Cash Working Group (CWG), INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (IM) OFFICER

Description

Location: Port Sudan, Sudan  

About Mercy Corps 

Mercy Corps’ Sudan crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Sudanese and other conflict-affected people across the country. Mercy Corps Sudan is recognized as a leader in market systems, agricultural, and food security and building on this experience, the MC Sudan humanitarian program will layer in resilience and other program activities where appropriate and feasible to do so. Assistance is delivered with a focus on needs, in partnership with local actors and civil society. 

Mercy Corps leads the Cash Consortium of Sudan (CCS), a collaborative platform of 20 international and national partner organizations advance a progressive vision of the potential of cash assistance to transform humanitarian response and recovery in partnership with vulnerable conflict-affected populations. 

The Program / Department / Team (Program / Department Summary) 

The Cash Working Group serves as the principal coordination forum for all humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in Sudan. Composed of over 50 member organizations (UN agencies, local and international NGOs, the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, donors, and financial service providers), the CWG provides technical support to and across sectors, advises on issues related to CVA, and provides evidence and knowledge in response option analysis processes. The group evaluates the situation and makes recommendations on the appropriateness, effectiveness, and efficiency of the cash/market approaches in general, at national, state, and local levels. The CCS acts as a programmatic co-chair for the CWG, alongside the OCHA co-chair. The CWG reports to the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG). 

The CWG aims to develop standard products, positions, and approaches. It ensures information sharing, learning, and adopting these common approaches across its members to promote inter-agency and inter-sector participation. By providing support to and convening CVA activities across sectors, the group is expected to play a vital role in coordinating Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA). 

The overall role of the CWG is to act as an inter-sectoral CVA coordination mechanism. This group is a technical advisory group composed of implementers of markets/cash-based programming and policymakers on CVA. The CWG will achieve the following activities: 

1. Lead and coordinate the development of common tools, modalities, and standards to extend harmonisation and complementarity of CVA in Sudan, disseminating and adapting existing tools and available resources in other countries / global levels.
2. Standardise MPCA and support other sectors to define policies, strategies, and practical applications. This includes developing common standards in preparedness (MEB, assessments…), targeting, delivery (transfer value, frequency, duration), monitoring liaising, and associating sectors as appropriate.
3. Promote coordination and integration using the different delivery mechanisms available in Sudan by providing analysis and joint programming and platform sharing recommendations.
4. Support collaboration and alignment of humanitarian CVA with Social Protection schemes through cooperation with relevant ministries and development actors.
5. Build the capacities of agencies and relevant stakeholders in implementing CVA, including terminology, best practices, toolkits, and related issues.
6. Lead joint initiatives mandated by the CWG and Coordinate ad hoc assessments by partners, ensuring relevance, avoidance of duplications, and disseminating findings.
7. Ensure comprehensive coverage of CVA and avoid duplication through actors mapping, information sharing, and capacity building of the group members.
8. Map context-specific protection risks and benefits of CVA and decide on follow-up actions for protection and gender mainstreaming.

General Position Summary 

The Information Management (IM) Officer for the Cash Working Group (CWG) will play a pivotal role in enhancing the humanitarian response to the ongoing conflict in Sudan by providing expert support in data and information management for Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) programs. The officer will contribute to the operationalization of the CWG strategy, conduct data analysis, and provide evidence-based recommendations for cash feasibility, targeting, and cost efficiency. Additionally, the IM Officer will develop visualization tools, such as dashboards and infographics, to facilitate decision-making, and ensure data protection standards are upheld across CWG partners. By supporting cash preparedness initiatives, vulnerability assessments, and market analysis, the officer will enhance coordination, targeting, and monitoring of CVA activities. The role requires strong technical competencies in data analysis, mapping, and visualization tools, along with the ability to mentor staff and work in a dynamic, complex humanitarian environment. 

Essential Job Responsibilities 

The primary objective of the IM Officer is to enhance the response to the conflict in Sudan by providing comprehensive information management services. The IM person will support the CWG in their CVA activities, ensuring efficient cash assistance to affected populations. 

• Contribute to the operationalization of the Cash Working Group strategy through effective information management.
• Analyze data and provide evidence-based recommendations for cash feasibility analysis, contextual targeting criteria, and cost efficiency calculations.
• Support cash preparedness initiatives, including financial service provider mapping, risk assessment, and program gap analysis.
• Support design and implementation of vulnerability, needs and market assessment tools, Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM) tools, etc., for CVA programs.
• Support discussions on evidence-based targeting.
• Develop visualization products, including infographics and dashboards, to facilitate information sharing and decision-making among stakeholders.
• Collaborate with relevant partners to support standards around CVA data and information management platforms and feedback mechanisms.
• Ensure CWG partners have clear guidance on data protection and data sharing.

Accountability to Beneficiaries 

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. 

Supervisory Responsibility 

None 

Security 

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Accountability 

Reports Directly To: CWG Co-Leads (with formal reporting line to CWG Programmatic Co-Lead) 

Works Directly With: OCHA Information Management Unit, CWG partners (local and international), Financial Service Providers 

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 projects. 

Knowledge and Experience 

• Professional qualification in information and communications technologies, library or geographic sciences.
• Bachelor’s degree is required, Master’s preferred.
• At least 3-5 years of experience in humanitarian information management required.
• Experience working with varied international organizations (e.g., UN agencies, INGOs, IOs, Donors, IFRC, or ICRC) highly preferred.
• Knowledge of the UN System, and NGO humanitarian community, and humanitarian coordination architecture.
• Knowledge of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) standards, and indicators (desired).
• Proven statistical analytical skills.
• Experience in web design and programming (desired).
• Knowledge of multi-variate mapping techniques.
• Familiarity with the humanitarian reform and cluster approach.
• Fluency in English required.
• Proficiency in Arabic preferred.

Success Factors 

The CWG IM Officer is proactive and has a strong team spirit. S/He will have excellent abilities to absorb and synthesize information on the operational context and CWG activities in a compelling way for various target audiences. S/He will have good partnership management and interpersonal skills and will be dynamic, agile and able to apply innovative approaches and strategic thinking to support effective communications from the CWG. S/He will have the ability to work with tight deadlines and produce work of a high quality. 

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions 

The position is based in Port Sudan and it requires up to 40% travel to support CWG activities in the country. This may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. 

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

Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment. 

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. 

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. 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

Read Full Description