Program Director at Mercy Corps

The Program Director is responsible for the overall strategy and delivery of the YES! program across five countries in Africa. S/he will take on the challenging role of balancing clear strategy and management systems with localization across diverse economies and contexts.

S/he will function as the lead relationship manager with The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and the Coca-Cola System including bottlers and business unit representatives, and other private sector, government and NGO stakeholders. S/he will cultivate new relationships with private sector actors and others to enhance and grow the program, including donors to enable a follow-on Phase 2.

Program Director Job Responsibilities

• Maintain regular and hands-on contact with corporate and untraditional donors and partners, including ability to respond to quickly and articulately to questions and concerns.
• Ensure effective in-country relationship management between program teams and local Coca-Cola bottling companies and business units.
• Support development of pipeline of private sector partnerships, including facilitating agreements and bringing together diverse partners for collaboration.
• Ensure effective coordination and collaboration amongst NGO partners and government entities, and consistently cultivate new relationships.
• Ensure that an effective communication strategy is in place to share program progress and successes with program donors, HQ, government and other stakeholders.
• Function as a technical lead or support for a range of technical areas, including market facilitation, private sector engagement, social enterprise incubation, and youth development.
• Drive effective private sector engagement across the program, ensuring that linkages to private sector opportunities form the basis of the program (rather than just conducting training).
• Take a Making Markets Work for Youth approach, recognizing concepts of mixed livelihoods in youth employment.
• Develop, manage, and revise program budgets across the five countries.
• Ensure rigorous accountability to donor rules and regulations and that all spending is donor-compliant, program-effective and cost efficient.
• Work collaboratively with support departments (finance, logistics, and HR) to ensure that effective program management tools are in place, and that the project is delivered on time, on scope and on budget.
• Support the Results, Learning and Research Coordinator in the evolution of YES! M&E and Learning systems across the five countries and their ability to generate rigorous learning products.
• Promote influence based on findings from the YES! program to local and international stakeholders, as well as to Mercy Corps internally.
• Manage a small coordinating team in Kenya, with oversight for YES! program teams (about 15 people) in five countries.
• Oversee capacity building to increase Mercy Corps staff’s capacities in private sector engagement and youth development in all countries, as well as providing close mentoring to YES! team leads.
• Provide detailed reports for a range of stakeholders.

Requirements for the Program Director Job

• BA/BS degree in a relevant field.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience setting up and managing economic development, youth employment or market facilitation programs.
• Experience in Africa required.
• Expertise in strategic planning and management across complex multi-component programs or portfolios.
• Excellent and patient relationship management skills.
• Experience working with corporate partners a plus.
• Excellent written and presentation skills required, for a range of audiences.
• Excellent oral and written English skills required.
• Demonstrated expertise in working with the private sector to facilitate economic opportunities for youth or other vulnerable groups.