Mercy Corps

Description

Location: Nairobi, Kenya or Lagos, Nigeria

Valid unrestricted work authorization in the country in which you will be based (Kenya or Nigeria) is required at the time of application for this position. 

No other role will put you as close to the center of Africa’s future of work startup ecosystem.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a global humanitarian organization working in over 40 countries at the front lines of today’s biggest crises. Mercy Corps has built a reputation for innovative economic development programming, particularly working with start-ups, and hosts a venture capital arm called Mercy Corps Ventures. Its youth employment work places a focus on jobtech (read more here), which it has worked with for over a decade - investing, supporting product innovation, and conducting research on the opportunities for the sector. In late 2021, Mercy Corps launched the Jobtech Alliance, an ecosystem-building initiative around inclusive jobtech in Africa. 

The Jobtech Alliance is an ecosystem-building initiative, which seeks to build the inclusive jobtech ecosystem in Africa through two complementary workstreams: (1) Improving the Enabling Environment for platforms to thrive and businesses and create quality jobs, through research and insights, community-building, development of open-source standards and tools, and improvement of the funding and policy environment (2) Venture Support to jobtech start-up across 10 African markets - we seek to improve strategy, product and operational innovations which make their services more viable and scalable, more inclusive and/or delivering better quality jobs for the users they serve (through technical assistance, project delivery support, grant capital and connections to partners). 

The Position

The Jobtech Alliance Partnerships & Network Lead plays a lead role on the first workstream outlined above, while contributing to improved performance of Jobtech Platforms across the continent. S/he is responsible for building the community as a fundamental anchor for all other activities of the Jobtech Alliance, and building out complementary workstreams. Firstly, this involves managing community outreach and onboarding, engagement (including online and offline channels), and events. Secondly, it involves providing 1:1 support to platforms to ensure that they get the most of the Jobtech Alliance, as well as identifying and managing further workstreams and partnerships that contribute to the growth and enhancement of the ecosystem and community. 

Who You Are

You are a creative extrovert who has phenomenal EQ, and are deeply passionate about startups and employment in Africa. You are strategic and can build things from scratch, and know the difference between a good and a dud partnership. You have a skill at facilitating, and are a natural connector. You are highly organized, and can keep the day-to-day ticking while working on ambitious new projects. 

Key Responsibilities

COMMUNITY & PARTNERSHIPS STRATEGY (15%) 

• Lead the overarching community management strategy & develop new ideas about how to improve both size of membership and quality of engagement. You’re the primary KPI holder for quantity of members and quality of engagement. 
• Develop processes for community management and maintain the Jobtech Alliance Playbook around community engagement. Establish our model to enable us to better share useful resources / collaborations with platforms on a 1:1 basis. 
• Evolve strategy, and identify opportunities for partnerships, special projects, or services that would improve the enabling environment of the ecosystem 

COMMUNITY OUTREACH, RECRUITMENT AND ONBOARDING (10%) 

• Drive membership of the Jobtech Alliance community through mapping of startups in the sector, outreach and promotion, direct engagement with startups, and creative outreach campaigns 
• Review Platform Member applications on a regular basis, and conduct onboarding with new startups 
• Other activities, as guided by his/her community engagement strategy 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EVENTS (25%) 

• Maintain social media channels (LinkedIn and Twitter) with quality and engaging content (including user-generated) to promote high levels of learning and engagement. Where possible, develop more creative content based on Jobtech Alliance blogs and other learning 
• Manage Jobtech Alliance website, email, and other communications channels 
• Organize and host meet-ups for the Jobtech Alliance community in different markets 
• Organize and manage webinars hosted by Jobtech Alliance and partners 
• Go-to organizer for bigger events, including the Africa-wide Jobtech Summit 

PLATFORM SUPPORT (25%) 

• Maintain 1:1 relationships with community-members, and maintain a finger on the pulse of what the community needs 
• Identify unique needs of platforms, and play a ‘connector role’, sharing useful Jobtech Alliance resources, introductions to other Platform Members, or beyond 

PARTNERSHIPS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS (25%) 

• Based on emerging opportunities, and feedback from the community, identify partners and lead special projects which improve the enabling environment for inclusive jobtech platforms in Africa 
• This could improve projects including (but not limited to): partnerships with useful service providers, the building of open-source tools solving key problems for start-ups, pilots with external actors, policy roundtables, and more. 

Supervisory Responsibility

None 

Accountability 

Reports Directly To: Program Director / Jobtech Alliance 

Works Directly With: Startups, External partners, BFA Communications team, Results, Learning & Research team, Venture Building Managers, Finance team. 

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 

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in community engagement, project management, and/or leadership roles in the startup space in Africa 
• Experience working in jobtech platforms strongly preferred, as a founder/leader a plus 
• Experience building communities in the startup space in Africa, and/or with diverse stakeholder management. 
• Experience managing and growing social media channels, demonstrating creativity in content and engagement. Flawless written English and evidenced track record of developing compelling content in written form and beyond. 
• Demonstrated capacity to come up with ideas and build things from scratch that are rolled out with multiple stakeholders. 

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This role is for people with right to work in Kenya or Nigeria, though remote work arrangements for those with right to work in other African countries may be considered. 

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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