Technical Advisor at Mercy Corps

PROGRAM / DEPARTMENT SUMMARY

Mercy Corps seeks to implement a 5-year, 20 million GBP program funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) entitled Reducing Insecurity (and Violent Extremism) in the Northern and Coastal Regions of Kenya (RE-INVENT). RE-INVENT aims to enhance Kenyan capacity and capability at the national, county and local levels to address five types of inter-related violence: inter-communal conflict, weak community-police relations, violence against women and girls (VAWG), violent extremism and election related violence. It will support the continued advancement of police reforms to improve the management, oversight and accountability of the police force.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY

The Violence Reduction and Institutional Reform Technical Advisor will provide overall leadership and technical guidance to the program on violence reduction strategies cutting across the five types of violence mentioned above. S/he will engage with stakeholders at the national, county and community level to design and implement reforms aimed at strengthening community security, building relationships between police and communities, and tackling the root causes of violence and conflict in Kenya. The Technical Advisor will be a key member of the program management team, and will work with senior management to ensure that community-level interventions, government policies, and research are delivered in a complementary and mutually-reinforcing way to achieve maximum impact.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy and Vision

• Provide strategic direction and vision to guide the program implementation strategy and technical approach in order to address the five inter-related forms of violence. mentioned above.
• Gather/analyze data and complete assessments to determine program needs and priorities in order to achieve the program’s intended outcomes.
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve objectives and contribute to the overall program strategy development.
• Support the development of a partner engagement strategy by identifying key technical approaches and activities to be implemented by partner organizations at the community level.
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.

Program Quality

• Participate as an active, integrated member of the team providing technical support to the overall program across all intervention areas and sectors.
• Support effective violence reduction programming interventions, using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking to address root causes of violence in Kenyan communities.
• Help maintain standards of program delivery that apply agency priorities and comply with relevant regulations and requirements.
• Help the team gather, refine, and disseminate tools such as training presentations and manuals, teaching notes, best practices and lessons learned, program examples, and monitoring and evaluation tools.
• Support program staff and partners to understand and implement best practices for peacebuilding/conflict mitigation programming and to incorporate best practices throughout the program cycle.

Influence & Representation

• Engage with national, county and community stakeholders to advance policy reforms related to police reform, intercommunal violence reduction, violence against women and girls, violent extremism and election related violence.

Training and Capacity Building

• Enhance the project teams’ capacity by designing and leading technical training sessions for project team staff and local partners and providing ongoing coaching and mentoring.
• Work with regional focal points and partner staff to identify key county and community stakeholders and build their capacity to address local conflict issues.
• Promote learning and knowledge management through documentation and knowledge sharing around best practices and lessons learned.
• Lead conflict sensitivity training for program staff and local partners and continuously review the program activities to ensure application of do no harm approaches.
• Promote active learning and adaptive management, and contribute to agency-level networks and working groups, through documentation and knowledge sharing around best practices and lessons learned in violence reduction programming.

Organizational Learning

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability 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.

Supervisory Responsibility: Regional Coordinators in Turkana, Wajir and Mombasa counties

Accountability

Reports Directly to: Mercy Corps’ Country Director

Works Directly with: Chief of Party, MEL Manager, Finance and Sub-grants Manager, local and national government officials, local civil society organizations, implementing partners and communities.

Knowledge and Experience

• Master’s degree in Peace Building and Conflict Resolution or related discipline.
• Extensive experience working on conflict mitigation and resolution, violence reduction and prevention programs, countering violent extremism, police reform, elections violence programming, both at the community level and the policy level etc.
• Demonstrated strong theoretical and applied knowledge in the above-mentioned fields.
• Demonstrated effectiveness designing technical approaches in the fields of conflict mitigation and violence reduction.
• Experience coaching and working with a diverse team of staff, consortium partners and local implementing partners, building skills and capacity to deliver on complex programming results.
• Solutions-oriented individual, with strong strategic thinking capabilities.
• Experience with policy engagement and influencing in fields related to violence reduction and conflict mitigation, with a range of stakeholders including public institutions, county government, and local government.
• Experience working with a diverse range of community members to discuss sensitive and delicate topics in a conflict-sensitive manner.
• Excellent writing and reporting skills.
• Excellent verbal and inter-personal communications skills.
• Demonstrated sensitivity, skill, and experience working within different cultural settings and navigating public affairs and communications on sensitive issues.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have strong technical skills in the area of violence reduction, and demonstrated ability to apply theoretical knowledge to the development of programmatic strategies and interventions, using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking. S/he will demonstrate strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills and be committed to the values and mission of Mercy Corps. S/he will take initiative and contribute to team efforts, as well as demonstrate an ability to communicate, assume leadership, and make solid decisions while working remotely from country leadership.