Senior Advisor, Agriculture and Market Systems at Mercy Corps

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION

• Contribute to a distinctive, forward-thinking, climate-smart and gender-equitable vision for agriculture systems in close collaboration with the country teams and other agency departments.
• Monitor key internal and external trends to inform TSU work.
• Lead innovative thinking around CRA-MSD to drive change
• Collaborate closely with the Technology for Development team to leverage technology in an effort to increase impact and scale.
• Spearhead innovative partnership initiatives with private and public entities.
• Serve as key external communicator for Mercy Corps on CRA-MSD

PROGRAM QUALITY

• Support Mercy Corps’ programs to take a market-systems or market-based approach to CRA, in close collaboration with the program managers and program-based technical leads, by delivering short-term support and technical assistance, including to those programs in complex crisis environments.
• Support effective agriculture interventions using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking.
• Strengthen capacity of program technical staff to better design and implement market-based CRA programs through in-country and remote training, technical tool development or adaptation, facilitating knowledge sharing opportunities between country experts, etc. Work closely with the Regional CRA Advisor and MSD TSU team to develop, adapt and/or contextualize materials as needed.
• Partner with peer Mercy Corps’ regional and global technical advisors (youth, gender, resilience, CRA, market systems, environment, financial inclusion etc.,) to drive integrated programming
• Support an increased focus on CRA, gender and resilience in market systems development programs, promoting evidence for market-based CRA programming.

PROGRAM AND PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT

• Write/review proposals and concept notes for funding from donors including foundations, corporations, European donors, USAID, FCDO and others to support CRA market systems development programming.
• Support the development of CRA-MSD assessments and data analysis/reporting to determine community needs and priorities and Mercy Corps’ competitive advantage for funding. Ensure assessments include dimensions of gender, and youth as central cross-cutting approaches.
• Work with other technical leads on the design and support of multi-sectoral programs that encompass elements of broader agency goals such as resilience, food security, and youth development.
• Serve as technical lead for complex, competitive proposals and large integrated teams following Mercy Corps’ best practices in proposal development, team management, and the appropriate sectoral area.
• Cultivate and nurture donor relationships and strategic partnerships that positively impact Mercy Corps’ ability to influence program strategies, proposal design and implementation.

LEARNING & IMPACT

• In collaboration with the research and learning team and country teams, support implementation of a CRA research strategy aimed at capturing in-depth learning from, and feeding learning back into, our market-based CRA programs to ensure quality.
• Support new and ongoing programs with best practice advice and assistance on assessment, implementation, research, and evaluation needs.
• Work closely with the relevant teams to establish assessment, monitoring and evaluation frameworks and indicators to measure the impact of our CRA-MSD programs at the country and aggregate level.
• Lead/support the development of: assessments; case studies, learning documents, short articles, and blogs; and develop internal and external dissemination plans for all products with the aim of articulating our impact and lessons learned on CRA systems across our portfolio.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

• Contribute to thought leadership around market-based and MSD approaches to CRA by representing and/or facilitating country team members to represent Mercy Corps at relevant academic events, conferences, media forums, and other events.
• Identify and nurture strategic partnerships with other organizations and institutions to produce case studies, assessments, and other learning documentation, as well as enhance program quality.
• Present concepts and ideas to donors, partners, and peer organizations that influence them to drive innovation and positive change around CRA.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills 

• More than 7 years of experience providing increasingly proficient technical support in the field of MSD with significant CRA knowledge and experience, preferably in international development.
• Advanced degree in field relevant to CRA (e.g., agronomy, agricultural economics, agroforestry, climate change and food security) or to MSD (e.g., macroeconomics, sustainable development, inclusive market systems) with field experience in the other field; or significant comparable field experience in both fields. 
• Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied knowledge of MSD programming, including using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking. 
• Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied knowledge of regenerative agriculture, nature-based solutions or similar, including soil and water management.
• Experience in working with the private sector and other market actors for CRA projects
• Demonstrated experience writing high quality proposals and other external documents such as influential articles and blogs
• Experience leading agricultural market assessments in a variety of different contexts, including complex crisis environments 
• Demonstrated experience with major donors such as USAID, FCDO, the EC and relevant foundations and corporations.
• Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills and the ability to develop collaborative relationships 
• Strong presentation and communication skills in English required.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
• Fluency (written and verbal) in English is required; working knowledge (verbal) of French is preferred.