Economic Strengthening Officer USAID Project Jobs – Mercy Corps
Job Title: Economic Strengthening Officer
Organization: Mercy Corps
Funding Source: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Duty Station: Jinja, Uganda
About US:
Mercy Corps is an international non-profit organization which implements high-quality, analytical development programmes in very difficult places. Mercy Corps has been operating in Uganda since 2006. It has and continues to implement programs in Acholi and Karamoja sub regions. Mercy Corps is taking a community-led, market driven approach to address poverty and food insecurity needs through interventions that get to the root causes and contributing factors of economic vulnerability. Donors include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), DFID, Mastercard Foundation, WALMART Foundation, Coca Cola Africa Foundation, US Depart of State (DOS) /PEPFAR, ECHO and Nike Foundation.
About USAID Project:
Mercy Corps is implementing the USAID funded five-year program on Better Outcomes for Children and Youth in Eastern and Northern Uganda ending in 2020. Better Outcomes is led by World Education, Inc./Bantwana with Mercy Corps as an implementing partner. The program goal is to improve the wellbeing of children and youth orphaned by HIV and other adversities in Uganda. It mainly focuses on orphaned and vulnerable children, youth and their caregivers to have improved access and utilization of health, nutrition, education, and psychosocial wellbeing and reducing abuse, exploitation and neglect. The sector priorities include meeting immediate economic needs of the most vulnerable target groups though temporary interventions to uplift and integrate them in to market systems; increased savings and access to credit opportunities; increased opportunities for income growth and building assets; and better access to group based education and support programming. The program is implemented in Northern and Eastern Uganda.
Job Summary: The Economic Strengthening Officer will responsible for theday-to-day implementation of the economic empowerment component of the program in Eastern Uganda. S/he will be responsible for activity planning and implementation to improve the economic conditions of target groups through improved access and utilization of services and products and better access to markets. Reporting to the Economic Strengthening Technical Lead, the Officer will work with a consortium of agencies under the leadership of WEI/Bantwana.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- With guidance from the technical lead, the officer will be responsible for program planning and implementation in the areas of economic strengthening.
- Work closely with other component field teams in the consortium to ensure integrated approach to program implementation.
- Build and maintain productive working relationships with local government officials and line departments, soliciting their participation in all activities where appropriate.
- Responsible for the day to day implementation of activities at field level, in line with Mercy Corps finance, operations and other policies.
- Ensure proper logistics, administration, human resources and transport needs of the program are conducted within Mercy Corps policy and with the maximum benefit to the program.
- Work with the economic strengthening team for the development of and continual revision of a dynamic, program-wide monitoring and evaluation system linked to program strategies, indicators, and information management tools, which supports program management, accountability and learning.
- Continual gathering and sharing of data specific to the sector.
- Prepare written reports on the program capturing impacts related to all activities.
- Ensure establishment and maintenance of relationships with communities, consortium partners and other CSOs in target operation areas.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The ideal candidate for the Mercy Corps Economic Strengthening Officer job placement should hold a Degree, preferably graduate level, in economics development, development studies, social sciences or social work, or a closely related field
- A minimum of three years of works experience in economic strengthening initiatives that target vulnerable communities mainly orphan and vulnerable children and households.
- Experience in working with private sector partners.
- Previous experience on market based solutions to addressing poverty.
- Excellent interpersonal, writing and oral presentation skills in English are also required.
- Keen attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
- Strong computer literacy with a full knowledge of office applications.
- Ability to focus on day-to-day tasks at hand while also working towards longer-term objectives with an understanding that these will change continuously;
- Willingness to spend much time in the field and work closely with program target groups and partners.
- The successful Economic Strengthening Officer will have the ability and curiosity to work effectively with local government, civil society and community based organizations.
- The successful candidate will have solid background in economic and market development.
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send their E-mail applications including a cover letter clearly stating the salary requirements, updated CV (with three professional referees), and copies of academic qualifications/certificates addressed to the Senior HR and Legal Manager, Mercy Corps Uganda to: ug-mcjobs@mercycorps.org
Deadline: 6th March 2018
: List of Current Job Vacancies / Opportunities in Uganda