Assistant Program Officer Energy and Climate - UK, Netherlands, Uganda or Kenya at Mercy Corps

The Role

The Environment Team is a critical technical team within Mercy Corps’ Technical Support Unit (TSU). The TSU is responsible for leading and supporting assessments, program design and field studies; providing technical support to programs; helping the global agency set technical strategies; building strategic partnerships, and representation and coordination with other development, government and private sector actors. Supporting agency priorities, the Environment Team is particularly focused on technical support in the areas of climate change adaptation and mitigation, including disaster risk reduction, natural resource management and environmental conservation, and access to energy.

The Assistant Program Officer – Energy and Climate will support program design and gather lessons learnt from implementation to advance Mercy Corps agency wide commitment to new frontiers to climate change, preparedness and humanitarian response.

The Assistant Program Officer will support the agency’s effort to roll-out an action plan to reduce the agency’s carbon footprint, including the finalization and dissemination of policies and roadmaps on carbon reduction and documentation and dissemination of lessons learned. The Assistant Program Officer will also support the implementation of the Energy Access workplan. This includes: the design of new initiatives and programs, the development of competitive proposals for submission to donors, writing periodic impact briefs, liaising with program partners, supporting the establishment and growth of office ‘Green Teams’ and the streamlining of available resources.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Resource management: Review and expand on guiding internal and external resources around reducing our environmental footprint, climate change and energy access
• Communities of Practice: Support peer-to-peer learning through Mercy Corps online platforms by
• working with different country teams to develop and post content, lead webinars, and share lessons in creative ways on reducing our environmental footprint, climate change and energy access
• Data Analysis and Reporting: Support the analysis and reporting of carbon neutrality goals, in order to inform global strategy and senior managers. This may include improving on systems that gather, analyze and produce reports on data from programs and in-country offices.
• Proposal Writing: Support concept and project writing to expand Mercy Corps reducing our environmental footprint, climate change and energy approaches, and seize opportunities to improve resources in the wider sector.

Supervisory Responsibility None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Advisor, Energy Access Lead

Works Directly With: Programs, Environment Team, Country Teams, Technical Support Unit, Private Sector Partners

Knowledge and Experience

• Energy, Environment, and/or Climate related academic and/or professional background
• Previous experience in supporting drafting policies, their promotion and follow-up is desirable
• Previous experience in successfully delivering presentations and briefings
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with colleagues from various backgrounds and cultures
• Proficiency with MS Office software (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Knowledge of organizational carbon reduction initiatives and clean energy technologies would be preferable
• Some experience of working in or with an NGO would be preferable.
• Success Factors
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Work as part of a team and individually.
• Systematic, with a strong eye for detail.
• Fast-learner, can work quickly, accurately and to deadlines.
• Able to build and maintain effective internal and external relationships.
• Strong team worker and communicator, can work with a range of people.
• Able to cope with changing priorities, often at short notice, and work well under pressure.
• Proactive, positive and solutions-based attitude.
• High levels of motivation, professionalism and resilience.
• An exposure to and interest in international development issues is important, along with an empathy for Mercy Corps’ mission.

The position could be based in one of these Mercy Corps offices: Edinburgh (United Kingdom), London (United Kingdom), The Hague (The Netherlands), Kampala (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya). The position may involve occasional national and international travel, in compliance with national Covid-19 regulations.

MCE team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a short-term assignment or trip to country offices. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all Mercy Corps locations.

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment.

Candidates must have the right to work in one of these Mercy Corps offices at the time of appointment: Edinburgh (United Kingdom), London (United Kingdom), The Hague (The Netherlands), Kampala (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya).
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
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

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 elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.