Technical Director at Mercy Corps

The Position

• The Technical Director for Africa is a senior leader providing significant technical direction and programmatic quality support to Mercy Corps’ 17+ country programs and initiatives across the continent. S/he works closely with the Regional Director (RD) and Deputy Regional Directors (DRDs) to ensure transformational change occurs through the combination of: programmatic impact in our communities; the ability to influence change makers at local and global levels; and a restlessness to innovate in search of better solutions. S/he will collaborate with the RD to build and sustain a cohesive regional management team ensuring the Africa portfolio is positioned for excellence in all programmatic functions across country teams. The Technical Director coordinates with program departments at the country, regional and headquarters levels to ensure that our program portfolio is of the highest quality and standards and that programs receive the support that they need. The Technical Director will champion Mercy Corps’ Program Management @ Mercy Corps and the agency’s quality standards to ensure that teams are driving transformational impact in the region by executing programs that are of the highest quality, with the latest technical interventions, program designs and generating documented evidence. The Technical Director will also be the primary representative for the region with the global Technical Support Unit, Program & Quality Unit, as well as other technical and quality initiatives, ensuring that the Africa region is strongly represented in global conversations and the global agency understands and is responsive to the technical and program quality needs of our programs.

Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND PLANNING

• Work with the regional team to articulate an ambitious and compelling regional strategy for Mercy Corps in Africa.
• Contribute to the development of country level strategies that align with the regional strategy and Mercy Corps’ global Pathways to Possibility (P2P).
• Act as a key partner for the RD/DRDs to achieve an effective regional management team that delivers programmatic excellence and significant impact and influence in the region.
• Work with regional and HQ teams to develop regional research and learning priorities that are connected to regional and global strategic priorities.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Supervise the regional technical support team (TSU) and the regional Program and Quality (PaQ) (CARM, MEL) team to work together as a cohesive regional program support unit to deliver technical support to Country teams.
• Ensure that regional program support team members have a deep understanding of their roles and are connected to relevant stakeholders across the agency to inform and promote agency strategies and best practices.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
• Create a work environment of respect where team members strive to achieve excellence and team culture is positive, transparent and focused on staff wellbeing.
• Assist with the on-boarding of senior team members, ensuring they are set up for success and familiar with agency systems, procedures, and protocols.
• Ensure sound performance management and staff access to high quality learning opportunities, with a special emphasis on national team member development.
• Support country leadership in adhering to Mercy Corps’ technical and programmatic policies and procedures, including rollout of new initiatives and standards.

SUPERVISION OF REGIONAL TECHNICAL SUPPORT TEAMS

• Develop systems to identify support needs of country teams and ensure that programs access quality, relevant and timely support from TSU and other regional support team members.
• Assist in the administration of regional TSU team members work plans and budgets throughout the fiscal year.
• Ensure effective human, material, financial and technical support for all country programs, in cooperation with senior staff, prioritizing resource allocation with DRD/RD as necessary.

 SUPERVISION OF REGIONAL TECHNICAL SUPPORT TEAMS

• Support countries to ensure high quality M&E and program performance related practices are in place.
• Coordinate with PaQ and T4D to ensure that countries access relevant technical support.
• Support countries with the adoption of agency MEL and program management procedures and policies, oversee efforts to conduct gap analyses and help countries develop action plans to correct gaps, including:
  • MEL policy
  • TOLA
  • PM@MC
• Lead efforts to build the culture of adaptive management, evidence and learning in each country in the region.

PROMOTE QUALITY AND INTEGRITY (PAQ AND CARM)

• Develop systems to ensure that all programs in the region receive support to achieve the highest possible impact and are in line with overall regional and global strategies.
• Develop systems to ensure that Mercy Corps’ programs adhere to Mercy Corps and global best practices, policies and standards (cash minimum standards etc.).
• Support all countries in the region to adopt and adhere to Mercy Corps’ program accountability and CARM policies.
• Encourage a culture of learning and innovation among all Mercy Corps staff in the region.
• Work closely with headquarters support units to ensure continuous quality improvement of field programs, and that teams are working towards achieving excellence, especially during rapid growth.

EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL REPRESENTATION

• Ensure program coordination and information sharing within and between the regional team.
• Support regional knowledge networks to enhance technical excellence, advance learning agendas, and support collaborative action and common programmatic approaches to fostering greater regional coherence.
• Act as a key liaison between headquarters, the regional team and country teams to effectively prioritize technical agendas and work plans, identify and problem solve around gaps, and elevate program innovations and success stories.
• Help to ensure timely and targeted communication and information flows that highlight Mercy Corps’ regional and global impact.
• Connect teams to ideas, partners and resources to drive creative solutions for greater impact.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with global and regional technical and research partners/organizations/universities that contribute to technical expertise and excellence.
• Represent Mercy Corps at external events to build voice, brand and influence.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Regional PAQ Director, Regional technical advisors (TSU), Regional PaQ Advisor, Regional MEL, and CARM Advisors. 

Accountability

• Reports Directly To: Regional Director- Africa
• Works Directly With: Deputy Regional Directors, Country Directors, Country-level Senior Management Teams, Regional Program Team (RPT), Headquarters based TSU, MEL, and Program Quality teams, and other HQ departments such as communications, fundraising, learning, etc.

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.

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills 

• BA or equivalent in international development, political or social science, public administration, business management, required and MA preferred;
• At least 8-10 years’ field experience in senior management related to technical support functions and/or, direct program development and implementation;
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, and to solve complex problems at an organizational level;
• Direct experience managing and supervising large teams, as well as mentoring and development;
• Confident communication skills applicable to donor relations, media outreach, and inter-agency coordination;
• Ability to handle multiple issues at one time, especially in emergency situations, and to organize and prioritize accordingly;
• Demonstrated understanding of the critical humanitarian and development issues in Africa, and significant experience with the challenges of operating in the region;
• Internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work.
• Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response preferred.
• Fluent in English and French strongly preferred.