DEPUTY TEAM LEADER – MSD

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

Mercy Corps Liberia began operations in 2002 in response to the humanitarian crisis brought about by the two Liberian civil wars which took place from 1989-1997 and 1999–2003. Since then, Mercy Corps’ interventions have evolved based on the context and needs of the Liberian people. With funding from the European Commission, French Development Agency, Irish Aid, and US Department of Agriculture, among others, Mercy Corps Liberia has implemented a range of programs focused on renewable energy, food security, agricultural livelihoods, financial inclusion, nutrition, water and sanitation, infrastructure, and youth economic empowerment. Mercy Corps Liberia works closely with the Government of Liberia (especially the Ministries of Youth and Sports, Health, Labor and Education), the private sector, civil society, international and local NGOs to implement its programs from three offices/sub-offices (Monrovia, Buchanan, and Rivercess). Mercy Corps is one of the foremost development actors in Liberia implementing strategic and systems driven programming in youth employment and entrepreneurship, market systems development and good governance.

The Position

Reporting to the Team Leader, the Deputy Team Leader support the team leader to effectively implement the program through strong team management and adherence to program workplans and deliverables. The Deputy Team Leader will be integral in operationalizing the program’s inception report and rolling out intervention pilots.

This position will support Mercy Corps PROSPECTS IV program starting Year 2. PROSPECTS IV is a 4-year MSD program focused on urban/peri-urban youth employment with a base in Monrovia to serve secondary cities in 2-3 counties (2021-2024). The Deputy Team Leader will support the operationalizing of the program as it moves from inception to piloting and subsequently scale-up.

Essential Responsibilities

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Oversee day to day program implementation and support the Team Leader in ongoing program management and administration of teams across the various sectors and interventions.
• Support the Team Leader in ensuring that program meets targets, is on time, on scope and on budget. This responsibility includes collaborative work planning that keeps all team members accountable, ensuring accurate budget forecasting and analysis of monthly budget vs. actual reports, and proper procurement planning in collaboration with the Operations team.
• Support the Team Leader in maintaining systems for preparing high-quality monthly, quarterly, annual, and final project reports in collaboration with the program teams and the MEL team.

• Ensure backstopping for all team members, including by managing a portion of the programs directly when needed, in particular market research, intelligence, assessments and feasibility studies, building private sector partnerships and engagement plans; and supporting the Team leader in facilitating the development of program implementation strategies.
• Ensure that intervention implementation is responsive to partners and consistent with the approved programme MSD Toolkit, Mercy Corps’ relevant guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
• Ensure that intervention implementation is gender sensitive, politically sensitive, and sustainable; and capacity building, community accountability and reporting mechanisms are fully integrated into all interventions and activity implementation.
• Proactively identify and monitor any risks to non-delivery and mitigating actions.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Support Team Leader in developing the capacity of the team through effective task-based feedback and engagement, facilitate development of innovative, contextually driven ideas; and deepen understanding of their roles.
• Assist team members with information, tools, approaches, and resources to improve reporting, performance & timely achievement of objectives.
• Promote accountability through weekly and monthly team reports, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on one performance discussions and support the Team Leader in operationalizing strong performance management protocols.
• Sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence, recognize opportunities for innovative action and alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Support Team Leader in hiring, orientation, and supervision of new team members as necessary.
• Support staff training and mentor staff in MSD approaches to ensure successful program implementation.

BUDGET MANAGEMENT

• Support in the development of financial management tools and the monitoring of budgets.
• Support Team Leader in cross-checking detailed transactions and review budget versus actual (BVA) spending reports to determine status of program burn rates.
• Work with intervention team to ensure spend-down plans and cash projections are developed and monitored for Team leader’s engagement with Country Finance.
• Support program input on any budget revisions or programmatic input for financial reports.

PROGRAM MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING

• Support System Managers to implement MEL activities in their respective interventions.
• Collaborate with the MEL Coordinator and MEL for MSD Consultant to strengthen MEL capacity within the program team.
• Frequently review intervention guides and MEL data with system managers and use them as a tool to ensure effective and efficient implementation.
• Advocate for program learning and integration of lessons learned through adaptive management.

• Support the development of intervention guides, results chain development, and impact projections for all new interventions.
• Support progressive program monitoring, review, and adaptation on an ongoing basis.

Supervisory Responsibility:System Managers, Senior System Officers

Accountability

Reports Directly To:Team Leader MSD

Works Directly With:program team; consultants; Finance; Operations; Technical Support Unit

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

• MA/S or equivalent in international development, international relations, business management or other relevant fields highly preferred.
• 3-5 years of field experience in MSD programming with a focus on thin markets required; At least 2 years of experience in management roles.

• Experience directly building partnerships with the private sector to increase employment opportunities.
• Experience managing teams and achieving targets in post-conflict environments.
• Strong strategic thinker with demonstrated capacity to translate concepts into action, with proven ability to be accountable for all components of the program.
• Pluses for additional background in financial inclusion, tech-based employment, or gender transformative MSD programming.
• Competent in building networks, strong problem-solving skills, and ability to influence with effective listening, persuasion, negotiation, and other techniques.

• Persuasive written and oral communication in English, including report writing.
• Prior work experience in Liberia or (West) Africa is highly desirable.
• MSD training and certification highly desirable.

Success Factors

The successful candidate is expected to be a high performer in fast-paced project cycle management and team management. The Deputy Team Leader will have a strong technical understanding of MSD. The Deputy Team Leader will be a well-seasoned coach and mentor to national team members. They will identify strengthens and weaknesses in the team and work to make them more efficient and effective as a whole. The Deputy Team Leader will be able to meet deadlines and provide dynamic support to the Team Leader to achieve overall targets and ensure the program is on-scope, on-time, and on-budget.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The Team Leader is based in Monrovia. The location is accompanied and secure. Housing is individual accommodation with unlimited freedom of movement beyond the house/office. Staff have good access to services such as electricity, and water, but medical care can be limited. International schools are available. This position requires up to 40% of travel to field offices in secure environments. This position is not eligible for hardship and/or R&R benefits.

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.

Application instructions:

Step 1. Click the apply button below, Step 2. Under Country of Residence and Language: select other location and clickI Accept . Step 3.Enter the requested information and proceed.

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. 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 toMercy Corps Code of Conduct Policiesand values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.