Team Leader (Programme Director)

Team Leader (Programme Director) – RAIN

Mercy Corps is a leading global organisation powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we collaborate to put bold solutions into action, helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Enhancing resilience is at the heart of what Mercy Corps does and how we work. Resilience means that people and systems can protect and improve wellbeing in the face of shocks and stresses. Mercy Corps strengthens sources of resilience to enhance the capacities of people, markets, and institutions to handle shocks, reduce risk, build more equitable and responsive systems, and improve well-being. Through our programs, partnerships, and influence, we support communities to cope, adapt, and ultimately thrive.

In Nepal, Mercy Corps began working in 2005 and has since implemented projects in agriculture, food security and nutrition, financial services, youth engagement, and disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptations. To date, Mercy Corps Nepal’s programming has reached over 900,000 people in 23 districts working to reach some of the most vulnerable and remote individuals.

About the Programme

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) proposes to launch a bid to deliver a key component of its Resilience, Adaptation and Inclusion in Nepal (RAIN) programme. The overall aim of the RAIN programme is to strengthen the Government of Nepal climate change adaptation/mitigation and disaster risk management efforts and to help make social protection systems more shock responsive. This will reduce losses and damages and build the resilience of the most vulnerable communities at risk of natural (climate – induced and earthquake) hazards. A key part of the RAIN programme – Early/ Anticipatory Action will ‘Build resilience of communities to shocks at the provincial/local level by trialling forecast based early action models (focus on multi hazards). Explore feasibility of risk transfer/insurance mechanisms. Establish/strengthen early warning systems. Support information management, humanitarian coordination and improve capacity of provincial and local emergency centres. Emphasis on inclusion (including helping stateless access systems) and climate adaptation lens (nature based solutions)’.

The overall RAIN programme will (i) include technical assistance at three tiers of government to inform development and implementation of relevant policy, planning and budgeting processes, (ii) help unlock additional climate finance and (iii) support early action and adaptation efforts. This will reduce losses and damages and build the resilience of vulnerable communities at risk of hazards. An emphasis on inclusion and evidence underpins the programme.

General Position Summary
The Team Leader will be based in Kathmandu, Nepal, responsible for FCDO’s Early/Anticipatory Action component under the overall RAIN programme, which is expected to run from 2024.
The Team Leader (Programme Director) will provide overall technical leadership, management, and direction for the Early /Anticipatory Action programme. The Team Leader is responsible for the management and successful delivery of all outputs under the Early/Anticipatory Action component as per the contract with the FCDO.They will provide technical leadership to the programme, representation of the programme within government ministries and partners and manage the programme design and delivery team.

The Team Leader will lead a consortium of partners to ensure the overall technical quality, including designing and implementing a strategy to ensure the programme addresses the underlying drivers and norms surrounding disaster risk management with an overall inclusion lens, advising on best practices, designing assessments and tools, and coordinating with partners and other stakeholders such as government, private sector, NGOs and CBOs, and community members.

The Team Leader shall be the donor’s principal point of contact in Nepal for procedural and substantive matters, including technical matters. The Team Leader shall coordinate and ultimately be responsible for all Agreement management and implementation. The Team Leader will be expected to identify issues and risks related to activity implementation in a timely manner, and suggest appropriate adjustments. The Team Leader will be responsible for incorporating protection principles and working with the team to ensure activities are designed and implemented with a do-no-harm approach, taking into account the sensitivities and risks surrounding climate change disaster risk management and social protection services and will also support integration and innovations around anticipatory action within the climate change adaptation and disaster risk management sector.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION:

• Lead the development of a vision and strategy for the programme shared with the programme team and key stakeholders;
• Recognise opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed;
• Set direction by prioritising and organising actions and resources to achieve objectives;
• Oversee the development of annual, integrated strategic work-plans for the programme;
• Foster a culture of collaborating, learning, and adapting for program effectiveness throughout the programme lifecycle;

.PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT:

