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Investment Manager – Regional Livestock Program, Africa

Program/Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been a leader in the drylands of the Horn of Africa for the last decade, supporting households affected by climate change, drought, conflict and other challenges to cope, adapt and thrive in the face of increasing shocks. Our programming focuses on strengthening livestock production and stimulating markets to be inclusive of smallholder producers and SMEs, enhancing food and water security, addressing gender inequality and youth opportunities, and strengthening devolved governance outcomes to support dryland communities and break the cycle of humanitarian need. Our approaches lay the foundations for a more food secure and resilient future.

Aligned with Mercy Corps 10-year Regional Livestock Strategy, the Regional Livestock Programme (RLP) is working across the drylands of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia to enhance household food security and livelihoods for vulnerable pastoralists and agro-pastoralists. The RLP leverages the significant potential for livestock production and trade within the region by building vibrant and inclusive regional livestock market systems, strengthening livestock production and trade, supporting climate adaptation, and enhancing regeneration and governance of communal and private rangelands.

General Position Summary 

 Mercy Corps is currently seeking an Investment Manager for Regional Livestock Program (RLP) who will lead the management of Enterprise Investment, a matching grant facility that will support enterprises to address underlying key constraints, facilities access to finance to support the private engagement and promote investment. The Investment Manager is responsible for the overall leadership and management co-investment interventions including developing privates sector engagement mechanisms/procedures and best practices for the promotions of investments in the livestock industry in the RLP targeted areas. The Investment Manager will lead establishment of processes and implementation of the intervention as per investment Fund manual. They are responsible to coordinate with the project team in designing call for proposals/Application, selection of the most viable investment ideas and its execution; and introduce innovative ideas and approaches to enhance financial inclusion for livestock related business. Working closely with the Mercy Corps RLP program implementing country finance team and RLP program contracts and compliance Manager and other teams, the Investment manager will be responsible to ensure the co-investment interventions are following RLP Donor’s regulations. They will monitor performance and provide timely reports to ensure that financial resources are used effectively and efficiently. The investment Manager will be guided by the principles of transparent and competitive allocation of funds, strict management guidelines, and support for public, private or community actors and organizations of all sizes. S/He will coordinate closely with the Monitoring and Results Measurement Manager, contracts and Compliance Senior Manager, Country program managers, Sr. Women Economic Empowerment Advisors and other RLP team in intervention designing, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning systems to demonstrate impact, while sharing learning across our team and partners.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Take the overall technical lead on management of the co-investment fund and private sector interventions to meet the intended project goal and catalyze investment in target areas.
• Lead the design and development of process and guidelines for successful management of investment funds based on Mercy Corps global best practices and in compliance with RLP donor’s regulations.
• Understand the key elements of a successful investment and develop tactical and strategic plans to enhance the investment in the livestock industries in the program targeted area.
• Ensure that the Investment fund supports activities across the key sectors that the project is targeting and does not crowd out financial markets and actors, rather helps them to flourish.

Specific Job Functions 

• Work closely with the project team to conduct research and assessment to identify potential private sector, public and community managed entities for partnership.
• Organize and conduct multi-stakeholder platforms to disseminate Regional Livestock Program (RLP) Investment Fund opportunities to potential partners to stimulate changes.
• Develop tracking systems to ensure all documentation is appropriately disseminated and managed.
• Lead the process of the private sector engagement including leading carrying out of due diligence on companies/ business.  
• Liaison with the project and finance team to provide support on strengthening partner skills in financial management, program reporting and other administration process.
• Ensure all components of the Investment fund are compliant with RLP donors and MC regulations. 
• Responsible for all administrative issues related to the investment fund including monitoring, tracking financial and program reports.
• Propose strategies for building resilience and improving market system performance, including making business strategies more inclusive and beneficial to enterprise productivity through investment fund.
• Support development of learning platform related to innovation and investment to be utilized throughout the life of program.

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 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.

Supervisory Responsibility: No direct reports but financially oversee private sector engagement officers.

