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 implements a variety of programming throughout Africa Region in response to the diverse humanitarian and long-term development needs of the region. Mercy Corps has ongoing programs in 17 Countries and this role may focus heavily on Eastern Africa. Mercy Corps is committed to delivering high quality, high impact programming that reaches communities or individuals in need, wherever they are. The Regional Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Advisor (GESI) will be part of the regional team based within the Africa region, working closely with our country teams to design and deliver high-impact programming through sound GESI approaches.
General Position Summary
The Regional GESI advisor is an ongoing role for the region. This position typically spends 50% of its time providing technical support to specific programs, while the remaining 50% of time is allocated to strategic support, country level capacity strengthening and program development.
The Regional GESI Advisor will support country and regional teams to develop and advance GESI by working with regional leadership, country teams, global and regional technical support teams, and partners to: 1) provide remote and in-person technical support to Mercy Corps program teams to conduct GESI analysis , integrate GESI specific approaches into programs, and use data to achieve GESI outcomes; 2) facilitate capacity sharing support and mentorship to country and program level managers and GESI specialists and animate a lively community of practice group to promote cross-learning, resource sharing and collective visioning; 3) Support priority proposal development efforts to embed strong GESI transformative approaches from the outset of program design.
This position will be the regional representative of the global Gender and Social Inclusion Technical Support Unit (TSU) team, and will work closely with the global team to ensure that Mercy Corpsโ priority approaches and tools are effectively rolled out within the region. The position will be housed within the regional team and reporting to the Regional Technical Director, supporting our regional and country teams to advance our Africa regional strategy and ensure that agency GESI strategies, approaches, and standards are applied in action across the diverse Africa portfolio.
Essential Job Responsibilities
STRATEGY & VISION
- Serve as a key technical resource within the region for the agencyโs Gender Equality, Diversity and Social Inclusion strategy, including support to key target countries in the region.
- Facilitate the integration of GESI into regional strategic and annual planning efforts.
- Support research initiatives which advance the agencyโs learning on innovative approaches to GESI work in the region.
- Support internal and external communication efforts (articles, case studies, conferences and forums) to highlight Mercy Corpsโ GESI work in East Africa.
- Design indicators and research components on gender and inclusion to build an evidence base for MCโs strategic decision making.
TEAM CAPACITY SHARING
- Lead the Africa community of practice of regional, country-level, and project based GESI specialists to promote learning and capacity sharing across the region.
- Support equitable and inclusive hiring processes for GESI advisors, program managers on GESI specific programs, and other positions that require significant GESI experience.
- Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach GESI objectives.
- With the global GESI team, participate in training/capacity sharing efforts aimed at strengthening the skills of GESI specialists and champions across the region, including on the GESI Minimum Standards.
PROGRAM AND PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT
- Help teams design and run participatory, inclusive data collection process to understand community needs and priorities and incorporate those needs and priorities into program design.
- Contribute to or advise program design efforts including supporting secondary GESI data review, designing/ co-leading gender analyses, participating in design workshops, providing technical review of logical frameworks and proposal narratives, supporting GESI indicator selection and occasionally drafting portions of proposal documents.
- Provide timely and quality inputs on inclusion for proposals and log-frames in coordination with Program Managers.
- Identify funding opportunities for new GESI-focused and integrated programs.
- Support recruitment of regional consultants and GESI key personnel for programs.
- Guide country teams to build GESI responsive budgets that reflect GESI commitments at the agency and country-level.
PROGRAM QUALITY
- Support program teams to roll-out and adhere to GESI integration minimum standards across all programs
- Support proactive GESI integration into humanitarian response programs
- Provide technical support, coaching, training and capacity sharing to support high quality GESI equality outcomes within programs, especially during program start-up and kick off
- Support teams to contextual GESI tools for their country and program contexts
- Work closely with monitoring, evaluation and learning teams in the region to establish assessment, monitoring and evaluation frameworks to measure and improve upon program quality and impact, specific to GESI integration
- Conduct program quality field or support visits as required
- Develop and roll-out indicators to measure and evidence safe, dignified, and inclusive delivery of services for people of different gender, age and special needs.
LEARNING AND IMPACT
- In collaboration with the program quality department, contribute to the set-up and implementation of a lessons learnt system to capture learnings on GESI integration across the region
- Ensure GESI is integrated across program performance tools, theories of change, indicators, and log frames.
- Contribute to country-level initiatives such as research agendas and internal learning exercises
- Track GESI related learning and evidence across the region and help teams use that knowledge to advocate for distinctive GESI approaches and tools.
INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION
- Represent Mercy Corps at relevant GESI regional coordination mechanisms and meetings
- Cultivate and activate relationships with womenโs rights, gender equality, and social inclusion focused civil society organizations across the region for shared learning and potential partnership
- Support internal and external communication efforts (articles, case studies, conferences and forums) to highlight to Mercy Corpsโ GESI work in Africa
- Contribute to agency-wide GESI integration efforts and communities of practice as appropriate.
Supervisory Responsibility
Consultants, Short-Term assignments, Interns as may be required
Accountability
Reports Directly to: Africa Technical Director with a double accountability to the global Director for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
Works Directly with: Regional Director, Deputy Regional Directors, Country Directors and Directors of Programs, Program Directors/Managers implementing gender-focused or multi-sector programs, Regional and Global Technical Support Unit, Africa Gender Working Group Team, Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative Leads
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.
Knowledge and Experience
- Masterโs degree in International Development, Womenโs Studies, Gender or a comparable area of study preferred. Bachelorโs degree with at least 7 years of relevant professional experience is also acceptable.
- 7 years of experience in international development work, with a minimum of 5 years of experience in GESI technical work
- Experience directly implementing programs is required
- Substantial background in GESI and development work including experience conducting GESI analyses, capacity sharing/training, gender and inclusion outcomes
- Experience working in the Africa is required
- Strong English writing skills required
- Strong facilitation skills required
- Knowledge of other local languages is an asset.
- It is expected that this position will travel to Mercy Corps country missions within the Africa region, including insecure environments, for up to 30% of time. However, travel expectations can be adjusted based on the individual needs of the successful candidate.
Success Factors
The Regional GESI Advisor will demonstrate experience designing, implementing and advising programs, ensuring their ability to adjust technical theories to meet real world complexities. The Regional GESI Advisor role requires strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills, as well as strong time management skills. Being aware and sensitive to international development issues and diverse cultures is critical.
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 worldโs 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. 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.