Women’s Economic Empowerment Manager – Regional Livestock Programme (RLP) at Mercy Corps

General Position Summary

The Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Manager for the Regional Livestock Programme will use their in-depth contextual understanding, technical and practical expertise and relationship building skills to lead the collective delivery of a gender transformative program for women’s economic empowerment in the drylands of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The WEE manager will lead the design, implementation, and oversight of the program’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) strategy within a Market Systems Development (MSD) framework, ensuring that women, youth, and other marginalized groups benefit equitably from market opportunities. The role will provide technical leadership to integrate gender-transformative and socially inclusive approaches across all program components in targeted corridor, strengthen the quality and effectiveness of WEE interventions, and ensure that program strategies are informed by robust market systems, gender, and social inclusion analyses. Working closely with technical team, partners, and Monitoring and Results Measurement (MRM) teams, the WEE Manager will drive the generation and use of evidence to support adaptive management, learning, and decision-making; oversee the development of gender-responsive Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) systems; and contribute to knowledge sharing, impact measurement, and external engagement to advance sustainable, inclusive, and scalable program Women Economic Empowerment outcomes.  

Essential Job Responsibilities

VISION AND STRATEGY

•  Set strategic direction and provide leadership for the program’s Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) agenda across target livestock trade corridors, ensuring women and youth are recognized, engaged, and benefit as key economic actors within livestock market systems. The role will strengthen the capacity of program teams and partners to integrate gender-transformative approaches across livestock value chains and supporting sectors, including animal health, feed and forage, livestock trade, business development services (BDS), and financial inclusion (FI).
•  Lead the implementation and continuous refinement of the program’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) strategy, ensuring that gender-transformative approaches are effectively embedded across priority interventions and market system activities. Working closely with Corridor Managers, the Deputy Director/Technical Lead, the Investment Manager, and the NRM Lead, the role will provide technical oversight and strategic guidance to address systemic gender constraints, strengthen inclusive market outcomes, and enhance women’s participation, leadership, agency, and economic benefits within livestock market systems.
•  Support the Program Leadership Team in engaging and influencing key stakeholders, including government institutions, private sector actors, development partners, donors, and civil society organizations, to advance the program’s WEE objectives. She/he will support strengthen multi-stakeholder partnerships, donor engagement and resource mobilization efforts directed to WEE, contribute to policy dialogue and advocacy initiatives, and promote collaborative actions that expand sustainable, inclusive, and market-driven economic opportunities for women.
•  Lead the development and implementation of the GESI/WEE learning, evidence, and knowledge management agenda to support adaptive management, advocacy, and thought leadership. This includes refining annual learning priorities and questions based on emerging evidence and program needs; leading qualitative and quantitative analysis to inform decision-making, donor reporting, stakeholder engagement, and capacity strengthening; and overseeing the development of internal and external communication products that highlight WEE achievements, lessons, and impact.
•  Promote innovation, learning, and adaptive management by identifying emerging opportunities, encouraging innovative approaches to overcome barriers to women’s economic participation, and fostering an environment where diverse perspectives are valued. The role will champion a culture of continuous learning, reflection, and evidence-based adaptation to strengthen program effectiveness and WEE outcomes

TECHNICAL Leadership FOR IMPLEMENTATION

•  Matrix accountability with program director for overall performance, quality, and results of RLP’s WEE and GESI portfolio across all countries and trade corridors
•  Lead the implementation of Mercy Corps’ Global Minimum Standards for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) across the RLP, ensuring consistent integration of GESI principles throughout program design, implementation, monitoring, and learning processes.
•  Provide strategic and technical leadership for the design and implementation of GESI and Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) interventions, investments, and activities across all program components. Ensure interventions are informed by robust gender and social inclusion analyses, technically sound, market-driven, and aligned with donor requirements and recognized good practices.
•  Set annual WEE strategic priorities with program director
•  Guide and support program teams and partners to effectively integrate GESI considerations across interventions, ensuring women, men, youth, and other marginalized groups are meaningfully included, participate equitably, and benefit from program outcomes within livestock market systems.
•  Strengthen the capacity of program teams, partners, and stakeholders through training, coaching, mentorship, and technical support to foster ownership of GESI and WEE approaches and promote the application of gender-transformative and inclusive development practices.
•  Provide technical oversight for field monitoring, learning, and adaptive management related to GESI and WEE, including leading periodic qualitative reviews to assess progress, identify emerging opportunities and challenges, and inform strategic adjustments to interventions.
•  Lead the analysis, interpretation, and use of sex-, age-, and diversity-disaggregated data to generate evidence, strengthen program learning, and inform WEE strategies, intervention design, partnership development, and adaptive management decisions.
•  Contribute to high-quality donor and program reporting, ensuring that progress, lessons learned, and evidence of gender-transformative change, social inclusion, and inclusive market development outcomes are effectively documented and communicated.
•  Champion the integration of GESI across program operations, systems, and organizational practices, ensuring that internal policies, procedures, and ways of working reflect inclusive and gender-responsive principles.
•  Serve as the RLP Safeguarding Focal Point, promoting safeguarding awareness, strengthening compliance with Mercy Corps policies, supporting prevention and risk mitigation efforts, and ensuring safeguarding concerns are appropriately managed and addressed

