About this role
THE PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT/TEAM (PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY)
Mercy Corps helps communities develop their own ideas to solve Haiti's toughest problems by using innovative approaches, providing Haitians with new social and economic opportunities, and making their country more secure and productive. Established in January 2010, Mercy Corps Haiti has offices in Port-au-Prince, Miragoane, and Jeremie and plans to open an office in Les Cayes and more than 80 employees delivering food security, agriculture, protection, peacebuilding, financial inclusion, natural resource management, disaster risk reduction/preparedness, WASH, and humanitarian response programs. Mercy Corps takes a progressive approach to development that leads communities and entrepreneurs from helping sustainable livelihoods to building resilience.
The overall goal of the IHACAPH (Integrated Humanitarian Assistance for Crisis-Affected Populations in Haiti) program is to improve safe and sufficient access to food (including market system strengthening and financial services), WASH (including Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene promotion), and safeguarding (including community dialogues, safe spaces, and outreach; and cross-cutting theme Local Capacity Strengthening) support for crisis-affected internally displaced persons (IDP) and host community households in West, Nippes, Grande-Anse, and South.
THE POSITION (General Position Summary)
The Senior Programme Manager leads the consortium through strong management skills and consistent, inclusive, and participatory leadership. They represent the interests and vision of the partnership and ensure that it is working successfully across member agencies. The humanitarian context is constantly changing, as is the work of the Consortium and the Director's role. Hence, the Director works closely with partner members, the program donor, and other key stakeholders to ensure that their role is adapting to the needs and opportunities at hand.
The Senior Programme Manager must be an effective communicator and manager with exceptional team-building and coordination skills. They are responsible for managing the relationship between the partners, implementing common food assistance, and livelihoods, and responding to the Haitian humanitarian crisis. They are detail-oriented with excellent planning skills. The Director must also demonstrate proven experience in networking and donor representation.
The Director provides operational leadership to the consortium and manages the contractual relationship between the different partners and the consortium donor.
In his role as manager, the Senior Programme Manager will also provide overall leadership, management, and strategic vision to the implementation of the DOS/WHA-funded program. She/he will oversee the delivery of the program using a participatory approach at all stages of the program, including planning, coordinating, organizing, quality and delivery, and monitoring and results measurement and learning in the Ouest, South, Grand-Anse, and Nippes departments of Haiti. She/he will manage the program staff, resources, and partnerships to ensure that the program meets its milestones on time, with high quality and within budget. The Senior Programme Manager will also lead the development of robust Monitoring and Results Measurement (MRM) and Learning for the program (Learning and impact). She/he will also represent the program externally, through participating in relevant coordination and learning events, and lead the Program Management Team, who will support in defining and achieving the program strategy. The Senior Programme Manager will ensure program quality, accountability, timely reporting, and delivery within scope, schedule, and budget. She/he will report to the Mercy Corps Haiti Director of Programs Development, Quality & Learning and work closely with key departmental leads. The role requires strong program management skills and experience in program design and implementation.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
STRATEGY, VISION, AND PLANNING
• Act as the main champion for the strategic vision and provide operational leadership for the Consortium and the IHACAPH program
• Recognize and lead opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.
• Effectively recognize and develop funding and consortium strengthening opportunities, as needed.
• Maintain implementation momentum by consolidating and aligning implementation strategies and plans.
• Develop and manage a clear system for tracking and reporting against deliverables and ensuring programmatic quality.
• Ensure strong, proactive, inclusive, and transparent communication with consortium partners and the Mercy Corps program team
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions & resources to achieve objectives and contribute to country-wide strategy development.
• Develop and organize activities to secure resources for the program and convince stakeholders to provide support.
• Provide leadership and strategic vision in all aspects of program implementation, development, and management.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and aligned with Mercy Corps principles, values, and strategic plan.
• Maintain a strategic plan for the implementation of program activities in line with best practice for resilience activities through agriculture development, including updating and finalizing activities, methods of operation, and means of monitoring and measuring for success.
