Senior Program Officer 

Description

Senior Program Officer

Position Description

Location: Gulu, Uganda

Position Status: Full-time

Reports to: Program Manager

Supervises: Program Officer

Salary Level: Grade 6

New Position

Position is contingent on funding

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 Summary

Present in Uganda since 2006, Mercy Corps Uganda’s aim is to catalyze change through the Ugandan private sector, civil society, and government to create resilient, economically inclusive, healthy, and secure communities.

Serving on the frontlines of the hardest hit communities by climate change, as in Northern Uganda, Mercy Corps, Energy 4 Impact (E4I), Simusolar, and Tulima Solar are witnessing first-hand the detrimental impacts of the unfolding climate crisis and the multifaceted ways that this is impacting smallholder farmers. The Danida-funded Powering the Uptake of climate change Mitigating Pumps (Pump Up), Uganda project seeks to enable farmers in Northern Uganda (Yumbe and Gulu areas), including women, youth, and refugee farming communities to build resilient livelihoods and to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. We aim to do this by supporting viable investments in climate resilient technologies such as solar water pumps (SWPs) coupled with best practices in climate smart agriculture (CSA) and integrated water resource management.

The project will be implemented by a consortium led by Mercy Corps, as the administrative partner; Energy 4 Impact, Mercy Corps’ energy access platform, which will provide business model and technology advisory services; and Tulimasolar and Simusolar as commercial partners. The Pump-Up project will improve capacities of the commercial partner to adapt and localise their product in Yumbe and Gulu areas by improving their PAYGO consumer financing offer and developing cost-effective and inclusive go-to-market and sales strategies. The project will support the commercial partner’s goal to increase its reach and market traction in Northern Uganda (currently at 38% of total sales) by adding an additional 430 SWPs over 3 years by: 1) diversifying value chains and market segments to reach SHFs, women, youth, and refugee communities, 2) adopting engagement terms and exploring financial products suitable for women and youth, 3) holding demonstration events that increase awareness and adoption. Altogether, these efforts will help to establish an enduring foundation to reduce vulnerability to climate change for SHFs by facilitating inclusive access and uptake of SWPs coupled with the promotion of best practices in CSA and integrated water resource management.

The project aims to reach 2,220 people with opportunities for increased income and/or improved livelihoods (555 female and 888 youth); create 50 decent jobs (15 female and 30 youth); and support 500 SHFs including women and youth to engage in off-season production.

Pump Up will run from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026 for a total duration of three years. The position will be based in Gulu, covering Yumbe and Gulu areas.

General Position Summary

The Senior Program Officer is responsible for project implementation, designing interventions, managing partnerships and resources and will supporting M&E activities. The SPO will ensure accountability to Mercy Corps policies and donor rules and regulations. He/she will report to and work with the Program Manager to engage in program representation to stakeholders, relevant government entities, partners, other implementers, and external stakeholders.

The primary focus of the Senior Program Officer will be to support the community level teams in adapting and scaling integrated activities in respective Districts in collaboration with local government and private sector structures. The Senior Program Officer will be responsible for oversight of quality activities in the assigned District, and supervising the Program Officer. The SPO will ensure the day to day implementation of the diverse Pump-up activities in consultation with the other program management team members, and work closely with the partners. He/she will provide technical and operational support to the other Program staff ensuring that activities are implemented according to scope and timeline.

The Senior Program Officer will directly respond to the needs of communities through the integrated set of activities under Pump-up. The Senior Program Officer will work closely with the Technical Team to best determine layering of activities within a community, based on need and availability of resources.  The SPO will collaborate with the wider Implementation team to ensure that activities are sequenced, layered and integrated for comprehensive service delivery. The SPO will closely work with staff from local partners in the Pump-up Activity to strengthen integration. The SPO will work closely with MEL teams to ensure that data capture takes place.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program Implementation

• Provide leadership and daily oversight for planning and implementation of Pump-up Activities including; mentorship, support supervision and managerial support to the program team in the respective two districts.
• Support the program management team in the development of activity plans, budgeting and reporting formats
• Support in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the program activities, in accordance with Pump-up objectives.
• Supervise the activities and performance of Program Officer; participate in routine team meetings, adhere to performance review timelines, troubleshoot challenges and standardize implementation approaches.
• Identify and document best practices and failures in Pump-up Activity programming and provide timely feedback to the program team.
• Assist with ensuring timely and consistent submission of project reports, success stories and other relevant data (i.e. weekly, monthly and quarterly reports).
• Provide oversight to the program assistant in regards to adhering to procurement, finance and security policy and procedures, ensuring proper documentation of processes.
• Work closely with the overall program team to coordinate day to day operations and logistics to maximize use of resources and ensure complementary programming.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Provide ongoing mentorship to Program team on data collection processes for completeness, accuracy and timely submission. And, entry to regularly update the Activity Tracker.
• Responsible for leading with the MEL team on data collection including gender and age disaggregated data, data validation, assuring quality control measures, timely data submission and communicating to MEL sector focal person.

Influence and Representation

• Lead on the support and coordination of visits from district and sub-county government, regional and HQ based staff and external visitors, such as donors and media.
• Support the program manager in coordination and communication of field activities with other NGO and local government partners to avoid duplication of services.
• Establish and maintain a productive working relationship with the local Government and Sub Counties, working in unison to develop complementary joint monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management structures where possible.

Ethics and Integrity

• All Mercy Corps staff are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.

Security

• Ensure data protection policies are adhered to, establishing security controls for software, hardware and archive beneficiary databases.
• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
  • Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

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.
• Sensitise communities on Mercy Corps’ CARM system and encourage them to share feedback through the promoted channels.

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

Direct supervision of Program Officer

Accountability

Reports Directly to: Program Manager

Works Directly With: Tulimasolar and Simsolar staff and all project team.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in environmental science, business, agribusiness, agriculture, economic development, or other relevant fields required.
• Background in business or market/economic development, with minimum of 5 years’ practical experience in the private sector, NGO working with Private Sector or related experience
• Experience in MEL (data collection, verification, documentation and reporting)
• Proven skills in networking, team-building, community consultations and organizational development
• Excellent reporting, communication and representation skills
• Willingness to consider new perspectives, promote gender equality and engage in advanced gender training
• Ability to ride a motorcycle and he/she should be in possession of a valid driving/riding license
• Proven knowledge and capacity in using computer basic applications MS word, Excel and internet
• In-depth knowledge of the social, cultural and economic context of the project areas
• Fluency in local languages prevalent within the operational district where assigned (highly desired)

Success Factors

The ability to communicate effectively, respectfully and enthusiastically with community structures will be one of the position’s three success factors. The second will be the degree to which the Senior Program Officer drives results, producing scheduled outputs at deadline and to expected quality. The third success factor will be the degree to which the officer effectively gathers activity monitoring and evaluation data and utilizes data to inform activity implementation and program learning.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Yumbe, Uganda and requires significant travel to project sites, especially Gulu.

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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

To Apply: Interested applicants must submit their Cover Letter & CV saved in one (1) document as  PDF of no more than 5 pages by 25^th  July 2023.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Mercy Corps does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.

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