Program Manager - BASATINE (Applications will only be accepted if submitted through the URL link provided below)

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.

Mercy Corps has been present in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently works in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps is committed to generating positive opportunities for women, men, boys and girls from Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian communities, with a strong focus on engaging youth.  Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping build secure, productive and just communities. Our programs focus on four sectors:  Economic Opportunities, Governance and Social Stability, Youth Engagement, and Humanitarian interventions. The Mercy Corps Lebanon team consists of over 100 staff working across four offices throughout Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley.

Program Summary

Mercy Corps is looking for an experienced Program Manager for the anticipated 42-month AFD-funded BASATINE Program (Bolstering Agriculture Systems’ Ability to Invest, Nourish, and Employ). CARE International is the consortium lead while Mercy Corps is the lead on two of the five components. The intervention aims to immediately address food insecurity and provide needed income and technical support to farmers to survive the current crisis in the short-term, and to improve the capacity of food systems to maintain employment and growth over the longer term via stronger domestic production and system linkages. Mercy Corps will lead on improved market linkages within the agricultural sector by working with input suppliers and with SMEs within the agro-food industry, and on the generation of evidence through research and regular MEL activities to promote evidence-based sector development.

The program seeks to strike a balance between short-term urgent and ever evolving humanitarian needs of agricultural producers, and the longer-term building up and facilitation of more efficient market systems supporting the sector. It seeks to address barriers and challenges to increased domestic production along the agriculture value chain(s) that is operationally and financially sustainable. It seeks to identify and scale up potential import substitutes for domestic market consumption and increased food security, while also identifying and addressing barriers to access export markets for improved trade and hard currency generation. The program will have a strong MEL, research and learning agenda to provide ongoing evidence-based adaptation internally and the generation of actionable, contextualized research for humanitarian and development practitioners, donors, local and national level public sector, and private sector actors.

General Position Summary

The Program Manager will be based in Beirut and reporting to the Director of Programs with support from the MERG Sector Lead. They will bring a strong and evidenced understanding of and background in market systems development, private sector engagement/facilitation, and the agricultural sector in Lebanon. They will demonstrate a keen understanding of the current Lebanese context and its challenges, while constantly pushing to adapt and innovate. They will provide overall leadership, management and strategic vision to the implementation of the BASATINE program, to ensure that the program meets its targets and deliverables on-time and within budget, while modeling and nurturing processes and systems that are equitable, promote transparent and equal partnerships. The Program Manager will supervise program staff and ensure accountability to Mercy Corps policies and donor rules and regulations. They will be the primary program representative to the consortium led by CARE International, donors, relevant government entities, partners, other implementers and stakeholders. They will ensure the coherence and quality of the program interventions, seeking out innovations and adaptations to ensure that they lead to the desired impact in the rapidly changing political, economic and political context of Lebanon. They will evidence a strong commitment to contributing to a stronger, adaptive, less aid reliant and confident private sector in Lebanon.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategy & Vision

• Lead the development of a vision and strategy for the program shared with the consortium members, the program team and key stakeholders;
• Play an active role in identifying and developing new initiatives that foster and/or improve strategic objectives of the program and the country office and across Mercy Corps Lebanon’s program portfolio;
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create a positive collaborative environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed, recognized, and have the opportunity to create ownership by all team members.

Representation

• Represent Mercy Corps at consortium, government, donor, NGO and other relevant forums in close coordination with the Director of Programs and MERG Sector Lead;
• Coordinate activities with consortium partners, subgrantees, local government and other implementers as well as with other Mercy Corps programs. Contribute to fostering a positive collaborative and mutually beneficial working relationship between Mercy Corps team members and partners;
• Serve as an active contributor and collaborator with regional and global counterparts to promote best practices;
• Maintain close working relationships with counterparts in other organizations in Lebanon;
• Adhere to Mercy Corps’ Code of Conduct policy, understanding that all team members represent the organization both inside and outside the office and should act in ways that bring credit to the individual, the team, the program and the organization.

Program Management

• Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, and collaborate with the MEL Manager and PAQ Manager to monitor desired impacts;
• Ensure that program implementation - from start-up to close-out - is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan, while applying politically-sensitive adaptive management principles;
• Ensure that the program targets are well understood and achieved according to the implementation work-plan, adapt the work-plan when required. This includes being responsible for the quality of periodical reports/updates and grants tracking systems by ensuring that subgrant and grant records are kept up to date;
• Contribute to effective management, communication and coordination among consortium members in a manner that is fully collaborative;
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities;
• Ensure that program participants are effectively targeted according to established selection criteria;
• Lead on all internal and external reports to ensure coherence, accuracy, high professional standards, and timeliness;
• Integrate inclusive community approaches and gender and diversity sensitivity into all activities as appropriate;
• Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guidelines;
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, Safeguarding, and beneficiary accountability standards;
• Ensure proper implementation of referral mechanisms in Mercy Corps.

Team Management

• Hire, orient and lead high performing, dedicated, and professional team members as necessary;
• Develop the capacity of the team both as individuals and as a group, deepen understanding of their roles, and assist with career development;
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance and reach objectives;
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one-on-ones and performance reviews;
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence as individuals and as a team.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations;
• Keep track of forecasting and expenditures in coordination with the Program Support Coordinator;
• Ensure financial monitoring of expenditures and financial reporting by any partner(s) in coordination with the Finance Department and represent the program during monthly BvA meetings.

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 and adhere to policies.

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 toward accountability, specifically
  to our program participants and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging participating communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
• 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.

Supervisory Responsibility

Supervision of all the Mercy Corps BASATINE team, number of direct reports is to be determined.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of Programs

Works Directly With: MERG Sector Lead, PAQ Manager, other Program Managers, Finance, Operations, and HR teams, relevant HQ Technical Support Units. 

Knowledge and Experience

• University degree in a field relating to development work or degree relevant to one or more of the following technical sectors: Agriculture, Economics, Business;
• At least 5-6 years of experience working in Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), ideally focused on agricultural development programs and/or on business development programs;
• Demonstrated experience working on complex and large consortium projects;
• Experience working on an AFD-funded projects is an asset;
• Knowledge of the Market System Development approach is a strong asset;
• High level of all aspects of managerial experience, including managing multi-million-dollar budgets and ability to keep an eye on the bigger picture;
• Demonstrated high level of expertise in representation and negotiation with governments and donors;
• Ability to work independently and provide leadership to the team;
• Commitment to local capacity development and past experience engaging and working with local stakeholders, particularly in the private sector, in program design and implementation.
• Creativity and sense of humor to adapt to challenging circumstances;
• Ability to effectively manage stressful, highly unpredictable situations professionally and with empathy;
• Arabic and English language written and spoken are essential. Excellent written English is strongly desired.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have a keen interest in and an understanding of the complex socio-political and economic context of Lebanon, able to spot emerging trends and opportunities that may positively or negatively impact the program.They will have a good understanding of how markets function and in particular of how the agricultural market system functions in Lebanon, they have a keen curiosity in helping develop solutions for the agricultural sector. A curious and open mind with a good sense of humor are important, as is the ability to stay calm and focused in times of high stress and multiple competing demands on their time.

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 elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.