Mercy Corps is a global humanitarian aid agency engaged in transitional environments that have experienced some sort of shock: natural disaster, economic collapse, or conflict.

General Position Summary

The Program Officer is a key member of the program team and will report to the ICARR Program Manager in their respective counties of operation (Wajir/Garissa). She/he will support the program team in the day-to-day implementation of activities in pursuit of program goals.

Essential Responsibilities

PROGRAM SUPPORT

• Work with the ICARR Program Manager and other team members to support all relevant aspects of ICARR implementation in pursuit of the program goals and outcomes.
• Provide updates and analysis of key developments in targeted thematic areas or geographies.
• Identify needs and opportunities and provide relevant information to facilitate the program team’s ability to develop and implement activities.
• Under the direction of the ICARR Program Manager, develop and maintain relationships with organizations/ actors in key target sectors (e.g. faith organizations, youth groups, women’s organizations, CBOs/local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), local government officials, etc.).

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

• Work with the monitoring and evaluation team and partners in program monitoring, evaluation and learning with:
• Support with tracking partners’ activities – attending all events in the targeted counties, as relevant.
• Support partners on activity-level M&E efforts, ensuring quality, reliability, and consistency in data collection efforts using program M&E templates.
• Help identify lessons learned from project implementation and facilitate the incorporation of those lessons into the activity development cycle.
• Meet regularly with the program team to evaluate project progress, identify successes, challenges and lessons-learned; and adjust practices as necessary to improve performance.
• Prepare and submit to the program team reports of specific events, field trips and meetings attended.
• Support the team in effectively utilizing established monitoring and evaluation formats and provide feedback for their improvement.
• Any other duties as assigned by your supervisor.

Supervisory Responsibility

• N/A

Accountability

Reports Directly to: ICARR Program Manager

Works Directly with: Other ICARR team members, PAQ Department, Partner Staff, Technical Advisors

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in natural resource management, livestock market systems, community development or appropriate social science discipline or related field, preferred.
• Minimum of 3 years professional experience in implementing natural resource management, livestock market systems and/or related projects.
• Highly developed analytical skills.
• Ability to interact effectively with the diverse project stakeholders, including government officials, private sector actors, and community members.
• Experience in project monitoring and evaluation.
• Strong analytical and report writing skills.
• Previous experience living/working in Kenya’s ASAL counties required.
• Good knowledge and skills with the of MS Office applications such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access.
• Fluency in Swahili and other relevant languages necessary.