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.

Since 2010, Mercy Corps has been working in Yemen to provide urgent life-saving assistance while also addressing longer-term needs. Our programmes help people in Yemen to access food, clean water and work opportunities so that they can be more resilient in the face of future challenges.

About the Programme

Mercy Corps Yemen plans to scale up its FCDO-funded Fresh Horizons pilot project, which applies and tests an inclusive, climate-resilient Market Systems Development (MSD) approach within the fisheries sector in Yemen’s Aden Governorate. The pilot project is using an MSD approach to work with local market actors and sustainably increase income and food security for fishing households and communities. The next phase of Fresh Horizons will build on the pilot project’s successes with a multi-year scale up of up to three years. This scale up is expected to help fisherman capture greater value and strengthen the market enabling environment.

General Position Summary

The Programme Manager will provide overall leadership, management, and strategic direction to the programme in Yemen. The Programme Manager will be responsible for the successful delivery of all outputs under the programme, managing the programme design and delivery team and representing the programme with FCDO, government ministries and partners. They will ensure an integrated vision among different programme components with a focus on achieving the results. The Programme Manager will coordinate and ultimately be responsible for all Agreement management and implementation. They will be expected to identify issues and risks related to programme implementation in a timely manner, and suggest appropriate adjustments.

The Programme Manager will steer the programme’s MSD approach, providing technical direction for programme staff, partners, grantees, and stakeholders. The Programme Manager will lead the programme team and process for identifying strategic areas of focus, setting a vision for sustainable systems change, designing and implementing interventions and monitoring results.

The programme is expected to start during spring 2025, pending program approval and donor negotiations, and the successful candidate would be expected to start as soon as possible.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION:

● Lead the development of a vision and strategy for the programme shared with programme staff, partners, and 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 programme effectiveness throughout the programme lifecycle;

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT:

● Oversee programme startup, management, and administration. Provide strategic guidance, oversight and quality assurance for all programme activities, outputs and deliverables;

● Assume overall responsibility for the effective implementation of work plans and ensure delivery is on time, within budget, meets donor and stakeholder expectations and is contractually compliant;

● Monitor implementation progress, maintain up to date logs of issues and risks, work to resolve issues, manage and mitigate risks, and escalate material issues and risks as appropriate;

● 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.

● Ensure programme strategies and activities represent global good practice in market systems development, climate-resilient livelihoods, gender equality, and social inclusion.

● Fulfil Mercy Corps’ Programme Management Minimum Standards based on the organisation-wide guide.

● Oversee efforts to design effective M&E and learning systems for the programme, and linkages with internal M&E systems.

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.

REPRESENTATION

● Resonsible for the overall representation of the programme towards peer organisations, FCDO, Government representatives and other stakeholders.

● Represent Mercy Corps at government, donor, NGO and other relevant events in the field, in close coordination with the Country Director and Director of Programs.

● Ensure close coordination and information sharing with programme partners, sub-grantees, key stakeholders and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programmes.

● Engage with relevant coordination bodies in Yemen.

● Coordinate with MC and partner communications and advocacy teams to promote programme successes through various forms of media in line with internal and donor priorities and regulations.

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP

• Ensure design and implementation of MSD programming aligns with MSD principles and standards, while also integrating technical resources and drawing on technical experts from other areas, such energy and food security.
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration and human resources teams to ensure operational systems enable the programme team to implement MSD effectively. Work closely with country team leadership to strengthen operational systems to support MSD implementation.
• Work with Mercy Corps’ MEL experts to develop and implement a MEL Plan with clear designation of roles and responsibilities between the MSD interventions and MEL teams.
• Ensure that robust monitoring and evaluation, quality data collection and analysis systems are in place, adhered to and used as a decision-making tool, in coordination with the MEL team.
• As relevant, collaborate with the Technical Resources and Quality team to provide feedback and share lessons to improve Mercy Corps’ MSD programme design and implementation.

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.

● Operationalize and maintain an incident management system for the consortium in compliance with organizational and donor requirements.

COMPLIANCE, FINANCE, AND RISK MANAGEMENT

● Provide overall leadership to risk management of the programme, including maintaining programme risk registers, monitoring the contextual dynamics which may impact award performance, and leading the team to address programmematic adjustments required in light of contextual changes.

● In collaboration with the country team’s operations and finance departments, ensure programme financial management, procurement, administration, human resources and logistics (including transport, warehousing, and asset management) 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 internal external rules and regulations.

● Work closely with Mercy Corps’ country team leadership to address and mitigate potential administrative and bureaucratic impediments to successful programme implementation.

Supervisory Responsibility

Oversees the programme team, including several direct reports. The exact number of direct and indirect reports will be determined during donor negotiations or the startup phase.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Mercy Corps Yemen Director of Programmes

Works Directly With: Mercy Corps Yemen SMT, MEL, Finance and Operations teams. Coordinates with HQ and Regional Programmes team and the Technical Resources and Quality 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 a relevant field such as business administration, international relations, development studies, etc. However, a Bachelor’s degree and five (5) additional years of relevant international development experience can be substituted for the Master’s degree.

● Minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in the successful implementation of international development activities, with preference given to MSD, livelihoods, and resilience programming – at least three (3) years of which must be in programme management.

● Demonstrated experience advising or managing MSD programmes, including experience navigating NGO procurement and administration systems.

● Experience working on FCDO programmes is strongly preferred. If not with FCDO, experience with major institutional donors is required.

● Experience in building the capacity of staff and partner organisations.

● Professional experience in fragile contexts is required, with experience in Yemen preferred, and with an in-depth understanding of gender, age, and other locally significant socio-cultural factors.

● Excellent oral and written communication skills. Demonstrated ability to think strategically and communicate a vision to partners and colleagues.

● Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders, including government officials, NGO partners, and local communities;

● Proven experience navigating complex and high-pressure operating environments.

● Conflict analysis and Do No Harm analysis experience required.

● Fluency in spoken and written English required. Knowledge of Arabic is advantageous.

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 Yemen 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 Aden, Yemen, with travel required to potential 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.