Emergency Protection And Gbv Technical Advisor At Mercy Corps

More Information

Experience 2-5

EMERGENCY Protection and GBV Technical Advisor

Location: Goma, DRC

Position Status: Full-time, 12 months

Salary Level: L5 International

Current Team Member: New position

Projected start date: 01/03/2025

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 has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of around 400 people working in North and South Kivu and Ituri, with the overall country goal to support vulnerable communities through crises, while fostering programs that build resilience and promote long-term change. Mercy Corps’ key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to: 1) Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas; 2) Improve food security and nutrition; 3) Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development.

Mercy Corps DRC’s humanitarian programs aim to assist populations affected by conflicts and crises in Eastern Congo. With funding from FCDO, ECHO and Humanitarian Pooled Fund an expanding portfolio of over USD 20 million, Mercy Corps currently delivers multi-sectoral cash and voucher assistance, emergency WASH and protection support to displaced populations and host communities in North Kivu and Ituri. Mercy Corps is the lead agency for the SAFER Consortium (Strategic Assistance for Emergency Response). The Consortium, funded by FCDO and ECHO, is composed of ACTED, Concern Worldwide, Mercy Corps, NRC and Solidarités International. SAFER has the overall goal of allowing the population affected by conflict and shocks to cover their basic needs. The program supports the specific outcome of delivering a coordinated humanitarian response that enables vulnerable households affected by conflict and shocks to have safe and equitable access to multi-sectoral emergency assistance and basic WASH services to reduce reliance on negative coping mechanisms. All Mercy Corps interventions in DRC are implemented in a conflict, protection and gender sensitive manner.

The Position

The Protection and GBV Program Technical Advisor (TA) will be providing technical support to the manager responsible for designing, coordinating and supervising implementation of all Protection program activities in South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri. The position holder will mainly be responsible to support Protection Manager his/her team members in the daily implementation including working with community members to identify protection and GBV risks and to develop strategies to mitigate protection risks and to strengthen response capacity of various actors. In addition, the TA will support Manager in lead consultation with government agencies, humanitarian actors, and actively participate in humanitarian coordination mechanisms to ensure MC is well informed and positioned to design, implement and coordinate its programing.

The position holder will also be responsible to provide capacity building trainings on different protection topics including basic protection principles, GBV prevention and response mechanisms, PSEA and safeguarding, community representatives and other humanitarian actors. S/He will also be supporting the manager in documenting the achievement of the protection and GBV related activities, compile reports (weekly, and monthly); and present key achievement in protection and GBV related coordination forums, CP/GBV, PSEA Network and so on. The TA will support the manager in overseeing the work of protection team currently composed of 5 staff. The TA will be based in Goma with regular travel to all implementation sites.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION

Contribute to the development of a Protection-specific and GBV strategic program plan for Mercy Corps DRC Emergency Department, including cash for protection.
Provide support to the PM to ensure the delivery of quality protection programming within Emergency Department
Design and develop community training and Information, Education, and Communications materials to promote awareness-raising about GBV and women/children’s rights, as well as basic psychosocial support at the community level
Play an advocacy role for responses to needs identified via rapid protection assessment and protection analysis through humanitarian coordination mechanisms
Identify advocacy and communication opportunities related to the protection crisis in the east and liaise with colleagues to develop impactful products.
Support the Emergency Director and Communications & Advocacy team in gathering evidence and crafting messaging for advocacy efforts, both within Mercy Corps and through interagency platforms.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Provide support to the PM to ensure effective program implementation according to overall objectives and track achievement versus targets
Provide support to the PM to ensure compliance with donor requirements and Mercy Corps administrative, logistical, and financial procedures.
Provide support to the PM to develop monitoring systems and provide regular reports on program activities for donors as well as for internal learning and appropriate program adjustments due to new opportunities/challenges.
Collaborate closely with WASH and Cash Program Managers, conducting field visits to monitor and offer feedback for enhancing protection-sensitive responses.
Assist the PM with development, design, and proposal writing for related programming

TEAM MANAGEMENT

Provide support to the PM to oversee team planning, ensure deliverables are quality and timely
Supports and liaise with all project team and provide a capacity building on protection mainstreaming and other on the job training and capacity building.
Provide support to the PM to recruit, train, and mentor new program staff, including providing technical support related to programming, protection monitoring and response, and community mobilization techniques.

COORDINATION AND REPRESENTATION

Coordinate with Protection and GEDSI teams across other departments within the mission to ensure alignment of approaches and the sharing of best practices.
Promote relations and coordinate activities with other humanitarian actors, UN, and civil authorities
Provide support to the PM to participate in national and provincial Protection and GBV coordination mechanisms and contribute information to the relevant sub-Clusters
Create and maintain relationship with local authorities and other service providers for effective service provision on GBV and protection issues
Uphold the image and values of Mercy Corps at all times.

SECURITY

Provide support to the PM to 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.

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 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

N/A

Accountability

Reports Directly to: Emergency Programs Director

Works Directly with: Protection manager,Grants Manager, WASH Manager, CASH Program Manager, Emergency M&E Manager, Emergency Finance Manager, Operational and Procurement teams, Communication team and Advocacy 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.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

BA/S or equivalent in relevant field; Master’s preferred.
Minimum 3-5 years’ NGO experience successfully managing protection related programs in the field, preferably in Africa.
Experience training and supervising national staff, remote management experience a plus
Experience managing a gender-based violence program including case management
Experience overseeing protection monitoring a plus
Demonstrable technical knowledge of protection and gender-based violence issues in an international humanitarian setting.
Experience working with local and governmental stakeholders, as well as humanitarian coordination mechanisms, to address protection issues.
Experience working in remote emergency settings is essential. Experience in Africa and particularly working in conflict-affected zones is a plus.
Strong management skills, with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues.
Ability to build, manage, and lead a team of professionals and the ability to function as a team player among peers.
Fluent French is required, English is a plus.
Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response required.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have proven experience working on protection programing in difficult environments and emergency contexts. S/he will have effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills with an attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines, and work independently and cooperatively with team members. Essential qualities for this position are an ability to train and facilitate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals with various skill sets and working styles and a commitment to working with community members and within humanitarian coordination mechanisms. The successful candidate must have an ability to assure the respect of humanitarian principles when dealing with sensitive protection-related issues.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is an unaccompanied position based in Goma, DRC. Goma is a provincial capital of over 700,000 inhabitants. Travel may be required up to 25% of the time to program areas within North Kivu and Ituri. Living in Goma is comfortable, although water and electricity can be unstable. Outside Goma, travel can be dangerous and unpredictable due to armed forces and rebel activity.

While conditions in the country are improving, and security is quite stable in Goma, there are still pockets of violence and insecurity. Mercy Corps’ sub-offices experience variable levels of insecurity, with the situation closely monitored by UN peacekeepers and INSO. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There are a number of health services available with evacuation options for serious illnesses. There is reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive.

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 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 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.