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 a long-term impact.

The Program / Department / Team (USAID Informal Livelihoods Advancement Activity (Iqlaa)

Iqlaa  is a five-year program funded by USAID, supporting Jordan's MSEs to meet their immediate needs while building a foundation of stability from which they can grow, transform, and build resilience to future shocks. The Iqlaa purpose is to place formal and informal Jordanian MSEs on a path to recovery, resilience, growth, and formalization following the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. The activity, led by Mercy Corps, weaves together technical expertise from a robust set of national, regional, and international partners including AmCham, Andersen, Dalberg, Expectation State, MEII, Migrate, and Q-Perspective.  Iqlaa works to implement best practices in crisis response, enterprise strengthening, and inclusive job creation and financial sector development that is well matched to the current needs of Jordan’s MSEs. Implementation of the activities combines the expertise and experience of all partners, assuring an integrated approach with interconnected activities. 

To achieve its purpose, Iqlaa has three interwoven components. First, research and analysis will inform evidence-based decision-making in addressing the informality of businesses in Jordan. Second, providing tailored technical assistance to firms will help achieve productivity, expansion, and growth. And lastly, enhancing access to finance so that firms can survive, grow, and reach new heights of productivity. Iqlaa works to implement best practices in crisis response, enterprise strengthening, inclusive job creation, and financial sector development within an MSD framework that is well-matched to the current needs of Jordan's MSEs, and the future of prosperity envisioned.

Over the life of the program, Iqlaa’s priority sectors are:

Agriculture: key for post-production HBBs, especially women-owned; critical for food security and vulnerable due to water scarcity.

Hospitality and Tourism: key sector for HBBs, strong links to agriculture sector through cross-over businesses.

Manufacturing: second largest sector by number of MSEs; handmade sub-sector demonstrates the potential for People Living with Disabilities (PLWD) and women-owned HBBs; supports locally made products.

Services including Retail: largest sector by number of MSEs; primary contributor to employment and GDP in Jordan.

The Position (General Position Summary)

The Inclusion Coordinator will be a key member of the gender, youth, and social inclusion team at Iqlaa. 

Additionally, the Inclusion Coordinator will support the Inclusion Lead to ensure that all activities and interventions implemented throughout Iqlaa are inclusive in their approach and execution taking into consideration the unique needs of women, youth, and PLWDs. The coordinator will also support the Inclusion Lead to deliver interventions that directly support the growth and resilience of businesses owned by women, youth, and PWDs.

Essential Responsibilities

GENERAL

• The Inclusion Coordinator will support the inclusion lead in developing, monitoring and implementing the inclusion action plan across program components, partners workplans, and annual Iqlaa workplans.
• The Coordinator will support the inclusion lead in creating and facilitating trainings, capacity building, awareness on inclusion  for program team, partners, vendors and sub awardees to ensure inclusion is implemented throughout programming and within the MSEs themselves. This entails training materials creation, training facilitation, training logistics preparation, organizing webinars, meetings, community of practice initiatives and field visits and supporting the MEL team in monitoring training impact.
• The Inclusion Coordinator will also assist the inclusion lead in coordinating with Iqlaa components staff, partners and sub awardees on measures that ensure inclusion of women, youth, and PWDs, through regular meetings, field visits, site visits, and webinars.
•  The Inclusion Coordinator will also support the continuous data collection and analysis to help inform and update the GYSI analysis as delegated by the inclusion lead.
• The inclusion coordinator will continuously monitor inclusion specific activities, and this includes but is not limited to field visits on site to market actors and MSEs supported under Iqlaa
• The inclusion coordinator will support the inclusion lead in preparing for the gender community of practice as needed.
• The inclusion coordinator will lead on procurement matters related to inclusion

