Description : Field Operations & Administrative Officer - Venezuela. Company : Mercy Corps. Location : Sucre State
Description
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 long term impact.
Mercy Corps has been operating in Venezuela since 2018 implementing humanitarian and development programs, with special emphasis on water, sanitation and hygiene, health, protection, food security, and nutrition, and plays a key role in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information relevant to the humanitarian community in the country. The team is expanding its programs at the country level to implement quality programs with the required attention.
General Position Summary
The Field Operations & Administrative Officer will be responsible for providing effective, consistent, and proactive programmatic and administrative support to the program office located in Sucre by coordinating actions with Finance, Human Resources, Operations, Programs, Security, MEL, CARM, and IT teams. They are the primary point of contact with internal and external stakeholders and serve as a liaison between SMT (Senior Management Team) members. They organize, coordinate, and supervise special projects. They will have the ability to work both independently and as part of a team, implementing actions from inception to completion.
Essential Job Responsibilities
ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT
- Support in the processes of purchasing goods and services (selection of suppliers, preparation of requisitions and purchase orders, and preparation of payment requests), ensuring compliance with organizational and donor policies.
- Support in the receipt of goods and services.
- Search and establishment (agreements) of logistical needs (hotels, transportation companies, couriers, etc.)
- Makes hotel reservations for program staff and visitors.
- Administration of the Sucre office (payment of rent, consumables, furniture, etc.), ensuring its good condition and operation.
- Organizes meetings, including agenda preparation, preparation of meeting minutes, invitations, etc., and provides follow-up to required actions.
- Responsible for the coordination, planning, organization, execution, and monitoring of the program's activities for the Sucre area.
- In coordination with the Program Manager, socialize program actions with authorities and key stakeholders at the community, municipal, departmental, and state levels.
- Ensure that strategic alliances are established and sustained with key actors at the municipal and community levels.
- Provide accompaniment, technical assistance, and monitoring in the performance of the activities of the Sucre office staff.
- Elaboration and follow-up in the preparation of reports, proposals, and other documents, reviewing that these have the format and style in accordance with the branding of the organization.
- Verify the proper selection of participants, considering the established criteria.
- Support the development of the Program's Operational Plan and Annual Implementation Plans (DIP).
- Participate in the initial, intermediate, and final evaluations of the Program.
- Ultimately responsible for the correct use of economic resources, equipment, supplies, and materials awarded for the development of activities in the region under his/her responsibility.
- Represent Mercy Corps in internal and external inter-agency events as assigned by the Program Manager.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Program Manager.
- Ensure compliance with safety procedures and policies as determined by country leadership, in particular the safety manager.
- Support in the development and review of Safety & Security documents.
- Contribute to the team’s safe environment and awareness of Mercy Corps policies.
- Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
- Identify the training needs of the Mercy Corps team in Sucre and communicates them in a timely manner to the Program Manager.
- Ensure strong communication and relationships with partners, including local NGOs, corporate donors/partners, and UN and institutional donors.
- Mercy Corps Venezuela members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to the international standards that guide 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 MC laws, customs and policies, procedures and values at all times and in all parts of the country.
- Support and be responsive to the requirements of the program's accountability mechanism - CARM.
- Sucre Office team.
- Reports to: Program Manager
- Works directly with: Program team on site; technical team on site and with the national team.
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in international relations, international cooperation, humanitarian aid, political science, education, social sciences, or similar.
- Minimum 5 years of experience in field team management of health and nutrition programs.
- Experience with personnel management.
- Experience with budgetary control.
- Experience with activity planning and execution control.
- Knowledge and experience with Community Organization and Participation.
- Knowledge of the context and reality of the state of Sucre.
- Availability to travel frequently to the beneficiary communities of the program.
- Demonstrated negotiation, communication, and organizational skills.
- Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
- General knowledge and understanding of the humanitarian sectors and established humanitarian capacity in Venezuela.
- Excellent computer skills in the Microsoft environment (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.), knowledge of Google Drive and other Google applications.
Mercy Corps is looking for professionals with solid knowledge in their area, and with common sense and experience to solve atypical situations presented in the field. Likewise, Mercy Corps seeks organized, disciplined, purposeful and efficient people, oriented towards planning and meeting objectives. Possess excellent oral and written communication skills. It is important to have sufficient maturity to accept the criticism and demands of the job, as well as to recognize their weaknesses and rely on the work team. It must have empathy and commitment to the eradication of those unfair conditions to which the most vulnerable people are subjected. Availability to travel and support activities in other areas of the country, if necessary.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Sucre, Venezuela and will require occasional travel to implementation areas to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited.
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.
