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.

Summary

With funding from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), Mercy Corps’ Nawiri Program is leading a consortium of Kenyan and international partners on an eight-year journey to sustainably reduce persistent acute malnutrition in Turkana and Samburu counties of Kenya. Through a phased approach that emphasizes evidence – based interventions, as well as partnership, learning, and co-creation, the program has applied a robust contextually – informed design with government leadership, active engagement from communities, the private sector, and civil society. USAID Nawiri Mercy Corps’ consortium brings together the global leadership, research capacity, technical expertise, and implementation experience necessary to partner with local institutions to test, adapt, and scale evidence-based solutions. Together we will sustainably reduce persistent acute malnutrition for vulnerable populations in Turkana and Turkana counties.

General Position Summary

The Social Accountability and Civic Engagement Officer is responsible for contributing to the development and implementation of the community engagement program strategy for community members and their platforms such as village councils, ward development planning committees, civil society and local stakeholders. This will also include engagement and management of civil society organizations (CSOs) and managing the scope of work. The officer will implement integrated community engagement across multiple program components, which will include the continuous assessment and capacity building support of CSOs and community structures, including mentorship, over a long-term period of engagement with a view to enhancing community-driven nutrition resilient interventions. The main objective of this role is to support community platforms, civil society and citizens to better identify problems related to nutrition services and undertake actions to address these problems directly; build collaborations between citizens and government to ensure that the priorities and feedback of beneficiaries are helping government officials plan, resource and provide better services; and analyze accountability ecosystems to help citizens, civil society partners and governments better understand how to make positive change happen with regards to sustainably reducing persistent acute malnutrition in politically complex environments.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT & COORDINATION

• Coordinate the USAID Nawiri’s program community outreach and civil society strengthening efforts and ensure that all activities and deliverables are of high quality, on schedule, and reach program’s objectives and targets.
• Contribute to the development, implementation and continuous review of USAID Nawiri’s Community Integrated Action Planning (CIAP) strategy in Turkana and Samburu County.
• Inform design review of project interventions to engage and build agency of the public including adolescent, youth and vulnerable populations, the mass media, and civil society organizations in nutrition advocacy such as public education, oversight, and participation in decision-making processes, among others.
• Provide technical input to and oversight of the CSO and civil society engagement including development of the technical requirements and proposal evaluation.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships and cooperation with relevant counterparts, beneficiaries, and stakeholders and seek to engage them in USAID Nawiri’s interventions.
• Provide technical support to the partners and field teams for the program’s budget management; and work with the grants team to ensure all program activities are implemented in compliance with Mercy Corps’ and donor requirements.
• In coordination with the MEL team, monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and assessments to ensure program quality and impact. Document lessons learned and shared with management and team members.
• Contribute and assist in the preparation of technical reports and deliverables and other reports/deliverables, as requested.

SAFEGUARDING

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

ORGANIZATIONAL 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 PARTICIPANTS 

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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.

OTHER:

Conduct themselves professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and do not jeopardize its humanitarian mission. Other duties as assigned.

Accountability

• Reports Directly To: Stakeholder Engagement and Social Accountability Manager
• Works Directly With: Turkana and Samburu Field Director and technical teams.

Knowledge and Experience

• Degree in Social Sciences, Development and Climate & Environment Studies or other relevant fields.
• A minimum of 3-5 years of relevant professional experience in civic engagement and social accountability work at the county or local levels.
• Strong facilitation and consensus-building skills.
• Competent in building networks, strong problem-solving skills, and ability to influence with effective listening, persuasion, negotiation, and other techniques.
• Excellent and persuasive oral and written communication skills, including report writing, in English and other language(s), and fluency in Kiswahili.
• Previous work experience in Northern Kenya is desirable.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Requires knowledge of the county planning and budgeting process.