LEAD MOBILIZER

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.

The Program / Department Summary

The USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education (FFE) Program, Advancing School Completion, Education, Nutrition, and Development (ASCEND), is a five-year initiative designed to improve literacy, school attendance, nutrition, health practices, and food security among primary school children in Liberia. The program serves public primary schools through daily school meals, literacy interventions, school health and nutrition programming, community engagement, and capacity strengthening of government and school-level systems.

ASCEND combines school feeding with education, nutrition, health, WASH, and community participation interventions to improve learning outcomes and strengthen local ownership of school feeding systems. The program works closely with schools, Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), Food Management Committees (FMCs), School Management Committees (SMCs), local government structures, and communities to promote sustainable and accountable program implementation.

The Position

The Lead Mobilizer is responsible for leading and supervising a team of Community Mobilizers in planning, coordinating, and implementing ASCEND activities across and Rivercess County. The position provides field-level leadership and quality assurance for community mobilization, school feeding, School Health and Nutrition, stakeholder engagement, capacity strengthening, and sustainability activities.

The Lead Mobilizer serves as the primary link between the Program Manager and Community Mobilizers, ensuring effective execution of field activities, achievement of program targets, and strong collaboration with schools, communities, and local government authorities.

The position allocates approximately 60% effort toward leadership, planning, implementation oversight, stakeholder engagement, capacity strengthening, coaching, and quality assurance of community mobilization and school health and nutrition activities, and 40% effort toward oversight of school-level commodity management systems, accountability, compliance, and reporting.

The Lead Mobilizer ensures that Community Mobilizers effectively support schools and community structures while maintaining compliance with USDA regulations, Mercy Corps policies, and government implementation standards.

Essential Responsibilities

Leadership, Planning, and Community Mobilization (60%)

Team Leadership Supervision

• Lead, supervise, and support Community Mobilizers implementing ASCEND activities.
• Develop monthly, quarterly, and annual work plans for community-based interventions.
• Establish staff priorities and monitor progress against implementation targets.
• Conduct routine field supervision visits and provide coaching, mentoring, and technical support.
• Timely submission of activity and monthly reports for the county.
• Review staff performance and support professional growth and development.
• Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, learning, and results.
• Program Planning Coordination
• Coordinate implementation of community mobilization, school health and nutrition, literacy support, and school feeding activities across assigned districts.
• Ensure timely execution of program work plans and activity schedules.
• Contribute to the development of work plans.
• Support coordination between program, commodity, MEAL, operations, and technical teams.
• Monitor implementation progress and resolve operational challenges affecting delivery.

Community Engagement and Mobilization

• Lead community entry and stakeholder engagement processes in target communities.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with school administrators, PTAs, FMCs, SMCs, caregivers, community leaders, and government authorities.
• Promote community participation and ownership of ASCEND activities.
• Facilitate community dialogue, sensitization meetings, and stakeholder consultations.
• Support conflict resolution and stakeholder engagement around program activities.

School Governance and Capacity Strengthening

• Support establishment and strengthening of PTAs, FMCs, SMCs, and other school-level structures.
• Guide development of school improvement and sustainability plans.
• Promote inclusive participation of women, caregivers, youth, and vulnerable groups.
• Strengthen community-led accountability and oversight mechanisms.

School Feeding, Health, Nutrition, and Sustainability Support

• Ensure schools meet minimum standards for school feeding.
• Ensure quality implementation of school feeding, health, nutrition, hygiene, and WASH-related interventions.
• Support implementation of behavior change and nutrition education activities.
• Promote food safety, healthy practices, environmental sanitation, and school health initiatives.
• Support sustainability activities including school gardens and local resource mobilization.
• Ensure Community Mobilizers provide effective support to schools and community structures.

Training, Coaching, and Mentorship

• Lead training sessions for Community Mobilizers and school-level stakeholders.
• Coordinate capacity-building activities for PTAs, FMCs, SMCs, cooks, volunteers, and school personnel.
• Conduct mentoring and coaching visits to improve implementation quality.
• Identify performance gaps and develop improvement plans.

Monitoring, Learning, and Reporting

• Monitor implementation progress across assigned schools and communities.
• Review and consolidate reports submitted by Community Mobilizers.
• Analyze implementation data and identify trends and performance gaps.
• Support documentation of lessons learned, best practices, case studies, and success stories.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting of community-level activities.

