Livelihoods & Food Security Officer at Mercy Corps

Job Description

Program / Department Summary

With funding from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), Mercy Corps’ Nawiri Program is leading a consortium of Kenyan and international partners on a Eight-year journey to sustainably reduce persistent acute malnutrition in Turkana and Samburu Counties of Kenya. Through a phased approach that emphasizes evidence gap analysis, as well as partnership, learning, and co-creation, the program takes a robust county-centered design with government leadership, active engagement from communities, the private sector, and civil society. Mercy Corps’ consortium brings together the global leadership, research capacity, technical expertise, and implementation experience necessary to partner with local institutions to test, adapt, and scale evidence-based solutions. Together we will sustainably reduce persistent acute malnutrition for vulnerable populations in Turkana and Samburu Counties.

General Position Summary

The Livelihoods and Food Security officer (LFSO) will be a member of the USAID Nawiri Resilient Livelihoods Team and directly responsible for implementing nutrition-sensitive resilient livelihood interventions at sub-county (all wards) level. These include Climate Smart Agriculture (irrigated crop and livestock) production, market systems linkages, private sector and financial inclusion support, enabling market systems to last mile communities to support ultra-poor, strengthening diversified efforts for improved Household Economies. The officer works alongside other officers in layering interventions for collective impact at household and community level. Specifically, The officer will be supporting livestock and small-scale irrigated crop and fodder production for diversified household access to nutrient-dense foods, private sector engagement, households economic strengthening that aims at increasing sustained access to incomes (financial inclusion), Climate smart agriculture approaches and improved ecological practices that support Natural resources management. The officer will work closely with relevant county officials, CSOs and private sector players involved in livelihoods and food security & nutrition within their areas of operation.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program Management

Coordinate with the different levels of County Government to mobilize actions and ensure effective communication channels.
Coordinate with community leadership to facilitate activity integration and targeting of participants.
Lead implementation of livestock, crops interventions including coordination with target communities and partners at the sub-office level.
Directly oversee crop and fodder production through irrigation in selected irrigation schemes
Collaborate with Nawiri health and nutrition staff to integrate messaging into crop and livestock production training curriculum.
Design and lead TOT training sessions to Community Mobilizers / Champions in collaboration with Government counterparts.
Liaise with other project teams and staff at the sub office level to ensure that all Nawiri interventions are well-coordinated and prioritized
Coordinate with Markets and Alternative Livelihoods team members to identify private sector partners or opportunities for new enterprises that improve farmer access to input and output markets.
Coordinate with public and private service providers (animal health, crop husbandry, etc.) to reach Nawiri participants at the Sub-office level.
Support County livelihoods coordinator in the review and development of work plans and necessary reports.
Collaborate with the M&E team to support monitoring and evaluation on effectiveness and impact of livelihoods activities at the Sub-office level and make recommendations for improvements.
Community and Sub – County engagement

Mobilize sub-county, ward level and village meetings with relevant stakeholders.
Support the facilitation of planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to revise and customize implementation plans.
Conduct community mobilization and engagement meetings with ward and community-level leaders to implement USAID Nawiri livelihoods activities
Support community visioning process for resilient livelihoods
Support with collaborative partnership with other development partners and identify potential opportunities for linkage
Influence & representation

Collaborate with Consortium partners, sub grantees, local government, and other implementers, as well as with other Mercy Corps programs working at the sub-office level.
Facilitate planning meetings and workshops with government, NGO, private sector, and community partners to revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in at the sub-office level
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
Safeguarding

Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work
Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members
Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options
Others

Promote and adhere to the principle and objectives of the project and Mercy Corps.
Participate in other USAID Nawiri livelihoods program activities (NRM, Alternative livelihoods, Financial Inclusion)
Any other duties as may be assigned.
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 at all times and in all in-country venues.
Supervisory Responsibility

Supervision of assistant livelihoods officers
Accountability

Reports directly to: County Resilient Livelihoods Coordinator

Works directly with: Climate Smart Advisor, alternative livelihoods and inclusive markets advisor, County & sub office M&E officers, BOMA Nawiri project officers, and save the children household economic officers.

Knowledge and Experience:

Degree in agricultural related field or Diploma with over 3 years’ experience
A minimum of 2 years’ experience directly implementing agriculture / livestock interventions at the field level in Kenya ASALs.
Demonstrable familiarity with Kenya’s ASAL, agriculture crop and livestock, resilient livelihoods, and natural resources sectors.
Proficient analytical skills that demonstrate an understanding of the current concepts, priorities, and issues in program monitoring, data collection, and evaluation.
Team player who takes initiative and is a problem-solver.
Effective verbal and written communication, multitasking and organizational skills.
Ability to manage priorities independently
Understanding of the Turkana Local context including the local language is an asset