Girl Officer at Mercy Corps

Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps has been operating in Kenya since 2008, focusing its interventions around four objectives:

• Peace and Conflict Management;
• Livelihood/Market Systems;
• Governance (particularly at the county level); and
• Youth Employment/Employability (including the social and economic development of adolescents).

The four objectives serve to increase community resilience to drought and other shocks and stresses, and to decrease fragility with a particular focus on Kenya’s Arid Lands.  Mercy Corps’ vision for change requires the private sector, government and civil society to work together to create meaningful and sustainable change.

Under the Omo Delta Project – Expanding the Rangeland to achieve Growth and Transformation, Mercy Corps in collaboration with five other partners: VSF G – lead agency, VITA (RTI) Ltd, EPaRDA, CIFA and TUPADO seeks to address the drivers of instability, irregular migration and displacement so as to expand and maximize opportunities for communities living in the rangelands along the Kenya – Ethiopia border by increasing wealth of young people in particular and especially young women; accelerating national and cross-border trade and collaboration; and increasing stability to promote growth and protect gains.

General Position Summary: The GIRL Project Officer will be responsible for technical oversight and management of the Omo Delta Project using the young girl personal agency empowerment safe space model aimed at supporting human capital development for resilient individuals who are well placed for commercial engagement. S/he will define implementation strategies in coordination with the Program Manager and leadership team.

The GIRL Project Officer will train staff and partners, providing them with technical assistance; and ensuring that common strategies and approaches are applied consistently in all communities. S/he will coordinate closely with the M&E team to ensure that systems are in place to track, analyze and report results.

The Officer will keep abreast of changing contexts and integrate new ideas and approaches as appropriate, seek additional technical assistance as needed and ensure effective working relationships with collaborating agencies.

S/he will work closely with our partner organization – VSF who will be leading the implementation of the program, and look for opportunities to link programming and clients with their programming and programming across EUTF.

Essential Job Functions:

• Contribute to team work plans and guide successful implementation of the Omo delta project and Learning activities, ensuring teams follow work plans so activities are on time, target and within the approved budget, and program deliverables achieve desired impact;
• Provide technical guidance on the young girls’ personal agency empowerment safe space model and ensure that interventions are responsive to stakeholders and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan. Ensure that interventions are evidence-based and adhere to adaptive management principles;
• Engage community members (community representatives, teachers, religious leaders, government officials and gatekeepers) to form an Advisory Committee to support and inform program activities;
• Organize community events to sensitize communities on human capital development for resilient communities;
• Assist in the creation of technical curricula, basic education (numeracy and literacy), basic nutrition literacy, WASH awareness and campaign, financial literacy and reproductive health;
• Identify and recruit girls in the community to participate in safe space groups;
• Identify and engage local animal and human health workers to provide training and technical assistance to safe space groups;
• Monitor and track the success and failures of safe space groups;
• Link women to other traders, markets, financial institutions, public and private institutions;
• Generate and implement monitoring and evaluation tools;
• Play a key role in the development of intervention designs, sector strategies and M&E frameworks;
• Coordinate assessments, evaluations and monitoring surveys in area of operation. This will entail development of Scope of Works, development of survey tools, trainings and management of data collectors, report write and facilitating results discussion;
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate. Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards;
• Facilitate planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in;
• In coordination with the MEL team, monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and assessments to ensure program quality and impact. Document approaches, successes and lessons learned;
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities;
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance and reach objectives;
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one-on-one and performance reviews;
• Orient and lead the Community Facilitators;
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;
• Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility: Community Facilitators

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Manager

Works Directly With: REAP Project Officer, REAP mentors, M& E Officer, Finance, HR and Operations teams, Partner Organizations, and broader LMS team.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Degree in Community Development, Economic Development, Business, Agriculture, Livestock or related field or diploma with over 3 years’ experience;
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience working with NGOs/CBO’s in civic engagement, livelihoods and education;
• Should have knowledge of quantitative and qualitative data collection, reporting techniques and should understand and be able to apply basic measures of central tendency and spread;
• Commitment to working with Women, Girls, youth and vulnerable groups in need, regardless of race, tribe, religion or gender;
• Understanding of working with local partners and commitment to working with the greater BOMA Project and LMS team;
• Good problem solving, written and oral communication skills;
• Strong written and spoken English and Swahili;
• Local language skills required;
• Ability to work without constant supervision and as part of a mixed team;
• Good knowledge of MS Office software such as Excel, Word, and Access.