Description
Location: Brussels, Belgium; London, UK; or NL
Position Status: Full-Time, Initial program ending end December 2024 with high posibility of extension beyond
Salary: Belgium:circa 44K;London: circa 43K; The Hague: circa 44K
Apply with CV and Cover Letter by January 23rd.
Candidates must have the Independant right to work in the UK or EU at the time of appointment.
Position Description
About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.
Mercy Corps Europe (MCE) has grown rapidly in terms of volume of activity and complexity. With offices in Edinburgh, London, Brussels, and Geneva, we now attract over £90m in income, and employ around 100 domestic and expatriate field team members. The breadth and impact of our programmes makes Mercy Corps a unique and truly rewarding place to work. Our teams are proud of what we achieve in the field and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our passion and commitment.
The Program / Department / Team
About the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (ZFRA): ZFRA is an alliance of nine organisations including international NGOs, private sector and research organisations, who have come together with the support of the Z Zurich Foundation to drive better policy and practice to reduce the negative impact of floods on people’s and communities’ ability to thrive.
The partners together implement a combination of pilot programmes, research, knowledge management and influence to persuade donors, policy-makers and practitioners to invest more and more effectively in flood prevention and preparedness through:
● Increased and more effective financial investments in flood resilience;
● Improved global and national policy for increased pre-event action to flood resilience;
● Improved practice in flood resilience by key stakeholders.
Mercy Corps (MC) has two key roles in ZFRA
– First, Mercy Corps has programmes in Jordan, Indonesia, and Nepal where we are delivering work at community level to strengthen flood resilience directly, and using this knowledge and experience to influence policy and practice change at national/district level via advocacy and research.
– Second, Mercy Corps leads the Advocacy workstream on behalf of the Alliance, setting overall advocacy objectives, identifying key stakeholders, and developing strategies, plans, research, and activities to influence funding and policy change at global level.
Through both of these roles, we liaise with other workstreams such as Knowledge and Research, contribute to broad strategic thinking of the Alliance, and currently are helping to define Phase 3 of the Alliance’s work.
The current phase of the work launched formally on 1 July 2018 and will run for six and a half years to 31 December 2024. We are currently developing the plan for Phase 3, which will run for the next ten to twelve years.
The Position
This role is a mix of project management, coordination and advocacy activities.
The Advisor will work closely with Mercy Corps’ Head of ZFRA and is responsible for project management of Mercy Corps’ activities and coordination of the global advocacy work of the Alliance partners; this involves facilitating meetings, coordinating and tracking activities and budgets, organising events and production of publications, and representing the Alliance where appropriate.
The successful candidate will also deliver or support some advocacy activities: managing research, developing key messages and analysis or undertaking advocacy with key stakeholders, depending on experience.
Essential Responsibilities
ADVOCACY AND INFLUENCE
● Supports Mercy Corps Head of ZFRA in setting the strategic direction for the Advocacy Workstream. Coordinates members of the Advocacy Workstream around the development and delivery of advocacy objectives, research and events to align activities and approaches with the agreed Alliance strategy. Serves as a member of the Knowledge Workstream, to ensure effective coordination and alignment across the Advocacy and Knowledge Workstreams.
● Leads/supports climate advocacy efforts with stakeholders in the EU/UK/Geneva (depending on location), working with other members of Mercy Corps and the ZFRA Alliance, including analysis of policy positions of key targets and crafting advocacy messages and talking points to influence key stakeholders.
● Coordinates ZFRA activities around COP and other prioritised climate change events to advocate for increased financing for climate change adaptation and directing funding to local levels.
● Supports the design and organisation of Alliance events and opportunities for influence and represents MC or ZFRA at these.
● Leads/supports the creation, development and management of research, learning and advocacy products to ensure evidence and messages from the program align with advocacy goals.
● Supports the development of a range of advocacy products, including reviewing and contributing to the finalization, dissemination and creation of communication plans for research products from the project.
● Works closely with other relevant Mercy Corps teams in the Technical Support Unit and Research around the delivery of Mercy Corps’ climate change influence priorities.
PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT
● Responsible for meeting donor reporting requirements (both for ZFRA Mercy Corps activities and those of the broader Advocacy workstream) – through sharing templates, providing inputs, requesting inputs from others and preparing final reports.
● Responsible for management of the ZFRA budget, such that ZFRA objectives are delivered to time, quality and budget, working in close coordination with the Head of ZFRA, and the field-based programme coordinator.
● Provide support to ZFRA team as required to ensure donor compliance, setting the strategy for field-based activities, and reviewing budgets, deliverables and proposals.
● Opportunity spotting for areas to link and connect research and learnings from country programs to global level advocacy messages and events.
COORDINATION, REPRESENTATION AND NETWORKING
● Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with coalitions, organizations and research institutions in the climate change adaptation space to help advance access to finance and locally-led adaptation more broadly.
● Represent Mercy Corps and the Alliance in a range of relevant networks and forums, including Climate Action Network and others dependent on location.
Supervisory Responsibility
None
Accountability
Reports Directly To: ZFRA Head
Works Directly With: Mercy Corps ZFRA country teams
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.
Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills
● Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. Specialisation in a field related to policy making, humanitarian response, development finance, disaster risk reduction, flooding, or climate change preferred.
● 3+ years of experience providing coordination or management support to program implementation in a relevant field of expertise that includes:
○ Managing budgets and project work plans
○ Writing donor reports
○ Preparing writing and analysis on proposal development and project reports.
○ Representing programs with donors and external stakeholders
● Experience producing communications material
● 2+ years experience with lobbying and advocacy at a global or national level either with government or the private sector.
● Willingness and ability to travel frequently to MC project sites and field locations, including travelling to insecure environments, is required.
● Fluency in English is required. Spanish would be an advantage.
● Full proficiency with MS Office software (including Excel and PowerPoint and GoogleDocs).
Success Factors
● Ability to manage and deliver complex projects involving multiple partners to deadline, and a real knack for coordinating and mobilising partners with a range of expertise and areas of interest.
● A strong eye for detail.
● Demonstrable research skills.
● Able to build and maintain effective internal and external relationships. Strong team worker. ·
● Able to cope with changing priorities, often at short notice, and work well under pressure.
● Proactive and solutions-based attitude.
● High levels of motivation, professionalism and resilience.
● Skilled in anticipating and solving problems and communicating issues, involving others as needed.
● An exposure to and interest in international development and resilience issues is important, along with empathy for Mercy Corps’ mission.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Europe and will require some national and international travel.
*The post is tied to a grant from The Zurich Foundation.
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 elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
