Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact. The Program Since 1986, Mercy Corps has helped Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza access critical services and become more economically self-sufficient focusing its interventions on WASH, community crisis resilience, economic opportunities, and cash programming. With funding from BHA and ECHO Mercy Corps has been able to work together with communities in the West Bank and Gaza to respond to these needs. The escalation of conflict that began on October 7, 2023, has sharply exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the region. Mercy Corps is actively working to respond to the crisis and restart our humanitarian programs in Gaza where team members there are committed to significantly ramping up much needed lifesaving aid as soon as it is safe to do so. Mercy Corps is expanding its current WASH portfolio in Gaza, scaling up in response to the massive population displacement crises in Gaza and the surrounding settlements, while concurrently addressing the needs of protracted IDPs and host communities across all operational areas. Building on its vast experience in the humanitarian sector in Gaza, Mercy Corps aims to present itself as a key and reliable partner in the WASH sector with various donors, INGOs, local authorities and civil society actors. Mercy Corps, with its global experience in working in countries undergoing major transitions, will bring knowledge, expertise and strong management skills to position the agency as a partner of choice to respond to the needs of vulnerable crises affected populations in Gaza. GENERAL POSITION SUMMARYThe WASH Program Manager is a member of the Emergency Response Team that works under the supervision of the Emergency Response Director. S/he will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of high-quality WASH interventions in Gaza and developing strategies for the continuation of water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. The position includes, developing tools for planning, assessment and intervention monitoring; developing participatory project design and quality implementation; ensuring high quality interventions are designed, overseeing monitoring and tracking of program activities; designing training modules and delivering trainings for Mercy Corps and partner staff; and designing and supervising baseline and end line surveys (including KAP). ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES Program Implementation
- Lead Mercy Corps WASH interventions in Gaza addressing needs of the affected population during emergency, recovery and rehabilitation phases.
- Oversee/ lead needs assessment surveys, technical assessments and feasibility studies as and when required for the ongoing program or future program proposals.
- Assist the Emergency Program Director and other relevant staff in planning WASH and infrastructure development activities.
- Support all rehabilitation / re-construction activities with improved coordination and timely technical inputs and ensure the completion targets are met within the stipulated time and approved budget.
- Ensure that all interventions are in compliance with international norms and standards, national laws and policies, technical standards and organizational policies.
- Develop/review engineering designs and BOQs ensuring compliance with relevant standards and codes such as SPHERE, WASH Cluster.
- Carryout extensive site visits to assess the quality of implementation carried out directly under the Mercy Corps team, Implementing Partners (IP) or through contractors.
- Supervise implementation teams and provide advice and support to help overcome any shortcomings in the implementation quality and management procedures.
- Supervise the implementation of behavioral change and awareness raising strategies in relation to WASH related issues.
- Design training modules and impart training to community operators and caretakers of rehabilitated systems, as applicable.
- Assist the Emergency Program Director in preparing situation and progress reports and project completion reports.
- Maintain close coordination with IP staff, relevant staff of the municipalities and program participants during the delivery of WASH interventions including rehabilitation works on water and sanitation facilities. Strategic Direction, Portfolio Quality and Growth
- Provide direction and vision, leadership, technical and operational management of the WASH portfolio.
- Carry out effective oversight of MCโs ER WASH portfolio comprising a range of multi-faceted, donor-funded programs.
- Improve short-term WASH interventions and scale-up to longer-term responses focused on rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation facilities, and solid waste management.
- Establish appropriate sectoral coordination mechanisms and represent Mercy Corps at the local/national coordination fora such as the WASH Cluster, and the relevant government and humanitarian working groups.
- Strengthen existing management and information systems to document achievement of measurable milestones and to ensure timely compliance with donor requirements.
- Develop rigorous M&E, accountability and learning systems for optimal program quality and local partner organization capacity strengthening.
