Project manager of the Innovation and Inclusion Fund in Mercy Corps

Будь ласка, надсилайте свої резюме: Innovation and Inclusion Fund Project Manager in Kyiv | Mercy Corps Ukraine

About Mercy Corps

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 a long-term impact.
Ukraine has been at war since February 2022, and civilians continue suffering from air attacks on infrastructure, challenging economic situations, and their personal challenges as leaving everything behind and moving to safer places. Thus, the strategy of Mercy Corps Ukraine focuses on economic opportunities
for war-affected Ukrainians and establishing peace and good governance. Mercy Corps supports conflict-affected populations with swift and sustained humanitarian assistance and community-driven investments that strengthen local partnerships, promote economic resilience and
innovation, and build a more just and inclusive society.

The Program Summary 

Providing emergency support in Ukraine from 2015 to 2017, Mercy Corps restarted programs in Ukraine in 2022 in the wake of the current crisis and provides both humanitarian and early recovery assistance to conflict affected populations.

Partnerships are central to our mission and vision in the Ukraine response and are an integral part of our program strategy. We work with partners because we believe that by collaborating, we achieve more. By joining forces, we create a greater impact, enhance cost-effectiveness, foster inclusivity, and develop sustainable programs and support the Ukraine localization agenda. Localization is all about an intentional shift of power - from international to national leadership. It’s about supporting and strengthening local capacity and ownership.

Mercy Corps Ukraine has created an Innovation and Inclusion Fund for Ukraine. The goal of this Fund is to identify and support innovations that have the potential to significantly improve the lives of Ukrainian people. The Fund seeks innovations that demonstrate strong social impact, offer more effective solutions to specific social or development issues, and align with Mercy Corps Ukraine’s strategy, namely in the areas of environment, agriculture, economic development and humanitarian assistance. 

The Fund is divided into two key components:

Innovation: Focusing on supporting projects that introduce novel ideas, technologies, collaborations, processes or business models with the potential to create significant social impact. It aims to foster creativity and encourage the development of groundbreaking solutions to address pressing challenges.

Inclusion:  Dedicated to initiatives that promote inclusivity and ensure that marginalized or underserved groups are actively involved and benefited. It supports proposals that address issues of equity, accessibility, and social justice, ensuring that innovation reaches all segments of the Ukraine population.

These are not mutually exclusive, as it is recognized that there could be intersectionality between the two fund components of the fund.

Breakthrough solutions to humanitarian and development challenges are being sought, with the development of new partnerships formed between Mercy Corps Ukraine and partners such as, but not mutually exclusive:

• Social impact enterprises.
• Not for profit organisations.
• For profit organisations – where it can be shown that the project has a social impact focus but no revenue will be generated from this.
• Researchers – innovative research or mapping as against academic research.
• Young entrepreneurs.

The Position 

The Innovation and Inclusion Fund Project Manager will lead the development and management of this transformative initiative for Mercy Corps Ukraine. This role will focus on implementing and overseeing the Fund’s objectives.

Key responsibilities include Fund administration, co-creating work plans with partners, and ensuring effective implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of supported projects. This position is integral to advancing innovation and inclusion in the humanitarian and development sectors.

The Innovation and Inclusion Fund Project Manager will help drive social impact initiatives in the humanitarian and development sectors. This position requires a dynamic and creative leader with a passion for fostering innovation and strengthening local capacity. They work closely with a diverse range of local partners, including social innovation hubs, incubators, social enterprises, and start-ups, to design and implement contextually relevant and impactful programs. They effectively coordinate and communicate with internal teams and external stakeholders to jointly plan and execute activities, enhancing Mercy Corps' reputation as an organization that empowers and collaborates with local actors to achieve shared objectives.

