Team Lead - Market System Development (MSD)

Team Lead - Market System Development (MSD)

Mercy Corps

Lusaka, Zambia

The Position

Reporting to the Country Director, the Team Leader will oversee all aspects of the anticipated Sida-funded Market Systems Development (MSD) program in Zambia, including planning, organizing, staffing, leading and managing all programme activities. The Team Leader will ensure accountability to our partners, programme participants, our donor, and key stakeholders, including government authorities. The Team Leader is responsible for ensuring that programming is on-time, on-scope and on-budget. The position holder will provide MSD technical leadership on the strategic development and management from inception to implementation and close out.

Essential Responsibilities

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT

• Provide effective leadership in the management of Mercy Corps’ anticipated MSD programme in Zambia;
• Ensure programme meets targets, is on time, on scope and on budget. This responsibility includes collaborative work planning that keeps all team members and partners accountable, ensuring accurate budget forecasting and analysis of monthly budget vs. actual reports, and proper procurement planning in collaboration with operations team members;
• Lead day-to-day donor communications on status of programme activities;
• Prepare high-quality monthly, quarterly, annual and final project reports in collaboration with the programme teams and the Knowledge Management and MEL team;
• Ensure oversight and backstopping for all team members, including in particular market research, intelligence, assessments and feasibility studies; building private sector partnerships and engagement plans; liaising with labor market actors to find strategic leverage points for co-investment; and designing systemic interventions in response to root causes of market ineffectiveness and exclusion of women and young people.

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP

• Ensure assessment, design and implementation meets the standards of an MSD approach;
• Ensure operational systems enable a diversely-skilled team to implement an MSD programme – including standard operating procedures on engaging and contracting with the private sector, enabling intervention or concept design; guidance for adaptive management; and compliance with Mercy Corps and donor requirements;
• Follow analysis of the Zambia socio-political and economic context, ensuring that this analysis is recognized and incorporated in programming;
• Contribute to the development of the country strategy, particularly on MSD components.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence;
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance discussions and strong performance management protocols;
• Supervise, hire and orient new team members as necessary;
• Train and mentor staff in MSD approaches to ensure successful program implementation;
• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed.

BUDGET MANAGEMENT

• Support in the development of financial management tools and the monitoring of budgets;
• Cross-check detailed transactions and review budget versus actual (BVA) spending reports to determine status of programme burn rates;
• Work with the Country Finance Manager to ensure spend-down plans and cash projections are developed and monitored;
• Lead programme input on any budget revisions or programmatic input for financial reports.

PROGRAM MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING

• Work with the Knowledge Management and MEL team to ensure the finalization of the program-specific framework and plan and any relevant procedures with clear designation of roles and responsibilities between the Programme and MEL teams;
• Ensure that robust monitoring and evaluation, quality data collection and analysis systems are in place, adhered to and used as a decision-making tool, in coordination with MEL team;
• Ensure appropriate attention to program learning and integration of lessons learned and knowledge sharing.

Supervisory Responsibility

• All programme team.

Accountability

• Reports Directly To: Country Director;
• Works Directly With: Department Heads, Programme teams, finance and operational staff; HQ Regional Program Team; Technical Resources and Quality Team; Resource Development Department.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

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

• MA/S or equivalent in international development, international relations, business management or other relevant field highly preferred;
• 7-10 years of field experience in MSD programming with a focus on thin markets required; At least 5 years of experience in management roles;
• Experience directly building partnerships with the private sector to increase employment opportunities;
• Strong strategic thinker with demonstrated capacity to translate concepts into action, with proven ability to be accountable for all components of the programme;
• Ability to think diversely from ensuring all aspects of a workplan are complete to talking strategic visioning with a donor partner;
• Pluses for additional background in financial inclusion, tech-based employment or gender transformative MSD programming;
• Competent in building networks, strong problem-solving skills, and ability to influence with effective listening, persuasion, negotiation and other techniques;
• Persuasive written and oral communication in English, including report writing;
• Prior work experience in Zambia or Southern Africa is highly desirable.

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