General Position Summary 

The Senior Program Manager is the lead program position for Mercy Corps Afghanistan related to the STAR program in Western Region. Working under the supervision of the Director of Programs NRM, the Sr. Program Manager will provide leadership to the STAR program and will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of high-quality interventions (including WASH and community infrastructure); engaging actively with the relevant government authorities, and other WASH actors; managing the diversified program team and program budget. Working closely with Mercy Corps Afghanistan’s senior management and program teams, the Senior Program Manager will play a key role in developing and evolving the organization’s strategy and future direction in WASH and community infrastructure programming in the country. The position includes developing tools for planning, assessment and intervention monitoring; building active community participation into project design and implementation; ensuring design of high-quality interventions suited to the local context; monitoring and tracking program activities; designing training modules and delivering trainings for Mercy Corps’ staff, and designing and supervising baseline and end line surveys.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Strategy & Vision

• Contribute to the development of a sectorial strategy based on a strong contextual understanding of the country and in line with Mercy Corps values.
• Ensure proper consultations with relevant program and management staff and other key stakeholders into strategy development process.
• Promote the development of a holistic strategy through creating linkages with other sectors’ strategies (agriculture and food security, skills development, natural resources management, community infrastructure and job creation).
• Contribute to the development of WASH proposals to ensure long-term continuation of the WASH programming in the country.
• Liaise with donors and government authorities on implementation and development of WASH programs as requested by the supervisor.

Design and planning

• Support Mercy Corps Afghanistan team in identifying and contributing to the design of additional opportunities for short, medium and long-term programming.
• Contribute to design of new proposals based on sectoral and general knowledge.
• Integrate the use of community approaches in the design, implementation, and maintenance of projects.
• Collaborate with finance to develop budgets for WASH related work.
• Lead technical assessments in coordination with other thematic areas and/or other external sector agencies.
• Develop realistic and quality work plans for the implementation of various program interventions living within grant time and budgetary provisions.
• Ensure provision of program quality in all aspects of design, planning, and implementation of WASH and community infrastructure interventions.
• Ensure the mainstreaming of core protection principles through design and planning of sector interventions.

Implementation and program coordination

• Develop needs assessment strategies, design interventions and contribute to building the capacity of Mercy Corps staff, as well as project stakeholders.
• Provide technical oversight to the field teams and mentor project staff in the design of WASH activities, including rehabilitation/renovation of water and sanitation systems, solid waste management, hygiene promotion, and environmental campaigns.
• Ensure the tracking, monitoring and quality reporting of all WASH and infrastructure interventions.
• Complete budget pipeline planning, monitoring and monthly follow up, in collaboration with senior technical staff and in coordination with the Director of Programs NRM.
• Supervise and monitor the implementation of WASH activities, ensuring that all activities are compliant with the grant and Mercy Corps requirements.
• Work with Director of Programs NRM and Deputy Country Director (Programs) to identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, and other stakeholders.

Program impact and PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Prepare procurement plans based on project cycle for WASH and community infrastructure activities.
• Manage grant budget lines related to WASH and community infrastructure projects.
• Work with M&E Unit to translate assessment criteria to tools and methodology for monitoring and evaluation of interventions related to WASH and community infrastructure projects.
• Provide technical input and indicators to the M&E Unit to be incorporated into tools and formats as needed.
• Enhance internal and external compliance through supporting incident reporting mechanisms when needed.
• Maintain and coordinate reporting and documentation of program activities.
• Fulfil 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.

Team Management

• Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• 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.
• Lead recruitment and training of WASH team members in collaboration with HR department.

Influence & Representation

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with WASH Cluster, relevant local governments and other stakeholders relevant for Herat/Western region.
• Communicate effectively to ensure overall project targets and donor obligations are met.

Security

• Ensure compliance with 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 Beneficiaries

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward 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

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.