Deputy Chief of Party – Tawazon, Jordan

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.

The Program

Tawazon – Promoting the Voice and Leadership of Women Activity is a five-year USAID funded activity that will bring about transformational change in gender relations at the home, community, and national levels in Jordan, promoting gender equality and advance women’s leadership. This will be achieved by 1) Strengthening the enabling environment and institutional capacity; 2) Promoting equitable social norms and counter prevailing prohibitive norms that perpetuate gender inequality; and 3) Advancing the inclusive and transparent leadership and decision-making participation of girls and women. Tawazon is led by a consortium with established expertise in transformative work–engaging men and women as agents of change–which includes Mercy Corps (MC), Solidarity is Global (SIGI), Al Jidara, Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD), and Plan International. In addition, Tawazon aims to enrich collaboration amongst USAID’s Gender Community of Practice (CoPR) to strengthen coordination, scale innovative ideas, and promote accountability to gender equality among practitioners. Tawazon consortium consists of four partners who work collaboratively to ensure the institutionalization of their efforts at a national level that will drive change as per the activity’s theory of change.

The Position

Mercy Corps is seeking a Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) to support the leadership and strategic implementation of Tawazon, ensuring the program meets its overall objectives, targets and deliverables while modeling and nurturing processes and systems that are equitable, promote equal partnerships, and shift power dynamics that perpetuate inequalities. We are seeking a proactive individual with a strong sense of initiative and a results-driven mindset that puts evidence into action. Complementing the Chief of Party’s responsibility for overall project management, donor relations, and technical oversight, the DCOP will provide strategic leadership for the sub-granting, contracting, financial and the operational capacity strengthening elements of the project. S/he will play a key role within the program, responsible for building strong and compliant systems within the project to enable smooth, efficient, and effective project implementation. S/he will also be responsible for the financial and operational management of the Tawazon program and will need to work collaboratively with Country support function leads, the program team, and partners to ensure effective compliance with Mercy Corps’ internal policies and procedures as well as donor regulations. S/he will provide timely reports and assistance to the CoP and the program team to ensure that resources are used efficiently and effectively. S/he will also provide oversight of the Secretariate for the Gender Community of Practice, a platform that includes all USAID Jordan activities. The DCOP will facilitate the implementation of Tawazon’s learning agenda and dissemination of learning. The DCOP will assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance to reach objectives and disseminate learnings. The DCOP will assume the responsibilities of and act on behalf of the COP in their absence.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY, VISION AND LEARNING

• Supports the Chief of Party (CoP) to develop draft work plans, progress reports, and other project reports, agreement modification requests, respond to donor inquiries, and strengthen the learning agenda for Mercy Corps in Jordan.
• Manages and reviews the production of project reports to ensure they are accurate, complete, and written to high editorial standards before submission to CoP.
• Provides operational and programmatic oversight for the activity and support implementation of the activity’s annual work plans in line with budgets and programmatic targets.
• Provides financial oversight and management of the BvA process.
• Identifies creative solutions and build flexible systems that are compliant with US government and Mercy Corps regulations, yet facilitate the achievement of the project’s capacity development goals and partnership strategy.
• Helps to foster an enabling environment for collaborative, inclusive, and mutually accountable partnerships with consortium partners.
• Acts as a facilitator between departments to foster brainstorming and identify solutions to untraditional challenges in a timely manner, capturing and sharing lessons learned from individual teams with other teams with a specific focus on support services.
• Provides oversight of Tawazon’s role on the Gender Community of Practice, leveraging learnings, progress and opportunities identified under Tawazon with the CoPR.
• Facilitates integration across project components and optimize the Gender CoPR to support project goals.
• Facilitates learning across Tawazon and MC portfolios and share lessons learned and knowledge of agency resources/tools/best practices, etc.
• Represents Tawazon and Mercy Corp interests with external stakeholders.

CONTRACT & SUB-GRANT MANAGEMENT AND COMPLIANCE

• Provides leadership and direction with regard to all sub-grant or contract functions needed for the project’s success.
• Coordinates partnership negotiation & development to advance Tawazon’s strategic objectives.
• In coordination with the Sub-Grant team, oversees all partnership compliance processes and guidelines, including oversight for application and selection process, due diligence, issuing, managing, and monitoring sub-grants in accordance with Mercy Corps policies and USAID regulations.
• With the Project team members and in line with MC policies, identifies the best contracting method for partners, identifying adjustments needed as required.
• Ensures compliance with USAID and Mercy Corps regulations while ensuring that systems are not causing partners undue administrative burden.
• Oversees the review of potential partner budgets and relevant components of the narratives for completeness, cost eligibility, and compliance with requirements.
• Ensures high quality and compliant partner sub-award management documents throughout the design, implementation and close-out phases, including reports, payment requests, modifications, close-out checklists and reconciliation forms.
• Oversees sub-award tracking and filing, including financial tracking, reports, payments, and other relevant documentation.
• Works closely with Program team to ensure partner monitoring plans are in place and implemented, linking results to the Project M&E plan and reports.
• Serves as the focal point for approval requests to USAID, on costs requiring prior approval, subgrants approval, capital equipment, etc, on waiver requests, consolidating all required information and ensuring project compliance tracker is up-to-date.

