Program Manager

Position: Program Manager

Location: Kathmandu with frequent travel to the CRC working areas

Position Status: Full-time

About Mercy Corps

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. Now, and for the future. Mercy Corps has been operating in Nepal since 2005, implementing programs in food security, agriculture, market development, financial services, youth engagement, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. We take a systems-based approach in our programming, with the aim of improving the lives and potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across Nepal.

Program / Department Summary

The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (ZCRA) is an alliance of nine organizations including international NGOs, private sector, and academic organizations, who have come together with the support of the Zurich Foundation to drive better policy and practice to reduce the negative impact of floods on peoples’ and communities’ ability to thrive.

The Alliance is implementing a 12-year vision through 2025. The current phase (phase 3, 2024-2027) represents the first cycle of this long-term vision. Previously, the Alliance completed its first phase in 2018, and its second phase in December 2023 and third phase will run till Dec 2027. During this time, The Alliance works together to achieve 12-year vision by implementing solutions, promoting good practice, influencing policy and facilitating systemic change. In Nepal, the Alliance is comprised of Mercy Corps and Practical Action, working together on joint outcomes aiming at:

Building ex-ante resilience of communities at risk of flood and heat impacts across Nepal
Improving early warning and early action in advance of probable hazards
Enabling people who experience livelihoods losses due to floods and heat to recover quickly through compensation and/or insurance
The Program Manager will be part of a dynamic international team and play a central role in advancing Alliance work in Nepal and globally.

General Position Summary

The Program Manager assumes overall responsibility for the management and implementation of ZCRA program “Climate Resilience for Communities” (CRC) in Nepal. S/He will ensure alignment of the project with Global ZCRA program and takes leadership on CRC program strategies, approaches, and methods. Supervises the program team and ensures the achievement of high-quality program delivery and results, ensures communication and donor reporting. S/he will collaborate with influencing and communication specialists for devising appropriate strategies for influencing stakeholders on project prioritized issues and spearheading research that contributes to evidence for influencing and policy improvement.

S/he will collaborate with Mercy Corps field-teams in Sudurpaschim and Madhesh Provinces, CRC partners at the country level (Practical Action), as well as interact with government, UN, and private sector representatives. S/he will work closely with Mercy Corps’ Regional Program and Advocacy Manager and Head of the ZCRA program. S/he will also work closely with the Managing Risk through Economic Development (MRED) Nepal team.

As gender and social inclusion (GESI), governance and environmental compliance are cross-cutting and core components of all MC programs, the Program Manager is required to own these components to ensure GESI sensitivity and integration, governance practices and environmental compliance are integrated into the CRC program.

Essential Job Responsibilities

The specific duties and responsibilities of the Program Manager include, but are not limited to, the following:

STRATEGY AND VISION (10%)

• Identify and strategically include appropriate actions within the project contributing to achieving Country Strategy paper of MCN (Pathways to Possibility).
• Provide strategic direction for replication and scale up of project activities within and beyond MCN project areas.
• Play a critical role in shaping and developing CRC funding proposal for 2028-2031 with final submission due by the end of 2026
• Support MCN Management & Business Development Team and coordinate with Regional Program and Advocacy Manager for supporting or taking lead in fundraising for CRC interventions and developing projects/programs related to Disaster Risk Management, Climate Adaptation and Emergency Response.
• Identify capacity building needs of team members and partners e.g., personal development, and organizational needs, essential for implementation of projects. Additionally, contribute as an active member of the Nepal Emergency Response team (NERT).

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT (50%)

1. Program Implementation

• Lead end to end program delivery, in close collaboration with Mercy Corps ZCRA Global team and ZCRA partner in Nepal (Practical Action).
• Lead the development, review and updating of the Theory of Change, annual workplans, targets, implementation schedules, and the
• SWC project agreement, ensuring alignment and buy-in from all stakeholders.
• Oversee implementation quality of climate resilient actions implementation at community level as well as influencing work at government levels, ensure technical soundness, timeliness, alignment with program objectives.
• Provide strategic direction and adaptive management throughout program cycle to strengthen effectiveness, learning and results.
• Ensure full compliance of all activities with the SWC project agreement and Mercy Corps program standards.
• Lead donor and SWC reporting, ensuring high quality, timely and accurate narrative and result reporting.
• Manage program components holistically, including scope, timelines, risks, resources, and coordination, ensuring effective allocation and use of budgets and staff capacity.

2. Finance and Compliance Management

• Provide strong budget oversight, working closely with finance/compliance team on financial planning, monitoring, forecasting and donor/SWC reporting.
• Monitor expenditures against approved budgets and proactively recommend adjustment to ensure efficiency, value for money, and delivery against results.
• Ensure all internal control procedures are adhered to and that necessary measures are put in place to ensure high standards of accountability and compliance.
• Work closely with finance/compliance to mitigate fraud, conflict of interest and legal ramifications of Mercy Corps activities.
• Support and orient on MC Code of Ethics and uphold Mercy Corps’ Zero tolerance of corruption policy.

