Location: Dependent on the location of the response – Kathmandu, Surkhet or Dhangadhi

Position Status: Full-time, Regular (initially for three months, with the possibility of extension)

Salary Level: M2

Current Team Member: N/A

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps is anticipating the activation of a response programme to support children to resume their education in the time of natural disasters with the objective of Building the Resilience of Children through Continued Learning in Emergencies. The program will be a short term response for three months with possibility of extension and will be implemented in disaster affected areas in either Lumbini, Karnali and/or Sudurpaschim provinces, depending on the location of the response. The key targeted group and beneficiaries under the anticipated programme are hard-to-reach and vulnerable students who are at risk of dropping out of/not returning to school in the aftermath of a disaster if their education is disrupted from any one or more of the three potentially targeted provinces.

Under the anticipated programme, MC will also work with teachers and School Management Committees (SMCs) to build their capacities to operate temporary learning centres (TLCs) and continue teaching children whose education has been disrupted in the event of a disaster. In collaboration with local and provincial government officials MC will work to improve coordination with the education cluster, and build their capacities to improve recovery of the education sector after a disaster. The response programme will also support local governments to develop emergency education action plans and SOPs. The programme will also work with other stakeholders to encourage children to return to school, or participate in TLCs/temporary home-based learning activities, and engage in community outreach activities on education, WASH and protection, and raise their awareness of available protection and psychosocial support services.

General Position Summary

The Emergency Response Manager, under the leadership of the Director of Programmes or the Program Manager, is primarily responsible for overall management of the response activities and supportimplementing partners in the districts to ensure emergency response is implemented according to the humanitarian principles and standards. S/He will ensure that the program team and partners have adequate skills and capacities for timely and quality implementation of Education response interventions. S/he will work closely with the MC other program team based in field offices to make informed decisions for the most relevant response intervention by undertaking rapid need assessment and regular monitoring. The position will be based in Kathmandu or field (Dhangadhi or Surkhet) with intensive travel to Lumbini, Karnali and/or Sudurpaschim Providences. 

The Manager will work closely with Project officers and M&E officers including Safeguarding and Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism (CARM) focal points. Moreover, as gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), child safeguarding, and environmental sensitivity are cross-cutting and core components of the all MC programs, the Manager is required to ensure these components are integrated into the response interventions.

Essential Job Responsibilities

The specific duties and responsibilities of Emergency Response Manger include, but are not limited to the following:

Program Implementation and management

• Support to ensure that project activities are implemented and managed in accordance with quality standards, compliance with internal and donor guidelines and policies, and contractual obligations.
• Develop of contingency implementation plans and guidelines to implement quality response and ensure its reflection in weekly and monthly. 
• Development of response plans and liaise with finance and operations as required to ensure required supplies are delivered on time and are of good quality.
• Timely preparation of Supply and Payment Requests ensuring expenditure is aligned with project document and requirements.
• Closely conduct budget monitoring and variance; and support for revising as necessary and lead BVA meetings with team.
• Keep abreast of the humanitarian situation and gaps keeping the team fully up-to-date, and make sound recommendations to support emergency response.
• Support project team and partners to coordinate with the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) and Local Disaster Management Committee (LDMC) when required.
• Support district team for development and preparation of MoUs with the Local Disaster Management Committee in collaboration with Program Manager.
• Coordinate with and advise implementing partners following a disaster on response interventions in respective locations. Provides regular program updates and alerts to inform coordination and decision-making.

Technical support and capacity building

• Support on strengthening capacity of the implementing partners and local stakeholders by identifying capacity gaps and development needs.
• Lead with appropriate capacity building interventions such as training, workshop, mentoring and supervision of implementing partners and other stakeholders on humanitarian response.
• Contribute to draft local level contingency plan in Education Response for undertaking emergency response activities for strengthening emergency response.
• Develop required tools such as undertaking assessments, emergency training modules and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), implementation guidelines as required by the program.
• Provides technical guidance and support partners for quality assurance and compliance to all humanitarian commitments on accountability such as; INEE, Education In Emergency, Core
• Humanitarian Standards (CHS), Sphere standards and Safeguarding.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Gather and disseminate rapid needs assessment report and update in current contest to inform for readiness and potential response
• Lead on setting local level monitoring system for rapid assessment, detail assessment and ongoing tracking of responses and needs.
• Support partners to ensure that the humanitarian context at the community level is regularly monitored and timely reported
• Sharing of weekly highlights to the Program Manager, support on preparation of Sitreps when required and timely submission of 3W matrixes to the relevant clusters as required
• Ensure development and monitoring of response plans to benchmark progress and challenges and provides feedback for improvements
• Work closely with the MEL team and ensure collection of required information against the indicators through appropriate tools such as post distribution monitoring etc.
• Provide support on preparation of progress and completion of response intervention aligned with the compliance and template
• Undertakes regular visits to the response areas and timely report the findings and recommendations
• Supports on setting up community accountability and reporting mechanisms to promote downward accountability and ensure meaningful participation of communities
• Ensure minimum standards of humanitarian assistance are maintained in accordance with the INEE, Education in Emergency, Sphere and Core Humanitarian Standard on Accountability and Quality
• Support on program learning and documentation and supports to develop strong case studies to generate evidence of the response intervention