GRANT MANAGMENT

• The inclusion coordinator ensure implementation of Iqlaa  ’s inclusion activities are on time, within targets, and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts.
• The inclusion coordinator ensure adherence to Mercy Corps PM@MC minimum standards, including Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM).
• The inclusion coordinator will assist the inclusion lead in crafting intervention scopes including requests for applications, requests for proposals, and scopes of work to help produce targeted solutions for all MSEs including those owned by women, youth, and PLWDs.
•  The inclusion coordinator will continuously assist in highlighting opportunities for creating change, and impact including ideas for request for applications and request for proposals (RFAs, RFPs), potential success stories that will help show case inclusion related interventions and boost participation of women, youth , PLWDs led MSEs in the program.
• The inclusion coordinator will assist in evaluating applicants, and vendors proposals in relation to submitted interventions, and scopes created and released. This includes and is not limited to reviewing documentation, grading, and participating in interviews as delegated by the inclusion lead.
• The Inclusion Coordinator will assist in overseeing specific inclusion interventions, and this includes assisting in monitoring and ensuring quality delivery of milestones, deliverables, compliance with minimum USAID requirements, and support in leveraging MEL data and the CLA process as delegated by the inclusion lead.
• The inclusion coordinator will assist the inclusion lead in ensuring inclusion related activities including those handled by partners and vendors follow Mercy Corps’ internal systems and procedures, including Iqlaa specific requirements (such as USAID marking and branding requirements, environmental compliance requirements, etc.).
• The inclusion coordinator will guide the awarded vendors, partners, sub awardees and consultants on the
• Troubleshoot any challenges and issues that MSEs and HBBs owned by women, youth, PLWDs, and refugees might face while receiving the services, through creating and implementing a feedback reporting channel to the relevant component leads to keep them aware of MSEs’ performance and flagged issues.
• Identify opportunities from the field, and flag potential issues/constraints to the Inclusion Lead to be channeled back to the Iqlaa leadership team.
• Support in monitoring Iqlaa inclusion achievements against Iqlaa indicators across the different iqlaa components such as research, outreach, MSEs, access to finance, , and this includes but is not limited to collecting and analysing data to help explain achieved figures especially if underachieving, and actively participating in designing and pitching adaptations.
• Assist the collaboration, learning and adaptation (CLA) function in GYSI related activities and interventions as delegated by the inclusion lead
•  Assist the Monitoring and evaluation and leaning function in coordinating MEL activities related to GYSI activities and interventions
• Provide weekly and quarterly updates to the inclusion lead on implemented activities, conducted meetings, and achievements and successes Support the inclusion lead in researching GYSI related problems, and suggested solutions, and this includes  and is not limited to conducting desk research, and assist in collecting primary data and data analysis.
• Support the inclusion lead in collecting and sharing learnings and best practices on embedding inclusion related to women, youth, and PLWDs.
• CROSS TEAM COORDINATION:
• Work seamlessly with other components and teams including the research, innovation, PQL, and MSEs Support to maximize synergies within Iqlaa components for optimized results and targets.
• Collaborate with the Outreach team on matters related to inclusion such as and not limited to providing stakeholders information that can help mobilize MSEs owned by women, youth, and PLWDs, conducting awareness raising sessions on inclusion, and ensuring that our as delegated by the inclusion lead.
• Collaborate with the MSE team to help create interventions that are GYSI specific and compliant as delegated by the inclusion lead.
• Collaborate with the access to finance team on access to finance solutions that are GYSI specific and compliant as delegated by the inclusion lead.
• Assist the program research function in invigilating the data collection process and providing insights to ensure inclusion measures are implemented.
• Build networks with different actors and stakeholders in the inclusion domain that would support Iqlaa   team in the ensuring interventions are inclusive for women, youth, persons living with disabilities, and refugees.
• Identify potential success stories and other communications-worthy achievements to convey to the Communications team.
• Keep an eye on any potential trends that would affect Iqlaa interventions.

Minimum Standards for programming.

• Support adherence to Mercy Corps Gender Policy and Procedures

RISK MANAGEMENT

• follow the adequate risk management systems that are in place;

• Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events.

Supervisory Responsibility

None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Inclusion Lead

Works Directly With : Iqlaa program staff across all components  including the MSE team, the PQL team, outreach team, Communications team, research team, access to finance team, innovation team.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, and 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

• Demonstrated technical experience implementing gender and social inclusion integration.
• 6+ years of professional experience related to implementing social inclusion in Jordan.
• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant academic area such as a social science discipline.
• Experience in Jordan and an in-depth understanding of gender, age, and other locally significant socio-cultural factors in the context of related programming.
• Demonstrated capacity to create training materials in Arabic and disseminate training materials and sessions with 4 years of experience.
• Skills in participatory learning and action and facilitating collaborative problem solving.
• Arabic Fluency.
• Good command in written and oral communication in English.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Project management skills are important in the sense of crafting problem statements, interventions schemes, and following up on workplans

Demonstrate logic in following up on inclusion related interventions

Success Factors

The Inclusion coordinator will have a deep commitment to humanitarian principles and values as well as to the overall objectives and approach of the Iqlaa program. They will be curious and have a willingness to learn new skills and methodologies while bringing a solid foundation in communication and marketing donor funded programs ideally in Jordan or the region. They will be ability to work under pressure, independently and with limited supervision and will be highly organized with creative problem-solving skills.

Competencies

•           Ability to follow up on grants disseminated for the partners, contractors, etc….

•           Support in development of RFAs, activities

•           Ability to conduct research including sifting through secondary data, and ability to identify needs

•           Ability to mobilize and address the community

•           Ability to work with multiple teams and have excellent coordination and collaboration skills.

•           Strong facilitations skills

•           Ability to manage events, including workshops, meetings, focus groups discussions, etc…..

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Amman, Jordan or other Middle East Mercy Corps locations and it requires up to 40% travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited.  Housing for this role is in individual housing and staff will have access to good medical services and the living situation is of a high standard.

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 elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.