3. Team Management

• Provide strong, inclusive leadership to foster a high performing team culture grounded in mutual respect, collaboration and results.
• Set clear expectations, promote accountability, and support staff development through via regular performance management, coaching, and constructive feedback.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION (20%)

• Build and maintain strong relationship with Climate Resilience Alliance Program partners at the country and global levels.
• Ensure regular engagement and coordination with key governments, non-governmental organizations, donors, private sector and stakeholders relevant to flood and heat resilience to strengthen influencing, inform strategy, and improve programme design and delivery.
• Coordinate closely with MRED and other Mercy Corps programs to advance a shared flood, heat and climate resilience agenda and represent these programs externally as required.
• Provide strategic support to the Influencing and Communication Specialist to refine and implement the joint influencing strategy, in coordination with Practical Action.
• Monitor and analyze national and regional policy developments affecting climate & flood/heat resilience and integrate findings into the influencing strategy.
• Position Mercy Corps and ZCRA as thought leaders by presenting evidence, learning and results through government and INGO networks to influence policies and programs.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT & MONITORING AND EVALUATIONS (20%)

• Lead and commission strategic research that generates credible evidence to underpin the program’s influencing agenda and work closely with the Influencing and Communication Specialist to translate findings into compelling narratives, products and cases that influence policymakers, practitioners, and donors to improve policies and increase investment in climate resilience.
• Lead the strategic showcasing and communication of CRC program results and impact to donors and external audiences, in close coordination with the ZCRA global team, including presenting at high profile international events, alliance learning forums, and regional and global policy dialogues.
• Ensure proper integration of GESI aspects into sector-specific program planning and implementation.
• Lead planning and production of effective, thoughtful, and timely written products that advance policy perspectives in the form of brief and reports.
• Ensure appropriate actions for institutional memory of produced knowledge products, including flood resilience portal.
• Work closely with Mercy Corps MEAL team and Regional Program and Advocacy Manager to develop MEAL plans and appropriate tools.
• Monitor and evaluate the impact of advocacy and communication work.

Others

• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Mercy Corps as a humanitarian agency is expected to respond as and when a crisis and humanitarian situation engulf. As MC employees, all staff are expected to be part of humanitarian and emergency response in addition to their regular roles and responsibilities.
• Other duties assigned by the Country Director.

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.
Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values always and in all in-country venues.

Supervisory Responsibility:

Influencing and Communication Specialist and Province Coordinator(s).

Accountability:

Reports directly to: Country Director and Zurich Alliance Regional Program and Advocacy Manager

Works directly with: Program Managers, Program Quality and Partnership Manager, Local implementing partner(s); private sector partner(s); and Mercy Corps DM&E, Finance/Compliance, and Operations team members

Knowledge and Experience

• Master’s degree in climate change, disaster risk management, social sciences or other relevant fields.
  6-8 years of progressive experience in program and project management, including leading teams and partners, with a strong track record in advocacy, policy influencing, research and knowledge management.
• Strong technical and strategic understanding of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), and Resilience at community, sub-national and national levels, with demonstrated ability to apply systems thinking and systems change approaches.
• Proven experience in policy and stakeholder analysis including rigorous document reviews, mapping and strengthening stakeholder networks and translating analysis into clear, actionable policy recommendations for influencing
• Demonstrated ability to develop, scope and lead research agendas that support advocacy and influencing, including technical studies on heat and flood resilience, program learning and impact evaluation
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with ability to synthesize and persuasively communicate complex evidence and messages to diverse audiences
• Excellent organizational and management skills, with the ability to prioritize, manage multiple tasks, work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Strong partnership building, networking and facilitation skills, with experience coordinating multi-stakeholder processes and collaborations involving Alliance partners, governments at all levels, community groups, NGOs/INGOs, donors, and UN agencies, including contributing to resource mobilization and fundraising efforts.
• English proficiency (quality writing skills a plus). Demonstrated proficiency with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is required.
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have the ability to live and work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment with a capacity to spark innovative approaches to programming and inspire groups to collaborate closely to implement high-quality programs. They will have a proven ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results, with an ability and willingness to remain mobile for short-term and/or long term as necessary within the region, based on programmatic needs. An ability to work independently and as part of a team, with curiosity about and sensitivity to new cultures, a desire and ability to learn and grow, both personally and professionally, and a great sense of humor.

The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations. Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/short-term assignment to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Kathmandu, and it requires up to 40% field travel to support country programs.

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 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.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).

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