Deputy Chief of Party, Livestock Market Systems at Mercy Corps

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Program Management

• Provide leadership and strategic vision to the livelihood diversification; and pastoral livestock and marketing components of the program including workplan development, market analysis, partnership selection and management, and overall sector strategy.
• Monitor adherence to grant agreement, Mercy Corps policies and procedures and relevant external rules and regulations. Oversee performance of consortium partners and sub-grantees.

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and Reporting

• Facilitate the achievement of program targets and objectives and lead efforts to design effective M&E systems. Evaluate program results and make recommendations for improvement in program implementation.
• Assess and analyze impact and adaptively manage the project to meet results.
• Oversee the scheduling and production of formal and informal reports and workplans on all aspects of the program in a timely and efficient manner.
• Ensure that M&E staff focus on assisting programs to generate practical information that can be used for ongoing program decision-making while also capturing results at the impact level.

Team Management

• In close partnership with the COP, create a work atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development of excellent personnel at all levels.
• Implement, and ensure all staff are effectively using, the performance planning and management system, establishing performance expectations and regularly providing constructive feedback.
• Promote accountability by conducting staff annual performance reviews with direct supervisees, and ensuring that supervisory staff do the same in a timely manner.

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 Beneficiaries

Mercy 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.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY:

Direct supervision of: Livelihoods and value chain component technical teams, program operations staff and possibly other county-based staff.

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Chief of Party

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Project team, MC Kenya operations, finance and HR team, LWA lead and partner organizations.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• MA/S in international development, livestock, agriculture, business, economics, or related field of study
• 5-10 years of overseas experience including five years in a senior management position
• Strong understanding of U.S. government compliance issues
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including report development, writing and editing
• Strong management skills, with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues
• Experience in value chain development, facilitation and agribusiness is added advantage
• Proven experience managing a large, complex team in multiple field offices.
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including report development, writing and editing.
• 5+ years' experience in Kenya or the Horn of Africa preferred
• Knowledge of Kiswahili and relevant local dialects (e.g. Somali, Borana,Turkana etc) is preferred.