PROGRAM LEADERSHIP
• Coordinate closely with the Mercy Corps and Word Relief leadership Team or other senior members to guarantee alignment and quality implementation and guide decision-making throughout the response.
• Provide leadership to ensure coordination, collaboration, communication, and harmonization of Consortium programming and other response operations inside Haiti.
• Facilitate sharing, exchange, and learning across member agencies.
• Engage the Steering Committee and Program Technical Working Group in contextual analysis as needed to identify programmatic or operational adaptations necessary to respond to changes in the political/economic context in a timely manner.
• Provide rapid solutions and program adaptation measures in situations of crises (such as changes in the conflict environment, changes in migration trends or internal displacement trends of people, etc.)
• Create and maintain systems to ensure efficient and transparent capture of program data for management decision-making and timely and informative internal and external reporting.
• Participate and support decision-making in the National Cash Working Group.
• Participate in shaping policy positions and advocacy messages pertaining to the overall humanitarian situation inside Haiti.
Convene and chair regular Steering Committee and Technical Working Group meetings.
REPRESENTATION AND COORDINATION
• Lead external representation of the consortium with key stakeholders, including members of the donor community, financial service providers and private sector partners, UN and INGO partners, and the state's technical services.
• Maintain a close relationship with DOS/BWHA in Haiti and provide regular implementation updates.
• Represent the Consortium in engagement with the US Office of the Inspector General (OIG) when necessary.
• Present consortium progress to DOS, the Cash Working Group, and others as requested.
• Share Consortium learnings with the greater humanitarian community within the Haiti response and other regional and global cash and livelihoods actors.
• Participate in regular Board meetings with MC HQ and provide regular updates.
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
• Manage the contractual agreements with partners and Mercy Corps, and regularly monitor progress on key indicators and program quality.
• Oversee operational planning for ongoing program activities across the consortium.
• Ensure that program implementation is conducted with respect to grant agreement(s) and timeframe and a commitment to high quality of implementation; lead and/or support corrective action processes as necessary.
• Ensure monitoring systems are in place, including gathering data for case studies.
• Conduct planning and progress review meetings.
• Adhere to all Mercy Corps procurement, logistics, and administrative regulations related to programming
• Ensure program implementation is on time, on target, and on budget, using innovative systems to achieve and measure success.
• Prepare high-quality monthly, bi-annual, and annual program reports in collaboration with the MEL team.
• Ensure the IHACAPH program is sufficiently and rightly resourced with the right teams, tools, and equipment needed to deliver quality results for the program participants on budget, on time, and on scope.
• Establish and support systems to regularly monitor the quality of implementation and lead actions to course-correct to address quality issues.
• Create and foster an environment for adaptive management, including championing the timely use of data for decision-making.
• Integrate community approaches, safeguarding sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate. Certify all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps' Safeguarding Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, security, administration, and human resources teams to ensure operational systems support field activities.
Fulfill Mercy Corps' Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide guide.
HUMAN RESOURCES, SAFEGUARDING, AND DIVERSITY
• Assist with the on-boarding of senior team members, ensuring they are set up for success and familiar with agency systems, procedures, and protocols.
• Develop the capacity of the program team, deepen understanding of their roles, identify and source technical capacity strengthening support, and assist with career development.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations, and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one-on-ones and performance reviews.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Support Mercy Corps' global and regional initiatives for human resources, including safeguarding and diversity, and talent development.
BUDGET, FINANCE, AND COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT
• Regularly address compliance and regulations inquiries and programming needs, and ensure the consortium is in line with DOS/BWHA and Mercy Corps compliance rules and regulations.
• Oversee the drafting and monitoring of the consortium's overall budget and projection models and ensure partner expenditures are in line with agreed-upon budgets.
• Work closely with the Mercy Corps finance and grant teams and Mercy Corps headquarters to ensure timely financial reporting on behalf of the consortium.
• Ensure overall compliance with DOS requirements to report and manage sensitive fraud and ethics complaints. Maintain the information flow with the donor when notifications are submitted.
