PROGRAM & PARTNERSHIP COORDINATOR - NATIONAL

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

Mercy Corps has worked in Liberia since 2002, initially responding to the humanitarian impacts of the country’s civil conflicts and subsequently evolving its programming to address the changing needs and priorities of Liberian communities. Over the past two decades, Mercy Corps has implemented a diverse portfolio of programs focused on food security, agricultural livelihoods, nutrition, financial inclusion, youth economic empowerment, renewable energy, water and sanitation, and community resilience, supporting sustainable development and improved opportunities across the country.

The USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program in Liberia is a five-year, $35 million initiative implemented by Mercy Corps to improve literacy, school attendance, nutrition, and food security among primary school children in four counties: Grand Bassa, Rivercess, River Gee, and Grand Gedeh. The program will reach approximately 50,000 students in 234 public primary schools through the provision of nutritious daily school meals, strengthened early grade reading instruction, and integrated school health and nutrition interventions. In addition to reducing short-term hunger and improving educational outcomes, the program seeks to increase the Government of Liberia’s capacity to manage and sustain school feeding and literacy systems beyond the life of the award.

The program combines direct school meal provision with system-strengthening activities that support literacy, health and nutrition, school infrastructure, community engagement, and government leadership. Key interventions include strengthening teacher training and instructional support systems, improving WASH and food safety practices, promoting school gardens and local procurement, building the capacity of school and community management structures, and supporting national and sub-national government institutions to plan, finance, monitor, and sustain school feeding and early grade reading programs. The program is designed around a gradual transition strategy that shifts responsibility for implementation and oversight from Mercy Corps to the Government of Liberia, schools, and communities, ensuring long-term sustainability and local ownership of both education and school feeding outcomes.

The Position

The Program and Partnership Coordinator provides field-level leadership, technical coordination, partnership management, and quality assurance support for the implementation of the USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education ASCEND Program in Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties. The position serves as Mercy Corps' primary field-based representative supporting implementation led by SCIDA and works closely with the SCIDA Program Manager to ensure alignment, consistency, quality, and compliance across program approaches, systems, and standards.

Rather than duplicating implementation management responsibilities held by SCIDA, the Program and Partnership Coordinator serves as a technical advisor, facilitator, and coordination focal point, helping to strengthen delivery, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration across consortium partners and government stakeholders.

The position is responsible for supporting implementation quality, promoting adherence to approved work plans and technical approaches, facilitating coordination among consortium members, government agencies, and local stakeholders, and identifying implementation risks and opportunities for adaptive management. The role also works closely with Mercy Corps technical, MEL, finance, operations, supply chain, and safeguarding teams to ensure integrated, efficient, and accountable program delivery across Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties.

Essential Responsibilities

Program Coordination and Quality Assurance

• Provide day-to-day technical coordination and implementation support to SCIDA and other consortium partners in Grand Gedeh and River Gee.
• Support consistent application of program methodologies, technical standards, implementation tools, and operating procedures across implementation areas.
• Monitor implementation progress against approved work plans, targets, and performance indicators and support timely resolution of implementation bottlenecks.
• Conduct regular field visits to schools communities to assess program quality, compliance, and effectiveness.
• Facilitate implementation planning, activity reviews, and action tracking with SCIDA and relevant stakeholders.
• Support adaptive management processes by identifying lessons learned, implementation challenges, and opportunities for program improvement.
• Ensure implementation aligns with program objectives, donor requirements, safeguarding standards, and Mercy Corps policies.

Partnership Management and Consortium Coordination

• Serve as the primary Mercy Corps focal point for coordination with SCIDA in Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties.
• Support effective collaboration and communication among consortium partners, government institutions, schools, and communities.
• Facilitate regular coordination meetings, joint planning sessions, partner reviews, and cross-partner learning activities.
• Monitor partnership performance and provide technical guidance and support to strengthen implementation quality and compliance.
• Support the development and monitoring of partner work plans, action plans, and reporting requirements.
• Promote integration and collaboration among school feeding, literacy, health and nutrition, community engagement, and systems strengthening activities.

