Social Accountability and Civic Engagement Manager- Samburu or Turkana

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

With funding from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), Mercy Corps’ Nawiri Program is leading a consortium of Kenyan and international partners on a five year journey to sustainably reduce persistent acute malnutrition in Turkana and Samburu Counties of Kenya. Through a phased approach that emphasizes evidence gap analysis, as well as partnership, learning, and co-creation, the program takes a robust county-centered design with government leadership, active engagement from communities, the private sector, and civil society. Mercy Corps’ consortium brings together the global leadership, research capacity, technical expertise, and implementation experience necessary to partner with local institutions to test, adapt, and scale evidence-based solutions. Together we will sustainably reduce persistent acute malnutrition for vulnerable populations in Turkana and Samburu counties.

The Position Summary

The Social Accountability and Civic Engagement Manager is responsible for developing and leading the program strategy for civil society and local stakeholder engagement and management, including the identification, recruitment of civil society organizations (CSOs) and managing the scope of work. The Manager will oversee integrated community engagement across multiple program components, oversee the organizational assessment of CSOs, capacity strengthening, including mentorship, over a long-term period of engagement with a view to enhancing community driven nutrition resilient interventions. The main objective of this role is to Support civil society and citizens to better identify problems related to nutrition services and undertake actions to address these problems directly; Build collaborations between citizens and government to ensure that the priorities and feedback of beneficiaries are helping government officials plan, resource and provide better services; and analyze accountability ecosystems to help citizens, civil society partners and governments better understand how to make positive change happen with regards to sustainably reducing persistent acute malnutrition in politically complex environments.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

STRATEGY & VISION

• Leadership on Social Accountability work: The holder will work closely with the technical leads, advisors, coordinators to drive social accountability engagement between duty bearers and right holders on priority pathways for strengthening nutrition governance and nutrition resilience depending on the thematic areas of focus.
• Management of program scope, implementation, and reporting: The role will also entail specific organization assessment of CSOs, grant management, and oversee organizational capacity strengthening including mentorship during the period of CSOs engagement which would be long-term.
• Community Engagement: Leadership for community engagement strategy, working under the guidance of the SSBC Lead and across the spectrum of the program initiatives

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT & COORDINATION

• Manage, supervise, coordinate, and provide technical leadership to support the USAID Nawiri’s program civil society strengthening and community outreach efforts and ensure that all activities and deliverables are of high quality, on schedule, and reach program’s objectives and targets.
• Lead in the development and rollout of USAID Nawiri’s Citizen Engagement and Social Accountability Strategy Nawiri’s in Samburu and Turkana Counties.
• Oversee and provide technical leadership and design of project interventions to engage the public including adolescent, youth and vulnerable populations, the mass media, and civil society organizations in nutrition advocacy such as public education, oversight, and participation in decision-making processes among others.
• Provide technical input to and oversight of the CSO grants mechanism of the program including development of the technical requirements and proposal evaluation.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships and cooperation with relevant counterparts, beneficiaries, and stakeholders and seek to engage them in USAID Nawiri’s interventions.
• Assist in the development of annual program budgets and spending plans; provide technical support to the partners and field teams for the program’s budget management; and work with the grants unit to ensure all program activities are implemented in compliance with Mercy Corps’ and donor requirements.
• In coordination with the MEL team, monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and assessments to ensure program quality and impact. Document best practices and lessons learned across counties and share with management and team members
• Contribute and assist with the preparation of technical reports and deliverables and other reports/deliverables, as requested.

OTHER:

• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;
• Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility

Directly supervises the Social Accountability and Civic Engagement Officers (2)

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Institutional and Systems Strengthening & Institutionalization Lead

Works Directly With: Field Director, Government Engagement Manager, Gender, Social Inclusion and Social Accountability teams, Health, Nutrition and Systems Strengthening team, Private Sector and Financial inclusion team, Social Behaviour Change Advisors, Technical Advisors (Water, Alternative Livelihoods, Markets, Climate Smart Agriculture), Technical Leads, County Learning Coordinator(s), M&EL Coordinators, Strategic Learning Lead, M&E Lead, Technical Director, Deputy Chief of Party, TSU (Health and PAQ), and STTAs as required.

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 Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Masters and/or BA/S or equivalent in Social Sciences, Development studies, Disaster Risk Reduction, Range management, Conflict mitigation, other relevant field;
• A minimum of 5 – 7 years of relevant professional experience in civic engagement and social accountability work at the county or local levels;
• Strong management skills, including effective personnel management, adaptive management coordination and decision-making Strong facilitation and consensus-building skills;
• Competent in building networks, strong problem-solving skills, and ability to influence with effective listening, persuasion, negotiation and other techniques;
• Strong understanding of USAID compliance issues;
• Excellent and persuasive oral and written communication skills, including report writing, in English and other language(s), and fluency in Kiswahili. Local dialects spoken in Northern Kenya (Samburu and Turkana) are also a plus;
• Previous work experience in northern Kenya desirable;
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Requires experienced technical person with expertise in county planning modalities, development of nascent institutions for coordinated planning and oversight especially ward level committees and their role in supporting governance improvements.

Success Factors

The Social Accountability & Civic Engagement Manager is an innovative thinker that can bring replicable experiences to support nutrition governance and nutrition resilience.S/he will have demonstrated expertise in citizen engagement and participation from the lower governance levels to inform policies, prioritization, budget allocation and programs roll out. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority. The Manager will also be experienced in building cohesion, understanding integration, modeling a learning mindset, and willing to learn, listen, adapt and improve. The Manager will be familiar with the particular contextual challenges affecting local governance planning processes across sectors and various levels. He/she will have expertise conducting participatory learning and action and be a good planner and facilitator. S/he will combine exceptional management skills and capacity to manage relationships with different stakeholders. A heavy emphasis will be placed on coordination with other actors implementing in the areas of intervention including county government. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.