Accountability

• Reports Directly To: Deputy Director/technical lead- Regional Livestock Program 
• Works Directly With:
  • Regional Livestock Program Managers (Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia), 
  •  Monitoring & Results Measurement Manager,  
  • Reginal Livestock Program Contracts & Compliance Senior Manager,   
  • Regional Livestock Program Women Economic Empowerment Advisor 
  • Regional Livestock Program Senior Officers/specialists,  
  • Mercy Corps Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia country offices grant and compliance coordinators/managers. 
  • Mercy Corps Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia Financial Inclusion team members 

Knowledge and Experience

• Masters’ degree or equivalent in Finance, Economics, or Business Administration, or Bachelors’ degree with significant additional experience.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in enterprise development; investment management; and working in partnership with private sector actors.
• Good understanding on Markets Systems Development (Making Markets Work for the poor-M4P) approach and facilitation including coaching/mentorship, relationship building, communicating, open and willing to work on new initiatives.
• Good understanding of private sector engagement and investment process is essential.
• Demonstrated experience in the financial sector and in financial inclusion for the private sectors.
• Proven skills in strategic planning, assessment, and business developments
• Demonstrated experience and ability to represent the organization and negotiate with a diverse range of market actors professionally and appropriately.
• Demonstrated understanding of complex developmental and transitional contexts, particularly in a resilience context, preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communication.
• Demonstrated attention to detail and ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work both independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Experience of working on different donor funded programs preferred.
• Fluency in spoken and written English required.

Social, Structural & Behavioral Change Officer (Re-advertisement)

Position Summary

USAID Nawiri’s SSBC work is central to the sustainable reduction of acute malnutrition. Phase 1 evidence gathering and continuous adaptive learning provides for a unique opportunity to be agile in implementing high quality and effective SBC interventions. USAID Nawiri envisions the position holder to program and implement a multi-sectoral SBC activities that creates nutrition resilience at household level. They will work with a multi-disciplinary team, covering resilient livelihood, health and nutrition, GESI, water sanitation and hygiene with the sole objective of reducing acute malnutrition in a sustainable way. They will be responsible for integrating SBC activities in all USAID Nawiri activities at the field implementation level. Specifically, the Officer will conceptualize with clarity and implement contextualized SBC activities at the household and community level while working with system level actors to address the structural barriers to uptake of optimal behaviors. They will be responsible for building the necessary skills and competencies of the frontline workers and change agents (include Peer Educators, Youth Counselors, Teachers, Gatekeepers, Opinion Leaders, Positive Deviants (Role Models), CORPs to implement quality SSBC activities. 

Essential Job Responsibilities

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP

• Take full ownership of SSBC activities at Sub-County/Zone level as detailed in USAID Nawiri’s Theory of Change, Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) and budgets, i.e., Analyze and understand the general SSBC dimensions of PAM and steward the design, development, and implementation of customized (County) Nawiri SSBC strategies as guided by research findings, HCD insights and other available relevant programmatic intelligence.
• Technically lead the implementation of USAID Nawiri’s iterative learning and adaptations in regards to SBC activities across all thematic areas.
• Provide technical (SSBC) and general administrative support to all Nawiri technical areas; specifically, support the conceptualization, design, implementation, and reporting needs of the different thematic areas, including the development and implementation of relevant SSBC frameworks, tools, messaging, and distribution of IEC materials in appropriate formats, appropriately customized for program’s target audiences and needs.
• Support in capacity building/strengthening (e.g., Trainings, Supportive/Facilitative Visits, On-Job Trainings, Mentorship and Shadowing) of relevant change agents at Sub-County/Zone level. Develop implementation plans, relevant content, facilitate SSBC training & support follow-on implementation activities.
• In coordination with the sub county coordinators, and technical coordinators, oversee the coordination across implementation teams of the sequencing, layering and integration of household and community dialogues including mapping of content and delivery tools

