MOBILIZER – Incentivize Learning Activity

Position Description

Location: Montserrado x 1 and Margibi x 1

Position Status Full-time, Regular

Salary Level Grade 05

Current Team Member: N/A

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. Mercy Corps has been working in Liberia since 2002.

Mercy Corps started operations in Liberia in 2002 in response to the humanitarian crisis brought on by the two Liberian civil wars which took place from 1989-1997and 1999-2003. Since then, Mercy Corps’ interventions have evolved based on the context and needs of Liberian people. Based on the changing needs, Mercy Corps Liberia has implemented programs in renewable energy, food security, agricultural livelihoods, financial inclusion, nutrition, water and sanitation, infrastructure, and in youth economic empowerment. Today, Mercy Corps remains one of the foremost development and humanitarian actors in Liberia with programming focused on Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship, market systems development, Maternal and Child Health, Education, especially empowering Liberia through improved school management and school health and nutrition, and Advocacy and good governance.

Program / Department Summary

USAID has awarded Mercy Corps a grant to implement the Incentivize Learning Activity (ILA). ILA is a five year program, July 2023 – June 2028. The goal of this program is to increase enrollment and attendance for vulnerable and underserved school-aged children while contributing to improved Learning outcomes and addressing the food insecurity that had become more acute in Liberia as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The activity will achieve this by incentivizing school enrollment and reducing absenteeism via the provision of school meals, targeted financial incentives, community, and parental engagement, and social and behavior change communication.

General Position Summary

Mercy Corps is looking for a creative individual for the Incentivize Learning Activity who has the experience and competencies to work as Mobilizer. Under the guidance of the Lead Mobilizer, the Mobilizer is based in selected duty stations in programmatic clusters/districts to support community entry, engagement, and mobilization in school communities. The objective of the engagement with school administrators, PTAs, communities, and parents is to increase community awareness and commitment, and contribution of local resources to project activities implementation across project districts working with other Mobilizers.

The Mobilizer is also responsible for coordinating project implementation at local levels with DEOs, and other MOE local staff based and working in the district(s). The Mobilizer will engage with the schools, the PTAs, FMCs, parents, and communities and ensure that all the project engagement and activities have been properly

implemented in the assigned schools. The post holder will work to facilitate the quality implementation of the food for education program according to projects’ design using a measurable results framework.

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to countrywide strategy development.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Conduct field level activity planning with supervision from Lead Mobilizers and support timely project implementation in close collaboration with Education Advisor, School Health and Nutrition Advisor, Agriculture Specialist, Program Manager, and DCOP Program to ensure integrated and quality programming.
• Input into the formulation of program annual, quarterly, monthly, and weekly work plans and submit in a quality and timely manner.
• Participate in Team meetings organized by Lead Mobilizers and/ or Education Advisor, School Health and Nutrition Advisor, Agriculture Specialist, Program Manager, and DCOP Program to review program implementation approach, identify gaps and solutions, conduct joint planning sessions, and share quality and timely feedback and field updates.
• Support the development of quality field level program narrative reports on a weekly, monthly, quarterly basis and ILA Semi Annual Reports with clear analysis and information/data on planned activities, achievements, constraints and submit to Lead Mobilizers.
• Under the supervision of the Education Advisor and School Health and Nutrition Advisor perform other tasks as required.
• Conduct cluster level engagement, coordination, and monitoring with MoE District Education Officers (DEOs) through joint planning and school visitation.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.

COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION AND ENGAGEMENT

• Facilitate community mobilization and engagement; stimulate active local participation, facilitate community response mechanism, local capacity building, school development planning through agreed processes for program implementation.
• Stimulate community facilitation to organize elections of PTA Executive Committees, revitalize PTA structures and the selection of Food Management Committees (FMCs), SHN Champions
• Conduct training, coaching, mentoring for community resource persons and committees including, Community Volunteers, Cooks, Storekeepers, SHN Champions, PTAs, FMCs, Future Farmer Clubs, etc..

• Facilitate community meetings to conduct assessment and develop action plans with PTAs, FMCs, and School Garden Focal Points.
• Engagement with District Education Officers (DEOs) and community structures including PTAs and school administrators to conduct dialogue meetings, radio awareness and popular mobilization of school and out of school children to re-enroll in school.
• Conduct the roll out of the PTA training manual to executive committee members, adapting rural participatory methods to reinforce local understanding, acceptance, participation, and ownership of the implementation of the LEARN Project.

TECHNICAL AREAS:

1. SCHOOL FEEDING

• Conduct community entry and mobilization to facilitate preparation to commence and provide ongoing support to school feeding activities.
• Conduct assessment of school infrastructure and engage PTAs and FMCs to ensure regular improvement, maintenance and/or rehabilitation of school infrastructures (Energy Saving Stoves, Kitchens, Latrines and Storerooms).
• Engage technical leads, PTAs, and FMCs for provision of cooking utensils, cups, plates, spoons, condiments, and fuel/ wood.
• Work with the FMCs and PTAs to ensure that schools have the necessary cleaning supplies to maintain safe food preparation and storage.
• Conduct training for PTAs, FMCs and Cooks in commodity preparation and accountability of the school feeding program.
• Ensure school meals are provided on time in keeping with safe food preparation guidelines, standards, and FMC action plans.

