Location: US remote; USVI and Puerto Rico; St Lucia or Jamaica
Position Status: Full-time, Regular, Exempt
Salary Level: The salary range for this role will be $64,000-$76,000 USD annually, for US-based applicants, commensurate with experience and location. The salary will be benchmarked locally for candidates based outside of the US.
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 Caribbean Resilience Department
Climate change severely and disproportionately impacts small islands in the Caribbean.
Worsening environmental risks like rising and warming seas, volatile dry and wet seasons, and catastrophic storms mean that islands and small island developing states (SIDS) bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change, even though their carbon footprint is small relative to the world’s largest carbon producers, and their capacity to cope is constrained by their narrow resource base.
Caribbean islands need flexible tools to make them more resilient through the climate crisis.
Tools that protect and improve lives, livelihoods and also the natural resources these communities depend on. Mercy Corps partners with community service organizations across the Caribbean to strengthen the networks around vulnerable communities, provide resources to build out adaptive programming, and respond collaboratively to climate threats as they arise.
Mercy Corps began this work following the historic 2016 hurricane season. Since then, with the help of our donors, more than $34 million has been put toward preparedness, response and climate resilience programming in the Caribbean. Mercy Corps has learned that empowering people and their communities with flexible assets and knowledge is the best way to measurably protect lives and livelihoods.
Mercy Corps is embarking on a three-year program aimed at strengthening livelihoods and economic empowerment for women across the Caribbean. To achieve this, Mercy Corps will work with 12 community service organizations (CSOs) across the region to pilot innovative approaches and strengthen capacity. The Program Manager will lead implementation of this program, which will work with CSOs in the following jurisdictions: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, The Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the 5 Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The program cycle will include a six month assessment process to understand the socio-cultural attitudes and systemic barriers in the Caribbean that prevent women from accessing the resources that enable economic growth and reduce their agency to make economic decisions. The assessment will examine differential vulnerability and consider how factors like age, ethnicity, economic status, migration status, gender identity, or sexual orientation may limit economic empowerment of women (age 16+) across different Caribbean geographies.
Following the assessment phase, the Program Manager will design a training series and small-grant challenge for community service organizations (CSOs) who already work with women in the Caribbean. The grants will be used to pilot innovative approaches to improving economic empowerment and outcomes for women and adolescent girls (16+).
Strong and collaborative partnerships are at the core of Mercy Corps strategy in the Caribbean. This position will cultivate and champion Mercy Corps community service organization (CSO) partnership network of over 30 organizations across the region. The Program Manager will work to strengthen capacity for Mercy Corps’ Caribbean CSO network, leveraging the resources available through the program, other resources available through the Caribbean Resilience Initiative portfolio, and the global organization.
Essential Responsibilities
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Manage and oversee the implementation of the Caribbean United Women’s Economic Empowerment (CUWEE) program, in cooperation with key project stakeholders, including local community service organizations, non-governmental organizations, local government officials, and donors;
TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP and GUIDANCE
REPORTING, MONITORING and EVALUATION
REPRESENTATION and COORDINATION
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Liaise with local government officials including the government ministries, local NGOs, project partners, local religious leaders, and other community members to ensure support for and acceptance of Mercy Corps projects in relevant geographic areas.
HUMAN RESOURCES, SAFEGUARDING AND DIVERSITY
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Assist with the on-boarding of senior team members, ensuring they are set up for success and familiar with agency systems, procedures, and protocols.
SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES
Supervisory Responsibility
Reports Directly To: Director, Caribbean Resilience Initiative
Works Directly With: CRI Program Managers, Finance team, Operations team, HR team, global Gender Equity and Social Inclusion technical unit, Market Systems Development technical unit.
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
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Minimum of 4+ years of progressive technical responsibility; preferred to include experience in livelihoods or market systems development, women economic empowerment, or youth entrepreneurship experience preferred.
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Demonstrated ability to work and coordinate effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders, including national and local government, donors, community-based organizations, and the private sector
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Degree in a relevant academic area – e.g., economics, climate sciences, a social science discipline, etc. (7+ years relevant progressive technical experience would be considered in lieu of advanced degree)
A successful Program Manager will be well organized and able to complete deliverables with a remote and decentralized regional team. Cultivating and maintaining meaningful relationships with our partners across the region is central to the Caribbean Resilience Initiative’s strategy. A successful PM will be a good communicator, an advocate for our partners and the communities we serve, and will be a creative problem solver. The needs across the Caribbean region are diverse. A successful Program Manager will look for opportunities to meet the needs of the communities we serve with the resources available through the global organization.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is remote though candidates must be able to work a typical AST workday. All MC employees are expected to work a five-day work week. This position requires 25% of travel by road, sea and air to field program locations.
Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside 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.
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.
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.
