Emergency Market Development Advisor, SHA-Secondment to Mercy Corps  

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY

Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. The agency pursues its mission through emergency relief services, sustainable community development, civil society and economic development initiatives. Mercy Corps has been present in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently has offices in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya. Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps has implemented community development programs focused on promoting economic development and increased opportunity for disadvantaged communities, while responding to emergencies as they emerged in the country.  In 2012, the program portfolio shifted in response to the massive refugee influx from Syria.  Mercy Corps recognizes the disproportionate impact of the crisis on economic and market development in Lebanon, as well as associated tensions by the host community towards the refugees related to employment. Mercy Corps prioritized economic and market development at the core of FY16 targets as part of its wider strategy focused on good governance, conflict management, protection, and water and sanitation infrastructure. Mercy Corps anticipates launching several new economic and market development programs to enable vulnerable individuals and key market actors to build productive lives.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY

Mercy Corps’ Sudan crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Sudanese and other conflict-affected people across the country. Mercy Corps Sudan is recognized as a leader in market systems, agricultural, and food security and building on this experience, the MC Sudan humanitarian program will layer in resilience and other program activities where appropriate and feasible to do so. Assistance is delivered with a focus on needs, in partnership with local actors and civil society.

The Cash Consortium of Sudan (CCS) is a collaborative platform to advance a progressive vision of the potential of cash assistance to transform humanitarian response and recovery in partnership with vulnerable

conflict-affected populations. CCS is led by Mercy Corps, building on its global experience and learning on leading cash consortia in multiple country contexts, as well as general expertise in cash coordination and breadth of technical resources. International partners include Acted, CARE, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), each of which bring strong cash and complementary technical competencies, as well as expansive operational coverage in Sudan. The CCS also includes nine Sudanese NGOs as partners in alignment with global aid sector commitments to enhance the prominence of local actors in driving humanitarian response and recovery. IMPACT is a non-implementing partner dedicated to Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning. IMPACT will support quality data systems and an objective evidence base that will be essential to CCS’ accountability and adaptive management to refine programming approaches to enhance impact as the Sudan crisis context evolves. The CCS will work closely with other consortia and actors in Sudan to deliver an effective CVA response for communities affected by the crisis.

The core pillars of the CCS response include: 1) basic needs through cash assistance both at the community level through Group Cash Transfers (GCTs) delivered to Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), as well as at the household-level through Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA); 2) strengthening market systems to ensure resilience of key market actors and supply chains as well as strengthening the availability and affordability of key commodities; 3) strengthening capacity of local partner organizations with an emphasis on accompaniment and mentorship; and 4) generation of learning and evidence to inform broader response efforts.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Direction, Portfolio Quality and Growth

• Lead in the development of a Market strengthening strategy for the CCS;

• Lead integrated sector design processes in order to converge MPCA and economic and market strengthening programming to deliver maximum joint impact, and integrate market-related activities into the design of other sector programs; 

• Develop rigorous assessment processes for understanding market strengthening needs;
• Contribute to organizational strategic planning and new program development for appropriate expansion and growth of CCS’ MPCA and market Strengthening portfolio;
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and explore implementation possibilities with the CCS.
• Maintain strong and transparent communication with consortium technical focal points.

Technical and Operational Management

• Establish humanitarian sector and private sector platforms (Chamber of Commerce, trader associations or similar bodies).
• Coordinate the sharing of program plans and outcomes between humanitarian and development actors within the CCS and eventually overall humanitarian sector
• Assess supply chain resilience and implement recommended actions for key actors within the supply chain and system
• Identify service providers that play a key role in supply chain capacity and recovery and identify actions to improve their capacity to provide services and scale up.
• Develop a variety of market strengthening activities to be used by CCS partners
• Assist partners as needed in tackling and solving MPCA related bottlenecks and implementation delays.
• Identify opportunities to introduce efficiencies and eliminate redundancies in existing processes for streamlined sector operations;
• Identify key hub marketplaces close to vulnerable food insecure populations and to develop market strengthening programming

Representation and Advocacy

• Participate in the Cash working group, and other working groups related to market strengthening.

• Liaise with key stakeholders to coordinate responses and identify strategies to facilitate market-based interventions with programmatic synergies;

• Develop and implement advocacy strategies to influence policy and practice shifts for economic and market development informed by evidence generated by the programs;

• Liaise with Regional Economic and Market Development Advisor and global Technical Support Unit to identify strategies to strengthen programming and to promote Mercy 
  Corps’ thought leadership role on economic and market development in Lebanon and across the region;

• Ensure regular attendance in technical working group and task force meetings;

• Represent Mercy Corps in strategic meetings on economic and market development;

• Ensure Code of Conduct, Child Safeguarding Protocols, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Policy, Gender Policy and Community Accountability Response Mechanism (CARM) guidelines and applied to programming; and

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 towards 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.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Reports directly to:  CCS Director   

Works directly with:  Program, Operations, Finance, and Monitoring & Evaluation Teams

SUCCESS FACTORS

The Emergency Market Development Advisor will have extensive experience in leading teams, in both management and technical fields, with a proven track record of strategic planning, programmatic achievements, management competence, diplomacy and interpersonal skills.  S/he will be a decisive leader, exercise sound judgment, possess excellent communication, interpersonal and analytical skills and have a high level of integrity and flexibility to adapt to conditions of ongoing change. S/he is able to prioritize among competing tasks while also filling in gaps as needed to ensure success of the overall economic and market development, sector portfolio. The Emergency Market Development Advisor is a strategic and solutions-driven thinker with the ability to articulate and translate innovative ideas into solid programming and to build positive relationships with his or her team, and with key stakeholders at various levels.  

LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya and it requires up to 40% travel to support consortium

programming and operations in Sudan and neighboring countries such as Chad, South Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia. This may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. Housing for this role is in individual housing.

For further information, please contact:

Stefan Bumbacher, Focal Point Cash, [email protected]

Starting date and timeframe: asap (negotiable), for 1 year, SHA-contract

Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya, with travel (up to ~40%) to support consortium programming and operations in Sudan and neighboring countries such as Chad, South Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.

This position is exclusively open to Swiss citizens (or Lichtenstein) or holder of a valid working permit (C permit) in Switzerland. Candidates who do not fulfil this condition will not receive response.

 COVID vaccination highly recommended

Thank you for sending your application (motivation letter, CV, diplomas and work certificates) by email to:

Lotti Roth
[email protected]
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC
Humanitarian Aid
Field Resources H
Eichenweg 5
3003 Berne