Program Officer US NGO Jobs – Mercy Corps
Organization: Mercy Corps
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
Reports to: Program Manager
About US:
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. Working in Uganda since 2006, Mercy Corps has applied market-driven solutions to communities across the country, equipping individuals and households with the knowledge, skills and confidence to generate improvements in their access to markets, livelihoods, health, nutrition, and security, in order to improve their overall resilience.
Program Summary
Mercy Corps Uganda has secured funding from the US Department of States’ Bureau for Population, Refugee and Migration (PRM) in a consortium with the International Rescue Committee (IRC, as the lead agency), Urban Refugees and Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID) to implement a 34-month program entitled “Enhancing the Resilience of Urban Refugees and Vulnerable Host Communities in Kampala through an integrated Protection and Livelihoods Approach”. Mercy Corps is leading on the livelihoods component of this program, which includes activities such as basic need cash transfer grants for three months for extremely vulnerable households, micro-enterprise development grants for entrepreneurs, development of structured apprenticeships that lead to employment, harnessing ICT skills to improve employability and employment and to leverage social networks for information and opportunity exchange, and business mentoring.
Job Summary: The Program Officer will be responsible for the implementation of activities to ensure participants including Urban Refugees and host communities have a smooth pathway to livelihoods. The interventions will work almost exclusively through private sector actors, seeking to crowd in provisions for basic needs of participants through initial transfers to address basic needs and linkages to markets including micro enterprise grants and ICT platforms for networking and information sharing. The program officer is expected to push forward market-driven approaches in all stages of programming, promote and capture learnings to inform program decisions, drive results and produce scheduled outputs at deadline and to expected quality.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Planning, developing and implementing activities
- Introduce the program to relevant stakeholders including local business owners, local authorities, refugee protection centres and refugee led organizations.
- In coordination with the program team and partners, plan, implement and monitor livelihood initiatives for Urban Refugees and host communities according to the work plan.
- Mobilize targeted beneficiaries/participants to fully engage in the program to realize the intended objectives.
- Work closely with private sector actors on designing models for social networking with focus on e learning content around financial literacy, entrepreneurship and agri business working through ICT.
- Participate in assessments to determine participants’ profiles and current situations, livelihood options available and potential to scale, existing opportunities to leverage on based on needs as well as challenges.
- Make routine field visits to refugee centers within the program areas in Kampala to ensure good implementation of activities as well as partners’ activities.
Collaboration/Networking with partners
- Establish and maintain good coordination and working relationships with division authorities, representing Mercy Corps and soliciting participation in activities where appropriate and as guided by the Program Manager
- Work closely with the consortium partners, share and request for relevant information on the program.
- Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps Uganda and to not jeopardize its humanitarian and development mission.
Documentation, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
- Work closely with the Senior MEL officer to capture data for measuring output and impact of the program; and to ensure accurate and timely flow of information from the field.
- Prepare and submit timely weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports and work plans that will be indicative of program progress during implementation. Respond to queries if and when necessary.
- Maintain a proper filing system of all activities implemented in the program.
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.
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.
Ethics and Integrity:
- All Mercy Corps staff member are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The ideal applicant must hold a Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, development studies, entrepreneurship or any other relevant fields.
- At least three years of work experience with the private sector or market facilitation approaches.
- Experience on social networking platforms through ICT with focus on e learning content on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and agri business is desirable.
- Experience working with marginalized communities in peri urban or urban settings is desirable.
- Strong interpersonal, writing and oral presentation skills in English is a requirement. Knowledge of other languages including Kiswahili and French is an added advantage.
- Experience in building and maintaining strong/productive relations with implementing and strategic partners is required.
- Strong leadership and proven team building experience is a must.
- Demonstrated 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
- The successful Program Officer will take a deep personal interest in humanitarian and development assistance.
- S/he will be creative and flexible, contributing to developing and encouraging new and innovative solutions, but at the same time will not have any difficulty in adhering to systems and procedures.
- S/he will strictly follow all protocols related to safety and security, and holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Mercy Corps’ values.
How to Apply:
All candidates should send their applications online through the Mercy Corps recruitment portal at the link below.