Program Manager, RELE - Miragoane or Jérémie, Haiti
Description
Location: Miragoane or Jérémie, Haiti
Position Status: Regular, Full-time
Languagre Requirement: English and French Fluency is required.
ABOUT MERCY CORPS
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization driven by the belief that a better world is possible. In times of disaster, in dire conditions, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to implement bold solutions - helping people overcome adversity and build stronger communities.
THE PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT
Mercy Corps helps communities develop their own ideas to solve Haiti's toughest problems by using innovative approaches providing Haitians with new social and economic opportunities and make their country more secure, productive. Established in January 2010, Mercy Corps Haiti has offices in Port-au-Prince, Miragoane and Jeremie and more than 80 employees delivering food security, agriculture, protection, peacebuilding, financial inclusion, natural resource management, disaster risk reduction/preparedness, WASH and humanitarian response programs. Mercy Corps takes a progressive approach to development that leads communities and entrepreneurs from helping sustainable livelihoods to building resilience.
The overall goal of RELE (Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihood build Equitable food security) program is to Improve food security and resilience of vulnerable populations in West, Nippes, and Grande-Anse (Vulnerable households in the departments of West, Nippes, and Grande-Anse meet their urgent food security needs, improve their livelihoods, recover from and respond to climatic and socio-political shocks and stressors).
THE POSITION/ROLE
The RELE Program Manager will provide overall leadership, management, and strategic vision to the implementation of the BHA funded RELE program. She/he will oversee the delivery of the program using participatory approach at all stages of the program including planning, coordinating, organizing, quality and delivery and monitoring and results measurement and learning in the Ouest, Grand-Anse and Nippes departments of Haiti. S/he will manage the program staff, resources, and partnerships to ensure that the program meets its milestones on time, with high quality and within budget. The RELE Program Manager will also lead the development of robust Monitoring and Results Measurement (MRM) and Learning for the program (Learning and impact). The RELE Program Manager will also represent the program externally, through participating in relevant coordination and learning events. She/he leads the RELE Program Management Team, who will support in defining and achieving the program strategy. The RELE Program Manager will ensure accountability of the programs to the program participants, donors, stakeholders including government timely reporting, feedback, etc.
She/he will ensure that the program is on time, on scope, and on-budget at all-times. She/he will report to the Mercy Corps Haiti Director of Programs (DOP). The Program Manager will also closely work with other Mercy Corps key departmental leads. The role requires excellent program management knowledge and skills and experience designing and managing programs.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategy, Vision and Planning
- Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
- Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to country-wide strategy development.
- Develop and organize activities to secure resources for the program and convince stakeholders to provide support.
- Provide leadership and strategic vision in all aspects of program implementation, development, and management.
- Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners, and aligned with Mercy Corps principles, values, and strategic plan.
- Maintain a strategic plan for the implementation of program activities in line with best practice for resilience activities through agriculture development, including updating and finalizing activities, methods of operation, and means of monitoring and measuring for success.
Program Management
- Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using innovative systems to achieve and measure success.
- Prepare high-quality monthly, bi-annual and annual program reports in collaboration with the MEL team.
- Ensure the RELE program is sufficiently and rightly resourced with the right teams, tools and equipment needed to deliver quality results for the program participants on budget, on time and on scope.
- Establish and support systems to regularly monitor the quality of implementation, and lead actions to course-correct to address quality issues.
- Create and foster an environment for adaptive management, including championing the timely use of data for decision-making.
- Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate. Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
- Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.
- Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
Human Resources, Safeguarding and Diversity
- Assist with the on-boarding of senior team members, ensuring they are set up for success and familiar with agency systems, procedures, and protocols.
- Develop the capacity of the program team, deepen understanding of their roles, identify and source technical capacity strengthening support, and assist with career development.
- Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
- Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
- Support Mercy Corps global and regional initiatives for human resources, including safeguarding and diversity, and talent development.
Budget, Finance and Compliance Management
- Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps’ regulations.
- Create and maintain systems to ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with program, donor and Mercy Corps’ needs.
- Ensures the program meets targets on budget. This responsibility includes collaborative work planning that keeps all team members accountable, ensuring accurate budget forecasting and analysis of monthly budget vs. actual reports, and proper procurement planning in collaboration with the Operations team.
