Country Director & Chief of Party Kyrgyzstan At Mercy Corps

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.

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Program / Department Summary**

Mercy Corps has been present in Kyrgyzstan since 1994, focusing its interventions on food security & child nutrition, community mobilization, increasing economic opportunities for youth, livelihood improvement through resilience for climate change, and others. With funding from USDA and some private foundations, Mercy Corps has been able to work together with communities in Kyrgyzstan to improve literacy of school-age children and increase knowledge of health, nutrition, and hygiene practices bringing benefit to more than 100,000 primary grade students and their families across the country.

Promote reading readiness in preschools and homes through the provision of age-appropriate pre-literacy activities, training and mentoring of preschool teachers and school administrators on pre-literacy instruction and enhancing community and family support for reading;
Improve nutrition of children and their families through the provision of school meals, and promotion and improvement of dietary diversity;
Improve school infrastructure and the learning environment of preschool children through the construction or rehabilitation of preschool kitchens, classrooms and water and sanitation facilities;
Increase knowledge of nutrition, health, and hygiene practices and safe food preparation and storage practices, by facilitating training for cooks, parents, and school officials;
Improve student attendance in preschools through the provision of daily school meals, improved learning environment, and access to clean water and sanitation.

The program will target 400 eligible schools across all 7 oblasts, in 37 of the 40 districts.

Mercy Corps is seeking a Country Director (CD)/Chief of Party (CoP) to manage overall implementation of project activities and operations and advocacy with the Government of Kyrgyzstan (GoK) in support of FFE program objectives. Mercy Corps’ vision for change requires the private sector, government and civil society to work together to create meaningful and sustainable change.

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General Position Summary**

The Mercy Corps Country Director and Chief of Party is an innovative and visionary leader responsible for resourcefully managing all programming in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, resulting in lasting improvement in the lives of the vulnerable population. S/He has held senior roles in formulating strategic direction within an international development context. The CD has supervisory responsibility for the country team and a $25mln USD program portfolio funded by the USDA McGovern Dole Food for Education Program in Kyrgyzstan and implementation of all security protocols. The CD/CoP develops sustainable, multi-sector programming and is accountable to beneficiaries and donors, placing a high value on innovative solutions to development issues and creative partnerships in tough environments.

The CD and CoP will also be highly experienced in a broad spectrum of technical focus areas with responsibility for establishing and managing systems to ensure cohesion across all technical sectors in the program (Nutrition and Dietary diversity, WASH and Pre-literacy education). S/he will also make sure technical interventions are integrated, layered and sequenced appropriately at all levels of implementation.

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Essential Job Responsibilities**

Strategy & Vision

Formulate, plan and communicate a clear vision of present and future program goals and strategies to team members and stakeholders that translates into concrete programs and work plans.
Lead the annual country planning process and provide strategic updates
Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve program and agency objectives.
Use technical support teams collaboratively.
Explore, evaluate and present new country and project funding opportunities that leverage impact and integrate initiatives and activities; support and direct related fund-raising activities with both institutional and private donors.

Team Management

Oversee program implementation team, ensuring that all staff are following work plans, activities are on schedule, and project deliverables are completed as planned.
Develop and oversee implementation of capacity building strategy for team members that promotes a culture of learning through systematic analysis and reflection of program data and lessons learned.
Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
Supervise and manage all program staff to ensure day-to-day activities are implemented in a coordinated fashion according to schedule, budget and quality.
Supervise and manage all program partnerships to ensure sound coordination in the context of an overall program strategic and resilience-building framework.
Manage and help with the recruitment, orientation, professional development and ongoing training of FFE staff to ensure they are of the quality and technical capacity necessary to ensure the successful implementation of activities.

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Program Operations Management & Implementation **

Oversee program quality and impact by ensuring programs are based on sound design principles and utilize Mercy Corps and donor required M&E systems.
Ensure effective, transparent use of resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies/procedures.
Oversee budget management of sub-grantees/sub-contractors, if applicable.
Build and maintain operational systems that ensure proper administrative support for programs, as well as segregation of duties between finance and operations.
Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
Provide overall technical guidance and leadership, mentoring, quality control and coordination to strengthen program outcomes.
Lead the development of detailed implementation plans, performance monitoring plan, Results Framework, Evaluation Plan and other deliverables flowing from the project workplan, and ensure the delivery of the same.
Support the establishment of a program structure that favors integration between all sectors.
Ensure that cross-cutting themes such as adaptive management, resilience and sustainability are fully included within the program strategy.
Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and GoK policies/priorities, and is consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, value and quality standards.
In coordination with the country Monitoring and Evaluation department, monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and assessments to ensure program quality and impact.
Provide managerial and programmatic oversight to partners and sub-grantee(s).
Document processes and achievements to ensure best practices are captured and disseminated. This will include the continual re-evaluation of program activities and information, with resulting activity adjustments in keeping with new insights.
Produce written reports on program activities, capturing the impacts of activities.
Create and follow effective stakeholder management plans, ensuring sound and proactive communications with Mercy Corps Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan, partner organizations, Mercy Corps headquarters, USDA, Government of Kyrgyzstan authorities, and colleague agencies.
Conduct frequent field visits to all project sites – spend up to 40-50% of time in the field.

