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.
The Team
Mercy Corps’ global safeguarding team is a key part of the Mercy Corps Ethics and Compliance Department (ECD) and leads our organizational efforts to prevent, detect, deter and respond to safeguarding issues. The team reports to a Senior Director of Safeguarding who reports to the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer (CECO). At Mercy Corps, safeguarding is a holistic term encompassing our prevention and response to sexual exploitation and abuse of program participants, sexual harassment in the workplace, trafficking, and child safeguarding. We seek to ensure that all team members, program participants and partners are able to safely exercise their agency, access resources they need, and use and share their power safely in order to cope, adapt and thrive in their environments. The global safeguarding team is bolstered by a global network of focal points and champions working at the country level to mainstream safeguarding and raise awareness about individual rights and responsibilities of our team members, participants, partners, volunteers and others who are a part of the critical work we do.
The Position
This position will play a critical role in supporting the global organization’s safeguarding efforts, particularly around the roll out of Core Safeguarding Standards, and will contribute to the agency’s strategic vision by developing systems to monitor, advise on and improve the safeguarding systems, capacity and progress of our country and operational teams.
Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND PLANNING
REGIONAL SYSTEMS AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES
Supervisory Responsibility
The Systems & Analytics Project Manager has no supervisory responsibilities.
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Senior Director of Safeguarding
Works Directly With: Global Safeguarding Team; Ethics and Compliance Department, MCG and MCE Compliance, Global Safeguarding team
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 Qualifications & Transferable Skills
Success Factors
The successful candidate has passion for the critical role of safeguarding in humanitarian work. They possess a sustained lens of cultural humility in seeking and creating best practice in the context of insecure and opaque environments with a broad spectrum of cultures, languages and education levels. They have an abiding sense of empathy for the stakeholders, participants and survivors we serve, and for the difficulties that INGOs and our partners face in carrying out this work. They consistently navigate difficult circumstances with a calm demeanor and reach understandings and resolutions in a methodical, analytical and empathetic manner. They persist in moving complex problems forward and strive to make substantial improvements in a timely yet methodical manner. The Advisor leads by example and motivates a diverse array of stakeholders, tempering technical expertise with a desire to learn from a place of equity.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
This position is open to applicants within the United States or any Mercy Corps office location. It offers flexibility for remote work but requires flexibility to work and be available during U.S. time zones, specifically PST (Pacific Standard Time) or EST (Eastern Standard Time), to ensure effective team collaboration.
This is a temporary assignment to cover parental leave, expected to last approximately 4-6 months, starting at the end of February 2025 and extending through the end of July 2025. No travel is expected or required for this position.
Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a business trip to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
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 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 Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning 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]).
Covid-19 Vaccine Policy for US-Based Employees
Mercy Corps has determined that, in an effort to protect the health, safety, and well-being of all Mercy Corps employees working in the United States, all U.S.-based employees must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, regardless of prior COVID-19 infection status. This policy is necessary to ensure not only the safety of our workforce, but the ongoing functionality of the organization. This policy will be revised as needed to comply with federal, state, and local requirements, and to respond to changing guidance from public health authorities.
For new employees this requirement goes into effect within 10 business days of employment. Team members that travel are expected to comply with host-country requirements, including vaccinations. Failure to comply may impact your employment. Proof of vaccination or exemption must be provided.