- Support in the development of financial management tools and the monitoring of budgets.
- Cross-check detailed transactions and review budget versus actual (BVA) spending reports to determine status of program burn rates.
- Work with the Country Finance Manager to ensure spend-down plans and cash projections are developed and monitored.
- Lead program input on any budget revisions or programmatic input for financial reports.
Influence and Representation
- Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Mercy Corps Haiti Director of Programs and Country Director.
- Coordinate activities with partners, subgrantees, local government and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.
Security
- Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps Haiti security procedures and policies and as determined by country leadership.
- Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.
Risk Management
- Engage and support the country’s initiatives on risk management systems are in place.
- Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY
The Program Manager will be overall responsible for supervising the Deputy Manager Nippes, The Deputy Manager Grand’Anse, the VSLA Coordinator, The Senior Cash Officer and the Senior Nutrition Officer.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Reports Directly To: The role will report to the Mercy Corps Haiti Director of Programs (DOP).
Works Directly With: Finance and operations teams, PAQ & MEL Managers, Chef de Base (or equivalent title), HQ Technical Support Unit, and partner organizations.
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
- MA/S or equivalent in Economics, International Development, International Relations, Business Management, Agriculture Economics or another relevant field highly is required, preferably with a background in either Agriculture / Cash Transfers / DRR.
- Minimum of 7 years’ relevant experience, with existing experience of managing programs/projects; Haiti experience preferred.
- An internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work.
- Demonstrated experience with resilience approaches and designing agriculture sector development activities.
- Knowledgeable of BHA’s and global best practices.
- Experience on USAID programs strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain relationships with colleagues, implementing partners, donors, local organizations, and partners.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in French and English (required).
- Strong representation, communication, and program marketing skills.
- Demonstrated understanding and considerable experience in the following:
- Organizational capacity development, holistic organizational learning and/or organizational development approaches
- Design- and systems-thinking for more efficient and effective programming in complex crises, and strengthening capacity of others in the same
- Forging consensus among diverse actors around a shared vision, and leading and inspiring them towards that vision
- Innovating solutions that enable teams in protracted crises better collaborate, learn and adapt across sector and funding streams
- Capturing, analyzing, documenting and communicating evidence and knowledge to inspire and influence change.
SUCCESS FACTORS
The successful PM will combine exceptional management skills and experience in maintaining BHA donor and partner relationships. S/he will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement and manage innovative program within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in Haiti. S/he will also have proven experience with cross-cultural teams and capacity building, individual staff development and strong mentoring skills.
S/he will take energy from solving program implementation challenges, will have a strong ethical center and a commitment to safeguarding. A strong ability to train and mentor team members that have limited skills and experience in project management. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations. He/she will have to be fluent in both English and French. This role is advertised as National and Expatriate, but Haitians are strongly preferred.
LIVING CONDITIONS / ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
Haiti is a country of 11 million people and is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The country has been wracked by a series of major natural disasters since 2010 including earthquakes, hurricanes, and drought. A new government is in place for the next two years which is anticipated to reduce instability, however occasional violent demonstrations and flare-ups in crime can occur. Haiti suffers from chronic high unemployment, severe environmental degradation, food insecurity, and health issues like cholera exacerbated by low levels of access to water and poor infrastructure. Nonetheless, Haiti also has great beauty including beaches and mountainous national parks. Its international airport provides daily flights to multiple destinations in the US, as well as access to Dominican Republic, Canada, Paris, Cuba, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and other locations in the Caribbean. The Capital city, Port au Prince, is estimated at around 2.5 million people. Although infrastructure is also poor in the capital, comfortable housing with water and electricity are readily available. There are many places to eat in all price ranges, as well as shops, and supermarkets which are comparable to a US supermarket. Self-drive is permitted, however driving can be challenging, and traffic is often very heavy. Housing is provided for this position.
The PM position is based in one of the 2 departments: Nippes or Grand-Anse, in Haiti. For in international incumbent, MC will provide accommodation in shared compound (guesthouse) and with very basic, fairly equipped and comfortable residence.
Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps' policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
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.