Program Assistant at 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.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Program Assistant

Reference: ABV/PRO/2020/0042
Location: Abuja  (With an estimated 40% travel to other program locations)
Position Status: Full-time, Field-based, and Regular.

Program / Department Summary
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched one of its most comprehensive peace building programs in Nigeria to date with Mercy Corps, a leading global humanitarian aid and development organization, which has been working with communities in Nigeria since 2012. The goal of the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP) program is to prevent violent conflict in the most at-risk communities across 6 states and 24 local government areas (LGA) in Nigeria’s North West and North Central regions. CIPP builds on the accomplishments and deep contextual knowledge gained by USAID and Mercy Corps through their previous peace building programs in Nigeria.

Mercy Corps’ strategy has also expanded to address the root causes of the conflict and seek to build the long-term resilience of communities with integrated programs focusing on governance, protection of vulnerable population, social cohesion, inclusion of women, youth and persons living with disabilities, and local conflict management.

The CIPP Program will be implemented in six Middle Belt & North-Western Nigerian states: Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi and Plateau. CIPP will strategically build on the past four years of the Mercy Corps former peacebuilding programs to:

• Improve local capacity and skills to manage disputes
• Strengthen and enable more sustainable Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) mechanisms
• Increase collaboration among communities with government agencies, CSOs, and local leaders to address root causes of conflict
• Strengthen women’s capacities to prevent and resolve conflict
• Improve ability to address violent extremist recruitment tactics

General Position Summary

• The Program Assistant will support the intentional approach to engaging women in peace building work through the program’s multi-level women councils, women discussion groups and enable women and vulnerable groups to participate fully in peace building activities, including negotiation mediation and community dialogues.
• The Assistant will provide necessary support to all the implementing partners and agencies on engaging Women on issues and policies, and engage with the partners in reviewing and support the Gender team and wider program team with the provision of necessary inputs on drafting advocacy and policy briefs for women engagement in peace building work;

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Support the management of the Women Peace building Councils at State and Local Government levels in collaboration with the Gender team, Program team and implementation partners
• Support capacity building trainings and activities to strengthen the capacity of women across the six states
• Support facilitation of joint activities specifically for the councils across the six states
• Support the broader Program team in establishing and implementing gender-sensitive program activities, knowledge management component and communications
• Support the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team in implementing gender-sensitive monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting systems
• Assist the Gender & M&E team in conducting periodic gender assessments with an integrated gender and social inclusion analysis, to inform how CIPP address needs in different States
• Work closely with the Communications Officer to support the documentation of successes, lessons learned and best practices and communicate with the Gender & Program team to contribute to global knowledge on gender and social inclusion in relation to conflict and peace building
• Provide partner organizations with ongoing gender integration and social inclusion technical assistance
• Support the integration of gender and social inclusion considerations into operational research design and policy analysis
• Contribute to production of resource materials addressing the issues of women in peace building
• Support facilitation of policy dialogue on women and conflicts, gender and social inclusion advocacy, sexual and gender based violence with government and other relevant stakeholders;
• Support the capacity strengthening of CSOs and government partners towards planning and implementing of project activities on women peace building, gender and social inclusion in conflict management programs;

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.
• 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.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• None

Accountability:

• Reports Directly to: Senior Program Officer, Gender & Inclusion
• Works Directly with: Gender Team, Program Manager, Communications Officer, Program Officers, M&E Team, Staff of Partner Organizations, Operations team etc.

Knowledge and Experience

• University degree in Gender Studies, Sociology, Peace Studies, International Development or related field required
• Minimum of Two (2) years of progressively responsible experience working in program management on gender and social inclusion issues within community and civil society development programs, preferably with USAID or other U.S. Government programs
• Excellent knowledge of gender and social inclusion issues in Nigeria including social, political, and cultural gender norms and challenges
• Excellent knowledge of the status of vulnerable and marginalized populations within Nigeria and their engagement in social, political, and cultural realms
• Experience building capacity of local stakeholders on gender and social inclusion issues
• Experience integrating social inclusion in community participatory engagement or advocacy preferred
• Demonstrated analytical and organizational skills
• Experience engaging local stakeholders, including CSOs, political leaders, and other local and national government leaders in gender and social inclusion initiatives
• High level of interpersonal, diplomacy and communication skills
• Ability to work well in a team environment, as well as work effectively with civil society organizations, donors, project staff, and other beneficiaries.

Success Factors:

• The successful Program Assistant will combine exceptional implementation skills and coordination skills with a focus on innovative interventions to bring communities together.
• An ideal candidate will be conversant with the challenges inherent in peace building, gender inclusion and will be a self-starter who has led grassroots development efforts.
• He / she will have an outstanding ability to support innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in Nigeria. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem-solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The candidate must have excellent attention to detail.

Application Closing Date
20th November, 2020.