Deputy Team leader -The East Africa Border Security Programme (BSP)

Location: Nairobi

Position Status: Full-time, Non-exempt, Regular

Risk Level: ☐ Level 3       x Level 2 ☐ Level 1

(Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.)

Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children.

Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data)

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.

In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

The Programme

Mercy Corps is seeking a Deputy Team Leader for the FCDO-funded East Africa Border Security Programme. Irregular migration and associated criminal activity in East Africa remain a complex and escalating challenge which leads to significant exploitation of vulnerable people on the move. The East Africa Border Security Programme (BSP) takes a multifaceted approach – integrating ‘prevention’, ‘prepare/protect’ and ‘pursue’, working closely with national governments, partners and local communities to disrupt the criminal networks that facilitate human trafficking and smuggling across the land borders of the East Africa

The Position

The Deputy Team Lead (DTL) is a senior member of the BSP team, working with the Team Leader to design and implement strategic interventions that are contextually specific, demonstrate learning and adaptation and achieve sustainable impact. S/he will oversee the efficient delivery of the programme across outcome areas across BSP countries in the East Africa Region, working closely with Consortium and partner-level Outcome Leads, and managing BSP Country Leads, to ensure that implementation is technically robust, coordinated and coherent and delivered to workplan and budget. S/he will oversee the MRELA Manager to ensure that systems are established and implemented that monitor programme actions and progress, generate learning and evidence that supports adaptation and expansion, and demonstrate the value and impacts of the programme on disrupting OIC networks.

The DTL will also play a key role in managing strategic relationships, both with national governments and with the donor, ensuring that these stakeholders are kept abreast of programme delivery, progress and impacts and responding to requests for information as they arise. S/he will deputise for the Team Leader in her absence, maintaining strong channels of communication and ensuring continued delivery of programme efforts.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND VISION

• Support the TL in providing leadership, vision and strategy to the programme’s overall direction and implementation across the region,
• Contribute to shaping the programme’s research and learning agenda, working with the Research Partner and MRELA Manager to integrate and advance research, learning and advocacy
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT

• Manage and oversee programme activities in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda working in close collaboration with Consortium and partner-based Outcome Leads, Country Leads, and key project stakeholders, including local government officials, community-based organizations, and other implementing agencies on the ground.
• Ensure that implementation is integrated across consortium partners, outcomes, aligned to programme workplans and budgets, and responsive to programme evidence and learning
• Ensure that programme implementation is responsive to communities and governments and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant programme guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.

WORKPLANNING AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE MONITORING SYSTEMS

• Coordinate across the Consortia to lead the development and maintenance of integrated programme workplans, ensuring alignment between operational capacity, technical delivery and budget management.
• Work with country leads and partners to ensure workplans are realistic, risk-informed and responsive to changing operational contexts.
• Monitor implementation progress and identify operational bottlenecks, recommending solutions to maintain delivery timelines and programme quality.
• Work with the MERLA Manager in the development and implementation of adaptive management processes that enable timely course correction based on evidence, data and contextual analysis.
• Oversee the integration of learning, feedback and risk information into programme planning and decision-making processes.

DONOR COMPLIANCE, REPORTING AND REPRESENTATION

• Alongside the Team Leader, serve as a primary point of contact for donor compliance and programme assurance matters.
• Ensure timely and accurate donor reporting, including financial, operational and performance reporting, in accordance with contractual obligations.
• Represent the programme in meetings with donor representatives and relevant government stakeholders, maintaining strong relationships and credibility.
• Ensure responsiveness to ad hoc donor information and reporting needs on programmatic, financial and risk related issues.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Provide leadership and strategic vision to programme teams including consortium and downstream partners across multiple BSP countries
• Oversee the work of Outcome Leads across consortium members, and country leads to ensure quality and performance in the delivery of activities.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback to staff through regular coaching and annual performance reviews, and ensure that supervisory staff do the same in a timely manner. Implement, and ensure all staff are effectively using, the performance planning and management system, establishing performance expectations and regularly providing constructive feedback.
• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where participating team members – including local partners’ leads and field agents – strive to achieve excellence.
• Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.

SUPPORT PROGRAMME GOVERNANCE, COORDINATION

• Contribute to strategic planning, programme governance and decision-making as a member of the Senior Management Team.
• Ensure programme documentation, approvals and communications meet organisational and donor governance requirements.
• Promote transparency, accountability and effective communication across programme teams and stakeholders.
• Work with the Team Lead, to ensure strong coordination mechanisms are in place across consortium partners, donor representatives and Government stakeholders, including strong communication plans, regular steering group meetings, formal and informal information sharing, etc.

LEARNING & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

• Provide strategic contributions to thought leadership to ensure effective outcomes
• Promote active learning and adaptive management and contribute to agency-level networks and working groups, through documentation and knowledge sharing around best practices and lessons learned.
• Promote learning and knowledge management through documentation and knowledge sharing around best practices and lessons learned.
• Work with the Team Lead and the MRELA Manager to convene learning, and reflection events across consortium partner and with the donor.

INFLUENCE, REPRESENTATION/INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COORDINATION