Essential Responsibilities

Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Main Responsibilities

Strategy & Vision

• Develop and manage strategic direction of the project operations in accordance with the planned aims and objectives.
• Consult with the Fund Steering Committee and Mercy Corps Ukraine senior leadership to develop targets and measurements to assess the effectiveness, impact and success of the Innovation and Inclusion Fund.
• Engage the Steering Committee in ongoing oversight of the Innovation and Inclusion Fund and ensure implementation of their recommendations.
• Maintain strong and transparent communication with the members of the Steering Committee, Mercy Corps senior leadership and partners.
• Provide leadership to ensure effective coordination, collaboration and harmonization of the activities supported by the Fund across Mercy Corps and external networks.
• Implement the Mercy Corps locally-led approach across all the Fund’s activities.

Program Management

• Ensure that project implementation is responsive to communities and partners, and consistent with Mercy Corps’ minimum standards and other relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
• Implement the Standard Operating Procedure document for utilizing 1000minds decision-making and conjoint analysis software ensuring it is tailored to prioritize resources, assess stakeholder preferences, and support transparent, evidence-based decision-making processes.
• Co-create detailed work plans with partners, supporting the design of impactful projects that address humanitarian and development challenges.
• Ensure regular meetings with partners to discuss progress, challenges and any other relevant discussions.
• Oversee the administration of the Innovation and Inclusion Fund, ensuring effective management of resources and alignment with project goals.
• Manage the Fund’s budget.
• Prepare monthly progress reports.
• Monitor and evaluate the implementation of supported projects, ensuring they meet objectives and deliver measurable social impact.
• In conjunction with Mercy Corps MEL team and successful partners develop measurement targets to assess the effectiveness and impact of the innovative projects.
• Coordinate the functioning of the program monitoring and data management system.
• Fulfill Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
• Adhere to all MC policies and procedures as outlined in MC policies and procedure manuals.
• Conduct themselves both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its Ukraine mission
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Codes of Conduct and Ethics; Gender, Diversity and Inclusion guiding documents; Core Humanitarian Principles and Do No Harm.

 Team Management

• Support the Project Officer via providing ongoing mentorship, advice and capacity strengthening opportunities.
• 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, and cultivate resilience and well-being under challenging situations.
• Coordinate with teams on support gaps and needs, providing back-stopping support for urgent tasks

Influence & Representation

• In coordination with the Steering Committee engage in representation with donors, international and local NGOs and networks;
• Be actively engaged in relevant coordination mechanisms and build collaborative relationships with peer organizations and other relevant actors to contribute to a stronger response.
• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with partners, donors, local governments and other stakeholders.

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.

Supervisory Responsibility

Project Officer

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Deputy Country Director.

Works Directly With: Programs, Partnerships, MEL, CARM, Subawards & Compliance, Finance, HR, Operations and Security Teams.

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 field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• A Bachelor’s degree in international development, business administration, social policy, entrepreneurships, information technology, communications or related fields is desirable. A Master’s degree in these is preferred.
• At least 7 years of overall working experience, at least 3 years of work experience in the humanitarian or development sector, ideally with some demonstrated experience working on innovation, start-up incubation etc.
• A self-starter with good networking skills, project management skills and someone who is capable of working independently.
• Demonstrated experience in engaging a wide range of stakeholders and building and managing partnerships.
• Proven practical knowledge of the project cycle management.
• Proven ability in management and planning of program budgets.
• Able to work in a cross-cultural environment and is aware and supportive of inclusiveness principles ensuring that the innovations are culturally appropriate and contextually relevant.
• Excellent communication, presentation and reporting skills.
• Full working proficiency in both oral and written English and Ukrainian.
• Highly organized with the ability to prioritize workloads and meet deadlines.
• Strong interest in innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Able to manage and mitigate risk as introducing and scaling new ideas or technology can come with high levels of uncertainty and risk, which requires a balance between innovation and practical implementation realities.
• Familiarity with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) is required.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

During the field trips living conditions will be adjusted to the field conditions.

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 based on 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 Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. 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 Ethics 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.

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 ([email protected]). 

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