About US:
Mercy Corps is an international non-profit organization which implements high-quality, analytical development programmes in very difficult places. Mercy Corps has been operating in Uganda since 2006. It has and continues to implement programs in Acholi and Karamoja sub regions. Mercy Corps is taking a community-led, market driven approach to address poverty and food insecurity needs through interventions that get to the root causes and contributing factors of economic vulnerability. Donors include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), DFID, Mastercard Foundation, WALMART Foundation, Coca Cola Africa Foundation, US Depart of State (DOS) /PEPFAR, and Nike Foundation.
About USAID GHG Program:
The five-year USAID Program, Growth, Health and Governance (GHG) operating in Northern Karamoja is accountable for improvements in child underweight and stunting prevalence, underweight prevalence of women of reproductive age and dietary diversity practices amongst women and children < 5years (with emphasis on pregnant and lactating women and children < 2 years). In order to achieve all program objectives, Mercy Corps seeks to empower women by increasing their access and control over resources that can help them make a positive change for improve nutrition and food security.
Job Summary: The MCHN Officer- Women Economic Empowerment will support the roll-out of a women’s empowerment curriculum to the community-based mother care groups. MCGs are a community platform of mothers that gather to share health and nutrition information with their neighbors. Those in the MCG+ model also benefit from additional training that focused on increasing their access and control over resources through life skills and economic empowerment trainings. The Officer will be responsible for the quality of program delivery, from training of mentors to support supervision and coordination with other teams. Trainings will cover life skills, basic numeracy and savings, as well as business development skills. These topics will be introduced concurrently with the ongoing health and nutrition information that is the focus of the traditional mother care groups.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Program:
Deliver MCG+ trainings on life skills, numeracy, savings, business development, and other topics as needed in a timely and coordinated manner
Provide support supervision and quality control checks to mentors to troubleshooting challenges, standardize implementation approaches, ensure high quality delivery of MCG+ messages
Coordinate with the MCHN Teams at Mercy Corps on program implementation to leverage resources and maximize impact
Offer support to other MCHN programing areas as needed such as support on implementation of MCHN modules to care groups or support to community behaviour change activities.
Identify and document best practices to share with the GHG team and other relevant stakeholders
Collaboratively represent the health activities of GHG together with partners World Vision and Whave at relevant local government and civil society fora
Provide technical contribution to the development of core IEC materials
Working closely with team leaders of MC SO2 activities to coordinate day-to-day operations and logistics to maximize use of resources and ensure complementary programming
Partnership Management:
Build and maintain productive working relationship with World Vision and Whave, working together to develop complementary monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive management structures wherever possible
Work closely with partners to coordinate and maximize influence at local and regional forums
Establish and maintain productive working relationships with sub-county and district leaders, soliciting their participation in all activities where appropriate;
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Ensure feedback loops between community, MCGs, mentors and staff are active, with responsive changes implemented
Provide on-going support to mentors in monitoring, evaluation and learning
Take primary responsibility for data gathering, quality control and communicating to MELC focal person on MCG+ activities
Oversee the MCG+ filing system and ensure that information is organized according to the reporting and auditing needs of the program
External Representation and Coordination:
Ensure establishment and maintenance of relationships with communities, village councils and local government
Support visits from regional and HQ based staff and external visitors, such as donors and media, in collaboration with the team leader when necessary
Other:
Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission;
Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
The ideal candidate for the Mercy Corps MCHN Officer-Women Economic Empowerment job opportunity should possess a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship, Business Administration, development or related studies
A minimum of three years of related professional experience.
Good knowledge in Village Savings & Loans Scheme, financial empowerment or functional adult learning a plus
Previous exposure and experience with VSLA Management Information System (MIS) a plus
Experience with private sector financial institutions or income generating activity experience a plus
Proven skills in data collection, verification and documentation
Proven skills in networking, team-building, community consultations and organizational development;
Excellent reporting, communication and representation skills
Willingness to consider new perspectives, promote gender equality and engage in advanced gender training
Motorbike riding permit required
Fluency in Ngakarimojong required
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send their E-mail applications including a cover letter clearly stating the salary requirements, updated CV (with three professional referees), and copies of academic qualifications/certificates addressed to the Senior HR and Legal Manager, Mercy Corps Uganda to: ug-mcjobs@mercycorps.org
Deadline: 6th February 2017