Position Description
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Promoting Agriculture, Health and Alternative Livelihoods (PAHAL), Financial Services
Position Title:
Coordinator
Kathmandu, Nepal (55%) with frequent travel to program field offices (45%)
Primary Location:
Full time
Position Status:
Salary Level:
N/A
Current Employee:
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PROGRAM /DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:
Mercy Corps is an international, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency that exists to alleviate
suffering, poverty and oppression by helping to build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps works amid
disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to support people, communities and organizations that can bring about
positive change. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has helped people turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they
deserve. Driven by local needs, our programs provide communities in the world's toughest places with the tools and
support they need to transform their own lives. Our worldwide team in 41 countries is improving the lives of 19 million
people. For more information, see www.mercycorps.org.
Mercy Corps began operations in Nepal in 2005, and since then has implemented projects in the sectors of agriculture,
food security and nutrition, financial services, youth engagement, and disaster risk reduction/ climate change adaptation.
To date, this programming has reached over 900,000 people in 23 districts. Mercy Corps Nepal works to build the
absorptive, adaptive and transformative potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across Nepal. The goal is
attained through a systems based approach to market development, financial services, disaster risk reduction, climate
change adaptation and youth engagement.
GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:
As part of the Kathmandu-based Technical Support Unit (TSU) the Financial Services Coordinator (FSC) is considered to
be a key staff member and will work directly with the Chief of Party (CoP) and Deputy Chief of Party (DCoP) on the
implementation of a five-year, multi-million dollar USAID/Food for Peace and USAID/Nepal-funded Development Food
Assistance Program (DFAP), titled by USAID as the “Promoting Agriculture, Health Alternative Livelihoods(PAHAL),”
actively working in 14 districts across the Far- and Mid-West development regions of Nepal.
S/He will oversee the financial services and related financial literacy activities of the program, providing support, advise,
coordination with regional level financial services technical support staff and the program’s local partners, and be the
focal point for financial services thinking and promotion in the PAHAL Program. The ultimate aim for this program
component is to work with the financial services sector at national, regional and local levels to help expand and strengthen
their reach to underserved and unserved areas of the country within the program geography. It also seeks to work with
these target communities to increase awareness of the benefits of sound financial services, increase financial literacy
toward helping community members, VSLAs, SACCOs, DCUs and/or other stakeholders more effectively, transparently
and sustainably increase their access to the same and to make sounder investment decisions in their own lives and
livelihoods. The FSC will actively take lessons from other country programs and feed best practices back into the PAHAL
while taking best practices and learning from the PAHAL back to MC’s other country programs toward the strengthening
of MC’s countrywide financial services framework. S/He will assist other TSU team members in designing and linking
their interventions with a sound, learning-oriented, iterative approach that is mutually beneficial and is both achievable
and measurable. S/he should adopt an act-learn-innovate strategy: act –capture evidence through action now, creating our
evidence base for what works and what doesn’t; learn – develop rigorous research and learning agendas; and innovate –
drive new business and activate partnerships for innovative financial services programming. The learning and framework
will adopt a systems-based approach that incorporates considerations of programmatic elements contributing to the
resilience of the financial services systems and networks and will seek to be more process-oriented rather than output
oriented. S/He will work closely with program teams, partners, researchers, academic institutions, peer organizations,
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Position Description
government, private sector actors and donor agencies to help program teams design quality programs and interventions
that demonstrably and measurably build – or contribute to building – resilient communities and the systems to support
them.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Program Quality
 Under the supervision of the CoP/DCoP and with the cooperation of the Financial Services Senior Program
Manager, develop the financial services intervention work plan for the target areas.
 Support the two regional TSUs, and through them the program’s local partners at district level, in the design,
review and approval of all financial services interventions.
 Develop, test and roll out capacity building measures on financial services for program teams, including support
visits, training workshops and designing/disseminating tools and resources.
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 Directly supervise project implementation and project team; coordinated closely with KTM-based TSU members,
regional TSUs, and program partner agency to ensure adequate performance, timeliness, and quality.
 Ensure financial accountability of the interventions, their operational expenses, and any sub-projects.
 Maintain a high level of programmatic reporting on a regular basis to senior management in order to fulfill Mercy
Corps and donor communication and accountability requirements.
 Carry out sound monitoring and evaluation practices, with a focus on impact monitoring, in coordination with the
M&E Manager, M&E Officers, and project staff.
 Participate in new assessments or new program development designs as needed.
 Recruit and mentor project staff as provided for in the project budget, while working with other sector team
members to ensure comprehension and absorption of financial services key interventions and their role across
other interventions.
 Support implementing partner to ensure a high standard of service delivery and financial accountability/ reporting.
 In coordination with Mercy Corps colleagues and management, maintain and promote good relations with
external partners and donors.
 Provide high quality, timely reports according to internal and external reporting requirements.
 Support teams to ensure inclusion considerations around key vulnerable populations (i.e., gender, youth, persons
with disabilities and the elderly) and other cross-sector areas in resilience-focused programs.
