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.

Resilience building is an agency priority and involves using a systems-based approach that builds on proven solutions, accesses new ideas and information, and integrates multiple sectors and partnerships to strengthen food and water security, economic opportunities, and climate change adaptation. Southern Africa continues to experience recurrent environmental and economic shocks that affect the wellbeing of its communities and undermine development investments. Mercy Corps will continue to contribute to the wellbeing of communities by building household’ capacities and strengthening systems and institutions.

The Program / Department / Team

As part of its’ strategy in Zambia, the Embassy of Sweden is exploring Programme ideas that can contribute to achieving the strategy result: “Increased productivity and competitiveness of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector,”. This initiative aims to boost enterprise development and employment creation for the rural poor including, women, and youth.

The anticipated five-year Market System Development (MSD) programme, includes a 12-month inception phase. The inception phase shall include a comprehensive sub-sector selection analysis, in-depth Market System Analysis (MSA), thorough environmental analysis and gender analysis.

The Position

The Deputy Team Lead (DTL) will provide technical and operational management of the anticipated MSD programme, to ensure the programme meets its targets and deliverables on-time and within budget. The DTL, working closely with the Team Lead (TL), will contribute to overall leadership, management and strategic vision of the programme with a particular focus on policy and stakeholder engagements. The DTL will be designated Acting Team Lead in the Team Leader’s absence, and represent the programme to donors, relevant government ministries and departments, partners, other implementers and stakeholders.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION

● Support the TL in the development of vision and strategy for the programme

● Drive stakeholder engagements and policy analysis in support of enabling environment reforms

● Play an active role to identify and develop new programme adaptations that foster and/or improve strategic objectives of the programme.

● Pull in requisite technical and contextual expertise to ensure realistic strategy

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT

● Oversee the technical and operational management of the programme activities across target sectors and geographic regions. Owning the technical approach and accompanying work plan to ensure effective implementation – including scaling/adaptation

● Work with the TL to oversee inception, programme start-up, management and administration. With the TL, ensure programme implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective MEL systems to manage adaptively and reach desired impacts.

● Ensure that programme implementation is responsive to communities, partners, and changing contexts, and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant programme guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.

● Ensure programme activities support changes in local market systems that provide significant to benefit target populations.

● Integrate rights-based approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate. Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and accountability standards.

● Ensure programme strategies and activities represent global good practice for Market Systems Development (MSD)

TEAM MANAGEMENT

●Oversee the programme’s team and collaboration with partners

● Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.

● Alongside the Team Leader, provide mentorship on Market Systems Development, support team capacity strengthening, and build a culture of collaboration and learning across program staff and partners.

● Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.

● Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.

● Hire, orient and lead team members as necessary.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

● Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps’ regulations.

● 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.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

● Ensure effective stakeholder engagement on enabling environment policies and reforms

● In coordination with the TL, represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events

● As deputised by the TL, coordinate activities with partners, local government and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programmes.

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.

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING

● As part of our commitment to organisational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organisations 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 field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility

Sector Leads, Geographic Area Coordinators

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Team Lead

Works Directly With: Programme Team including Knowledge Mangement, MEL and all finance and compliance; Country Director, Regional and Global support teams

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.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

● MA/S or equivalent experience in Market Systems Development (MSD)business, agriculture, economics or other relevant fields

● A minimum 7 years relevant development experience, including at least 5 years demonstrated experience working with government stakeholders on policy reforms

● At least 5 years in team management roles with demonstrated ability to build and foster an adaptive team culture and a record of accomplishment in inspiring teams.

● Experience working on programs using an MSD approach strongly preferred

● Keen interest in adaptive evidence-driven programming, ability to foster learning and reflection and proven experience overseeing programmatic shifts/adaptations.

● Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with partners including the private sector, host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, and local organisations.

● Experience with SIDA rules, regulations and requirements is strongly preferred.

● Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members and other stakeholders of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. Multi-tasking, prioritising, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

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 and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. 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.