Government and Stakeholder Engagement

• Maintain strong working relationships with county and district authorities, including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, and other relevant government stakeholders.
• Support government participation in program planning, implementation, monitoring, and sustainability activities.
• Facilitate coordination among County School Feeding Steering Committees and other county-level structures where applicable.
• Represent Mercy Corps in technical meetings, coordination forums, and stakeholder engagements as delegated.
• Promote local ownership and long-term sustainability of program interventions.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)

• Work closely with the MEL team to support data quality, data utilization, and performance monitoring activities.
• Support routine monitoring visits, assessments, learning activities, and program reviews.
• Ensure program performance information is reviewed regularly and used to strengthen implementation quality and decision-making.
• Contribute to preparation of progress reports, partner updates, lessons learned, and donor deliverables.
• Support tracking of partnership performance, action items, and implementation commitments.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Coordinate closely with Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, HR, Administration, Security, MEL, and technical teams to support effective implementation across Grand Gedeh and River Gee.
• Facilitate communication between field teams and Mercy Corps support departments to ensure timely provision of operational support.
• Support activity planning, procurement planning, logistics coordination, and implementation readiness processes.
• Monitor implementation risks and escalate operational, compliance, and programmatic issues for timely management attention.
• Promote integrated planning and coordination across consortium partners and technical sectors.

Child Safeguarding, Protection and Accountability

• Ensure all activities comply with Mercy Corps safeguarding, protection, accountability, and ethical standards.
• Promote awareness of safeguarding principles among partners, stakeholders, schools, and communities.
• Ensure accountability mechanisms are accessible and functioning effectively.
• Support timely referral and reporting of safeguarding concerns in accordance with established procedures.

Knowledge Management

• Support documentation of best practices, lessons learned, program achievements, and implementation innovations.
• Maintain quality records of coordination activities, field monitoring findings, and partnership engagements.
• Contribute to organizational learning and continuous improvement efforts.
• Ensure timely submission and maintenance of required reports, trackers, and coordination documents.

Influence & Representation

• Represent Mercy Corps in county-level coordination forums and technical meetings as delegated.
• Foster productive working relationships with government agencies, consortium partners, school leadership, and community stakeholders.
• Support visibility, coordination, and strategic positioning of the ASCEND Program within the operational counties.
• Promote collaboration and information sharing among program stakeholders.

Security

• Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps security policies and procedures.
• Support staff and partner awareness of security protocols and risk mitigation measures.
• Immediately report security concerns and support appropriate response actions.

Supervisory Responsibility

None. The position provides technical coordination, facilitation, and advisory support to partner teams but does not directly supervise SCIDA personnel.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Technical Director

Works Directly With: SCIDA Program Manager, Technical Advisors, MEL Team, Supply Chain and Operations Team, Finance Department, Safeguarding and CARM Team, County Education Officers, Ministry of Agriculture representatives, Ministry of Health representatives, school leadership structures, and consortium partners.

The Program and Partnership Coordinator reports directly to the Technical Director and works in close partnership with the SCIDA Program Manager, consortium partners, and county-level government counterparts.

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

SCIDA Program Manager, Technical Advisors, MEL Team, Supply Chain and Operations Team, Finance Department, Safeguarding and CARM Team, County Education Officers, Ministry of Agriculture representatives, Ministry of Health representatives, school leadership structures, and consortium partners.

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor's degree in International Development, Education, Agriculture, Public Administration, Social Sciences, Project Management, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience implementing or coordinating donor-funded development programs.
• Demonstrated experience working with local implementing partners, consortium arrangements, or subaward management structures.
• Experience supporting education, school feeding, food security, agriculture, nutrition, or community development programs preferred.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and partnership management experience.
• Proven ability to coordinate multiple actors and facilitate collaboration among government agencies, NGOs, and community stakeholders.
• Experience supporting work planning, implementation monitoring, quality assurance, and donor compliance.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation, and relationship management skills.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently while managing multiple priorities.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.
• Commitment to safeguarding, accountability, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will be a highly collaborative coordinator and relationship builder with strong technical and facilitation skills. They will be capable of influencing without direct authority, fostering strong partnerships, and supporting high-quality implementation across multiple stakeholders. The individual will demonstrate excellent judgment, diplomacy, adaptability, and problem-solving skills while maintaining a strong focus on quality, accountability, partnership effectiveness, and achievement of program results.

A successful Program and Partnership Coordinator will be viewed by partners and government stakeholders as a trusted technical resource, facilitator, and problem solver who strengthens collaboration and implementation effectiveness across the ASCEND consortium.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Grand Gedeh and it requires up to 40% travel 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.

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).