Технічний координатор\ка: розвиток ринкових систем

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.

Ukraine’s vital agricultural sector has been heavily impacted by the ongoing war, including for the predominant smallholder producers, leaving producers to salvage harvests, find new markets for their products, and plan for future growing seasons amidst uncertainty and incomplete information. Mercy Corps has been supporting affected household, small and medium-sized agricultural producers since the beginning of 2023 in Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava oblasts. Support includes grants to farmers designed to support them in adapting their agribusinesses to the new reality they face. In addition, in November 2023, Mercy Corps launched the Ukraine Agriculture Support Program (UASP), which aims to increase economic stability and self-sufficiency, and facilitate early recovery for smallholder subsistence farmers and small and medium sized farming enterprises in 12 oblasts of Ukraine, out of which 5 eastern and southern oblasts (Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson) are priority areas. In parallel, Mercy Corps will guide and inform evidence-based programmatic design and implementation through ongoing agricultural research, operational and applied learning, context analysis, and specific market assessments, leading to further employing market systems development approaches. Moreover, UASP seeks to understand market system dynamics across conflict-affected areas of Ukraine by identifying constraints and opportunities to enable market systems to strengthen economic coping, facilitate market recovery, and increase livelihood opportunities for conflict-affected communities.

General Position Summary

Under the direct supervision of the UASP Program Manager and in close collaboration with the Resilience Program Lead and key Mercy Corps teams including the Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Team, the Technical Coordinator will be responsible for leading and coordinating comprehensive applied research and analysis on market systems in support of household level subsistence farmers and small and medium farming enterprises in key geographies of Ukraine. The Technical Coordinator will play a key role in designing and implementing program activities aimed at strengthening market systems in Ukraine. This includes coordinating with Mercy Corps teams and stakeholders to conduct assessments, identifying opportunities for intervention, designing and advising on the implementation of program strategies to achieve and advance program objectives. The role supports market systems analysis, UASP program development and implementation, with a focus on supporting the evolution of a portfolio applying market systems principles in the Ukraine response and supporting collaborative learning through this process. The position will provide advisory and technical leadership to resilience programs and ensure the synthesis of market systems evidence and evolution of technical approaches across grants within the resilience portfolio. The position has the explicit mandate to support the team’s ability to conduct analysis, design, and in time, implement market system approaches.

S/he will provide a supportive role to project leaders to help maintain technical quality and build the capacity of the program team to deliver the intended results. In collaboration with key teams s/he will also ensure that lessons from these programs are documented and inform the Mercy Corps global strategy. The Technical Coordinator will lead, coordinate and provide technical guidance to research and evidence planning and implementation to produce a series of comprehensive reports and contribute to program adaptation.

In addition, the Technical Coordinator will be a part of an Evidence Steering Committee (SC) which represents key expertise across Mercy Corps teams including the Ukraine Crisis Analysis Team (UACAT), the Program Quality and Standards Team (PaQ; including Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning and Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism Teams), and the Technical Support Unit (TSU). The main role of the SC is to advise the UASP program on topics such as grant disbursement, market systems development and development and integration of emerging approaches in agriculture, and support research quality.

Essential Responsibilities

Strategic leadership

• Under the supervision of the UASP Program Manager, lead a program component aimed at advancing market systems development in Mercy Corps resilience programs. This leadership entails providing strategic direction, guidance, and oversight to ensure the effective implementation of market-oriented interventions.
• Provide leadership and strategic vision to technical components of programs including workplan development, market analysis, strategy development, and program/intervention (re)design.
• In collaboration with Mercy Corps’ global TSU and in-country PaQ teams, lead the strategic vision for market systems research in relevant agricultural and non-agricultural sectors including learning questions, workplan development, oversight of assessments and research, stakeholder management with potential partners. Co-lead evolving strategies related to market systems recovery.

