Non-profit Careers – Agri-Fin Mobile Program Advisor at Mercy Corps

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Organisation: Mercy Corps 
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
Reports to: Program Director
About MC:
Mercy Corps is an International NGO
that exists to alleviate poverty and oppression by helping people build secure,
productive and just communities. Mercy Corps has been fully registered in
Uganda as an operational NGO. Currently Mercy Corps has an office in Kampala
and is implementing Food Security programs which comprises of Water and
Sanitation, Livelihood and Agriculture and Conflict Mitigation Management
Program in North and North Eastern Uganda.
About Project:
The Agri-Fin Mobile program approach
works with partners to build sustainable models, where farm and crop management
tools and financial services are “bundled” in affordable, unified
platforms on mobile phone channels to promote mass uptake commercially. The
program targets partners with existing financial, MNO and agricultural
technical service mobile platforms or applications, or demonstrated interest in
developing and investing in them, and facilitates development of a business
model whereby the bundling process provides an increased value proposition for
each partner, such as, increased fee income, greater outreach or reduced risks.
The Agri-Fin Mobile program will achieve two primary results within the 3-year
program time frame:
  • 180,000
    smallholder farmers will access farm productivity services through
    improved productivity and financial management practices accessed via
    mobile based technologies.
  • A
    commercially viable business model which “bundles” key services from
    agriculture industry stakeholders, research and extension institutions,
    financial service providers, and telecommunications companies, will be
    developed in three locations (Indonesia, Uganda, Zimbabwe) offering
    detailed examples for replication and scalability.
Job Summary: The Program Advisor will
be responsible for technical oversight of the program, including working with
country focal points on formulating and managing the program inception phase,
market research and partner development, followed by conceptualizing and
leading project development with program partners and supporting country
coordinators to manage project implementation, as well as key consultant
experts to support project implementation. The Program Advisor will be
responsible for overseeing performance on projects, as well as ensuring that a
strong cross-learning, monitoring and evaluation stream of activities is consistently
applied. The Program Advisor will be responsible for developing program reports
to the donor, as well as participating in program publications and events. The
Agri-Fin Mobile program is supported by the Social Innovations group within
Mercy Corps, and as such, the Program Advisor will be responsible for
communicating learning, leveraging and integrating the program in to other SI
and Mercy Corps initiatives.
Key Duties and Responsibilities: 
1. Program Development:
  • With the
    support of the Agri-Fin Mobile team and support of the Program Director,
    maintain a clear vision and strategy for the program that can be clearly
    communicated to team members, government, partners, investors, media,
    Mercy Corps colleagues and program clients;
  • Develop
    close working relationships with all project participants and stakeholders
    – including the primary stakeholders, operations departments, private
    sector and NGOs – all parties required to establish a shared vision of the
    project and achieve objectives;
  • Review
    business plans annually based on new opportunities, including products,
    financial and outreach projections;
  • Document
    all lessons learned from the program and prepare periodic case studies,
    beneficiary stories and annual e-books for publication;
  • Lead the
    process of writing, editing, assembling, and submitting program reports as
    well as publishing all program related case studies, e-books and lessons
    learned;
  • Actively
    seek opportunities to leverage the program. Work with Mercy Corps’ Social
    Innovations, TSUs, and country field offices to identify areas for program
    coordination, as well as opportunities for related new programming; and
  • Provide
    ongoing and active support to developing Agri-Fin expansion strategies,
    and proposal development.
2. Communications:
  • Make all efforts
    to engage key stakeholders in important external evaluations to ensure an
    understanding of locally perceived impacts and problems;
  • Assist
    with development and dissemination of program promotional materials,
    including updates for web page; press releases, newsletter articles and
    other publication materials related to Mercy Corps’ programs;
  • Represent
    Mercy Corps and Agri-Fin Mobile at public events, conferences and
    workshops to promote the Agri-Fin Mobile program and disseminate
    learnings;
  • Develop
    and nurture productive internal and external relationships and networks to
    ensure optimum communication and program success; and
  • Work
    closely with the Program Director, Regional Directors and Country
    Directorsto ensure that the Agri-Fin Mobile program and its complicated
    set of activities are woven into overall country and regional.
3. M&E and Knowledge
Management:
  • Work with
    the Program Team to write, edit, assemble, and ensure timely submission of
    internal and external reports;
  • Lead
    writing of regular publications of quarterly newsletters, case studies,
    e-books, blogs, and research;
  • Lead
    outsourcing of graphic design, video and photo editing for publication;
  • Manage
    and promote program online resources such as website, facebook, twitter,
    etc;
  • Coordinate
    the collection of all input frameworks and templates for M&E
    activities, including annual project reviews, monthly partner reporting,
    baseline & endline studies, process monitoring, operations monitoring
    and lessons-learned workshops;
  • Direct
    staff and implementing partners in preparing their progress reports.
    Together, analyze these reports in terms of problems and actions needed.
    Prepare consolidated progress reports for project management to submit to
    the relevant bodies, in accordance with approved reporting formats and
    timing;
  • Prepare
    reports on M&E findings, working closely with technical staff and
    implementing partners; and
  • Maintain
    overall program library for Zimbabwe, Uganda & Indonesia, as well as
    global publications and best practices for reference of the program,
    donors, stakeholders, and Mercy Corps staff.
4. Administrative and Operational
Responsibilities:
  • Ensure
    that an effective and participatory M&E system is established in as
    decentralized a manner as is possible and would be effective;
  • Make sure
    the business of the project is conducted in an efficient manner by
    monitoring project implementation.
  • Ensure
    that timely decisions on corrective actions are made and implemented;
  • Establish
    leadership, direction and personal credibility with staff; implement and
    maintain a clearly understood chain of authority and accountability;
  • With full
    knowledge of the technical nature of the program, act as a technical
    resource for team members and lead and/or create opportunities for
    professional growth in technical areas that bring considerable value to
    the program; and
  • Prepare
    and ensure timely submission of donor and internal Mercy Corps reports.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience: 
  • The
    applicant must possess an MA/Sc/MBA or equivalent in business
    administration, information technology, agriculture, finance or related
    field required;
  • At least
    five to seven years’ relevant working experience required; preference for
    experience in both private and public sector and a strong working
    knowledge of IT, financial services and agriculture.
  • Proven
    Demonstrated ability to develop sustainable and socially actionable
    business models through partnerships including extensive development of
    products, pricing, marketing strategies, delivery channels, SWOT analysis,
    financial projections and building value propositions;
  • Strong
    experience in developing & maintaining relationships &
    partnerships;
  • Strong
    written, oral communication and presentation skills;
  • Computer
    literacy skills i.e. proficiency with MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel,
    PowerPoint), mobile phone applications (i.e. IPhone, Android, USSD, SMS,
    MMS, WAP, IVR, STK) and project management software (i.e. MS Project)
    required; and
  • Proven
    experience working with diverse teams with demonstrated technical skills
    in mobile financial services & agriculture.
Personal Competencies:
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 Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps team members are expected to support
all efforts towards 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.
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.
How to Apply:
If you so desire to seize this job
opportunity and work in one of the world’s most prestigious NGOs, Mercy Corps,
please visit web link below to visit recruitment website
Deadline: 2nd April 2014

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