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 Department Summary

Mercy Corps began working in Myanmar in 2008 to help communities recover from Cyclone Nargis. Our goal is to enable communities to determine their future through food and water security, inclusive and equitable access to economic opportunity, climate change resilience, and equal rights leading to peace and prosperity. We approach our work through a resilience lens, to ensure households and communities can manage the shocks and stresses that threaten these outcomes. MC’s vision is to support communities – and the most marginalized within them – to emerge from crisis and build towards a more inclusive, resilient future.

The Position (General Position Summary)

The Senior Advisor – Accountability and Inclusion plays a critical role in Mercy Corps Myanmar (MCM) by providing leadership and strategy in Program Quality and Accountability, with a focus on

a) Community Accountability Reporting Mechanisms (CARM)/AAP framework;

b) Safeguarding (SG);

c) Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and

d) Localization.

The role provides essential advice to the Director of Programs, the Country Director and the country Senior Management Team (SMT) whilst supporting program teams in the design and implementation of CARM, SG, GESI and Localization approaches that result in the delivery of impactful programs that are responsive to community needs. This position plays a key role in ensuring that MC and industry standards for CARM/SG/GESI are met, strengthening the quality of programs, promoting learning and building the capacity of team members in these domains. Given the imperative of localization and the remote management nature of programming in Myanmar, much of the work will be geared towards developing partners’ capacity in these areas, ensuring they have the necessary resources, policies and tools for accountable, safe and effective programming – supporting the Director of Programs in developing and managing a coherent localization strategy will therefore be a large area of focus.

Essential Responsibilities

OVERALL STRATEGY & PLANNING

• Mainstream Localization, Accountability, Safeguarding and GESI in the Country Strategy implementation processes.
• Lead on Safe, Accountable, Inclusive and Diverse (SAID) Initiative in country, prioritizing relevant workstreams with Senior Management and reviving the SAID results chain
• Relaunch SAID Working Group, identifying key team members to join discussions and contribute to the different workstreams.
• Facilitate quarterly SAID meetings to follow up on SAID Workplan, and share updates on key actions. • Develop a vision and objectives for SAID work with local partners.
• Onboard all senior team members / sensitize them on SAID and expectations from their roles.
• Report on SAID at monthly SMT meetings.

COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTING MECHANISMS (CARM)

• Develop yearly workplan identifying priority areas and targets and following up regularly on its implementation.
• Review CARM SOPs twice yearly, or more frequently as required.
• Ensure functioning CARM Country Database with features for data visualization.
• Support CARM&SG Coordinators in CARM analytics, strengthening processes for using CARM data for learning and improved programming, and preparing country aggregations and reports. Guide Program Managers and CARM Coordinators in identifying and documenting adaptive management efforts.
• Carry out quarterly Data Quality Assurance checks on CARM data.
• Lead CARM Working Group, with weekly meetings and ad-hoc trainings as required.
• Elaborate a toolkit & trainings for local partners to establish their own CARM.
• Adapt and diversify IEC based on specific programmatic needs and context.
• Expand CARM work to include community engagement and communication, in line with AAP framework.
• Oversight of CARM budgets and required resources; ensure these are built into new fundraising initiatives.
• Recruit and supervise any new CARM team members, advising on their professional development pathway.
• Contribute to Regional CARM Community of Practice and Global CARM Learning Exchanges, identifying and compiling case studies of CARM best practices, success, and lessons learned in country programs to facilitate cross-country and regional learning.

SAFEGUARDING (SG)

• Review Safeguarding in-country structure, roles and responsibilities.
• Support roll out of upcoming Safeguarding Core standards in Myanmar.
• Collaborate with CARM&SG Coordinators to review partners’ SG self-assessments and develop tailored action plans to enhance capacity and systems.
• Carry out Safeguarding Risk Assessments for all new programs.
• Strengthen Program Teams referral mapping systems across all regions and states of operation.
• Oversight of SG budgets and required resources.
• Engage with global Ethics and Assurance department to track and analyze trends.

GENDER QUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION (GESI)

• Work closely with the Regional GESI Advisor and the National GESI Specialist to develop a GESI Action Plan.
• Ensure gender equality and social inclusion is fully integrated into program delivery and that gender equality and social inclusion actions are incorporated into program’s interventions.
• Ensure that MEL collects disaggregated data according to the GESI Actions Plan and support the analysis of the data to inform program adaptation.
• Lead the documentation of GESI lessons learnt, capturing and disseminating best practices.

LOCALIZATION

• Work closely with Partnership Coordinator to identify and track partners capacity building needs in all operational and technical areas, and develop a tool to track and document all progress and issues.
• Support the development of relevant toolkits and resources for partners (as the one identified in the areas below)
• Create opportunities for peer-to-peer learning across local partners.
• Support improved two-way flows of communication between the organization and partners, aiding departments such as Safety & Security in their efforts to strengthen the partners
• Work with the CD, DoP and SMT to develop and action a context-appropriate Localization strategy
• Guide Program Managers and Coordinators in their interactions with partners, facilitating greater support for the organization’s partners.

Supervisory Responsibility

CARM&SG Coordinators (x2), GESI Specialist (x1), Partnerships Coordinator (x1), other relevant positions as identified by DoP.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of Programs

Works Directly With: Country Director, SMT, Program Managers and Coordinators, Country MEL Manager, MEL team members, Operations and finance team members, Regional Advisors (SG/CARM/PAQ), TSU 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 Qualifications & Transferable Skills

● A Bachelors Degree in relevant subject such as international relations, international development, peace & conflict studies, etc. Master’s Degree is preferable.

● 8+ years of experience in development/humanitarian sector developing, implementing, and/or monitoring and evaluating programs, with knowledge of program quality, learning, accountability systems, PSEA/ Safeguarding, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion.

● Experience working with various donor agencies (EU, US, UN, etc..) in various sectors.

● Interest and motivation to use data as a key foundation for program quality.

● An ability to adapt, be flexible and get things done without having direct line management over projects.

● Strong writing skills and excellent analytical abilities.

● Excellent ability to develop and maintain personal relationships.

● Culturally sensitive, with experience working in Myanmar and/or Asia preferred.

● Fluency in English is required.

● Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Success Factors

The successful candidate is adaptable and flexible. They understand what it takes to deliver highquality programming in challenging environments. They should have strong relationship-building skills and commitment to working collaboratively. They are excellent communicators who can inspire broad and diverse teams towards achieving a shared goal. They have an outstanding ability to communicate sensitively and build trust with diverse groups of people.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is remote until conditions will allow to be based in Myanmar or Thailand. Travel to Myanmar may be possible on short term assignments to support program teams, including travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited.

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. 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.