and Mentors in data collection and entry to regularly update the Activity Tracker

Influence and Representation

• Support and coordinate field learning visits from district and sub-county government, partners and external visitors, such as donors and media, in collaboration with GIRL-H Program Manager and APOLOU Team
• Support the Program Manager in coordination and communication of field activities with other NGOs and local government partners to avoid duplication of services and support an enabling environment for GIRL-H program interventions.
• Establish and maintain a productive working relationship with the local Government and Sub Counties, working in unison to develop complementary joint monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management structures where possible.

Ethics and Integrity

All Mercy Corps staff are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.

 Security

Ensure data protection policies are adhered to, establishing security controls for software, hardware and archive beneficiary databases.

Organization 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: GIRL-H Program Mentors and CSOs

Reports Directly To: GIRL-H Program Manager

Works Directly With: Apolou Field Team (Program, MEL, Finance, HR, Operations), District Implementation Team Leads and global GIRL-H technical team.

 Knowledge and Experience

• A Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Anthropology, Public Health, Agribusiness or in a related field
• At least 3 years of related professional experience in adolescent girls programming, youth, women empowerment, or livelihoods.
• Demonstrated skills in data collection, verification and documentation
• Proven skills in networking, team-building, community consultations and organizational development;
• Excellent reporting, communication and representation skills
• Willingness to consider new perspectives, promote gender equality and engage in gender training
• Ability to ride a motorcycle and he/she should be in a possession of a valid riding license
• Proven knowledge and capacity in using computer basic applications MS word, Excel and internet
• In-depth knowledge of the social, cultural and economic context of Karamoja a plus
• Fluency in local languages prevalent within the operational district where assigned (highly desired)

 Success Factors

The ability to communicate effectively, respectfully and enthusiastically with community structures will be one of the position’s three success factors. The second will be the degree to which the Program Officer drives results, producing scheduled outputs at deadline and to expected quality. The third success factor will be the degree to which the officer effectively gathers activity monitoring and evaluation data and utilizes data to inform activity implementation and program learning.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is based in Kotido or Moroto, Karamoja and requires at least 60% travel within the region.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed. 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.  Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision.

 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 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, color, 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.

Closes: 4th June 2021