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
Mercy Corps has been present in Central African Republic (CAR) since 2007, focusing its interventions on leading humanitarian response and recovery for crisis-affected populations through cash assistance, water and sanitation, and food security interventions. At the same time, we are working to build resilience and lay the foundations for a more prosperous future, by promoting peace and reconciliation between communities, supporting economic development and access to employment, building access to markets and financial services, and strengthening governance outcomes. The situation in the Central African Republic remains volatile and difficult to predict. However, Mercy Corps is committed to meeting the immediate needs of people affected by conflict, while addressing the causes of poverty and injustice by promoting peace, good governance and economic development. With funding from USAID, AFD, the United Nations and other private donors and foundations, Mercy Corps works together with communities in CAR to respond to these needs and support long term relief, recovery, and resilience outcomes.
The Position
The Mercy Corps CAR Country Director (CD) is an innovative and visionary leader responsible for resourcefully managing all programming in CAR. S/He has held senior roles within complex humanitarian and security contexts and has demonstrated experience leading country strategy development and developing sustainable, multi-sector programming along the relief to recovery spectrum, placing a high value on innovative solutions to development issues and creative partnerships in tough environments. The CD has supervisory responsibility for approximately 120 team members a budget of approximately $12 million per year. The CD also leads representation of Mercy Corps within the humanitarian community and ensures implementation of all security protocols in this highly volatile context. The CD places a high value on building a high-performing team, investing in staff development and cohesiveness, and accountability to beneficiaries and donors.
Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY & VISION
TEAM MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT
INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION
SECURITY
Supervisory Responsibility
Direct Reports: Department heads of Mercy Corps CAR including the Director of Programs, Operations Manager, Finance Manager, Compliance Manager, HR Manager, Heads of Office; Indirect Reports: All Mercy Corps CAR staff
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Deputy Regional Director - Africa
Works Directly With: CAR country team, Regional support teams, HQ-based program operations team, finance and 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 Qualifications & Transferable Skills
Success Factors
The successful CAR CD will skillfully represent programmatic priorities of the agency to donors and regional partners while providing effective leadership to the Mercy Corps program team. S/he will have high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with team building and capacity building and will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The CD is based in Bangui, CAR. The location is unaccompanied. Housing for the CD is individual, but on a shared compound with other team members, with freedom of movement beyond the house/office. Staff will have access to electricity, water, and internet, though they should expect occasional outages. Access to health care is limited. This position requires 25% of time of travel by to field offices some of which are in insecure environments. As an unaccompanied position, this role qualifies for hardship allowance.
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.
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 and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. 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.
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