PROGRAM SUPPORT & IMPLEMENTATION

• Liaise with the Sub-County program team in ensuring that USAID Nawiri’s SSBC Strategy takes cognizance of and is aligned to County priorities and strategic plans. Additionally, assess and map out relevant interventions by partners, government agencies and private sector players and purposefully guide layering/integration of USAID Nawiri’s SSBC interventions in a bid to avoid duplication and improve cost-efficiency and effectiveness at the Sub-County/Zone level.
• Support USAID Nawiri’s Continuous Learning & Adapting (CLA) approach, especially activities with an SSBC dimension; specifically, the identification of critical issues, documentation & analysis of emerging evidence, learnings, and best practices. Thereafter, guide and/or participate in the co-creation and iterative processes that are designed to incorporate the lessons learnt into the agile Nawiri SSBC framework.
• Provide support for the monitoring, collection, storage, analysis (Knowledge Management) and reporting of SSBC data, including achievements against targets, data on program quality and effectiveness and contextual factors influencing program implementation. Submit regular SSBC programmatic reports as required. Additionally, participate in the development and publication of informatics products such as HCD decks, technical briefs, professional articles, success, and Human-Interest Stories (HIS).

TEAM COLLABORATION & COMMUNICATIONS

• Work with USAID Nawiri Officers, consortium partners and Sub-County officials to competently supervise Research Assistants, Healthcare Workers, Community Health Workers (CHWs – CHVs/CHEWs/CHAs), collaborating Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) and any other program operatives and/or partners implementing SSBC activities on behalf of the program.
• Liaise with and maintain cordial relationships with partners and Sub-County officials/departments implementing SSBC interventions. Plan for and support the coordination of relevant SSBC mechanisms at Sub-County level including participation and technical support to the Nawiri-fronted Multi-Sectoral Platform (MSP).
• Foster organizational values of efficiency, integrity, professionalism, responsiveness, collaboration, and respectful programming. Develop & manage implementation of SSBC plans in a manner that increases team operating performance & efficiencies according to prescribed protocols & Standard Operating Procedures.

SECURITY

• Ensure that SSBC interventions/activities are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of security at the Sub-County/Zone level.
• Keep the SSBC Senior Officer for Nutrition Resilient updated with regard to the security situation in the program implementation areas and provide advice as to how to manage our presence in this environment.

Supervisory Responsibility

• None

Accountability

• Reports directly to: Social, Structural and Behavior Change (SSBC) Coordinator for Nutrition Resilience (technically); and, with day-to-day supervisory, operational and administrative management reporting to the Program Coordinator & Head of Field Office.
• Works directly with: USAID Nawiri County & Sub-County Field Teams, Nawiri Technical Staff, County Government and County stakeholders and relevant partners (specifically, sub-awardees, CSOs, FBOs, schools/institutions etc.).

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.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours. 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 locations.

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable skills

• A degree in Communications, Journalism, Community Development, Marketing, Public Health, Population Studies, Social Sciences, Anthropology or related disciplines.
• At least 5 years of SSBC experience in designing, developing, implementing, monitoring strategies, activities, and materials.
• Experience in conceptualization, design, and implementation of user-centric approaches e.g., HCD and demonstrated experience at testing/pre-testing tools, materials, and strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to develop partnerships across sectors and cultures (cross-cultural skills).
• Demonstrated experience at working with & coordinating county mechanisms & multi-sectoral players.
• Experience and excellent skills at training and facilitating community forums including competence in approaches such as Education Through Listening, Communication for Development and Problem-Posing Techniques.
• Demonstrated experience meeting USAID and other donor reporting requirements.
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills; excellent English language writing skills are a must.
• Ability to think critically and strategically.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Office 365 including Word, Excel, Teams, and PowerPoint.
• Willingness and ability to travel at least 60 – 80 percent of the time.
• Proficiency of the local languages/dialects is a plus.
• Experience working in ASAL counties of Samburu & Turkana is an added advantage.

Method of Application

Use the link(s) below to apply on company website.

• Investment Manager – Regional Livestock Program, Africa
• Social, Structural & Behavioral Change Officer (Re-advertisement)