Commodity Management Oversight and Accountability (40%)

• Supervise Community Mobilizers in the implementation of school-level commodity management systems.

• Ensure food commodities are properly received, stored, handled, prepared, and distributed according to USDA and Mercy Corps requirements.
• Verify that participating schools maintain safe, secure, and hygienic storage facilities.
• Ensure proper use and maintenance of commodity management tools and documentation.

Commodity Monitoring and Compliance

• Conduct regular supervisory visits to schools to assess commodity management practices.
• Verify stock balances, inventory records, stack cards, ledgers, attendance records, and other accountability documents.
• Monitor compliance with approved ration sizes, food utilization procedures, and storage standards.
• Ensure corrective actions are implemented for identified gaps and compliance issues.

Commodity Accountability and Risk Management

• Monitor risks related to commodity loss, spoilage, damage, theft, diversion, or misuse.
• Ensure timely reporting and investigation of commodity discrepancies.
• Support implementation of corrective action plans to strengthen accountability systems.
• Escalate significant commodity management concerns to program leadership.

Capacity Strengthening and Commodity Management

• Support training and mentoring of PTAs, FMCs, storekeepers, cooks, and school administrators on commodity management procedures.
• Strengthen school-level inventory control, reporting, and accountability systems.
• Promote compliance with USDA commodity management requirements.

Commodity Reporting and Coordination

• Review and consolidate commodity monitoring reports submitted by Community Mobilizers.
• Coordinate closely with commodity, logistics, operations, finance, and MEAL teams.
• Support commodity planning, distribution monitoring, and compliance reviews.
• Contribute to commodity-related assessments and monitoring exercises.
• Escalate any issues related to food commodities.

Influence & Representation

• Represent Mercy Corps professionally with government authorities, schools, communities, and other stakeholders.
• Maintain strong relationships with District Education Officers, County Education Officers, school administrators, and community leadership structures.
• Participate in coordination meetings, stakeholder engagements, and program reviews.
• Support advocacy and stakeholder engagement efforts that advance ASCEND objectives.

Security

• Ensure implementation activities comply with Mercy Corps security policies and procedures.
• Monitor security conditions within assigned areas of operation.
• Ensure Community Mobilizers adhere to safety and security protocols.
• Promptly communicate security concerns or incidents through established channels.

Supervisory Responsibility

Community Mobilizers

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Program Manager

Works Directly With: MEL Officers, Logistics & Warehouse Officer, Operations Officer, and Finance Officer, Agriculture & Markets Advisor, Nutrition & Health Advisor, Safeguarding & CARM Officer, Literacy Coaches, School Structures (PTA, FMC, Cooks), and MOE Staff.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program 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

• Bachelor's degree in Education, Community Development, Public Health, Nutrition, Agriculture, Social Sciences, Rural Development, International Development, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Minimum five (5) years of relevant professional experience in community mobilization, education, school feeding, nutrition, food security, public health, or development programming.
• Demonstrated experience leading or coordinating field-based implementation teams.
• Experience working with schools, community structures, local government authorities, and civil society organizations.
• Experience facilitating training, coaching, mentoring, and capacity strengthening activities.
• Strong understanding of community engagement and behavior change approaches.
• Working knowledge of school feeding and commodity management systems is preferred.
• Experience in activity planning, monitoring, reporting, and performance management.
• Excellent interpersonal, facilitation, negotiation, and communication skills.
• Strong organizational, planning, and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and other standard office applications.
• Fluency in spoken and written English.
• Ability to travel extensively within Rivercess County, including remote communities.
• Experience with riding motorbike with a valid rider’s license is a requirement.

Success Factors

The successful Lead Mobilizer will be a strong field leader capable of motivating and managing a team while ensuring high-quality implementation across multiple schools and communities. S/he will possess strong facilitation, coaching, stakeholder engagement, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to balance community mobilization and commodity accountability responsibilities. The successful candidate will demonstrate initiative, adaptability, sound judgment, attention to detail, and a commitment to safeguarding, participation, accountability, and sustainable community ownership of program activities.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Rivercess County and requires frequent travel to schools and remote communities. Travel may constitute up to 70% of the role and may involve difficult terrain and locations with limited amenities.

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.

Team Engagement and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

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 by 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)