Emergency Preparedness & Response Manager

Emergency Preparedness & Response Manager

Description

Position is contingent on new funding

National candidates are strongly encouraged to apply

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 collaborate to put bold solutions into action, helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
To create a better world, 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.

Program / Department Summary

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 programs, partnerships, and influence, we support communities to cope, adapt, and thrive.
Mercy Corps began working in Nepal 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. 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.
Mercy Corps is seeking a qualified Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager (EPRM) as Key Personnel for the anticipated $12 million, five-year, USAID/BHA-funded Early Recovery, Risk Reduction, and Resilience (ER4) Activity in Nepal. The Activity is expected to reduce disaster risk and increase the disaster management capacity of the GoN as well as support highly vulnerable disaster-prone communities in Nepal to mitigate, withstand, respond to, and recover from disasters. The program is anticipated to begin approximately October 2025. Hiring is contingent upon successful award and USAID approval of the candidate.

General Position Summary

The Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager (EPRM) will be responsible for providing leadership and vision for strategic decisions to leverage resources from other USG and non-USG programs in Nepal to enhance local-level preparedness and resilience to recurrent disasters. They will provide leadership in technical multi-sectoral analysis and response design, if disaster strikes during the life of this award. The EPRM represents humanitarian coordination groups and provides advisory support to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority for coordinated and effective response in the targeted province(s). The EPRM will oversee the technical direction and implementation of activities related to community level disaster planning, risk reduction, response, and early recovery efforts, working closely with counterparts in the GoN and local organizations.

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY, PLANNING, & PROGRAM Management

• Works closely with COP to develop the strategy for community-level disaster planning and response/early recovery should disaster strike.
• Leads the implementation of the technical strategy for disaster planning and response, ensuring it is appropriate to meet Activity objectives, quality standards, and adapts with learning and contextual changes.
• Integrate cross-cutting approaches including locally driven, shock-responsive, climate adaptive, social and gender inclusive, youth empowerment, and nutrition sensitive approaches into the design of preparedness and response activities.
• With the support of the M&E team, implement a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of multi-sector disaster preparedness and response initiatives to inform future planning; conduct periodic assessments of disaster risks and update strategy based on changing environmental conditions.
• Identify opportunities to integrate technology, such as mobile applications for alerts or the utilization of GIS mapping for vulnerability assessments and preparedness.
• Ensure interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, program participant accountability standards, and program management minimum standards.

Team Management

• Recruit, onboard, and supervise the Activity’s technical staff under the disaster preparedness and response component.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect that embraces all voices into shared strategies and foster an inclusive culture of curiosity, collaboration, learning, and adaptation.
• Provide team members with information, tools, and resources to improve performance, enhance technical and partnership management skills, and reach objectives.
• Promote staff accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews.

Coordination & Representation

• Represent Mercy Corps and Activity in humanitarian coordination groups and relevant working groups.
• Provides advisory support to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority for coordinated and effective response in the targeted province(s).
  Foster partnerships and collaborative engagement between government, NGOs, civil society, and private sectors for a coordinated approach to disaster risk reduction, planning, and management.
• Actively contribute to and collaborate with country, regional, and global counterparts to drive collective impact, share learning, and contribute to program visibility.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE

• Monitor partner activities to ensure adherence to grant agreements, Mercy Corps’ policies and procedures, and other relevant regulations, including those of USAID and the GoN.
• Support systems to ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with program, donor, and Mercy Corps’ needs.

Supervisory Responsibility

Anticipated to supervise direct reports on the Activity program team, with the exact number of direct and indirect reports to be determined at a later stage.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Activity Chief of Party
Works Directly With: Activity team, Mercy Corps Nepal program and support teams, partner organizations, Regional Program Team, Mercy Corps’ Regional and Global Technical Resources and Quality (TRaQ) Team

Knowledge and Experience / Qualification and Transferable Skills

• Master’s degree in a discipline pertinent to disaster risk management, humanitarian assistance, resilience, natural sciences, or a closely related field is required. BA/S plus two (2) years of additional applicable experience in the humanitarian sector managing multi-sectoral response may substitute for a master’s degree
• Demonstrated strong understanding of Nepal’s national disaster risk governance structure as well as the global humanitarian architecture.
• Demonstrated experience influencing broader humanitarian and disaster risk management actors for collective action and effective disaster management, prior to, and after disasters.
• Proven leadership and experience implementing and providing technical assistance (as Program Manager, Technical Lead, etc.) to Activities focused on or more of the following program areas: disaster risk management, humanitarian response, resilience, or climate adaptation.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating with local CSOs and working with government ministries/entities.
• Experience with and commitment to adaptive management and collaborative, learn, adapt (CLA) processes.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, and a proven ability to network and maintain effective working relationships with diverse actors.
• Previous experience in the Nepal or similar context highly preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and fluency in English. Proficiency in Nepali and/or other languages spoken in western Nepal preferred.

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. They will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritize, take initiative, be accountable for results, and understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details. The EPRM will be comfortable working within a complex and sensitive setting and following laws and security protocols. The EPRM will have a good handle on adaptive management, integration and coordination, stakeholder engagement, capacity strengthening, community-level governance and planning, facilitation, and conflict-sensitive approaches. The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving environments, and prioritize effective written and verbal communication in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is based in Kathmandu, Nepal, with significant travel required to program locations across the country.
Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside 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.

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 projects.
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 and have signed on to the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme — SCHR. 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 must complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and annually.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).