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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 / Summary
Mercy Corps is responding to the Ukraine emergency since the escalation of armed conflict across the country in February 2022. The attacks set off a wave of displacement internally and into the countries along Ukraine’s western borders. Mercy Corps response program will focus on basic needs assistance through multi-purpose cash interventions and other key sectors, particularly protection. Mercy Corps is also supporting local NGOs and other civil society actors currently supporting vulnerable households in Ukraine and neighboring countries. As Mercy Corps pursues its objectives in the region it will continue to assess the security situation in areas of potential operation, with an eye towards the logistics of possible interventions and positioning going forward.
General Position Summary
The Romania Team Leader is responsible for coordinating and implementing the delivery of partnership, cash transfer programs, and other emergency interventions for households affected by conflict. The position includes overall management of daily program activities and management of program staff, ensuring appropriate systems and support mechanisms are in place to track, analyze and report on results as well as monitoring the newly arising needs and gaps.
The Romania Team Leader acts as a member of the Response Senior Management Team and collaborates with colleagues across the response in the areas of operations, finance, sub-awards and partnerships, human resources, and security, to ensure that all the aspects of the program implementation under his/her responsibility are compliant with Mercy Corps and sectoral best practices, internal approaches, donors standards, rules and regulations.
S/he ensures that the Romania team is well coordinated and supported to deliver at scale and managed to achieve excellence. Further, the Romania Team Leader will coordinate with the wider Response leadership inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries to support the safe movement of materials and people in and out of Ukraine, as is required. The successful Team Leader will represent Mercy Corps and engage with senior management on the strategic direction of the overall response. S/He manages several departments directly and works closely with other SMT directors where functions are centralized. This requires skill in matrix management and a collegial approach to achieving results.
Essential Job SayPro
Strategy & Vision
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Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
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Monitor needs and gaps, provide recommendations for actions
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Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to strategy and proposal development.
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Develop and organize activities to secure resources for programs and convince stakeholders to provide support.
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Contribute to response-wide strategy and adaptive management to ensure that MC Ukraine Response can flex and scale to match fluid crisis dynamics and changing needs in each operating context.
Program Management
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Lead the program team in implementation of the humanitarian response in accordance with the overall strategy
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Oversee program startup and ongoing program management and administration of teams across various field locations.
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Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and the Ukraine Response strategic plan.
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Ensure that program participants are effectively targeted according to established vulnerability criteria.
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Develop program implementation strategies and standard operating procedures, including partnership frameworks, participant targeting and distribution process as well as psychosocial support activities.
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Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective MEL systems to reach SayPro impacts. Exercise adaptive management based on program learnings and communities and/or participants’ feedback.
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Fulfill Mercy Corps Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
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Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, CARM, Do No Harm principles, and program participant accountability standards.
Support Structure Management
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Provide leadership to increase coordination, collaboration, communication and harmonization of Mercy Corps programming, operations and support functions inside Romania and as part of the wider Ukrainian response structure.
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Recognize the high level of donor scrutiny imposed on Ukrainian programming and ensure continuing effective, transparent and responsive compliance mechanisms are in place.
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Maintain oversight of overall program budgets ensuring appropriate allocation of resources to meet program objectives.
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Lead on monthly and quarterly financial analysis and forecasting for Romania.
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Provide support and ensure any Romania offices meet minimum standards for administrative need and activity planning.
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Assist the program teams to understand their roles and responsibilities in terms of interaction with the operations and procurement departments. These include training, regular coordination meetings, problem solving and necessary planning activities to ensure effective and timely program implementation.
Team Management
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Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
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Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
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Hire, orient and supervise new team members as necessary.
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Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
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Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
Finance & Compliance Management
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Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
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Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency programming.
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Build and/or maintain operational systems that ensure proper administrative support for programs.
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Draft and/or review scope of work to hire and manage any technical consultants, including review for technical efficacy and contract budget.
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Ensure robust sub-award compliance and management for partners across the response in Romania, working closely with the response-wide partnership and sub-award management resources and teams in other operating contexts.
Influence & Representation
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Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantee partners, donors, local governments and other stakeholders.
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Represent Mercy Corps programs with national and international media and participate in community activities as appropriate.
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Demonstrate flexibility, resilience and ability to maintain positive relationships and composure.
Maintain high ethical standards and treat people with respect and dignity.
Security
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Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
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Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.
Supervisory Responsibility
Romania-based team members (team of 15+)
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Director of Programs
Works Directly With: MEL team, Operations team, Finance team, Regional Program Team, Technical Support Unit, and additional headquarters-based support departments as needed.
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.
Knowledge and Experience
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BA/S or equivalent in relevant field required;
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5-7 years of field in international relief and development programs, including demonstrable success in managing development programs in transitional environments.
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5 years of senior-level leadership, capacity building and field management .
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Demonstrated success working effectively and respectfully with host country government, private sector, INGO, NGO partners and other stakeholders in complex environments.
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Proven skills in financial and grants management; prior with emergency response grant management for both private and institutional donors SayPro.
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Knowledge of SPHERE and other humanitarian programming standards.
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Successful and negotiation, communication and organization skills.
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Excellent oral and written English skills required; proficiency in Romanian, Ukrainian, or Russian languages is a plus.
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Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
Success Factors
The successful Team Leader will skillfully represent programmatic priorities of the agency to donors and regional partners while providing effective leadership to the Mercy Corps program team in the transitional response environment. S/he will be capable of multi-tasking, rapid decision-making, have initiative, drive and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and with capacity building. The Team Leader will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Iași, Romania with travel to the Eastern Europe region and Ukraine. The position is unaccompanied. Accommodations are being defined and access to services – medical, electricity, water, etc is in place. This position may require travel to surrounding countries. Given the emergency context, this position requires exceptional work schedules, including evenings and weekends.
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.
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How to apply
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