Food Security Cluster Co-Coordinator

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 long term impact.

The Program

The Inter Clusters/Sectors Coordination Group (ICCG) leads the coordination in Yangon, including any natural disaster that may impact Myanmar. In a similar structure to the cluster system, the Food Security Sector (FSS) was established by the HC and is co-led by FAO and WFP. In 2020, 35 implementing partners reported to the FSS on food security and/or livelihoods programmes run in support of the affected population throughout Myanmar.

An effective coordination is a necessary component to ensure the delivery of an adequate, harmonized and timely Food Security assistance to vulnerable groups. FSS aims at enhancing the coordination of FSS members’ humanitarian assistance to meet population needs in the most effective, efficient and timeless way. Indeed, evolution of the Myanmar context, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on communities and humanitarian organizations require more efforts to maintain high standard in the provision of the humanitarian assistance in situ. To better deliver on its functions, including share responsibilities and leadership, FSS is seeking for a NGOs to co-coordinate the FSS.

The Position

The FSS Co-Coordinator will be responsible to strengthen and support the FS Sector implementation of proportionate, appropriate, and timely response, in collaboration with the Sector Coordinator and Co-Lead Agencies.

Essential Responsibilities

• Work with the regional senior leadership team to develop and support the strategy.
• Lead the development and administration of regional and country level reports on key finance, operations and human resources indicators.
• Manage and administer regional core budgets in coordination with regional and global leadership.
• Lead on measurement and analysis of regional key performance indicators to inform strategic decision making.
• Support the implementation of the overall 6 core functions of FSS to meet the expected outputs and overall purpose of the Sector
• Participate in FSS meetings regularly and co-facilitate the Sector meetings (and/or joint meetings with other working groups), when appropriate
• Facilitate the inclusiveness of local Partners and facilitate dialogue with government counterparts
• Facilitate the coordination with other coordination mechanisms (other Clusters, ICCG, MIAG, CWG, DSWG…)
• Support the sector coordinator in strengthening the management of the Sector in an effective manner, action and results-oriented, with decisions clearly communicated to relevant partners and stakeholders
• Ensure that meetings are managed in line with the Principles of Partnership (Annex A) and facilitate the yearly CCPM (Cluster performance)
• Facilitate agreement on an efficient division of labour and the assignment of responsibilities amongst members which takes account of their comparative advantages, complementarities and capacities
• Designate focal points or technical working groups for specific issues when relevant
• Ensure that the strategic operational framework of the Food Security Sector is updated regularly according to evolving needs
• Maintain appropriate links and dialogue with Food Security Sector partners and other relevant actors especially the local NGOs and INGOs and NGO Forum, donors
• Promote/support FSS partners’ capacity building and follow-up FSS partners’ reporting
• Actively contribute to align FSS to both gFSC and IASC standards and contribute to reporting
• Actively contribute to develop Food Security analysis, FSS emergency strategy and FSS preparedness/response plan
• Represent the interests of the Food Security Sector in discussions with stakeholders on priorities, resource mobilization and advocacy: neutrality is required for this role.
• Participate actively on development, revision, dissemination and application of technical standard and best practices
• Support program cycle and funding processes including participation in Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) appeals, and Myanmar Humanitarian Fund (MHF).
• Support the sector to develop emergency preparedness measures to deliver appropriate, impactful, timely and coordinated to avoid gaps/ duplication.
• Actively promote Protection, Accountability to Affected People, Gender equality in the delivery of the Food Security assistance
• Contribute to reinforce PSEA among FSS partners.

• Engage and support countries across the region to ensure that adequate risk management systems are in place;
• Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events;
• Engage with country teams on the internal audit process to track findings and ensure country team compliance with IA findings and recommendations;
• Engage with country level Ethics and Assurance managers as well as the global Ethics and Assurance department to track and analyze trends and needs across countries;

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.

Supervisory Responsibility: none

Accountability

Reports Directly to: Country Director

Works Directly with: Program team, NGO, TSU, The Inter Clusters/Sectors Coordination Group (ICCG)

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 (to be added below)

• 3-5 years experience in Cluster Coordination.

Success Factors

The successful team member will skillfully represent programmatic priorities of the agency to donors and regional partners while providing effective leadership to the Mercy Corps program team in the transitional response environment. The Team Leader will be capable of multitasking, rapid decision-making, and have initiative, drive and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills and proven experience with capacity building. The Team Leader will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority. The successful candidate will combine great management skills, data analysis skills and experience in maintaining donor and partner relationships. The Team Leader will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement and manage innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps. The Team Leader will also have proven experience with cross-cultural team and capacity building, individual staff development and strong mentoring skills, even remotely. Prioritizing, problem solving, ability to seize opportunities, attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Yangon, Myanmar and it’s accompanied by spouse only. It requires up to 40% travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. Housing for this role is in individual housing and staff will have access to good medical services and the living situation is of a high standard.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws and customs, and adhere to MC'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. 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.