- Contribute to organizational strategic planning and new program development for appropriate expansion and growth of Mercy Corpsโ WASH portfolio. Team Management
- Ensure that teams fully adhere to international, technical and organizational minimum standards, including adopting gender, conflict sensitive, and participatory approaches to ensure that Do No Harm and other principles are fully respected.
- Supervise and mentor implementation teams to effectively manage programs, including work plan monitoring, budget forecasting and monitoring, accurate and timely reporting, and efficient use of resources; communicate clear expectations, set performance objectives, provide regular and timely performance feedback, and conduct annual performance reviews.
- Cultivate cross-sectoral synergies and linkages in relation to WASH, as well as linking to other aspects of the Gaza portfolio.
- Contribute to a healthy and empowering office environment that encourages open, honest and productive communication among Mercy Corps staff and with local partners. Technical and Operational Management
- Contribute to achieve operational excellence and achieve optimal efficiency and cost-effectiveness of all functions and activities of the WASH portfolio.
- Coordinate closely with Mercy Corpsโ Operations Team to facilitate procurement planning and execution to facilitate timely implementation, including informing contractor and vendor selection and contract development.
- Ensure staff compliance with financial and operational policies, procedures, and systems to deliver compliance with Mercy Corps and donor requirements.
- Ensure staff comply with coordinated budget monitoring processes for all programs.
- Identify opportunities to introduce efficiencies and eliminate redundancies in existing processes for streamlined sector operations. Representation and Advocacy
- Cultivate strategic partnerships and maintain effective working relationships with key local institutions and municipalities, national and international NGO, civil society and private sector stakeholders to advance organizational sector strategies.
- Liaise with key stakeholders to coordinate responses and identify strategies to provide additional support to vulnerable communities with programmatic synergies.
- Liaise with Mercy Corps regional and global Water Security/WASH and Infrastructure support teams to identify strategies to strengthen programming and to promote Mercy Corpsโ thought leadership role on WASH/emergency response in Gaza.
- Ensure regular attendance in technical working group and task force meetings.Supervisory ResponsibilityWASH Gaza field staffAccountabilityReports Directly To: Emergency Response Programs Director Works Directly With: ER Program Technical Director, ER Field Director, Snr Ops Manager, Area Leads, MEL, CARM, Finance and HR. 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 BeneficiariesMercy 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. KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
- A bachelor's degree in civil or public health engineering, Masters preferred.
- 5-7 years' experience in a WASH program development and management role; from starting up programs and working in emergency and transitional programming.
- Experience from complex and complicated settings with time sensitive deliverables in unstable environments.
- Strong experience of mentoring a team, identifying talent and building their capacity.
- An internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work.
- Knowledge of humanitarian standards and codes, including SPHERE.
- Knowledge of participatory approaches and community sensitization and mobilization.
- Demonstrated ability to manage and communicate effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
- Experience with the development, implementation & compliance of USAID/BHA and ECHO programs.
- Ability to effectively represent Mercy Corps and its interests to key stakeholders including host governments and UN institutions, and national and international NGOs.
- Excellent budget management skills required.
- Excellent oral and written English skills required; proficiency in Arabic is a plus. SUCCESS FACTORSThe successful Manager will combine exceptional technical skills and experience in maintaining donor and partner relationships. S/he will have previous experience in working in large-scale emergency programs in insecure and conflict contexts. S/he will have an outstanding ability to design and provide technical oversight of innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in the area. S/he will also have proven experience with cross-cultural team and capacity building, individual staff development and strong mentoring skills. The successful candidate will be able to provide technical oversight to large relief programs in an austere environment; be focused on capacity building of national staff; have strong program support skills, good information management skills and maintain a sense of humor. PROFESSIONAL STANDARDSMercy Corps staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in various policy frameworks including the Code of Conduct, Child Safeguarding Protocols, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Policy, Gender Policy and Community Accountability Response Mechanism (CARM) guidelines. LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS