About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
Program / Department Summary
Mercy Corps exists to alleviate poverty, suffering, and oppression and works to build secure, productive, and just communities. Mercy Corps implements a variety of programming throughout the Middle East in response to the diverse humanitarian and long-term development needs of the region. Mercy Corps has ongoing programs in Syria,Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine. Mercy Corps is committed to delivering high quality, high impact programming that reaches communities or individuals in need, wherever they are.
The Middle East region is currently establishing its regional technical team to provide sound, timely and contextualized technical support both operationally and strategically to teams while developing and cross-regional learning and strengthening a regional cohesion in line with our global, regional and countries strategies
Mercy Corps’ country programs in the Middle East operate in fragile and conflict-affected areas, displacement settings, emergency responses, as well as more stable developed settings. Against this backdrop Mercy Corps’ focus in the Middle East has been in promoting more systemic approaches to economic approaches to coping, recovery, and growth. This includes layering elements of market facilitation into humanitarian responses as well as pursuing a growing portfolio of programs taking a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach. It is imperative that Mercy Corps presents itself as a key and credible partner with the many donors, government authorities and civil society actors in order to contribute to the process of positive change across the region and to achieve greater and sustained impact.
The Middle East region is closely connected with Mercy Corps’ Global Technical Support Unit (TSU) which along with the Regional Advisors is a key part of the Program Department. TSU subject-matter experts help set agency and regional strategy and provide consultation – from assessment and design through project implementation and results measurement – to field offices worldwide, in some of the world’s toughest places. Regional Technical Advisors are a vital part of this wider network of technical specialists, providing regionally-focused support services in close coordination with the global team while working more intensively with a small number of strategic programs in the region under the direction of the regional leadership team.
General Position Summary
Mercy Corps is seeking an experienced and field-tested Middle East Regional Advisor for Market Systems to support and grow our regional capacity to design, deliver and learn from a portfolio of high quality and impactful market/economic recovery and MSD programs. The Advisor will provide strategic, evidence-based technical support on market systems approaches to country teams in multiple contexts, with a strong focus on supporting and strengthening programs that use the Market Systems Development (MSD) approach and enabling programs to integrate market-driven approaches into humanitarian response through Mercy Corps Markets in Crisis (MiC) approach. S/he will build out a wider system of global, regional and country-level support and expertise and employ a flexible, adaptive approach to the agency’s MSD work that builds on local capacities of teams, partners and communities, and uses our resilience lens and contextual analysis to address changing risks or vulnerabilities. Mercy Corps’ MSD programs are implemented through multiple sectors, including Employment, Agriculture, Water, Financial Services, and Energy. The Advisor will work seamlessly within agency matrixed teams to plan for and deliver the optimal level of support to field programs for increased quality and impact, using multiple sectoral entry points, to achieve our desired long- term results.
Essential Job Responsibilities
PROGRAM QUALITY AND IMPACT
● Participate as an active, integrated member of the regional team and HQ TSU team providing technical support to a growing portfolio of market systems programs in the region, including those in complex crises and fragile contexts.
● Support effective interventions in MSD using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking.
● Help maintain standards of program delivery that apply agency priorities and comply with relevant regulations and requirements.
● Build capacity with country teams and the regional Community of Practice to better design and implement market systems development programs. Provide in-country and remote training on MSD and MiC, upgrading materials to ensure contextual relevance. Mentor and coach program leaders and staff to implement high quality market systems programming and support professional development.
● Help the team gather, refine, develop and disseminate tools such as training presentations and manuals, teaching notes, best program practices and lessons learned, and MSD monitoring and evaluation tools.
● Support an increased focus on resilience and gender in MSD and MiC programs.
program and proposal development
● Write/review proposals and concept notes for funding from donors including foundations, corporations, and US, European agencies, including USAID, Sida, and AFD among others, to support market systems programming.
● Gather/analyze data and complete assessments, and support field teams to complete assessments, to determine program needs and priorities and Mercy Corps’ competitive advantage for funding. Ensure assessments include dimensions of resilience, gender, and youth as central cross-cutting approaches.
● Work with programs, HQ and country teams, and technical support units on prepositioning and development of program development strategies.
learning and impact
● Work with the Program and Quality (PaQ) team at the regional and country level to ensure that monitoring and evaluation is practical and reflects global best practices.
● Support new and ongoing programs with best practice advice and assistance on assessment, implementation, research, and evaluation needs.
● Contribute with the country and regional teams to the newly developed Middle East Research Agenda that will incorporate learnings and adaptations from country programs.
● Conduct assessments; write case studies, learning documents, short articles, and blogs; and develop internal and external disseminate plans for all products.
● Lead and facilitate MSD/MiC community of practice within the region to share lessons, best practices and enhance program impact through better collaboration and networking.
● Ensure learning and evidence of impact reflects how market systems approaches support resilience across diverse gender and age groups.
Influence & Representation
● Represent Mercy Corps at academic events, conferences, media forums, and other events; focused on MSD and MiC.
● Identify and nurture strategic regional partnerships with other organizations and institutions to produce case studies, assessments, and other learning documentation, as well as enhance program quality.
● Contribute to a strong and regularly updated network of technical experts and consultants that can serve as additional deployable resources for program support.
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 Participants
● 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
The position has supervisory responsibility over interns and/or volunteers.
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Middle East Deputy Regional Director
Works Directly With: Global Markets Technical Support Unit, Regional Director, Deputy Regional Directors, Country Directors and Directors of Programs, Program Directors/Managers implementing MSD and MiC programs, Regional and Global Technical Support Unit
Knowledge and Experience
● Bachelor’s degree required. Formal training in Market Systems Development or M4P preferred.
● 5-7 years of experience in international development work, with a minimum of three years in a program management or technical advisor role, including proposal design.
● Minimum of 2-3 years of experience in Market Systems Development technical work -including experience with program design, partnership building, technical advising, and/or learning and research.
● Experience working in the Middle East required. Experience working in fragile contexts and humanitarian settings preferred.
● Strong writing skills required.
● Strong presentation and representation skills required.
● It is expected that this position will travel to Mercy Corps country offices within the Middle East region, including insecure environments, for up to 40% of time
● Very strong English skills, Arabic skills preferred
Success Factors
The technical advisor will demonstrate a winning track record in program development, and bring flexibility, creativity, and enthusiasm to every project they undertake. The individual must have exceptional writing skills and the ability to multi-task, set priorities, pay attention to detail, and work under tight deadlines within complex team environments. The regional advisor must take an active role in building and maintaining external relationships as well as demonstrating the drive and initiative to contribute to internal team efforts. The individual must learn quickly how to provide technical data and support in the most efficient and effective form possible for each unique field team and environment. The role requires strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills, and a level of emotional intelligence proficiency that quickly builds and maintains productive relationships across teams. Being aware and sensitive to international development issues and diverse cultures is critical.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
This position is based in one of our Middle East office locations and is expected to travel up to 40% within the Middle East, depending on travel restrictions.
Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a country posting or on a visit/TDY to a country program. 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.