Field Director - Samburu County at Mercy Corps

General Position Summary

• The Field Director will promote a culture of collaboration, learning and adaptation amongst Mercy Corps staff, partner organizations, county government and a variety of other stakeholders that are committed to reducing acute malnutrition. They will ensure integration between diverse program activities and the continual refinement of our approach based on evidence of what works. The Field Director will build collaborative relationships with county government, CSOs, the private sector and other key stakeholders to ensure efficient program implementation and shared ownership of the program as well as its results. They  will be the primary program representative to donors, relevant government entities, partners, other implementers and stakeholders in the field.

Essential Responsibilities

Strategy, Leadership and Representation

• Communicate a clear vision of the complex program to county team members and other stakeholders that translates into concrete program design and incorporates learning.
• Represent Mercy Corps and the program at the highest levels of county government; maintaining productive relationships with internal and external constituents such as private sector partners, county government, civil society, communities, and other stakeholders.
• Lead county level planning processes and provide strategic updates in collaboration with technical leads.
• Ensure that all program activities are tightly integrated at the county level and are responsive to the overall vision for the program - in close collaboration with the Nairobi-based technical leads.
• Continuously monitors program performance and, in coordination with the Deputy Chief of Party, generates and evaluates alternative solutions and makes effective and timely decisions.

 Team Management

• Promote a culture of learning, systems thinking, and critical analysis. Create a working environment in which sharing of successes and failures is encouraged and capitalized through learning to establish mechanisms that ensure informed adaptive actions.
• Create a work environment of mutual respect that attracts motivated, skilled and effective team members and enables them individually and collectively to strive to achieve excellence.
• Supervise, provide leadership, mentor and build the capacity of direct reports, including through individualized professional development plans.
• Assist in connecting research results and best practices in M&E to ensure that information and knowledge is accessible to all staff and partners.
• Hire, onboard and lead team members so that they are positioned for success.
• Coordinate county-level NAWIRI staff and oversee the timely development and submission of quality program reports, workplans and budgets.

Program Management

• Provide leadership and oversight that helps inform and improve program outcomes and county level results.
• Lead in the principles, methods or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, and managing program activities and resources - including monitoring and inspecting costs, work, staff and consultant performance.
• Oversee daily office and program activities by ensuring program staff are following work plans as assigned by respective team leaders.
• Serve as a resource for program staff and input into activity design, evidence-based programming, M&E plans, and impact assessments.
• Support internal and external reviews and lead the analysis of findings, with a strong emphasis on learning.
• Ensure adherence to Mercy Corps administrative procedures by support and program staff.
• Work daily with support staff i.e. Operations, Finance and Human Resources departments to ensure proper daily support functions and compliance with MC and donor policies.
• Work daily with program staff and receive regular updates of program activities- ensure activities are on schedule.
• Conduct daily meetings and receive routine reports from support functions, as per MC policies, and facilitate linkages to programming.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are both abiding by and aware of policies.
• Represent Mercy Corps as required with local governments and authorities for security meetings/briefings.
• Assist the CoP and DCoP in developing strategies to continue work in times of heightened security.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Deputy Field Director, Field Office Program Managers, County finance and operations team, M&E Coordinator, CLA Coordinator, partner purpose leads

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director, Implementation and Nutrition Resilience

Works Directly with: 

• DCoP/Technical Director, Director Program Performance and Learning Nairobi based technical leads and advisors, Strategic Learning Lead, Institutional Strengthening Lead, the M&E team, partner agencies, local government, MCK finance and operations team. 

Accountability To Participants and Stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to program participants and to international standards guiding international development work, while actively engaging ecosystem as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field; an advanced degree is preferred
• At least 10 years’ work experience with 3 years field experience managing diverse multi-sector, multi-partner programs and teams (familiarity with nutrition programming preferred).
• Proven experience managing a large team with programmatic and operational functions.
• Deep familiarity with the local context in the ASALs. Direct experience in either Turkana or Samburu preferred.
• Demonstrated ability and/or appetite to demand evidence and translate it into practice.
• Demonstrated ability working with policymakers/practitioners on translating evidence into practice.
• Strong writing skills; ability to analyze and consolidate information into succinct and timely reports.
• Highly proficient English verbal and written skills; additional verbal proficiency in Turkana/Samburu preferred.

Success factors

• Initiative-taker, multi-tasker, and able to work effectively and respectfully with local government, private sector, civil society and donors.
• Demonstrated experience in setting up and managing systems and procedures as well as experience in building team commitment toward the achievements of program objectives.
• Team-player with positive attitude to problem solving and conflict resolution. Focused on team building and capacity-building of program staff and will be able to apply creative solutions to program quality.
• Ability to juggle multiple priorities under tight deadlines and to calmly and diplomatically deal with unexpected events impacting program operations