Technical Advice

• Support the development of learning agenda and key research questions for resilience programs, building on existing internal and external evidence base. In collaboration with TSU and PaQ this work will inform the wider resilience portfolio across Mercy Corps.
• In collaboration with Mercy Corps’ global TSU and in-country PaQ teams, provide close technical assistance to target projects to ensure that they apply market systems principles in their analysis and evolve program implementation strategies on the basis of evidence from studies and MEL data.
• Collaborate on the development of core documentation to evolve programming strategies (e.g. internal concept notes, workplan development support) to ensure quality and support evolution in line with evidence from MEL and research.
• Serve as technical quality focal point for evolving interventions that use market facilitation tactics.

Capacity Building

• Build the capacity of program staff, partners, and stakeholders in market systems development principles and approaches. This may include providing training, mentoring, and technical assistance to enhance their understanding and skills in implementing market-oriented interventions.

Engagement and information management

• Actively participate in the Evidence Steering Committee, representing findings from research and analysis and how these will contribute to move the resilience program towards integrating market systems development approaches. This will also involve regular liaison with key Mercy Corps teams including the Ukraine Crisis Analysis Team (UACAT), Program Performance and Quality (which includes Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning and Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism), and the Technical Support Unit (TSU).
• Create and maintain a database of key experts, consultants, and key informants in the priority areas for the resilience program, including agriculture, business development, vocational education, and market systems development.
• Create and maintain a library of available external reports, research and analytical papers in the priority areas for resilience program, including agriculture which links to Mercy Corps growing evidence database.
• Collaboration with various stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector actors, NGOs, and international organizations.
• Adherence to all Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
• Conduct themselves both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Perform other tasks as requested by management. 

Supervisory Responsibility N/A

Accountability

Reports Directly To: UASP Program Manager

Works Directly With: Resilience Program Lead, UASP Program Manager, Agriculture Technical Specialist, UASP implementation team, PAQ Team, UACAT Team, TSU.

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 and Transferable Skills

Essential

• Experience of increasingly proficient management and/or technical support in MSD programming;
• University degree in agriculture, business development or other closely related field;
• A minimum of 5-10 years overall working experience; with 5-10 years of experience in the Ukrainian agriculture and/or business development sectors;
• Good knowledge of agriculture and/or business development sectors in Ukraine and current needs;
• Demonstrated experience with market analysis and systems assessments and additional analytical tools (e.g. Value chain analysis, Market mapping, etc.)
• Proven experience of assessing markets and working with private sector partners, including value-added production and interventions to strengthen competitive value chains;
• Strong ability to understand and manage multiple stakeholders and complex relationships at multiple levels of the organization;
• Strong analytical skills and proficiency in quantitative and qualitative data analysis software; Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs;
• Good communication, presentation and reporting skills; and
• Full working proficiency in both oral and written English, Ukrainian and Russian (equally important).

Advantageous

• Experience in producing analytical reports and/or researches would be an advantage Knowledge of Sphere standards and other training in humanitarian response preferred;
• Ability to work under pressure and meet hard deadlines;
• Experience of working with an international humanitarian/development organization is also an asset.

Success Factors

To be successful in this role we expect you to have a strong understanding of the agricultural sector in Ukraine and a background in market systems development. The Candidate should possess expertise in market analysis, value chain development, private sector engagement, and other relevant areas. This expertise will be crucial in designing and implementing effective interventions to promote sustainable market systems in the agricultural and/or business development sectors. The ability to collaborate across teams will also be essential.

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 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.

Benefits

Mercy Corps is offering competitive 25 Benefits Packages (10 law statutory and 15 market competitive), including but not limited to the relocation, transportation, phone allowances, remote and flexible working modality, duty of care, well-being support, 24/7 free resilience consultations in addition to a salary offer. Team positive working environment in a well-established and growing international humanitarian organization with career development opportunities through our global talent development platform. 

Only pre-selected candidates will be contacted for an interview.  

People with disabilities and veteran status are welcome to apply.