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 Department
Mercy Corps has been operating in Venezuela since 2018 implementing humanitarian and development programs, with special emphasis on water, sanitation and hygiene, health, protection, food security, and nutrition, and plays a key role in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information relevant to the humanitarian community in the country. The team is expanding its programs and team at the country level to implement quality programs with the required attention.
The Position
The Health Medical Officer will be responsible for coordinating the direct support offered by our partners through the health liaisons and their assistants. The Officer will work with local partners and hospital staff to ensure that we are providing adequate, dignified, and efficient services for our participants, according to program goals. Also, the Officer, with the support of the liaison, ensures referral of participants to other required services. The Health Medical Officer will coordinate the actions in the health centers for the health component with the WASH officer and program team. Likewise, he/she will accompany the actions developed by health promoters in the framework of health brigades and sexual and reproductive health workshops at community level and training processes.
Essential Job Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND VISION
- Recognize internal and external opportunities for innovative actions and create an environment in which alternative points of view are welcome.
- Prioritize and organize management, actions, and resources to achieve project objectives and contribute to the national strategy of the Mercy Corps program in Venezuela.
- Develop and organize activities to secure resources for projects.
GENERAL FUNCTIONS
- Comply with Mercy Corps and donor policies and standards in programmatic, financial, administrative, procurement, logistics, human resources, and security processes.
- Ensure timely development and submission of narrative reports and follow up on donor requirements as needed.
- Promote and share ideas for improvement of area functions.
- Support the Program Manager, Senior M&E Officer, Medical Director in various technical processes and procedures.
- Draft documents necessary to guide processes or formalize decisions in the project operation.
- Represent Mercy Corps in inter-agency management for project development.
- Work in participation of the teams for the optimal development of the project, the country, and the region, ensuring the continuity of the agreements that are established as needed.
- Report in a timely manner to their direct boss and management on difficulties and/or challenges that involve the project actions (present early alerts of satisfaction of indicators).
- Coordinate with program participants and key stakeholders to participate in the program as active subjects of the program.
- Respond for the proper use of program resources and ensure that it is applied in accordance with the provisions of the operational plan.
- When the organization attends to a humanitarian emergency project, it shall support the execution of the emergency as necessary.
- Additional functions delegated by the supervisor that promote the fulfillment of contractual obligations that the project and the organization deserve.
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
- Ensure the compliance of the liaisons, their assistants, and the contacts in the hospital centers to guarantee the necessary health services for the participants.
- Keep track of invoices and all equipment documentation, and that all documentation matches our internal systems.
- Carry out monitoring and permanent evaluation of the objectives, results, and activities in providing health services in the program and in programming and planning care brigades for the target population in the different care municipalities.
- Develop planning, implementation, and evaluation reports for the health component of the program.
- Respond for the proper use of project resources and ensure that this is applied in accordance with the provisions of the operating plan.
- Timely inform the Program Manager and Medical Director about the difficulties and/or challenges implied by the project's actions (present early alerts of indicator satisfaction).
- Propose alternative actions to satisfy the needs that gave rise to the program.
FOLLOW-UP, MONITORING AND EVALUATION
- Guarantee that the methodological design for the implementation of monitoring and evaluation according to the guidelines of the monitoring and evaluation area (M&E) of the program is adjusted to the needs of the program and ensure that local partners are trained in the use of our M&E systems.
- Support the implementation of the tools and instruments of the entire monitoring and evaluation process for the capture, processing and analysis of information according to the guidelines of the (M&E) area.
- Support the implementation of the application manuals for the M&E tools and instruments.
- Ensure the proper use of methodologies, formats, and databases for the management of M&E information on activities and compliance with the roles of the field team in coordination with the national M&E coordination.
- Participate in baseline and final evaluation activities, support the establishment and maintenance of beneficiary databases, physical files, and magnetic media.
- Consolidate information and produce concise and clear monthly and quarterly reports on activities executed per Mercy Corps and donor requirements.
TEAM MANAGEMENT
- Promote and share ideas to improve the functions of the area and the project.
- Support the coordination and management of the project in the different processes and technical procedures.
- All actions delegated by the immediate boss and that promote compliance with contractual obligations that the project warrants.
- Participate with a positive attitude and cooperation in all activities for the good execution of the budget and other resources.
- Assist team members with information, tools, and resources to improve performance and achieve goals.
- Being purposeful, having the ability to work both individually, with little supervision, and as a team.
- Face any other task that is assigned for the effective development of the project with good spirit and willingness.
- Create and maintain a work environment of mutual respect where team members and local partners strive for excellence.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND COMPLIANCE
- Have a clear and thorough understanding of Mercy Corps financial and operations policies, procedures, and formats.
- Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies related to emergency programming.
- Carry out application processes for operational progress and prepare reports / legalizations of expenses, of the resources that are assigned for the fulfillment of the monthly activities.
- Manage with transparency the resources that are assigned monthly for the development of the activities.
- Timely inform the coordination or in its absence, the administrative area of Mercy Corps about the needs or requirements for the fulfillment of the programmatic activities.
INFLUENCE AND REPRESENTATION
- Being the focal point for the participants in the health brigades, promoting a good image of Mercy Corps.
- Being the focal point for the health centerโs participants to intervene in the program.
- Being the focal point for the centerโs staff to intervene in the program along with the Program Officer.
SAFETY
- Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by the leadership of the country.
- Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.
- Ensure the security of the office and the elements in it.
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.
Supervisory Responsibility
Responsible for supervising the activities of the incentivized health personnel assigned to the program.
Accountability