Country: Turkey
Closing date: 18 Aug 2016
PROGRAM/ DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:
The Government of Turkey estimates that over 2.6 million Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey, a majority of which have settled in urban areas. Mercy Corps works closely with Turkish governmental, non-governmental and business partners to implement programs in southeastern and western Turkey to facilitate access for refugees and host communities to services and rights, assist the most vulnerable to meet their basic needs, and equip youth especially with the skills they need to adapt to changing environments. Mercy Corps also operates a sizeable cross-border program in North Syria that aims to address the basic humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable. In addition to a strong focus on protection mainstreamed multi-sectoral programming, Mercy Corps implements child protection and community outreach programming to reinforce the self-protection capacities of individuals and to support community-based protection mechanisms. With a growing protection-focused portfolio in both Turkey and North Syria, Mercy Corps is recruiting for a Protection and Gender Advisor to provide technical expertise and capacity building support to its teams.
GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:
The Protection and Gender Advisor position is instrumental in reinforcing Mercy Corps' technical abilities in protection and gender related programming in Turkey and North Syria. S/he works closely with Directors of Programs and Program Managers and their teams to implement quality programming, innovate, define and document best practices, and build program team capacity. S/he will help place Mercy Corps on the map as a leading organization in protection in Turkey and North Syria.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Technical Capacity & Capacity Building
• Assist Program Managers in designing and establishing protection monitoring, referral and information management systems.
• Contribute to the development/review of beneficiary feedback mechanism in Turkey and Syria.
• Provide technical support in mainstreaming protection and gender principles throughout the programs, using Mercy Corps' tools and developing new ones as needed.
• Conduct training and training of trainers (TOT) in protection-sensitive communication and programming, targeting staff and volunteers working with conflict affected populations.
• Conduct training and training of trainers (TOT) in Gender Minimum Standards targeting staff and volunteers, including on how to conduct gender assessments.
• Collaborate with other regional and organizational-level protection initiatives to ensure best practices and lessons learned are captured and applied broadly, including those related to GBV, protection and child safeguarding.
• Collaborate with Mercy Corps' information management initiative (RRIMA) to map gaps in protection mechanisms in Turkey, and identify gender and protection trends and differences across Turkey and North Syria.
• Ensure that protection and gender related tools and systems are shared appropriately between Turkey and North Syria, allowing complementarity and leveraging of resources.
Strategy and Vision
• Support Directors of Programs in defining program strategies for Turkey and North Syria and integrating a protection and gender lens in all new program development.
• Remain informed of the latest trends in protection and gender programming across the industry and within Mercy Corps, helping bring best practices and innovative approaches to the country programs.
Program Management
• Contribute to quality program and donor reports on activities, highlighting and documenting best practices, and learning related to protection and gender activities/mainstreaming.
• Identify needs for additional technical capacity and recruit and supervise technical consultants.
• Review scopes of work to hire any technical consultants, and assist in the identification and interviewing of candidates.
• Backstop Protection Program Managers with management issues when needed.
Finance & Compliance
• Assist Program Managers and Directors of Programs to budget for protection and gender activities.
• Work with the finance and operations teams to ensure that protection-related systems and activities that are established are compliant.
Representation & Learning
• Represent Mercy Corps' protection programs, strategy and approaches in meetings with donors, the Turkish government, I/NGOs and other actors, as needed.
• Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning teams in Turkey and North Syria team and Program Managers to document lessons learned from implementation
• Engage with regional and headquarters' teams to share lessons and approaches across the organization.
Security
• Comply with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
Organizational Learning: As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations 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 towards 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: none
ACCOUNTABILITY:
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Director of Programs, Turkey
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Program and Project Managers, field implementation teams, Director of Programs for North Syria, Regional Office and Country Director, Sr. Global Gender Advisor, Sr. Global Protection Advisor, Mercy Corps Protection Working Group.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
• MA in international development, women's studies, gender or a comparable area of study
• 5-7 years of experience in international development work, with a minimum of three years managing field programs
• Substantial background in protection and gender and development work including: experience leading gender and gender based violence capacity building, gender and protection mainstreaming in program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Experience setting up and managing protection programs in emergency settings
• Demonstrated experience in a technical advisory position, assisting program implementation teams to design, set up and implement protection and gender-focused programs
• Strong writing skills required
• Excellent English language skills required, Arabic language skills strongly preferred
SUCCESS FACTORS:
The successful candidate will be a seasoned protection and gender specialist who can successfully influence and advise program teams in the absence of direct supervisory responsibilities. S/he will place a focus on capacity building and skills transfer through training, coaching and mentoring, and direct implementation when required. S/he will be both a strategic thinker who can engage in high level conversations with other technical experts, and detail-oriented person who can work closely with the team to train them on detailed-skills building. The successful candidate will also possess exceptional verbal and written communication skills, strong facilitation skills, and the vision and leadership to successfully transmit technical knowledge. A self-started, s/he will work well independently and in teams.
LIVING /ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:
This position will be based in Gaziantep, Turkey and will require approximately 30% travel to the Aegean region and other locations within Turkey. Living conditions will be individual housing. The position is eligible for R&R per Mercy Corps' policy.
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards 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. Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps' policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
PI94858420
How to apply:
