PROJECT OFFICER - SKILLING, INCLUSION AND SAFEGUARDING - NATIONAL

Position Description

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

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. In late 2021, Mercy Corps launched the Jobtech Alliance, a Pan-African ecosystem-building initiative around inclusive jobtech in Africa. These are digital platform creating work opportunities for users, including gig-matching platforms, e-commerce platforms are more. The Jobtech Alliance has a portfolio of grants for acceleration activities with jobtech startups and wider ecosystem-building. We learn by doing research to better understand what makes these innovations work (or not), and explore emerging themes to help define and guide the sector.

Digital Advancement for Women Now (DAWN) is an anticipated four-year project in Nigeria, pending funding approval from the Mastercard Foundation and implemented within the Jobtech Alliance. It enables underserved young people, with a particular focus on young women, alongside refugees and displaced people and persons with disabilities, to access safe, inclusive and dignified work through Jobtech startups.

General Position Summary

Reporting to the Senior Project Manager, the Project Officer drives the day-to-day delivery for the Inclusivity Department’s work in Nigeria. Working hand-in-hand with Inclusivity Partners, the Officer makes delivery happen on the ground across the supply-side interventions (outreach and mobilisation, skilling, asset and device financing, and coaching and support), helping move young women, refugees and displaced people, and persons with disabilities into work on digital platforms. He/she is the connection point between Inclusivity Partners and platforms, and ensures that Inclusivity Partners are delivering their activities, and that those activities lead to the desired outcomes. The role also carries a front-line safeguarding responsibility, supporting partners and participants to keep delivery safe, and receiving and referring any concerns through the designated safeguarding line. The role suits someone who is a highly organised, self-propelling doer and is happiest in the field, close to partners and communities, and who thrives in a new and fast-moving program.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Partner Monitoring & Support

• Support the onboarding of partners and coordinate their day-to-day delivery, keeping activities on track and solving problems as they arise
• Link partners and participants to DAWN platforms, and help move participants from skilling into work on those platforms
• Support partners with participant identification, vetting, and onboarding on platforms aimed at continually improving placement and retention to achieve targets
• Carry out regular field visits to partners and communities to monitor delivery, verify quality, and fix issues as they arise
• Keep delivery data accurate and up to date with partners, and flag issues and risks to the Senior Project Manager

Safeguarding

• Implement safeguarding reporting mechanisms in Nigeria, including CARM, channels and cadence
• Support Inclusivity Partners to understand and meet safeguarding standards in how they deliver
• Support participant sensitization on the right to be free from harassment and exploitation and to report without retaliation
• Receive, record and refer safeguarding concerns in a survivor-centred way, escalating through the designated safeguarding focal point in line with Mercy Corps protocol, and keeping records confidential

Other Delivery Support

• Provide other delivery and coordination support as priorities emerge in a new and evolving program

Supervisory Responsibility: None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Project Manager, Digital Livelihoods and Inclusivity (Nigeria)

Works Directly With: DAWN Project Director (Nigeria), Venture Support (Jobtech Alliance), Results Learning & Research Team (Jobtech Alliance), Operations Teams, Human Resources.

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 and Transferable Skills

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in delivering or coordinating field-based programs, ideally in livelihoods, employment, skilling, or a related area
• Proven experience working through and with implementing partners and community organizations to get delivery done
• Experience working with one or more of the program’s populations; young women, refugees and displaced people, or persons with disabilities is strongly preferred
• Ability to work independently and to build trusted relationships with partners and communities
• Willing and able to travel frequently and work in the field, including in locations where amenities or movement may be limited
• Awareness of and commitment to safeguarding principles and survivor-centered practice
• Sound judgement and discretion in handling sensitive and confidential information
• Excellent communication skills, and written and spoken fluency in English
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, or equivalent practical experience

Success Factors

You are a hands-on doer who is happiest in the field, close to the partners and communities you work with, and can keep a dozen moving parts on track. You are energized by a new program that is still taking shape, and you are quick to spot and solve problems on the ground to drive towards the goal. You are also passionate and deeply care about keeping people safe, treat safeguarding as everyone’s business, and hold the line even when it is uncomfortable. You build trust easily, and you are always ready to get your hands dirty.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Lagos, Nigeria, and requires up to 50% travel to reach target populations, partners and platforms across the program’s areas of operation, which may include travel to locations where amenities or freedom of movement are limited.

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

Team Engagement and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Safeguarding and 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).