SCHOOL HEALTH AND NUTRITION (SHN) AND SCHOOL GARDEN

• Work with PTAs, FMCs and school administration to monitor the implementation of infection prevention control measures at schools.
• Work with school administration to identify school health and nutrition focal persons and provide training and follow up coaching sessions.
• Establish/ reactivate school health clubs and support development of action plans to ensure healthy hygiene practices.
• Provide coaching and mentoring sessions for SHN Champions in running school health club activities.
• Mobilize community for administering MDA to school communities and collaborate with DHO to collect information on the numbers of children enrolled in ILA Project schools that received medication.
• Liaise with Agriculture Specialists, school administration and PTA to identify school garden focal persons.
• Mobilize PTA, school garden focal person and school administration to identify school garden sites and initiate nursery, compost, transplant, and measure acre of the garden site.

• Work with the school garden focal person to track the quantity of meals provided by the school garden.

2. MONITORING, EVALUATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEARNING (MEAL)

• Mobilizers use a pre-prepared MEAL tool, observe, document and report conditions of school facilities: storerooms, kitchens, school buildings, water source, latrines and energy saving stoves.
• Mobilizers collect data on community contributions to related school feeding and building/ rehabilitation of the ILA project school infrastructures.
• Mobilizers to distribute and ensure PTAs and school administration receive ledgers for recording community contribution.
• Mobilizers to ensure community contribution ledgers are stored and are properly formatted.
• Mobilizers observe, document and report school level hygiene practices, hand washing, waste disposal and cleaning school’s campus.
• ILA Mobilizers support, monitor and report on School Health Clubs Activities (group establishment and functionality).
• ILA Mobilizers use pre-prepared MEAL tools, assist MEAL Officer and MEAL Assistants to observe, document and report on school garden activities. (Clearing, seeds and tools distribution, planting, productivity, and harvesting).
• Distribute Attendance log to ILA supported schools on a monthly basis.
• ILA Mobilizers monitor the work of school cooks and during lunchtime distributions to students and school staff to ensure that all actions adhere to SC policies and donor regulations and to minimize the risk of damage, loss, theft and/or misuse of commodities.
• ILA Mobilizers monitor ILA Project supported classrooms, using pre-prepared classroom monitoring tools, to conduct regular headcount to compare daily attendance with Dispatch Authorization Memo (DAM).

3. COACHING AND MENTORING

• ILA Mobilizers are responsible to improve data quality at LEARN Project supported schools and will develop coaching and mentoring plans for all schools.
• Mobilizers conduct regular coaching and mentoring sessions with school administration, teachers and PTAs at LEARN supported schools.
• Mobilizers produce post coaching and mentoring reports with progress on action plans to show improvement.
• Mobilizers conduct supportive supervision for mentees as a way of continually supporting his/her mentees.
• Mobilizers conduct experience sharing meetings with school record keepers to share their experience with other schools.
• Mobilizers provide evidence to ILA management showing improvement in data quality at ILA supported schools.

• Integrate where possible all community engagement approaches, including gender sensitivity in beneficiary selection, and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.

CHILD SAFEGUARDING POLICIES AND PRACTICES

• Liaise and work with community groups and the schools to ensure accountability and best use of project resources.
• Comply with the requirements of Mercy Corps Protection Policy to ensure maximum protection for children,
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
• Roll out Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding and Protection Policy and Procedures to stakeholders and beneficiaries during training and meetings.
• Comply with the requirements of Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding and Protection Policy and Procedures to ensure maximum safety and protection for children during program work and other related actions in communities.
• Report all incidents or breach of CSG policy and monthly updates.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• 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.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to financial transactions and programming.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, Program contractors, donors, local governments and other stakeholders of the ILA Program.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall program targets and donor obligations are met.

SECURITY

• 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.
• 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.

Supervisory Responsibility

None.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Manager

Works Directly With: ILA Program Manager, CLA/MEL Lead, MEL officer, MEL Assistants, CARM officer, PTAs, FMCs, Partner Staff (ILA Education Advisor, Nutrition Advisor, Agriculture specialist, HR, Operations, Ethics and others

Behaviors (Values and Practices)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modeling Mercy Corps values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
• Support the role and implementation of MC CARM policy and procedures in communities of intervention, while also highlighting the same at training and other functions where applicable.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Mercy Corps, engages and motivates others. ● Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, Rural Development, International Development, Social Work, or a related field. Social Work or a related field, with significant course components in either community development, social work.
• Minimum of 2-3 years’ experience in community mobilization activities, preferably with an international organization.
• Knowledgeable in Word and Excel.
• Previous experience in planning and community facilitation skills.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills.
• Understanding of Mercy Corps vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values. • Written and verbal fluency in English.
• Should be capable of operating Yamaha AG100 motorcycle, sometimes in robust terrain and/or demonstrate the willingness to learn how to operate a motorcycle.
• Must have a valid driver’s license issued by the relevant Liberian authorities.

Success Factors

The Mobilizer should pay attention to details, can work in a diverse team, be approachable, supportive, willing to learn and apply new ideas, have time management skills, be able to multitask, set priorities, and be willing to travel to and work in remote areas.