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 / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has worked across Iraq’s 18 governorates since 2003, implementing relief and development programming, more than a third of which has focused on the specific needs of refugees and displaced persons. Mercy Corps Iraq current goal is to work with new and existing civil society, public and private sector partners to meet immediate and long-term needs by strengthening communities’ ability to rebuild amidst increasing crisis. Mercy Corps Iraq focuses on (1) a relief-to-resilience pathway to meet the needs of conflict-affected communities leveraging agency expertise in conflict management and civil society development (2) a humanitarian response that empowers conflict-affected populations to meet their own needs (3) partnering with conflict-affected adolescents to address their diverse needs, promoting leadership and linkages with civil society, as well as access to education, psychosocial support, and economic opportunities; and (4) promoting reconciliation and foster trust across community divisions by strengthening conflict management and prevention mechanisms and enhancing social cohesion.

Mercy Corps Iraq will implement an agriculture program that aims to improve the business environment, and improve access to financial services as well as reactivate the agriculture value chains in the area of Hamdaniya in Ninawa governorate. The agricultural sector in Nineveh has been largely disorganized by the conflict: structuring public infrastructures such as irrigated perimeters, slaughterhouses, markets etc. have been either damaged and/or plundered, as were private equipment and assets (orchards, poultry houses, feed production units…). Although rehabilitation and recovery costs may be modest, access to financial resources is a challenge both for the government, due to a comparatively low priority on agriculture in reconstruction efforts, and for farmers, whose capital has been depleted. The same can be said for all micro and small enterprises that are part of the economic fabric of rural areas and therefore contribute to the overall rural development of the governorate.

Efforts toward agricultural and rural economy recovery must therefore target the rehabilitation of both the public and the private (at micro and small enterprise levels) infrastructure through an integrated approach, while also taking into account the social and cultural complexity of Nineveh. In response, three main objectives have been identified in support of rehabilitating, reconstructing and supporting the overall economic recovery of Nineveh district:

• Facilitate access to finance for agricultural and other MSMEs in rural areas and smaller urban areas of Nineveh Governorate (Mosul city excluded), so that they can re-start their activities.
• Contribute to the rehabilitation, on demined areas, of irrigated perimeters and other collective public infrastructures that have a structuring impact on the agricultural value chains.
• Strengthen social cohesion, through the increase of intra and intercommunity economic interactions and, if relevant, through dedicated activities.

General Position Summary

Under the supervision of the Senior Program Officer-Agriculture Market Development (PO-AMD) / Agribusiness Manager, the Program Officer-Agriculture Market Development is a technical position with responsibilities including implementing all aspects of the agriculture market systems development. S/he will be required to apply a wide variety of market systems development tools and approaches in order to catalyze innovative services and facilitate linkages between market actors in the assigned program areas. The PO-AMD will identify and lead the implementation of innovative agricultural market development intervention in partnership with the private and public sector actors in the Ninawa Agriculture Market.  

Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategy & Vision

• Gather and analyze relevant market information for the purpose of accurate and confident decision-makingin determining program strategy and selection of potential partners.
• Participate in assessments in the target geographic areas to assess current situation, economic opportunities and resources, needs and potential programs as well as challenges.
• Identify value-addition opportunities that strengthen economic opportunities, especially for young women, in the agriculture sectors as identified by local and national government as well as independent market studies and needs assessments.
• Support in setting direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to countrywide strategy development.

 Program Management

• Map and identify market players/actors in relevant to the performance of the agriculture economic in Ninawa, maintain an up-to date database of contacts of those actors.
• Explore and develop sources of partnership by matching the constraints to the capacities of farmers and Ninawa agriculture market actors.
• Act as a supportive and active contributor to the work in Private Sector Partnerships during partnership initiation, delivery of services and Programs closure.
• Lead communication and negotiation with the potential partners, this will require preparing presentations, evidences and showing demand and supply models that would attract the private sector actors.
• Lead the partnership processes with strict adherence to the PERMA private sector engagement toolkits.
• With support from the Senior Program Officer-AMD and in coordination with the MSD Advisor and MSMES and financial inclusion advisor, you will lead planning, implementation and monitoring of the market development activities or specific interventions.
• Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to established program participants’ selection criteria for a specific intervention or intervention area.
• Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
• Work closely with supervisor to capture data for measuring output and impact of the program; and to ensure accurate and timely flow of information from the field.
• Prepare and submit timely weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports that will be indicative of program progress during implementation. Respond to queries if and when necessary.
• Maintain proper filing system.

Team Management

• Support the Community Facilitators (CF) and other team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to MSD and partnership engagement.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.

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 toward 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 interventions/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.

Supervisory Responsibility: Support the Community Facilitators (CF) in the implementation and delivery of the assigned tasks.

Reports Directly to: Senior Program Officer-Agriculture Market Development.

Works Directly with: Program Officers-Agriculture Market Development, Program Officers-Financial Inclusion, MEL Officer, Grants and Compliance Teams, Program Administration Officer, and all the support departments.

Ethics and Integrity: All Mercy Corps staff members are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree in business, agribusiness, economics, development studies, or other relevant field is preferred.
• Good understanding of business and knowledge of private sector, with a minimum of 2 years’ practical experience in the private sector or related industry.

• Effective verbal and written communication skills in both English and Arabic are required.

• Demonstrated experience and abilities to build capacity of fellow staff and partners, negotiation, and monitoring are preferable.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members is required.
• A dynamic, “outside-the-box” attitude is required, with proven ability to think and act creatively in challenging environments.
• Strong computer literacy with a full knowledge of office applications.
• Good negotiation skills and high tolerance for uncertainty
• Willingness to spend much time in the field and work closely with program target groups.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will be one with a coherent sense of strategy-to prioritize and guide activities, context sensitive and open to criticism and constantly step back from details to look for bigger picture. He or she is persistent; able to deal with rejection/failure (trial and error) and motivated and enthusiastic.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCES: 

Successful candidates should meet the education and experience requirements in the position descriptions for the vacant positions. S/he must be self- motivated, creative, tolerant, and able to work in difficult, stressful environments and follow Mercy Corps procedures. S/he must respect diversity and gender equality at the workplace.

Interested candidates should submit their CVs to the email address mcerbilhr@gmail.com before the deadline indicated below. 

Please indicate on the subject of the email the title of the position you are applying for. For full position description for the noted posts please visit websites NGO jobs. 

ALL APPLICATIONS/ CVs SHOULD BE RECEIVED BY April 14, 2021 at 16:00. 

Mercy Corps will review CV’s and applications on a rolling basis (i.e., as applications are submitted). 

Potential candidates for the post will be contacted for an interview and processed according to Mercy Corps Human Resources policies and procedures. As soon as qualified candidates are identified the positions will be closed automatically. Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for potential interview. Any documents submitted will remain with Mercy Corps and will not be returned to candidates.

Applicants are to submit their CV (no more than three pages) and a cover letter (no more than one page) as one file (word or PDF). The name of the file must be the applicant's name in Latin (not Arabic) script.

Female Candidates are encouraged to apply for the position of program officer. Mercy Corps is an equal Opportunity employer. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global Impact.

Mercy Corps Iraq offers a variety of arrangements that enable women to excel in their careers. Mercy Corps Iraq ensures a safe and inclusive working environment for women and men through field security training and measures to provide secure working arrangements on-site and in the office.