• Oversee programme startup, management, and administration. Provide technical guidance, oversight and quality assurance for all programme activities, outputs and deliverables;
• Assume overall responsibility for the effective implementation of work plans and ensures delivery is on time, within budget, meets client and stakeholder expectations and is contractually compliant;
• Lead overall programme implementation; setting up team structures, office structure, Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanisms (CARM), safeguarding, and MEL systems;
• Monitor implementation progress, maintains up to date logs of issues and risks, works to resolve issues, manages and mitigates risks, and escalates material issues and risks as appropriate;
• Develops and implements plans for results measurement, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, value for money analysis and communication.
• Lead the socialisation of the programme with Government of Nepal stakeholders, ensuring necessary approvals and collaboration as required;
• Provide technical assistance and solutions for strategic planning and how to best apply and adapt programme design and implementation standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools, and M&E in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation ensuring high quality implementation.
• Ensure that programme implementation is responsive to communities and partners and is consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant programme guidelines, principles, values, quality standards, and strategic plan.
• Confirm programme participants are targeted effectively according to transparent criteria.
• Develop partnership frameworks, partner agreements/Memorandum of Understandings, and oversee partner capacity strengthening.
• Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity, safeguarding and capacity building into all activities as appropriate. Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and programme participant accountability standards.
• Ensure programme strategies and activities represent global good practice in DRR, gender equality, and social inclusion.
• Supervise and/or review the work of programme consultants.
• Supervise procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.
• Fulfil Mercy Corps’ Programme Management Minimum Standards based on the organisation-wide guide.
• Produce written reports on programme activities, capturing the impacts of activities.
• Oversee efforts to design effective M&E systems for the programme, and linkages with internal M&E systems.
• Create and follow effective stakeholder management plans, ensuring sound and proactive communications with Mercy Corps Nepal, partner organisations, Mercy Corps headquarters, the donor, Government authorities and colleague agencies.
• Conduct frequent field visits to all programme sites – spend up to 30-40% of time in the field.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
• Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
• Supervise and manage all programme staff to ensure day-to-day activities are implemented in a coordinated fashion according to schedule, budget and quality.
• Supervise and manage all programme partnerships to ensure sound coordination in the context of an overall programme strategic and resilience-building framework.
• Manage and help with the recruitment, orientation, professional development and ongoing training of staff to ensure they are of the quality and technical capacity necessary to ensure the successful implementation of activities.
• Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
• Assist team members with information, tools, and resources to improve performance and reach objectives.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

• In collaboration with the country programme’s operations and finance departments, ensure proper financial management, procurement, administration, human resources and logistics (including transport, warehousing, and asset management) needs of the programme are conducted within Mercy Corps’ policy and with the maximum benefit to the programme.
• Monitor adherence to grant agreement, Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures and relevant external rules and regulations, including those of the government of Nepal.
• Create and maintain systems to ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with programme, donor, and Mercy Corps’ needs.

REPRESENTATION

• Liaise with and represent the programme to the donor and other cooperating sponsors and stakeholders.
• Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events in the field, in close coordination with the Country Director.
• Ensure close coordination and information sharing with consortium partners, sub-grantees, local government and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programmes.
• Establish and maintain relationships with communities and local government.

SECURITY

• Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.
• Ensure that programmes are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of 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.

Supervisory Responsibility
Expected to supervise several direct reports. The number of direct and indirect reports will be determined at a later stage.

Accountability
Reports Directly To: Mercy Corps Nepal Director of Programmes
Works Directly With: Director of Finance and Administration, MEL, Country Director, Finance, and Operations teams. Coordinates with HQ and Regional Programme Performance team and the Technical Support Unit.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our programme 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.

Knowledge and Experience

• Master’s Degree in Climate Change related studies, including Environmental Engineering, Meteorology/Climate Risk Management, Natural Resource Management (NRM), Sustainable Development, Agroecology, or related field. PhD a plus.
• Minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in the successful implementation of international development activities, with a specific focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction, social protections, systems strengthening and/or public sector governance
• Experience working on FCDO programmes
• Strong technical knowledge and experience in disaster management, risk reduction, and emergency response. Experience in designing and implementing training programmes, conducting assessments, and developing training materials
• Professional experience in Southern Asia preferred, especially Nepal, with an in-depth understanding of gender, age, caste, and other locally significant socio-cultural factors and preferably in the context of adaptive social protection programming.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders, including government officials, Community-Based Organizations, NGO partners, and local communities;
• Proven experience navigating complex and high-pressure operating environments.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and sustain interpersonal and professional relationships with different donors, civil society organisations and host country government counterparts.
• Conflict analysis and Do No Harm analysis experience required.
• Previous experience living and working in challenging or insecure environments.
• Fluency in spoken and written English required.

Success Factors
A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures, and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritise, take initiative, be accountable for results, understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details, problem solve, work within a complex and sensitive setting, and to follow laws and security protocols. The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments, and prioritise effective written and verbal communication in all situations.He/she will also see the programme as part of wider Mercy Corps Nepal and Mercy Corps global programmes, and be excited to engage at a country office and organisational level.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
This position is based in Kathmandu, Nepal, with significant travel required to programme locations across the country.

Ongoing Learning
In support of our belief that learning organisations 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 organisation 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, colour, 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, programme 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.