Mercy Corps-Syria Response Office Hiring for Peace & Conflict Program Manager – Re-Advertised at Amman, Jordan Full Time

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 / Department Summary

The program’s goal is to contribute to the foundation for long-term peace in Syria through sustainable grassroots action that promotes human rights, fundamental freedoms, and social cohesion. Mercy Corps Syria’s Peace & Conflict program in North West Syria (NWS) mobilizes local capacities for social reconciliation and civic participation, enhance the effectiveness of grievance mechanisms and improves access to justice. The program’s approach is rooted in the empowerment of communities through a set of systematic participatory and inclusive processes that are cost effective, replicable and scalable.

 

General Position Summary

The Peace and Conflict Program Manager responsible for the development and implementation of Peace & Conflict, Social Cohesion, and related programing within Mercy Corps’ NWS program portfolio. The Peace and Conflict Program Manager provides overall day-to-day technical supervision to Mercy Corps project team, works closely with Mercy Corps project partners to ensure strategic/foundational project analysis and assessments meet minimum technical standards, and contributes to the progress of Mercy Corps peace and conflict work in Syria. The Peace & Conflict Program Manager is a strong team leader and communicator, able to technically lead, develop, and mentor team members and maintain a strategic portfolio of partner-led projects. A background in Peace & Conflict or Social Cohesion programming is essential, and remote management is an advantage. In addition to written and spoken fluency in English and good working knowledge of Arabic would be an advantage.

 

Essential Job Responsibilities

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Oversee the design, planning, implementation, and coordination of all Peace & Conflict activities in NWS and projects to ensure that activity objectives amd targets are met.
• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to grant management.
• Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.
• Contribute to the development of assessments, monitoring and analyses that better understand and analyze social dynamics across NWS.
• Help ensure the application of appropriate and consistent eligibility criteria and appropriate tailored assistance through partnership activities.
• Oversee preparation of all required reporting on Peace & Conflict activities within agreed deadlines.
• Assure appropriate, timely, and compliant spending of allocated funds for Peace & Conflict activities through careful budget management to achieve program results.
• Support the project partner to disseminate findings from analysis to key internal audiences (Mercy Corps and partner staff).
• Support the project partner to articulate clear actions for using findings of analysis and assessments to guide project implementation, including developing a detailed implementation plan at inception phases, aligned with the project design.
• Ensure that donor approvals are obtained as necessary prior to any project analysis and assessments.
• Write monthly, quarterly and ad hoc project progress reports for submission to the donor and other key audiences, aligned with reporting templates provided by grants
• Ensure collaboration and coordination with other Managers who oversee implementation of similar programs in NWS including through regular and ad hoc meetings as necessary.
• Ensure collaboration and coordination with protection and gender mainstreaming teams for effective gender and protection mainstreaming of project activities.

 

TECHNICAL OVERSIGHT

• Lead the implementation for all projects under the NWS portfolio for Peace & Conflict, Social Cohesion, and other related sectors.
• Provide day-to-day technical guidance for project partners for the implementation of technical analysis and assessments during project start up including: Social Network Analysis (SNA), mapping of formal justice system pathways, conflict analysis, stakeholder analysis and conflict sensitivity analysis.
• Review analysis and assessment reports prepared by the partner organization to ensure they are technically sound and of good quality.
• Work with the Peace & Conflict Technical Adviser to strengthen the technical aspects of partner implementation to achieve both project results and strategic advancement informed by evidence and learning.
• Support the roll out of best practices based on the operational context of NWS, informed by reporting, secondary data and research.

 

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY

• Contribute to the development of Peace & Conflict programing and proposal development processes for NWS.
• Work closely with the PAQ team to ensure that the project monitoring and evaluation framework aligns with project design and incorporates peace and conflict industry best practice; and is regularly updated.
• Document and disseminate learning generated through project implementation with Peace & Conflict counterparts in NWS; participate and contribute to Mercy Corps Syria’s community of practice on Peace & Conflict.
• Develop SOPs as necessary; ensure staff follow and understand procedures and policies.
• Stay abreast of and analyze social cohesion trends and develop/adjust program strategies to match realities of communities.
• Identify opportunities for the design and development of concept notes and proposals for further social cohesion programming.

 

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

• Support the capacity-building officer as necessary to deliver training to the project partner team.
• Work with the Peace and Conflict Technical Advisor to identify suitable methods for supporting capacity building among partners working in NWS.
• Recommend and implement a capacity building/development plan for staff; provide continuous support to ensure the targeted capacity building of staff.
• In collaboration with the Peace and Conflict Technical Advisor, support capacity building initiatives across the region for Mercy Corps staff.

 

REPRESENTATION

• Serve as the focal point for Peace & Conflict and Social Cohesion policies across NWS.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with all donors, clusters, and stakeholders – including NGOs, clusters, UN agencies, community-based organizations, and Mercy Corps sectors to enhance cooperation and coordination.
• Attend coordination meetings and/or represent Mercy Corps in other relevant forums.
• Ensure that information from coordination meetings is shared internally and with other sectors, as appropriate.

 

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Supervise Peace & Conflict staff directly, providing ongoing leadership to the project team.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
• Coach and train the staff with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity.
• Supervise, hire and orient new team members as necessary.
• Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
• Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
• As needed, draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget.

 

SECURITY

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members and partners operate in a secure environment and are aware of Mercy Corps policies, SOPs, and risk management strategies.

 

ORGANISATIONAL 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 towards 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.

 

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.

 

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

 

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we meet 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 to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

 

Supervisory Responsibility

Project Officers (3)

 

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of Program, NWS

Works Directly With: Sub-Awards and Compliance team, Program Performance and Quality (PaQ) Team, Peace & Conflict Technical Adviser, Peace & Conflict teams in other hubs

 

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor in peacebuilding/peace and conflict studies or related fields such as governance, humanities, social or political sciences, law, international relations or equivalent relevant field experience. Master’s degree is a plus.
• 4-6 years of professional experience managing technical program teams and guiding local partner organizations to implement programs that advance peace and promote access to justice programs in insecure environments.
• Practical field experience in peace & conflict, governance and access to justice programming; experience with disability inclusion and gender mainstreaming is advantageous.
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving.
• Proven ability to learn quickly, lead a program to achieve stated results and objectives.
• Experience working with host governments, national and international NGOs.
• Experience in staff management in a cross-cultural environment. Ability to work effectively in an ethnically diverse team.
• Experience with USG funding is an advantage.
• Strong commitment to capacity building of national staff and civil society with willingness to adopt a participatory and consultative approach.
• Strong writing skills, including experience in writing proposals and donor reports. In depth. understanding of conflict sensitive program management.
• Demonstrated training and facilitation experience.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet short deadlines.
• Demonstrated strengths in analytical skills, monitoring and evaluation, budget management, and report writing required.
• Strong interpersonal, intercultural and communication skills.
• Excellent writing and computer skills. 
• Experience of partner-led programing and remote management a significant advantage.
• Excellent oral and written English skills required; proficiency in Arabic a significant advantage.

 

What we Offer: 

• 6 Months Contract 
• Salary range: starts from 2,151 JOD
• Duty station: based in Amman, Jordan 

 

 

Success Factors

The successful candidate will be proactive, creative and problem solver; S/he will be conscientious with an excellent sense of judgment and excellent communication and team building techniques. S/he will have the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, multi-tasking environment. S/he will demonstrate strong understanding of cultural and social environment in the region and have the willingness and ability to work effectively with a wide verity of people.

 

Work Conditions

The position will be based in Amman, Jordan with frequent travel. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. 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.