Program Assistant- SUSTAINED

Program Assistant- SUSTAINED

Location: Yumbe, Uganda

Position Status: Full-time, Regular

Reports to: Senior Program Officer

Salary Level: Level 4

Current Team Member: New Position

Minimum Salary: 1,740,947/=

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is an international development organization that works in over 40 countries to promote community-led and market-driven development. With a strategic focus on countries in transition, Mercy Corps takes a progressive approach to supporting communities, entrepreneurs, governments and the private sector from relief to long-term economic growth. With a network of over 3,700 experienced professionals around the world, we are uniquely positioned to respond to complex environments and the needs of local communities.

In Uganda, Mercy Corps has been operating since 2006 in Karamoja specifically in Kotido, ,Abim, Amudat, Kaabong and Moroto; in Northern Region in Gulu; West Nile in Yumbe and Central region specifically Kampala district. Mercy Corps offers technical expertise in Market Development, Gender, Peace and Conflict Management, Economic Empowerment, Food Security Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, Agriculture and Agribusiness.

Mercy Corps has implemented and still implements multiple donor-funded projects within and outside the West Nile region with her major donors including but not limited to DANIDA (Danish Government Overseas Aid), Austrian Development Agency, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Private foundations among others.

Program Summary

The SUSTAINED consortium (Mercy Corps, CARE, and Oxfam) is a gender integrated intervention to increase access and use of quality, reliable, affordable, and clean energy sources for refugees and surrounding host communities. The SUSTAINED programme will adopt a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach, responding to the clear need for linkages to facilitate the entry of quality private sector actors into displacement settings, whilst ensuring that vulnerable populations can access quality products and services, in a safe, supportive environment. In this context, SUSTAINED will work with energy service companies (ESCOs), Financial Service Providers (FSPs), refugee and host communities, to address both demand and supply side barriers. The SUSTAINED programme will also take an ecosystem approach, supporting the development of an enabling environment required for a clean energy marketplace for refugees in Uganda.

General Position Summary

The primary focus of the Program Assistant will be to respond to the needs of communities through the integrated set of activities under SUSTAINED. The Program Assistant will focus on mobilizing the different groups / platforms within their community. The Program Assistant will also mobilize the surrounding government and private sector systemic structures and similarly identify capacity building needs of these structures. The Program Assistant will adopt an “adaptive” management approach to understand the needs of the groups within the community and the external support structures. The Program Assistant will ensure that activities are sequenced, layered and integrated for comprehensive service delivery. The Program Assistant will closely work with staff from local partners to strengthen integration. The Program Assistant will work closely with the MEL team to ensure that data capture takes place.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work ·
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members ·
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options

Technical Responsibilities

Program Implementation

• Assist with the design and implementation of weekly, monthly and quarterly workplans
• Conduct participant identification exercises for the different activities in the community.
• Mobilize participants for planned activities in respective locations.
• Organize and supervise community trainings in line with the approved work plan and budget.
• Coordinate to ensure complementary approaches, monitor implementation of project activities and document learnings and success stories.
• Collaborate with fellow Program team members to ensure team success, including but not limited to logistics coordination, temporary support during leave, etc., as advised by the Senior Program Officer.

Gender and Youth Integration

• Ensure that program activities apply gender equity and empowerment principles

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Responsible for data gathering, data validation, quality control and timely data submission including gender and age disaggregated data.
• Troubleshoot monitoring and evaluation challenges for proactive problem solving with support of program manager and M&E team.
• Utilize qualitative and quantitative data to inform program implementation.
• Actively document best practices and lessons learned to share with team during routine monitoring, coordination meetings and other learning opportunities.
• Prepare and submit timely and quality weekly and monthly reports. 

Influence and Representation

• Promote Activity visibility at both Community and Sub County level.
• Ensure establishment and maintenance of relationships with communities, village councils and local government in the target areas.
• Coordination of field activities with partners and local government to avoid duplication of services.
• When needed, support visits from district and sub-county government, regional and HQ based staff and external visitors, such as donors and media, in collaboration with the Program Officer.
• Support activities with key stakeholders, ensuring collaboration with counterparts in partner organization in relevant meetings, internal and external.

Knowledge and Experience

• Advanced Training in Certificate or Diploma
• 1-2 years’ experience in conducting community mobilization, training, and networking
• Experience in capacity building with communities in Yumbe
• Experience and skills in working with other NGOs, government partners, and local community-based organizations.
• Fluency in local languages prevalent within the operational district where assigned (essential)
• Computer literacy
• Ability to ride a motorcycle and he/she should be in possession of a valid driving/riding license or willing to obtain one.
• Strong interpersonal, writing and oral presentation skills in English is required. Fluency in languages used by Refugees (Baari, Juba Arabic, Lugbara, and Ki) is preferred.

Supervisory Responsibility

None 

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Program Officer

Works Directly With: Oxfam, CARE Staff and all Programme Team members. 

Accountability to Participants & Stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our participants 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.
• All Mercy Corps staff are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest level of 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

Success Factors

The successful Program Assistant will be bright, energetic, hard-working and eager to learn.  S/he will take a deep personal interest in humanitarian and development assistance.  S/he will be attentive to detail and able to carry out assigned tasks in a timely manner and according to a very high standard of quality.  S/he will be creative and flexible, contributing to developing and encouraging new and innovative solutions, but at the same time will not have any difficulty in adhering to systems and procedures. S/he will strictly follow all protocols related to safety and security, and holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Mercy Corps’ values.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is not accompanied and is based in the West Nile region of Uganda with 60% travel to domestic sites. At times evening and weekend work may be required to meet deadlines and at times of shocks and stresses. 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.

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.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Risk levels assigned to all positions; Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data , and/or high level of accountability.

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. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. 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. As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).

Interested applicants must submit their Cover Letter & CV saved in 1 document as a PDF of no more than 5 pages by 9th September 2024.

Please note that any application submitted that does not follow the above instructions will be automatically discarded.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY