Community Accountability Advisor – Poland/Ukraine At Mercy Corps

This position is open toUkrainian, Polish, Romanian, and Moldovan nationals only.

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 Summary:
Mercy Corps’ Ukraine crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Ukrainians and other conflict-affected people where they are: displaced inside Ukraine, refugees in Poland, Romania, and Moldova, or trapped behind frontlines. We aim to reach 500,000 vulnerable people with multi-purpose cash assistance, in-kind humanitarian support, and protection services across four countries. Almost all our impact will be delivered in partnership: with Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian and Moldovan civil society organizations through a granting program that matches humanitarian action with capacity strengthening, and with peer international NGOs through a consortium in Ukraine. Mercy Corps is responding to the Ukraine crisis with large-scale consortium programming with a focus on Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA). The Consortium is a partnership between four international humanitarian aid agencies to deliver innovative, effective cash and other humanitarian assistance programs to support people affected by the Ukraine crisis within Ukraine.

The Position:
The Community Accountability Advisor is responsible for leading a large, three-country Community Accountability team to ensure the operation of a robust and inclusive community feedback and complaints system. This system, referred to as our ‘Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism’ (CARM) exists across all our projects and programs and is a key method by which we collect data to adjust our programs to make them safer, more inclusive, and to better meet the needs of our project participants. In the context of the UkraineResponse, designing and implementing an effective CARM will play a key role in ensuring that emergency assistance is responsive to the needs of displaced people, and continuously adapts over time. Having a robust community feedback and complaints mechanism is an essential part of Mercy Corps’ commitment to program quality, integrity, and the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse by providing individuals, organizations, local groups, and other stakeholders a safe and confidential way of raising questions, ideas, suggestions, and complaints with Mercy Corps, and to receive a response. The proper functioning of this system will be the responsibility of the Advisor/Leadand the teams this position will oversee.

The CARM Advisor will also contribute towards a wider partnership development strategy, with responsibilities in overseeing the selection of program partners and further assisting them with developing or improving their own feedback and complaints systems. The Advisor/Lead will be the leading internal voice on all aspects of Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and will work cross-functionally, and particularly with program teams, to further Mercy Corps’ commitment to timely information sharing and meaningful engagement of affected people in decision making – in alignment with international frameworks such as the Core Humanitarian Standards, IASC Accountability to Affected Populations, and key workstreams of the Grand Bargain.

This role will also serve as a key internal check to make sure the Mercy Corps Ukraine Response is following its own guidance on accountability to our team members, partners, and participants.

Essential Responsibilities:

Strategic Planning & Cross-Team Work

• Manage and continuously revise the CARMpartnerships strategy that prioritizes the following key components:
  • Directly managing and operating CARM on behalf of shorter-terms partners who lack capacity or equivalent systems of their own
  • Working with longer-term partners without an accountability system on developing their own with the goal of eventually transferring responsibility for handling CARM as an integral component of effective programming
  • Working with partners with their own equivalent system on capacity building as needed on identified priorities.
• With the Program Performance and Quality(PaQ)Lead, maintain a master response-wide budget and staffing plan, in response to evolving operational environment and programming needs.
• Work closely with PaQLead, CARM Managers, and FinanceTeam to ensure Community Accountability staffing and operational costs are monitored and appropriately budgeted for in proposals.

Technical Support & Supervision

• Set overall response-wide priorities for CARMand support CARM Managers in the development of country-level work planning and prioritization as needed.
• Recruit, onboard, and support the continuous learning and development of CARM Managers.
• Ensure response-wide understanding of the Mercy Corps CARM Policy and Minimum Standards, and associated policies (e.g. data protection, record retention and archiving, etc.)
• Support the continuous review and implementation of country action plans/work plans to ensure a community focus, inclusivity, and the prioritization of community needs first and foremost.
• Co-facilitate regular reviews of Country CARM Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and the identification of updates and possible improvements.
• Monitor compliance of each country/project/program to the CARM Minimum Standards, and work closely with CARM Managers on next steps, mitigation strategies, and process improvements as needed.

Frameworks, Tools, & Resources

• Facilitate development of a response-wide Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) framework and leverage opportunities through our partners to elevate collective programming standards.
• Support integration of AAP and CARM into recruitment and onboarding processes for all staff.
• Coordinate with CARM Managers on contextualization and translation of tools and templates from the CARM toolkit for the Ukraine response team.
• Develop contextualized learning opportunities for Mercy Corps and partner staff, building on internal and external learning pathways and available tools.

