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. Program / Department Summary Mercy Corps is currently operational in 18 countries in Africa including Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Senegal, Mauritania and Benin. The Mercy Corps Africa region is splitting into two regions namely East and Southern and; West and Central Africa to enhance more support to Country Offices and Programs. Mercy Corpsโ country programs in Africa face momentous humanitarian crises and significant development challenges, and operate in fragile and conflict-affected areas, displacement settings, emergency responses, as well as more stable developed settings. Against this backdrop Mercy Corpsโ focus in Africa has been in promoting good governance and conflict resolution, enhancing resilience, facilitating market systems, access to finance and economic opportunities, as well as youth employment and empowerment. It is imperative that Mercy Corps presents itself as a key and credible partner with the many donors, government authorities and civil society actors in order to contribute to the process of positive change across the continent. Mercy Corps looks to actively engage and partner with an ever-growing and innovative African private sector to achieve greater and sustained impact. The Program Performance and Quality (PaQ) Unit in the Africa region consists of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) functions, program management, gender integration, and integrated program standards, including Community Accountability Reporting Mechanisms (CARM). The teamโs approach supports both foundational and innovative approaches to program management, with design, monitoring, evaluation and learning functions as key processes and benchmarks to ensure evidence-based decision making for quality program implementation.
General Position Summary The regional Community Accountability Advisor, Short Term Assignment (STA) will serve in a technical advisory role to support country programs (in West and Central Africa) to adopt and implement CARM in accordance with the CARM Policy to ensure programs are impactful and responsive to community needs. In addition to their Regional PaQ colleagues, the Regional Community Accountability Advisor will work closely with other Regional Community Accountability Advisors and the HQ Program Standards team to share learning and best practice from countries within their region, with a view to build knowledge and understanding of CARM across Mercy Corps. Essential Job Responsibilities
PROVIDE SUPPORT TO REGIONAL CARM
- Support CARM in country by supporting the hiring process, selection and onboarding of new in country CARM staff as well as skills building and coaching of CARM staff
- Provide remote technical support to field teams, through one-on-one country outreach, regional calls, webinars, etc.
- Working with country teams to design and document their CARM processes and support the process of developing or revising CARM SOPs
- Provide remote training and support to team members serving in CARM short term assignment positions
- Provide in-country technical support to high risk country programs to guide them in designing and implementing their CARM
- Lead teams in process mapping to identify gaps in their CARM
- Identify countries requiring increased technical support and liaise with the HQ CARM team and Regional Director as needed
- Track CARM progress at a regional level
- Support country programs in CARM analytics, establishing processes for using CARM data for learning and improved programming and prepare regional aggregations and reports
SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY & LEARNING
- Identify and compile case studies of CARM best practices, success, and lessons learned in country programs to facilitate cross-country and regional learning
- Contribute to the development of additional CARM tools and resources
- Lead facilitation of the regional community of practice for country CARM focal points
- Collate and share CARM best practice from Country Offices on monthly basis
- Review existing reporting templates and ensure they conform to country needs
- Submit biweekly CARM briefs to the Technical Director
INTERNAL & EXTERNAL COLLABORATION