• Keep up to date with fraud trends and regional and national risks and lead fraud mitigation and management efforts across the Consortium
• Create and maintain systems to ensure effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with the IHACAPH program, donor, and Mercy Corps' needs.
• Ensures the program meets targets on budget. This responsibility includes collaborative work planning that keeps all team members accountable, ensuring accurate budget forecasting and analysis of monthly budget vs. actual reports, and proper procurement planning in collaboration with the Operations team.
• Support in the development of financial management tools and the monitoring of budgets.
• Cross-check detailed transactions and review budget versus actual (BVA) spending reports to determine the status of program burn rates.
• Work with the Country Finance and Operation Director to ensure spend-down plans and cash projections are developed and monitored.
• Lead program input on any budget revisions or programmatic input for financial reports.
INFLUENCE AND REPRESENTATION
• Represent Mercy Corps and the consortium at government, donor, NGO, and other relevant events, in close coordination with the Mercy Corps Haiti Director of Programs Development, Quality & Learning, and Country Director.
• Coordinate activities with partners, subgrantees, local government, and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs.
SECURITY:
• Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps Haiti security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.
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 PARTICIPANTS:
• 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.
RISK MANAGEMENT:
• Engage and support the country's initiatives on risk management systems are in place.
• Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY
The Senior Programme Manager will be overall responsible for supervising the Team Leader Nippes, the Team Leader Grand'Anse, the VSLA Specialist, the Cash Specialist, the Nutrition Specialist, and the Wash Specialist.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
Reports Directly To: The role will report to the Mercy Corps Haiti Director of Programs Development, Quality & Learning.
Works Directly With: Consortium Partner Agencies, Finance, Administration, People and Culture, Operations Teams, PAQ & MEL Managers, Head of Office (or equivalent title), HQ Technical Support Unit, and partner organizations.
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 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
• MA/S or equivalent in Economics, International Development, International Relations, Business Management, Agriculture Economics or another relevant field is highly required, preferably with a background in agriculture/cash Transfers / DRR.
• Minimum of 7+ years' relevant experience, with existing experience of managing programs/projects; Haiti experience preferred.
• Previous experience in managing consortiums or managing/facilitating/influencing in network or partnership settings is a plus
• An internationally recognized qualification in project or program management or a commitment to obtain the qualification in the early months of work.
• Demonstrated experience with resilience approaches and designing agriculture sector development activities.
• Knowledgeable of DOS and global best practices.
• Experience with DOS programs is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain relationships with colleagues, implementing partners, donors, local organizations, and partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in French and English (required).
• Strong representation, communication, and program marketing skills.
• Demonstrated understanding and considerable experience in the following:
• Organizational capacity development, holistic organizational learning, and/or organizational development approaches
• Design and systems thinking for more efficient and effective programming in complex crises and strengthening capacity of others in the same
• Forging consensus among diverse actors around a shared vision and leading and inspiring them towards that vision
• Innovating solutions that enable teams in protracted crises to better collaborate, learn, and adapt across sectors and funding streams
• Capturing, analyzing, documenting, and communicating evidence and knowledge to inspire and influence change.
SUCCESS FACTORS
The successful Senior Programme Manager will combine exceptional management skills and experience in maintaining DOS donor and partner relationships. She/he will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement, and manage innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in Haiti. S/he will also have proven experience with cross-cultural teams and capacity building, individual staff development, and strong mentoring skills. S/he will take energy from solving program implementation challenges and will have a strong ethical center and a commitment to safeguarding. A strong ability to train and mentor team members that have limited skills and experience in project management. 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. He/she will have to be fluent in both English and French. This role is advertised for nationals and expatriates, but Haitians are strongly preferred.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.
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. By applying for this role, an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer's sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding, or trafficking policy. 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 adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning 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 the Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected]).
Interested candidates are invited to apply by submitting the following documents in a single PDF file:
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
This recruitment is subject to the approval of the program by the donors. Application deadline: September 30, 2026.