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. We help people overcome poverty and conflict. Working with communities, we leverage local logic to help people transform their lives. To grow more food, earn higher incomes and ultimately advocate for their needs. We see global challenges as an invitation to pioneer innovative, sustainable solutions. Mercy Corps has been present in Ethiopia since 2004, and acts on behalf of people who have become disenfranchised and poor. We stand with Ethiopia to find and access opportunities, and to be part of lasting and meaningful transformation in the country. Mercy Corps seeks to be influential with government and development actors towards a more resilient country where poverty is tackled through the eyes of those who understand it best. Mercy Corps Ethiopia also collaborates with Mercy Corps teams and partners in neighboring countries to implement a number of multi-country and cross-border programs. Mercy Corps Ethiopia invites motivated and qualified candidates to apply for the following vacant position.

Position Title:  LIVESTOCK MARKET ASSESSMENT SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER

Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Open Position:  One

Duration:  August 2020

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has been a leader in the livestock sector in the Horn of Africa for almost two decades, working closely with government, local civil society and private sector actors in the drylands of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia to strengthen inclusive and resilient livestock systems. Since 2004, Mercy Corps has partnered with over 500,000 livestock-keeping families in East Africa’s drylands through a robust portfolio of programs and research. Mercy Corps was recently awarded funding to develop an in-depth regional strategy to support the development of livestock market systems within the Horn of Africa, particularly in cross-border areas of Somalia, Ethiopia’s Somali Region, and the Somali-speaking counties of Kenya. Building on Mercy Corps’ deep footprint across the three countries, this regional, multi-sectoral livestock strategy will identify challenges and opportunities to strengthen cross-border linkages, trade and connections to end markets within the livestock sector, and opportunities to strengthen the role that livestock plays in household resilience to economic and environmental shocks. The overall objective of the strategy will be to identify concrete opportunities to build on and link Mercy Corps’ existing body of work within the livestock sector across the three countries to increase impact, strengthen regional integration and enhance linkages across livestock markets in the Horn of Africa. To do this, we will use a systems approach that looks to understand social, demographic, ecological, political and market systems and the role that each plays in building resilient and productive market systems that deliver economic opportunities for smallholder herders, with a particular focus on women and youth.

General Position Summary

The Livestock Market Assessment Senior Program Officer will support with mapping the market system structure, actors, and their linkages in order to provide insight into the incentives, constraints, and opportunities that restrict or enable market systems to serve vulnerable households and individuals, in particular youth. S/he is responsible to carry out data collection, consultations, and stakeholder mapping exercises especially in the components related to market systems, gender and resilience components of the program. The Livestock Market Assessment Officer will support in the development of the livestock systems strategy, working collaboratively alongside colleagues from Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia to identify opportunities to strengthen regional market linkages and the systems underlying vibrant and resilience livestock market systems.

Essential Job Responsibilities

ASSESSMENTS AND DATA COLLECTION

·         Carry out assessments in the target geographic areas to understand livestock market dynamics, actors, obstacles, opportunities, and linkages to promote productive growth and integration of regional livestock market systems.

·         Liaise with policy-makers and government representatives to understand policy constraints to cross-border livestock trade and movement.

·         Support with analysis of the markets and market systems relevant to the program interventions, including documenting and analyzing observations and results as well as drawing relevant conclusions to inform future intervention strategies.

·         Support with a gender assessment to identify non-market factors that either inhibit or enable the participation of women and men in market systems.

·         Identify small business activities and value-addition opportunities that strengthen economic opportunities, especially for rural youth, in the identified sectors as informed by assessments.

·         Undertake a stakeholder mapping exercise to identify key private, public and civil society actors in the livestock sector, their role, and opportunities to strengthen their engagement in productive and inclusive livestock systems.

·         Participate in the risk analysis to assess how environment, conflict and economic risks affect the supporting functions, rules, and norms within each market system and their effects on young women and men.

·         Introduce the program to relevant stakeholders including local business owners, financial service providers, local government offices concerned with economic growth and services, and actors to foster positive cooperation and forge links for the youth between market actors, producers, end users.

·         Collaborate with Mercy Corps staff members from across other relevant programmes and across the three countries to understand key activities, achievements, opportunities and challenges and build on these experiences to inform strategy development.

MONITORING AND RESULTS MEASUREMENT (MRM)

·         Gather and document information to generate learning and documentation

·         Analyze project implementation strategies to identify constraints to program success and provide timely recommendations;

·         Submit timely reports as requested by the program leadership.

COLLABORATION AND NETWORKING

·         Support with the establishment of productive partnerships with relevant market actors and proactively contribute to managing productive relationships to inform strategy design.

·         Coordinate with counterpart agencies and organizations involved in market system development and resilience initiatives for information exchange, learning and optimizing efforts and resources.

·         Work within local government strategic plans for resource management and advocate for cohesive implementation of projects that demonstrate government responsiveness to community processes.

·         Maintain productive working relationships with sub-county and county leaders and local government departments as directed by the line manager.

·         Identify opportunities for social innovation and enterprise that could be launched through catalytic investments from public and private sector initiatives.

·         Support events, exhibits, workshops that bring private and public sector entities together to collectively review and discuss program strategies and recommendations.

PROGRAM SUPPORT OPERATIONS

·         Ensure close communication with operational support structures to ensure efficient support for the assessment and strategy process.

·         Coordinate with program, finance, and administration staff for troubleshooting and problem solving.

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 PARTNERS

●        Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically
to our partners and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging participant communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

●        BA/S or equivalent.

●        3-4 years experience in one or more of these sectors: livestock, micro/small business development, trade.

●        Experience in youth and/or gender programming and advantage

●        Experience in livelihoods and resilience programming especially through application of market-based approaches.

●        Strong writing and report development skills.

●        Prior experience in developing partnerships with both private and public actors as part of program implementation in achieving project goals.

●        Excellent teamwork abilities and interpersonal skills.

●        Excellent written and spoken English skills are required. Fluency in Somali is required for this role.

Success Factors

A successful Livestock Market Assessment Senior Program Officer will have the capacity to undertake multisectoral research, build and manage relationships with different stakeholders, and lead collaborative design processes. S/he takes initiative for coordinating and planning tasks and work plans and is equally comfortable and capable of working independently and as part of a team. The Livestock Market Assessment Officer will have the ability to easily forge and maintain professional relationships with team members, communities and partners.  S/he is deeply curious, with an appetite for learning and takes responsibility for keeping him/herself up-to-date on research and promising practices, and for engaging with key networks in the resilience field.