Finance & Compliance Management

Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency programming.
Draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget.
Build and maintain operational structures that ensure proper segregation of duties between finance, administration and logistics and fully support field programs.
In collaboration with the country program’s operations and finance departments, ensure proper financial management, procurement, administration, human resources and logistics (including transport, warehousing and asset management) needs of the program are conducted within Mercy Corps’ policy and with the maximum benefit to the program.
Monitor adherence to grant agreement, Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures and relevant external rules and regulations, including those of the government of Kyrgyzstan.

Influence & Representation

Represent Mercy Corps programs with national and international media and participate in community activities as appropriate.
Maintain productive relationships with internal and external constituents such as private partners, local governments, foundations, the private sector, etc.
Anticipate needs, understand donor pool and contribute to shaping donor’s views on development.
Explore, evaluate and present innovative funding opportunities that support the objectives for the country as a whole.
Liaise with and represent the program to USDA and other cooperating stakeholders.
Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events in the field
Ensure close coordination and information sharing with consortium Mercy Corpspartners, sub-grantees, local government and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.
Establish and maintain relationships with communities and local government.

Security

Liaise with the VP of Operations and Regional Program Director on crucial events, high-risk periods, incident reporting and security policy changes.
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 policies.

Internal and External Coordination

Contribute to program visibility and advocacy work by assisting in dissemination of program research and learning information. Represent Mercy Corps in forums with the broader humanitarian and development community.
Active contributor and collaborator with regional and global counterparts to promote best practices.

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: 10 direct and 70 indirect MC staff members.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Regional Program Director – Asia

Works Directly With: Deputy Regional Director, Director Program Quality and Technical Support, Sector leads/program managers, field teams, the MEL team, partner organizations and other implementers, Mercy Corps HQ Regional program Team, Technical Support Unit, Country Finance Manager, Country M&E Manager, Communications Specialist

Knowledge and Experience

BA/S or equivalent of relevant field required; MA/S preferred.
7-10 years of field experience in international relief and development programs, including demonstrable success in managing (large, complex, transitional) development programs.
5 years of senior-level leadership, capacity building and field management experience. Experience in project management related to multi-sectoral, FFP/FFE funded activities strongly preferred.
Demonstrated experience developing and ensuring quality control for technically rigorous nutrition, food security and/or health programming.
Experience providing leadership, supervising staff, managing multiple complex program components, and convening people across technical teams to build consensus and achieve an outcome.
Experience with USAID and/or USDA rules, regulations and requirements is preferred.
Preference for experience with USDA-funded programs.
Capacity to respond to emergency and disaster response as appropriate.
Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in emergency response preferred.
Demonstrated success working effectively and respectfully with host country government, private sector, INGO, NGO partners and other stakeholders in complex environments.
Internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work.
Proven skills in financial and grants management; prior experience with (donor), (government) grant management.
Successful and proven negotiation, communication and organization skills.
Excellent oral and written English and Russian skills required; proficiency in spoken and written Kyrgyz is a plus.
Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
Previous work experience in Kyrgyzstan preferred.

Success Factors

The successful Kyrgyzstan CD will skillfully represent programmatic priorities of the agency to donors and regional partners while providing effective leadership to the Mercy Corps program team. A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members and other stakeholders of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. This position requires an ability to think creatively about improving food and nutrition security. S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritize, take initiative, and be accountable for results, understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details, problem solving, work within a complex and sensitive setting and to follow laws and security protocols. S/he will have high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with capacity building and will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The CD/CoP is based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The location is accompanied and secure. Housing is individual. There are a number of International schools in Bishkek. Staff have reasonably good degrees of access to all services (medical, electricity, water, etc). This position requires 30% of travel time by air and road to field offices in secure environments.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside 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.

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.

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 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 eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.