 Work closely with country teams and HQ program teams to ensure coordinated and complementary processes are
in place for innovative program design and implementation.
Program Development
 Assist TSU team members and partners in the development of program interventions through a resilience lens.
 Assist and contribute in developing new project proposals as appropriate and requested.
 Catalyze innovative solutions within the program and across the country program portfolio, with an emphasis on
resilience, financially sustainable financial services programs/interventions, and provide technical assistance to
enable teams to rigorously test and refine the innovations together with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
team and MC’s research partner(s).
 Help foster a culture of appreciation for new ideas, innovation and creativity.
 Assist in the review of implementation/project proposals for soundness of approach, particularly around financial
services within a resilience framework.
 Support in the development, and design of high quality concept papers and proposals to further multi-sectoral
resilience building programs and interventions within the program and in the country.
 Support teams to conduct systemic vulnerability and risk assessments, analyze data and utilize findings on an ongoing basis to inform and adapt program design/approaches, and to routinely conduct such assessments for new
areas of programming and new target areas, as required.
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Position Description
Representation, Partnerships and Outreach
 Help identify strategic partners for financial services expansion and strengthening in collaboration with the CoP
and DCoP.
 Help identify and work directly with partners in research and the private sector for partnerships or alliances and to
stimulate innovative programming and improved research and learning.
 Represent Mercy Corps at external events with current and potential donors as required by senior management.
 Regularly produce written materials that are strategic to building thought leadership of Mercy Corps in the region
and beyond.
Measurement, Learning and Impact
 Support a culture of innovation, iterative learning, rigorous evaluation, documentation, and dissemination.
 In collaboration with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning team, assist in designing and coordinating the
research agenda and identify opportunities for Mercy Corps to professionally instigate, document and promote
best practices and lessons learned that respond to the priority research and thought leadership topics.
 Source and synthesize existing evidence on learning’s from inside and outside MC into technical / policy briefs
and other accessible forms.
 Support program and country-level teams in creating learning documents, evidence-based research, and impact
studies that demonstrate the impact of our work, together with support from in-country financial services
programs, Regional Hubs and HQ TSU.
 Produce program briefs articulating and sharing evidence and proxy indicators of success in the financial services
sector within the country.
 Promote country teams’ work within the organization and cultivate participation in communities of practice and
other internal forums around resilience building regarding financial services.
 Ensure measurement of program benefits for diverse community groups (gender, age, socio-economic
background, etc…) and incorporate findings into new program design.
 Coordinate research dissemination and participation in appropriate learning and policy forums. Support the
creation of learning documents, evidence-based research, and impact studies that demonstrate the extent to which
our programming is impacting the lives of our beneficiaries.
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING:
As part of Mercy Corps’ agency-wide Organizational Learning Initiative, all team members are responsible for spending
5% of their work time in formal and/or non-formal professional learning activities.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards 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.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Direct supervision of in-country Financial Services-related staff at regional TSUs
or district level and those staff assigned to intervene in the same on permanent or temporary basis, as instructed by the
CoP/DCoP.
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Deputy Chief of Party
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Deputy Chief of Party, Director of Programs, Kathmandu- and regional-based TSU
members, M&E Manager, other related program managers in-country, and Mercy Corps Global Technical Support Unit
(TSU) team members as required.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
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Position Description
Agriculture, Ag Economics, MBA, Masters in Economics, Finance, or equivalent in development or relevant field
5-7 years of technical and management experience, including interaction with and development of diverse staff,
project design, and assessment, implementation and evaluation of an entire program, especially in microfinance
sector.
Proven success in managing and administering USAID or Title II preferred
Good understanding/familiarity of the program area and have good understanding of the political, social and
cultural issues of the area
Excellent networking, leadership and interpersonal skills
At least 3 years in a senior management role is required with experience in program management related to multisectoral, Title II funded activities strongly preferred.
History of working effectively and respectfully with national government, L/INGOs, contractors and other
partners.
Experience with USAID rules, regulations and a requirement is preferred.
Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and
cooperatively with team members.
Experience working at national level required.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
Strong computer literacy with a full knowledge of office applications.
SUCCESS FACTORS:
The successful Financial Services Coordinator will combine exceptional critical thinking skills, able to seek out, process
and synthesize complex issues and information into digestible, sound, practical frameworks for both the lay person and
more technically-minded experts. The FSC should be able to take experience, research and findings from various sectors
and sub-sectors to recognize and communicate the complex interrelations between Financial Services/Access to Finance,
DRR, CCA, Agriculture, Health and Nutrition, Economic Development and Opportunity, sociological and cultural
contexts and more and how they contribute to or hinder building more resilient communities and the systems that support
them. The FSC will have proven experience with cross-cultural teams and capacity building, individual staff development
and strong mentoring skills. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail as well as
strategic vision are essential. The most successful Mercy Corps staff 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.
SIGNATURES:
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Employee
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Supervisor
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