JEOP Cash/Markets Advisor II, Ethiopia – (200000C5) Full Time

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Note: This position will be contingent on Award approval

Job Summary:

You will serve in a supervisory role and key position on the USAID Food for Peace supported Joint Emergency Operation (JEOP) as the Cash and Markets Technical Advisor.  You will provide technical advice and support to program design and implementation issues in the area of cash and market-based programming in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices to country program teams to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Your advice, knowledge, and support will contribute to determining how effective, adaptive and innovative JEOP’s cash and markets programming is across Ethiopia.

The Joint Emergency Operation (JEOP) is an emergency food assistance program funded by USAID/BHA that targets transitory or acute food insecure households in 86 woredas in Ethiopia.  JEOP has distributed over 1.4 million metric tons of food between 2012 – 2020 with a combined budget of over $1 billion.  JEOP is lead by CRS, and includes the following partners: CARE, World Vision, Feed the Hungry/Ethiopia, Relief Society of Tigray (REST), and Organization for Relief and Development of Amhara (ORDA). JEOP works across five regions: Oromia, Amhara, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ (SNNP), Tigray, Dire Dawa administrative unit. The JEOP also regularly scales up to respond to emerging crises, including providing rapid food assistance in response to displacement and other hazards regularly faced in the country. Over the last 2 years, the JEOP has piloted and scaled up the use of cash transfers, reaching over nearly 10,000 households with either cash to facilitate transportation of commodities or cash to purchase food. The JEOP has also pioneered the use of ICT4D solutions to register participants and facilitate transfers to households.

In the coming period, the JEOP seeks to significantly expand the use of market-based approaches to enhance food security outcomes among the targeted caseload, and therefore seeks an experienced Cash and Markets Technical Advisor to provide leadership and oversight of this. The Cash and Markets Technical Advisor will ensure a coherent framework for analyzing and monitoring markets, and together with the JEOP senior management team determining the most feasible modality of food assistance in close collaboration with social protection and development actors, including the Government of Ethiopia. The Cash and Markets Technical Advisor will be responsible for ensuring quality programming, adapting approaches in line with feedback from program participants, and for ensuring coherence and adequacy of the transfer value. They will also lead the selection of appropriate delivery mechanisms for cash assistance, including piloting and scaling up digital transfers, and will work closely with the operations team to identify and collaborate with Financial Service Providers (FSPs). They will also be heavily involved in the JEOP’s market monitoring system, including monitoring the impact of the program on local markets and identifying opportunities to support supply side interventions. The Cash and Markets Technical Advisor will also oversee strengthening JEOP partner capacity in cash and markets based programming, and will participate in Ethiopia’s cash coordination forums such as the Ethiopia Cash Working Group and the Collaborative Cash Delivery. This is a challenging, strategic and exciting role that will offer the opportunity to transform the way emergency food assistance is delivered in Ethiopia.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Support the development and contribute to the implementation of JEOP strategies, standards, tools and best practices in cash and markets and modality decision-making that effectively engage partners, donors, and the Ethiopian Government for both Humanitarian Response Plan caseloads and rapid onset emergency caseloads. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.
• Provide technical solutions to the JEOP consortium, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools, assessments and M&E related to cash, markets and modality determination, helping to ensure high-quality implementation.
• Contribute to and lead the development of the technical designs for the JEOP in cash and markets, including supply side activities and/or other complementary interventions.  Support the process of preparation, design, submission and approval of project concepts and reports. Advise project teams on integrating donor strategies, priorities and technical requirements into CRS’ approach.
• Oversee capacity strengthening initiatives in cash and markets programming for staff and partners through helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums, conducting trainings and workshops, and coaching.
• Collect and analyze program data (including JEOP’s market monitoring and early warning systems), capture and share lessons learned and best practices for specific projects to facilitate improvements in decision-making and contribute to the cash and markets learning agenda.
• Support Ethiopia Country Program’s engagement with FSPs, coordinating with Operations to assess FSP capacity, select FSPs and manage FSP agreements and relationships. Support with development of training materials and onboarding and advise JEOP consortium members in FSP management as needed.
• Contribute to quarterly and annual donor reporting on cash/markets activities.
• Represent JEOP in Ethiopia’s cash coordination forums, Food Security Cluster, relevant technical working groups as they emerge (e.g. transfer value, MEB, etc.) and with other stakeholders as requested.
• Contribute to and support operational research with JEOP’s research and learning partner on modality comparison research and other relevant topics that may arise.
• Contribute to maintaining relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions, participate in forums in the area of cash and markets to collect and share best practices and promote JEOP’s work.
• Supervise and contribute to professional development of CRS JEOP cash/markets team members.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications (BQs)

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, such as economics, business, international development or related field;
• Minimum six years (for Master’s degree) or eight years (for Bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible, professional-level experience related to humanitarian assistance with strong, demonstrable background/experience with cash and market-based programming;
• Demonstrated experience with needs and market assessments, as well as response analysis frameworks. Familiarity with EMMA, PCMA, MAG, MARKit, RAM, MISMA and/or other relevant assessment and analytical tools would be beneficial;
• Familiarity with emerging trends with digital payments systems and related innovations;
• Preference for knowledge of the humanitarian program cycle, humanitarian coordination frameworks, general humanitarian funding landscape, and food assistance;
• Knowledge of project design process;
• Good understanding of social protection and social assistance programmes, and experience in coordinating humanitarian assistance with existing social protection programmes;
• Experience working with UN, NGOs, Donors, Private Sector and/or Local Partner Organizations; and,
• Experience with development of training materials, capacity building, and other means of increasing institutional knowledge among a wide range of stakeholders.

Required Languages – English

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 33%.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (SKAs)

• Strong relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings
• Good strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment
• Good technical writing skills
• Presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
• Proactive, resourceful and results-oriented

Preferred Qualifications – (If applicable)

Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

Supervisory Responsibilities

Supervise the cash/markets officer(s) and oversee cash/markets staff of consortium partners

Work Conditions/Environment Conditions

This position is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and requires approximately 33% travel, sometimes to hardship locations and for extended periods of time.

What we offer

CRS offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, life insurance, vision, generous retirement savings plan and the opportunity to work in a collaborative, mission-driven culture that is committed to improving the lives of the poor throughout the world.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

EOE/M/F/D/V – CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. (For all US and International positions)

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Tagged as: CRS, Ethiopia