BUDGET MANAGEMENT

• Ensures effective, transparent use of financial resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and USAID policies and procedures.
• Based on the BvAs generated by Mercy Corps Jordan Finance, prepares and update pipelines with projections, in close coordination with the CoP, Subgrants team and Program team members.
• Supports Tawazon Grant Management Meetings (GMM) to discuss spending patterns with the CoP and other relevant team members and conduct coordination with Mercy Corps Jordan Finance teams to ensure Tawazon’s BvA is accurate; analyze spending and alert CoP on any significant variances.

OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

• Develops Procurement Plan for the project and serve as the focal point for the Project with the Procurement department
• Provides support to the Program team and COP on any procurement for the project as needed, identifying risks for the project and develop mitigation measures, identifying exceptions and facilitating requests with the country support heads of departments,
• Creates and implement tools for program team members to track commitments and manage contracts, ensure timely invoicing and spending,
• Serves as the focal point for safety and security for the project, implementing and adjusting as needed project’s safety and security protocols
• Ensures compliance of the project with Mercy Corps global and Jordan operations policies, including asset management, fleet management, procurement policies and procedures.
• Works with Jordan HR Department to ensure timely recruitment of project staff members, working to identify best possible channels for sourcing, participate in the recruitment as needed

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Supports performance management of direct reports, including providing regular and timely feedback on performance and priorities to staff.
• Develops and oversee implementation of capacity building strategy for team members that promotes a culture of learning through systematic analysis and reflection of program data and lessons learned.
• Assists team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
• Promotes accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.

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 PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

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

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

• Gender Community of Practice Secretariate Liaison
• Research and Learning Coordinator

ACCOUNTABILITY

Reports directly to: Tawazon Chief of Party

Works directly with: Country Finance, HR and Operations department heads and teams, Tawazon program and M&E teams.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/S in relevant field required; advanced degree preferred.
• 3 – 5 years of field-based experience in international development – ideally in the region; demonstrated knowledge of relevant sectoral and/or operational areas.
• At least 7 years of progressive operations and management experience, including supervisory experience, required.
• At least 4 years’ experience in grants management from USG sources and excellent knowledge of donor rules and regulations required.
• Successful track record of supervising, designing, managing and implementing donor-funded technical assistance programs with strong preference for past USAID-funded project management experience.
• Demonstrated experience in budget preparation and analysis, financial reporting preparation and presentation and the proven ability to translate technical financial data into informative reports.
• Experience building compliant, yet responsive and contextually appropriate, sub-grant systems, tools and processes.
• Demonstrated commitment to capacity development and dedication to partner-driven approaches.
• Multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills are necessary, as are patience, a sense of humor, and interest in working with diverse teams
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English is required; fluency in Arabic is highly preferred.
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation and other learning efforts preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and facilitate learning groups and initiatives towards results.
• Experience representing the organization and its interests to a diverse range of local and international government officials, local civil society organizations, other international organizations, the media and the public – required.
• Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Preference given to candidates with prior work experience in the Middle East.
• Jordanian and male and female applicants are encouraged to apply.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with the team members and other stakeholders of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. This position requires ability to multitask and rapid decision-making and understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details. S/he has initiative, drive and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with capacity strengthening of local partners. The ideal candidate is a self-starter who takes ownership of work, executes tasks efficiently, and thrives in a hands-on environment. S/he will be known for flexibility and creativity in project planning and building responsive systems, and is able to solicit and understand diverse perspectives, build consensus among a variety of stakeholders, and effectively and clearly communicate decisions. The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is based in Amman, Jordan which is an accompanied post. Jordan is a middle income country with excellent education, medical, and other facilities in the capital Amman. Jordan is a very safe country with excellent communications, transportation, and housing infrastructure. Although neighboring countries continue to experience political unrest, Jordan has been a stable monarchy for over 30 years and the destination preference for many people from the Middle East to relax or gain access to available services.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/STA to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

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.