DRC: Chief of Party, Food Security Program

Apr 3, 2023 | Mercy Corps
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Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, it knows its teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. It welcomes diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that it can be stronger and have long term impact.

Mercy Corps has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 2007, with a staff of around 400 people working in Eastern DRC, with the overall country goal being to support vulnerable communities through crises, while fostering programs that build resilience and promote long-term change. Mercy Corps’ national office is in Goma with sub-field offices in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. Mercy Corps DRC’s key programming areas include a combination of longer-term development and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to 1) Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas; 2) Improve food security and nutrition; 3) Promote diversified livelihoods, economic recovery and development; 4) Support peacebuilding and local governance. Mercy Corps DRC’s humanitarian programs aim specifically to assist populations affected by the conflict and crisis in Eastern Congo.

Over the next six months, Mercy Corps will be finalizing the implementation and closing the Development Food Security Activity (DFSA) in Kabare and Kalehe territories, South Kivu province, funded by the USAID Office of Food for Peace. The USAID-South Kivu Food Security Project (FSP-Enyanya) covers a 7-year period (October 2016- September 2023) and is implemented by a consortium of five NGOs for which Mercy Corps is the prime. The program aims to ensure that households and communities in the targeted areas improve their food and nutrition security and economic well-being. The program works across the three purposes of agricultural livelihoods and market integration (P1), maternal and child health and nutrition-MCHN (P2), and effective governance (P3), with a primary focus on women and youth. The program will reach more than 200,000 participants.

The Position

The FSP Chief of Party (CoP) will provide overall leadership, management and coordination for the overall close-out of the program, including finalization of activities implementation as per the work plan, administrative close out and handing over of selected interventions. She/he will be the senior manager of the project, providing overall leadership to the program team and representing the program to the donor, partner organizations, the Government of DRC and other stakeholders. The CoP will be responsible for ensuring that FSP meets its engagements towards local stakeholders and the donors on activities completion and complies to Mercy Corps complex program minimum standards requirements for close-outs and stated donor expectations and requirements, in close coordination with the relevant MC DRC support functions.

This person will oversee the whole FSP program team and work closely with the Director of Programs, HR Director, Operations Director, Finance Director, PaQ Director, and the MC HQ Program Officer, Regional Finance Officer, and Senior Compliance Advisor to ensure an effective close-out in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies.


Essential Responsibilities


Program Management

  • Oversee the smooth implementation of the program’s last 3 months of implementation and overall team leadership.
  • Ensure completion of program activities across components as per the program work plan, on-time, scope and budget
  • Initiate and take full ownership for the 90-day close-out plan: convening regular close-out planning meetings with the FSP team, updating and revising the plan, monitoring progress of actions, planning adequately to rectify any deficiencies, reporting progress to the DoP as necessary, and coordinating with MC DR Congo senior management and support functions.
  • Ensure that close out recommendations are implemented according to Mercy Corps’ Program Management Manual, with specific focus on the Program Lifecycle and Minimum Standards Checklist (Chapter 2, PM Manual), and the End of Program Transition Plan (Chapter 7, PM Manual).
  • Prepare updates for FSP Quarterly Board Calls on the Program's status on minimum standards, again with a focus on the End of Program Transition Plan.
  • Any other duties as necessary, in accordance with the needs of the program for gold standard program close-out activities.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) and Reporting

  • Coordinate scheduling, production, and revision of the project final report in a timely and efficient manner.
  • In line with the interests of the donor in ensuring a solid close-out, oversee the finalization of documenting and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned through a series of learning and research products, with support from the PaQ Director.

Representation

  • Liaise with BHA in Kinshasa and Washington and represent the program to other implementers, private sector partners, and other stakeholders.
  • Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Director of Programs.
  • Coordinate activities with consortium partners, local government and other implementers.

Team Management 

  • Supervise and manage all project staff in Bukavu and Kavumu/Katana to ensure day-to-day activities are implemented according to schedule, budget and quality.
  • Manage and support with staff end of contract performance reviews, retention plan and coordinate with HR potential career next steps for program staff.

Finance & Compliance Management

  • Ensure, in collaboration with the country mission’s operations and finance departments, proper financial management, procurement, administration, HR and logistics needs of the program are conducted within Mercy Corps policy
  • In coordination with the Finance Manager, ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to program financial close-out, including close-out of sub-recipients.

Asset Management

  • Coordinate with the Operations Director and compliance to follow stated requirements in FSP’s agreement for final project reporting, specifically related to asset disposition.
  • Ensure the Operations Team has a plan for managing the disposition of program assets.
  • Work with the Operations Director to ensure that FSP’s Inventory List is up to date and prepare a final inventory report.

Supervisory Responsibility

Deputy Chief of Party, MEL Director, Gender and Youth Director, Infrastructure and Environment Engineer, and Grant Officer 

Reports Directly To: Director of Programs

Works Directly With: Director of Programs, Country Director, Deputy Chief of Party, Program Delivery Managers (Agriculture & MSD, Health & Nutrition, Good Governance, Gender, M&E), PaQ Director, Heads of Offices, Operations Director, HR/Admin Director, Finance Director and Ethics Director, as well as MC HQ Program Officer, Regional Finance Officer, and Compliance Manager. 

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to its program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. It is committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of its field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

  • MA/S or equivalent experience in social science, management, international development or other relevant field;
  • 7 to 10 years of overseas experience including 5 years in a senior management position;
  • At least 10 years of experience of progressively increasing management responsibility in complex development programs, especially multi-sectoral projects including agricultural development and maternal child health and nutrition;
  • Knowledge and experience of Mercy Corps Program Management Policies, complex program minimum standards, and close-out guidelines preferred or experience with similar expectations from other organizations;
  • Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to multi-task and process information into action as to not delay program activities;
  • Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members;
  • Experience with project management and financial reporting requirements, and effective coordination internally across departments and externally across multiple stakeholders;
  • Understanding and demonstrated commitment to the importance of gender and youth issues in food security programming;
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, including report development, writing and editing;
  • Excellent oral and written French skills and experience interacting effectively with international and national staff;
  • Proven leadership and ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong combination of team leadership, donor and local stakeholder engagement, reporting, as well as an ability to work well within and across Mercy Corps’ Program Management policies and procedures, especially related to close-out and end of program transition. They should be able to coordinate and work effectively with a wide variety of people internally and externally to get things done. They has the ability to multi-task and process information into action in a timely manner. They should be conscientious with an excellent sense of judgment as well as interpersonal skills. Excellent spoken and written English are a must. French language skill desired.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Bukavu, South-Kivu (DRC) and requires up to 25% travel to field locations in Kabare and Kalehe territories. The position is unaccompanied. The position is eligible to R&R.

Bukavu is a provincial capital of approximately 1,200,000 inhabitants. Living in Bukavu is comfortable, although water and electricity can be unstable. While conditions in the country are improving, and security is quite stable in Bukavu, there are still pockets of violence and insecurity. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all Mercy Corps offices. Travel to field sites will be required where living conditions are clean and secure, but basic. There are a number of health services available with evacuation options for serious illnesses. There is reasonable access to most consumer goods, although they can be expensive.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. 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. It is committed to creating an inclusive environment.

Ongoing Learning

In support of its belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities it serves, it empowers 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 its mission begins with how it builds its team and work together. Through its commitment to enriching its organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, it is better able to leverage the collective power of its teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. It strives 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.

Mercy Corps recognizes that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and it is committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than it is today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. It actively seeks out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that it can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

It is committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. It does 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 it works.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals it comes into contact with through its work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. It is 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. It will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of its team members. As part of its 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.