Monitoring & Adaptive Management

• Provide technical support to CARM Managers to collaborate with Program Managers and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) colleagues in choosing appropriate CARM indicators – and to integrate them within program data collection activities and MELplans.
• Lead the development of the CARM data and visualization process. (We will train on database management,visualization,and program data integration!)
• Lead response wide CARMdata review sessions, focusing on key indicators, and trends. Prepare recommendations to programmatic activities, etc. based on data and input from CARM Managers and PaQLead.
• Aggregate country-level data to develop a response-level picture on the performance of CARM, including volume of feedback and feedback by age/location/gender/type/etc. to identify and drive continuous program improvement related to access and inclusion.
• Present trends in CARM data at senior management and response-level program meetings, to promote the use of feedback/complaints in informing program adjustments and adaptations.

Representation & Coordination

• Actively represent Mercy Corps in Clusters/Working Groups/External coordination meetings (e.g., AAPWorkingGroup) and contribute towards relevant collective strategies, plans and resources.
• Collaborate with other actors to develop referral maps and mechanisms for communities where Mercy Corps implements programs.

Code of Conduct

• Ensure all field and office-based activities are conducted in full respect to humanitarian principles and in organized and dignified way.
• 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.

Accountability:
Supervisory Responsibility: CARM Managers in Ukraine, Poland, and Romania/Moldova
Reports Directly To: Program Performance, Quality, and Learning (PaQ) Lead
Works Directly With: Senior CARM Officers, Safeguarding Team, Programs Directors/Managers, Operations Teams, Ethics/Assurance Teams, Regional Community Accountability team.

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.

Required Qualifications & Transferable Skills:
Note:A combination of education, specific academic coursework, research, or extensive related professional experience is acceptable for consideration in lieu of certain required qualifications.

• Degree in international development or an area related to social science (sociology, anthropology, psychology, gender studies, etc.), social work, statistics, or other related field.
• At least 5 years of related work experience, preferably with an international or local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with previous experience leading or managing a team, and remote team management.
• Proven ability to work cooperatively with internal and external stakeholders, and to play a leadership role in convening task oriented groups with both. Astute awareness of, and skills in, relationship building and coordination.
• Proven commitment to humanitarian and development principles and a demonstrable understanding of conflict contexts and affected populations.
• At least one year work experience in Ukraine with demonstratable understanding of context specific sensibilities that pertain to the ongoing conflict.
• Proven experience in remote data collection.
• Proven experience in developing or contributing to accountability framework or standard operating procedures for feedback mechanisms.
• Intermediate to advanced report writing skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced emergency response environment and adapt to the rapidly evolving context as necessary.
• Excellent listening, interpersonal, and communication skills, along with the ability to work with diversified populations.
• Fluency in English is required. Fluency in at least one of the following languages: Ukrainian, Russian, or Polish is also required.

Preferred Qualifications & Transferable Skills:

• Master’s degree in relevant field.
• Experience working in high-risk contexts.
• Qualitative and quantitative research experience with marginalized communities.
• At least two years of experience in maintaining feedback mechanisms and their operation.
• Experience with data visualization practices and software (PowerBI, etc.) and familiarity with the core components of database management and program data integration.
• Working proficiency in Ukrainian (or Russian) and Polish languages would be a strong asset.

Success Factors:
Note: Any skills gained through education, volunteering, work, or life experience that are relevant for the position will be considered. Be sure to fully explain transferable skills and success factors and how they apply to this position in your cover letter and potential interview.

The successful Community Accountability Advisor will have excellent abilities to on lead task management and prioritization with a large team across three countries, along with strong communication and interpersonal skills and a demonstrated attention to detail with a strong understanding of the conflict Ukraine in Ukraine and regional context (with appropriate language skills).

The Advisor will be committed to working long and difficult hours as needed – and with Mercy Corps stakeholders regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, abilities, or gender. They will be highly motivated, and capable to work without direct supervision. Other factors include:

• Willingness to develop and work with a ‘bottom up’ approach to community accountability, working with country teams on supporting their priorities and empowering them to make decisions while developing their skills.
• Enthusiasm for mainstreaming a process of continual quality and process improvement across the response.
• The ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines.
• Willingness and ability to quickly learn new information/concepts and implement them.
• A learning approach to work with excellent capacity building skills.
• Attention to detail and patience to verify data and outcomes.
• Commitment to effective collaboration with partners.
• Self-starter, multi-tasker, solution-seeker, and innovator. Someone willing to think outside conventional humanitarian thinking.

Ongoing Learning:
In support of our belief that learning organizations 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 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 based on 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 and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. 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.