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 the Middle East in response to the diverse humanitarian and long-term development needs of the region. Mercy Corps has ongoing programs in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine. 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 Middle East, working closely with our country teams to design and deliver high-impact programming through a strong GESI transformative approach.
General Position Summary The Regional GESI advisor is an exciting new role for the region and the successful candidate will have the opportunity to further define the role over time. This position will spend 50% of its time providing technical support to specific programs. The remaining 50% of time will be allocated to strategic support, country level capacity strengthening and program development.
The 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 GESIn outcomes; 2) facilitate capacity sharing support and mentorship to country and program level managers and GESI specialists and animate a lively working 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 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 Deputy Regional Director, supporting our regional and country teams to advance our Middle East regional strategy and ensure that agency GESI strategies, approaches, and standards are applied in action across the diverse Middle East portfolio.
Essential Job Responsibilities STRATEGY & VISION
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 Middle East Contribute to agency-wide GESI integration efforts and communities of practice as appropriate.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.
Supervisory Responsibility
Consultants, Short-Term assignments, Interns as may be required
Accountability Reports Directly to:
Middle East Deputy Regional Director with a double accountability to the global Director for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Works Directly with:
Regional Director, Deputy Regional Director, Regional PAQ lead, Country Directors and Directors of Programs, Program Directors/Managers implementing GESI-focused or multi-sector programs, country GESI leads, Regional and Global Technical Support Unit, 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 Middle East is required Strong English writing skills required Strong facilitation skills required