MANAGEMENT & COORDINATION

•  Provide matrix management through technical supervision and mentorship of RLP’s GESI Focal Points and wider program team.
•  Lead and coordinate cross-country GESI community of practice to share learning and best practices across corridors.
•  Lead planning and coordination of WEE investments, in collaboration with budget holders to ensure GESI interventions are fully resourced. .
•  Provide technical sign-off on WEE grants, investments and partnerships as appropriate
•  Monitor value for money and effectiveness of WEE investments
•  Ensure that program and country staff understand, are familiar with, and have the skills to contribute to the integration of Mercy Corps’ GESI Minimum Standards.
•  Liaise with key external stakeholders to include their input on GESI, youth, and WEE perspectives in all aspects of program activities.
•  Engage with the global GESI team and relevant internal communities of practice to share and benefit from lessons and best practices across the organization.

EXTERNAL REPRESENTATION

•  Identify strategic influence opportunities to represent RLP’s learning on GESI and MSD with donors, peers, policy makers, and private sector actors
•  Design compelling, evidence-based presentations and learning products to share externally
•  Represent Mercy Corps and the program with donors and government and community leaders, as well as peer-oriented meetings and events, including in MSD and GESI-related networks and coordination bodies.
•  Lead publication of regional learning products on GESI and MSD in close collaboration with the Director Evidence & Learning Resilient Dryland Production Systems 
•  Prepare and deliver presentations to stakeholders about program approaches, best practices, and learnings related to gender equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Security

•  Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to promote and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.  Ensure that gender specific needs and interests of program staff in relation to safety and security are identified and responded to appropriately.

SAFEGUARDING

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Supervisory Responsibility

•  Provides matrix leadership, technical supervision, performance input, and work-planning oversight to GESI focal points and relevant technical staff across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Director

Works Directly with RLP Staff including:

•  Within the RLP: Deputy Director/Technical Lead, Monitoring and Results Measurement Manager, Director of Evidence & Learning RDPS, Trade Corridor managers, Inclusive Finance and Investment Manager, and the Communication and Knowledge Management Manager and wider RLP program team.
•  National, Regional and Global: S/He will collaborate with the National Gender advisor(s) within the 3 countries if that role exists, the Regional Gender Advisor, and Global GESI and MSD technical advisors and MEL team members for strategic support to the RLP, her/his own professional growth, and to share insights and progress to others in Mercy Corps and beyond. 

To Beneficiaries

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

•  Master’s degree in Gender Studies, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Economics, Rural Development, Agricultural Economics, Livestock sector or a related field, with at least 10 years of relevant professional experience, including 5 years in a senior GESI/Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) leadership role. Experience in Market Systems Development (MSD), livestock value chains, and/or private sector development is highly preferred.
•  Proven experience leading the design and implementation of GESI and WEE strategies within large development programs, with demonstrated success in integrating gender and youth into livestock market systems, and economic development programming.
•  Strong experience working with the private sector to identify, test, and scale innovative business models, technologies, and market-based solutions that address barriers to women’s and youth’s economic participation and empowerment.
•  Demonstrated experience working on matrix teams and managing staff and budgets.
•  Demonstrated ability to build the capacity and commitment of program teams, partners, government institutions, and other stakeholders to apply gender-transformative approaches and promote women’s economic empowerment.
•  Proven technical leadership in the design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning of GESI/WEE interventions, including mentoring multidisciplinary teams and supporting adaptive management processes, preferably within an international NGO or donor-funded program.
•  Experience implementing women’s economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, youth employment, and livelihoods programs, preferably in pastoralist and agro-pastoralist contexts. Experience in the Horn of Africa is highly desirable.
•  Strong analytical and learning skills, including the ability to collect, analyze, interpret, and utilize qualitative and quantitative data to inform strategy, learning, advocacy, and decision-making.
•  Experience working with major donors such as SDC, Sida, AFD, the World Bank, and similar development partners, including donor compliance, reporting, and stakeholder engagement.
•  Excellent facilitation, communication, networking, and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence diverse audiences and foster collaboration across sectors.
•  Strong organizational, problem-solving, and adaptive management skills, with the ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and deliver results in complex and evolving environments.
•  Demonstrated cultural sensitivity, diplomacy, and ability to work effectively within multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
•  Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
•  Willingness and ability to travel regularly to field locations (30-50%) as required