Summary
Date Posted: Tuesday, August 10, 2021 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
The Program / Department / Team
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.
As part of our activities in Uganda, Mercy Corps implements the The Apolou Activity - a USAID BHA initiative with the goal to improve the food and nutrition security of vulnerable households in the Kaabong, Karenga, Kotido, Moroto, and Amudat districts of Karamoja. The activity is implemented by a consortium of Mercy Corps (as lead), Save the Children, Whave Solutions, Tufts University’s Feinstein International Center, and three local organizations: Karamoja Peace and Development Agency (KAPDA), Nakere Rural Women’s Activists (NARWOA) and RiamiRiam. The Activity works with households, community leaders, the Government of Uganda, private sector and other development actors to address underlying causes of chronic food and nutrition insecurity while building a foundation for community and household resilience. A key component of this project is to promote sustainable climate smart agriculture techniques like permagardening to the members of the mother care groups and water user committees so that they can establish home gardens and produce vegetables which they consume as diverse diets and sell the surplus.

The Position
The Permagarden Specialist will be responsible for layering permagarden activities onto existing programming within Apolou, including the rollout of permagardens with mother care groups, water user committees, farmer enterprise groups and overseeing voucher input activities.

Essential Responsibilities
• Oversee technical quality and rollout of the permagardens
• Work closely with the Permagarden Technical Consultant to learn the operational Permagarden Minimum Standards which will form the basis of the permagarden roll out and work.
• Ensure technical quality using the permagarden minimum standard checklist, and then oversee the training moving from the AVAs and identified community agents out to the final participants
• Overseeing the building of several community demonstration sites and roll out of perma gardens across the target audience
• Support the development of SOPs for the permagarden input voucher program
• Conduct field monitoring including supervision of training and establishment of demo plots
• Operationalise permagardening monitoring tools working closely with the SCALE team.
• Work closely with the Apolou program MEL director to develop tools to track perma gardening impacts on targeted households, based on directors guidance and experience
• Work with the CLA manager and agronomy team lead to document some success stories and learnings from the region.
Supervisory Responsibility N/A

Accountability
Reports Directly To: Nutrition and Agronomy Advisor
Works Directly With: Apolou SMT, Apolou Technical and Implementation Leads, Apolou MEL Team, Finance and Operations teams
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 & Transferable Skills
• Bachelor’s in Agriculture, Agri business management, natural resource management and or related fields. A Master’s degree is preferred.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience as designer and implementer of permagarden programming.
• Experience working as community mobilizer or in other capacity working at community level
• Experience developing kitchen gardens or other household-based food production systems
• Experience in agroecology, permaculture, permagardens or biointensive agriculture
• Skilled in written communication in English
• Familiarity with BHA guidelines an advantage
• Experience living and working in remote, agro-pastoralist settings an advantage
• English fluency required
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
• PMDPRo / PRINCE 2 certification or equivalent a bonus
• Nga’karimojong speaker is ideal

Success Factors
The perfect candidate will be someone who is able to work collaboratively across multiple teams and departments. They must be able to multitask and complete required tasks efficiently and with a high attention to detail. Significant experience managing permagarden programming in remote locations with a diverse team is essential. Sensitive interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills are required to quickly develop productive relationships. Must be comfortable working in a high pressure environment to meet tight deadlines and targets.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Karamoja, Uganda. It requires up to 40% travel to support field activities across different Districts.

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 on the basis of 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. 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 e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Closes: 24th Aug 2021

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

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Job application procedure
Interested and qualified? Use the link below to apply.
https://recruiting2.ultipro.com/MER1024MERCY/JobBoard  

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