Project Manager

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

Enhancing resilience is at the heart of what Mercy Corps does and how we work. Resilience means that people and systems can protect and improve wellbeing in the face of shocks and stresses. Mercy Corps strengthens sources of resilience to enhance the capacities of people, markets, and institutions to handle shocks, reduce risk, build more equitable and responsive systems, and improve well-being. Through our programs, partnerships, and influence, we support communities to cope, adapt, and ultimately thrive.

Since 1986, Mercy Corps Afghanistan has supported communities to recover and build resilience to future shocks and promote sustainable change by supporting community-led and market-driven initiatives, with a focus on the most marginalized. Our objectives include meeting immediate food and nutrition needs through cash, voucher, and WASH assistance, strengthening capacities for crisis preparedness and response, and in so doing, contribute to resilience through inclusive, climate-smart water systems, enhanced livelihoods opportunities, food security, and social cohesion. 

General Position Summary

The Project Manager works under the supervision of Director of Programs (DoP) for Afghanistan. S/he will be responsible for ensuring quality and timely implementation of the designed interventions in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

The PM will supervisor, Agriculture Coordinator, Marketing Coordinator, DRR Coordinator and Program Assistant and will work closely with other relevant departments in Mercy Corps, such as MEL, Finance, HR, Operations, Procurement, Security to ensure proper program implementation according to policies and procedures. The PM will be based in Kandahar, requiring frequent visits to Helmand at least 40% of his/her time.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Design and planning

• Prepare detailed implementation plan and adjust it as things move on along with other team members in the targeted locations.
• Integrate the use of community approaches in the implementation to ensure sustainability.
• Partake in planning and design efforts as requested.
• Collaborate with MCs different functions throughout the implementation of the program
• Collaborate with MEL team in the baseline, routine monitoring of the program activities and the endline.
• Ensure the mainstreaming of core protection principles through planning and implementation of the interventions. 

Program coordination and management

• Prepare procurement plan based on project cycle for different activities.
• Manage grant budget lines related to technical area of specialization, including maintaining partial budget ownership.
• Outline indicators and outputs to be measured to determine success of intervention.
• Work with M&E Unit to translate assessment criteria to tools and methodology for monitoring and evaluation of interventions related to the program sectors.
• Stay informed of incidents as they arise through the field and are raised through the feedback/complaint mechanism.
• Enhance internal and external compliance through supporting incident reporting mechanisms when needed.
• Maintain and coordinate reporting and documentation with the relevant team members.
• Timely preparation weekly, monthly, quarterly, and interim donor reports for relevant activities under the guidance of the Director of Programs.
• Communicate grant work plans related to the program to Field Area Coordinator/ Program Assistant and the entire team.
• Work with Program team and DoP to overcome implementation challenges based on practical solutions.
• Ensure documentation and filing of project activities in compliance with Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
• Supervise and monitor the implementation of the program activities, ensuring that all the activities are compliant with the grant requirements.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.

Team Management

• Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Hire, orient and lead team members as necessary. 

Representation

• Represent Mercy Corps at national and regional clusters as delegated
• Coordinate closely with DoP, Field Coordinator/ Head of Office and Government Liaison Manager for required line ministry engagement and participate in meetings as required

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.

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.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Agriculture and Social Science. Masters preferred.
• 5 years in a relief setting with Livelihood/Economic development or managerial experience; from starting up programs, managing contracts, to working in emergency and transitional contexts.
• Experience in complex and complicated humanitarian programing with time sensitive deliverables in unstable environments. Experience working in Afghanistan would be a plus.
• Strong experience mentoring a team, identifying talent and building their capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and communicate effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
• Internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work.
• Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response preferred.
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving.
• Knowledge of participatory approaches and community sensitization and mobilization.
• Ability to effectively represent Mercy Corps and its interests to key stakeholders including host government/authorities, and national and international NGOs.
• Excellent oral and written English skills required.

Email / Application Form: https://recruiting2.ultipro.com/MER1024MERCY/JobBoard/41c8a52c-7b72-4d86-83f0-e39fa33d0506/Opportunity/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=b7a5dcfa-e844-464d-bf0d-540d45dfc533