Community Resilience Coordinator – Caribbean Resilience Initiative – St. Lucia or Jamaica

Location: St Lucia (preferred) or Jamaica

Valid unrestricted work authorization in the country in which you will be based is required at the time of application for this position.

Position Status: Regular, Full-time, 12 months renewable

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

Mercy Corps is embarking on the Preparedness, Resilience and Impact for those Most Excluded (PRIME) in the Caribbean Resilience Initiative (CRI). As part of the project, Mercy Corps is developing four Resilience Hubs (RHs), one each in Jamaica, US Virgin Islands, Saint Kitts, and Saint Lucia over the coming four years. RHs serve vulnerable and remote communities where basic health services are often limited. During a disaster, RHs function as shelters, resource distribution centers, and even command centers, empowering communities to sustain their well-being. Hub components will likely include solar energy, refrigeration, potable water, connectivity, and on-site food gardens to provide life-saving resources for people with chronic medical conditions, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

These existing community centers already serve as key gathering points, aid distribution sites, and places for community events. With our support, they will be able to do even more to support families in need, providing access to basic services and building resilience.

The Position

The Community Resilience Coordinator provides programmatic and administrative support to the Caribbean Resilience Initiative for the growth and implementation of high-quality and impactful programming across multiple jurisdictions in the Caribbean. They will play a key role in managing information and data regarding program progress and impact. They will support program implementation, including delivery of services and goods in coordination with community partners. Work on this project will be diverse, but will be heavily focused on engaging local stakeholders including local implementing partners, local government, utilities, as well as the community. The Community Resilience Coordinator will liaise closely with our partners at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) based in St. Lucia. The Community Resilience Coordinator, at the direction of the Program Manager, will engage OECS to develop and implement assessments, coordinate and design community engagement, capacity building and training activities, support outreach with relevant line ministries in multiple jurisdictions, and strengthen overall program coordination with our partners at OECS.

The role will also include quality assurance responsibilities related to the build/establishment of the resilience hub itself, under the direction of the Program Manager, and in collaboration with the Procurement and Operations team. Mercy Corps’ CRI team is decentralized and stretches across five countries/jurisdictions in the Caribbean. The role of the Community Resilience Coordinator is crucial to ensure highly-localized approach and adaptations to the overall program design and implementation, to ensure the highest quality and impact for the community.

Essential Responsibilities

PROGRAM DELIVERY AND REPORTING

• Act as primary coordinating team member for activities in the community, including the development of a resilient infrastructure and ongoing community engagement projects.
• Collaborate with local partners to ensure quality program delivery in communities throughout target jurisdictions (with focus on Jamaica, St Lucia and Nevis).
• Act as primary community focal point and community advocate for all Mercy Corps activities at local and national levels. This may include answering questions from the community, creating opportunities for community input, and informing the implementation of the program, suggesting changes/adaptations based on community-level input.
• Support the planning, coordination and execution of program related workshops.
  Communicate regularly with local organizations, local government representatives, emergency response agencies/actors, relevant utilities.
• Support local purchasing and procurement activities, under the direction of the Procurement and Operations team.
• Lead training and/or manage third-party facilitated training conducted with local stakeholders, including government and emergency management authorities. This may include short training focused on the use and implementation of the hub components, and large territory-wide exercises to improve emergency response capacity.
• Facilitate discussion and development of an overall framework/plan to ensure equitable use and access to emergency services available through the resilience hub(s) established.
• Support information and social-behavioral change campaigns in advance of the annual storm season.

DEPARTMENT STRATEGY AND REPRESENTATION

• Support Program Manager in the development and organize activities to secure resources for programs and engage relevant local stakeholders to provide support.
• Develop program implementation strategies, including partnership frameworks when needed.
• Adhere to all MC procurement, logistics and administrative regulations related to programming.
• Fulfill Mercy Corps Program Management Minimum Standards based on the organization-wide
• Guide.
• Ensure all interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy, Do No Harm principles, and beneficiary accountability standards.

PROJECT MONITORING & REPORTING

• Lead local facilitation of assessment and data collection, in collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation team.
• Provide monitoring systems, including gathering data for case studies. This will include both direct and remote monitoring where access is limited or restricted.
• Provide support to Program Manager to ensure ensure reporting to donor is complete and submitted according to grant agreement and timeframes
• Support the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator with project M&E and coordinate post-distribution monitoring activities.
• Support mobile survey development, and facilitating M&E training for volunteers.
• Support the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with reporting responsibilities, including final reports to institutional donors and internal summaries of program activities.

ADMINISTRATION SUPPORT

• Proactively lead administrative support for the field team, including maintaining required documentation, organizing program files, and general knowledge management support.
• Track Day to day activities of the project and record in project tracker using Project Management Software such as Microsoft project
• Provision of weekly and monthly reports on Project activities
• Liaise with the procurement team to ensure timely delivery of procurement objectives
• Other tasks assigned by the Infrastructure Program Manager in alignment with the candidate’s experience and job function.

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

Supervisory Responsibility

None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Manager

Works Directly With: CRI Resilience Team, PRIME Community Disaster Risk Reduction program team, partner representatives with Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)

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 Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• BA/S in International Development or related fields is highly preferred.

• 2+ years of demonstrated experience in providing coordination and support for program management.

• Ability to interact effectively with international and national personnel.

• Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

• Prior NGO or international development experience is preferred.

• Knowledge of relevant technical sectors (emergency relief, Disaster Risk Reduction, emergency preparedness, economic development, agriculture, water) preferred.

• A demonstrated ability to multi-task and process information into action so as to not delay program activities.

Success Factors

The successful Program Coordinator will engage multiple stakeholders active in preparedness and response, and advocate on behalf of the community. They will maintain strong cooperative relationships with other departments and interact effectively with international and national personnel both in a managerial and training capacity while demonstrating the ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a solid commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is hybrid/remote and candidates must be based in a program location – St. Lucia or Jamaica preferred. All MC employees are expected to work a five-day work week. This position requires 40% of travel by road, sea and air to field program locations. This position will at least part-time be based in the OECS office in Castries, St Lucia to improve coordination throughout the program.

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.