Community Accountability Lead in Mercy Corps

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 Summary
Mercy Corps' Ukraine response meets the humanitarian needs of people affected by the war in Ukraine. Since the escalation of the war in 2022, Mercy Corps has supported more than 750,000 conflict-affected people in Ukraine and neighboring countries. We have provided cash assistance, in-kind humanitarian assistance, and psychosocial support for people in emergency situations; grants for micro, small and medium businesses, as well as small to medium farming enterprises; and conducted large-scale information campaigns. Notably, nearly all our programming is delivered in partnership with local and national civil society organizations matching humanitarian action and resilience programing with capacity strengthening and a real commitment to localization.

Accountability and Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM):
Accountability to affected populations (AAP) is at the core of Mercy Corps’ programing and we are committed to accountability to all our stakeholders, the resources that are entrusted to us, and especially to the people we serve.
Mercy Corps takes a participatory approach in engaging with local partners and communities throughout the program design and implementation processes. The Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM) is an essential part of Mercy Corps’ commitment to be accountable to affected populations, to program quality, to integrity, and to enable communities to provide feedback and continuously influence and shape programs. Further, it is a mechanism for the prevention of corruption, fraud, sexual exploitation, and abuse. Mercy Corps’ CARM in Ukraine consists of multiple two-way channels and a database system to manage feedback. CARM provides individuals, partner organizations, local groups, and other stakeholders with a way of raising questions, ideas, suggestions,
and complaints with Mercy Corps – while also remaining safe and secure and receiving a timely response from our organization.

The Position
The Senior Community Accountability Officer (Humanitarian) is a key team member responsible for ensuring adherence Mercy Corps CARM minimum standards for the Humanitarian Programming, including both Mercy Corps and Partners. The Senior Community Accountability Officer will also oversee and support the Resilience CARM team in addressing complex feedback cases, coordinating with the program team and partners, and preparing relevantmonthly reports. Additionally, the Senior Community Accountability Officer (Humanitarian) will represent CARM during program progress
reviews and other meetings.
To ensure Mercy Corps CARM (Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism) standards are met, the Senior Community Accountability Officer will support partners in implementing and enhancing their community feedback systems. If partners lack their own systems, they will use Mercy Corps' CARM
system, with the Senior Officer ensuring that partners promote and advertise Mercy Corps CARM channels. All incoming feedback will be managed by Mercy Corps Community Accountability Officers according to the established standard operating procedures.

Essential Responsibilities

Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

• Manage the efficiency of the CARM mechanism: ensure context appropriate feedback channels are selected and incorporated into the Resilience programs’ activities.
• Coordinate community discussions to determine which feedback channels are appropriate and to ensure that feedback channels are accessible, known, and trusted by the community.
• Oversee CARM Implementation in Humanitarian Programming: Ensure CARM is integrated into all program activities by incorporating it into program planning. Develop and maintain a CARM workplan for the Humanitarian Programming.
• Conduct assessments of partners’ CARM mechanisms, and work with partners to enhance and/or establish their own CARM mechanisms
• Develop and ensure the distribution of awareness raising materials and delivery of key messages that inform community members on how to use CARM across all field locations.
• Continuously monitor, review and update program CARM Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) with the program team.
• Prepare CARM reporting to identify trends in feedback/complaints and develop ways of working with the program teams that promote the use of feedback to inform continuous adjustments and adaptations to programming

MONITORING AND ADAPTION

• Monitor intervention sites, with help from program staff, to ensure that feedback channels are functioning, and learning and improvement opportunities are identified and implemented.
• Review dashboard reports with the Community Accountability Manager, on Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) data related to CARM to identify trends in feedback and complaints, which can then be presented to the program team to facilitate adjustments and adaptations to programming.
• Develop, implement, and monitor action plans to improve CARM utilization and effectiveness - such as plans to remove barriers preventing participation by marginalized groups and ways to reduce average case closure times.
  
  TEAM MANAGEMENT
• Supervise and support the CARM team assigned for the Humanitarian Programming.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one-on-ones and performance reviews.
• Participate in the recruitment and onboarding process of new CARM staff
• Assist CARM team members with information, tools, and resources to improve performance and reach objectives.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT / SHARING

• Train and mentor Community Accountability Officers, in ways that align with our capacity development strategy
• Help to implement capacity sharing plans with all partner organizations who are transitioning, with Mercy Corps’ support, to managing their own CARM systems.

Supervisory Responsibility:  Community Accountability Officer (Humanitarian Programming)
Accountability:
Reports Directly To: Community Accountability Manager
Works Directly With: Community Accountability Officer/s, Program teams (Humanitarian programming), MEL Team, Operations Teams and Ethics/Assurance/Safeguarding.

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 asequal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in an area related to social science and humanities (sociology, anthropology, psychology, etc.), social work, IT, education, or other related fields is preferred
• Candidates with previous professional experience in customer service, market research, project management, IT, or other related areas are encouraged to apply.
• Excellent listening, interpersonal, communication and networking skills; and the ability to work with diversified populations.
• Experience in an international or local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) is an asset.
• Experience in remote data collection, and data management.
• Excellent computer skills: proficiency in MS Office package, and strong knowledge of database management is required.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced emergency response environment and adapt to the rapidly evolving context as necessary.
• High level of self-awareness and self-development with the maturity to deal with constructive feedback.
• Fluency in Ukrainian is required. Proficiency in Russian and English is preferred.

Success Factors:
The successful Senior Community Accountability Officer will have good communication and interpersonal skills, good attention to detail, and a high level of commitment and self-motivation. They will effectively collaborate with Mercy Corps stakeholders, respecting and valuing diversity regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, abilities, or gender. S/he will be highly motivated, and capable of working with or without direct supervision.

Other factors include:

• The ability to work under pressure.
• Willingness and ability to quickly learn new information/concepts and implement them.
• Strong team player with initiative and positive attitude towards problem solving.
• A learning approach to work with excellent capacity building skills.
• Attention to detail and patience to double check data results.
• Self-starter, multi-tasker, solution-seeker, and innovator.

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.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions 

During the field trips living conditions will be adjusted to the field conditions.  

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 based on 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.

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]).

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