Finance and Compliance Management

• Ensure all internal control procedures are adhered to and that necessary measures are put in place to ensure high standards of accountability and compliance
• Work closely with finance/compliance to mitigate fraud, conflict of interest and legal ramifications of Mercy Corps activities
• Support and orient on MC Code of Ethics and uphold Mercy Corps’ Zero tolerance of corruption policy Security
• Work closely with relevant field management staff to develop and maintain systems that ensure the safety and security of operating teams when implementing emergency response activities.
• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members and community operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Influence & Representation

• Support ongoing coordination and representation with relevant agencies, such as government officials, humanitarian clusters, INGOs, UN Agencies as appropriate at the cluster and district level.
• Maintain internal coordination and works closely with MC other project team members and support integration within programs
• Lead on organizing appropriate staff meetings, workshops, planning sessions as required.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members and community operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

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.

Others

• Mercy Corps as a humanitarian agency is expected to respond as and when crisis and humanitarian situation engulfs. As an MC employee all staff are expected to be part of humanitarian and emergency response in addition to their regular roles and responsibilities.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Conduct themselves both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not to jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Other duties as assigned by their supervisor, Director of Program, and/or Country Director.

Supervisory Responsibility: Project officers and M&E officers

Reports Directly to: Program Manager

Works Directly with: MC project team, Emergency Reponses Sr. Manager , implementation partners, Mercy Corps Nepal’s operations, HR, finance and other project teams.

Knowledge and Experience

• At least Bachelor degree in social sciences, engineering, development Studies/Management, DRR or any related discipline. A Master's Degree is preferred.
• At least 5 years’ experience of humanitarian/emergency response program especially in implementation with strong background on capacity building of implementing partners.
• Experience in Child Protection and Education is highly preferred.
• Experiences working in partnerships, coordination among different stakeholders and organizations at district/province/national level is required. Prior experience working on UN funded programs highly preferred.
• Thorough understanding of humanitarian contexts in westren part of Nepal including Karnali.
• In-depth knowledge and significant experience implementing larger distribution and multi stakeholder engagement.
• Experience of emergency preparedness and a clear understanding of the emergency preparedness process.
• Experience of the humanitarian coordination system, humanitarian standards and principles, and humanitarian accountability initiatives.
• Work experiences and understanding on short-term emergency response, M&E, social protection, and SBCC will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to work in complex environments under tight deadlines.
• Strong coordination skills, including capacity to coordinate with teams remotely.
• Strong organizational and logistical skills with demonstrated experience in strategic planning and ability to work independently are required.
• Good writing and computer skills, including preliminary research and information gathering from the internet, MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint preparation are required.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Nepali required.
• Effective writing skills to prepare reports, complete analyses and make presentations.
• Negotiation, networking, advocacy, coordination and representation skills with key local actors is preferred
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
• Proven ability to learn quickly, facilitate program implementation to achieve stated results and objectives;

Success Factors

A successful Emergency Response Manager will have the ability to work with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment with a capacity to spark innovative approaches to programming and inspire groups to collaborate closely to implement high-quality programs. This position will have proven ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results, with an ability and willingness to remain mobile for short-term and/or long-term as necessary within the region, based on programmatic needs. An ability to work independently and as part of a team, with curiosity about and sensitivity to new cultures, a desire and ability to learn and grow, both personally and professionally, and a great sense of humor.

The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations. 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.

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. 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Shortlisting will be done on the basis of your answers while applying, please answer the questions carefully. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Telephone enquiries will not be entertained.