Ebola Program Portfolio Director

## Ebola Program Portfolio Director - Bunia, DR Congo Programs and Technical Specialities Bunia,Congo (the Democratic Republic of) ### Description Location:Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Position Status:Full-Time, Regular, Non-Exempt,Unaccompanied Risk Level:?Level 3?Level 2?Level 1 Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability. Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children. Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data) 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 / Team Mercy Corps is present in the DRC since August 2007 with a current workforce of more than 300 national and expatriate employees and operational presence in Goma and Beni (North Kivu Province), in Bunia (Ituri Province), and in Tshikapa, Kalonda West and Ndjoko Punda (Kasai Province), and representation in the capital city, Kinshasa. Mercy Corps is responding to the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC through an integrated emergency portfolio designed to support communities affected by the outbreak and strengthen the effectiveness of the wider response. The response operates in a complex and rapidly changing environment characterized by evolving epidemiological conditions, insecurity, displacement, community concerns and mistrust, operational constraints, and changing humanitarian and donor priorities. Mercy Corps works closely with government authorities, UN agencies, humanitarian partners, local organizations, donors and other stakeholders to ensure that its response is relevant, timely, safe and responsive to community needs. The Ebola response brings together complementary interventions and expertise, including community engagement, WASH, health-related activities, protection, livelihoods/cash and other humanitarian approaches as appropriate to the evolving response. Regionally, Mercy Corps teams in South Sudan and Uganda are engaged in Ebola prevention and preparedness for potential response scale-up in coordination with local authorities and other stakeholders, and the DRC country office. THE POSITION Reporting to theDRC Country Directorand working closely with the Director of Programs, country office senior management, regional and global technical teams, and business development colleagues, theEbola Program Portfolio Directorwill provide overall strategic direction and portfolio-level oversight across Mercy Corps’ Ebola response in the DRC and orient prevention and preparedness efforts in Uganda and South Sudan. The Director will provide strategic leadership for Mercy Corps’ Ebola response portfolio in the DRC, ensuring that programming is timely, high quality, evidence-driven, conflict-sensitive and responsive to rapidly evolving epidemiological, humanitarian, security and operational conditions. S/he will also coordinate regionally with Mercy Corps teams in South Sudan and Uganda. The Director will lead portfolio strategy and prioritization; oversee program quality and performance; strengthen coordination, representation and external positioning; cultivate strategic partnerships and donor relationships; and drive resource mobilization to enable timely scale-up, adaptation or transition of the response. The position will ensure that Mercy Corps maintains a coherent response strategy across locations and projects while enabling teams to adapt rapidly to changing needs. The Director will also promote learning, accountability to affected communities, safeguarding, localization and conflict-sensitive approaches as core elements of the response. ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES STRATEGY, VISION AND PORTFOLIO LEADERSHIP - Lead the development, implementation and regular review of Mercy Corps’ overall Ebola response and preparedness strategy, ensuring alignment with the evolving national response strategy, government priorities, donor requirements and Mercy Corps’ organizational strategy. - Maintain a clear strategic vision for Mercy Corps’ Ebola portfolio and translate changes in epidemiology, humanitarian needs, conflict dynamics, access, funding and operational conditions into timely strategic decisions. - Establish clear portfolio priorities and ensure that resources, staffing and geographic coverage are aligned with the highest priority needs and opportunities. - Develop and maintain a framework for rapid geographic adaptation, enabling Mercy Corps to expand into emerging hotspots, intensify activities where needs increase, and responsibly transition or reallocate resources where priorities change. - Ensure coherence across the Ebola portfolio, identifying synergies and opportunities for integrated programming across sectors, locations and funding streams. - Provide strategic advice to the Country Director and Senior Management Team on emerging risks, opportunities, response priorities and potential scale-up or transition scenarios. - Ensure that Mercy Corps’ Ebola positioning remains relevant and differentiated within the wider humanitarian and public health response. PROGRAM QUALITY, LEARNING AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT - Provide portfolio-level leadership to ensure that all Ebola programming meets Mercy Corps’ standards for quality, effectiveness, accountability and impact. - Establish and monitor clear portfolio performance measures and ensure that program teams use data, evidence, community feedback and contextual analysis to inform decisions. - Promote adaptive management and ensure that programming is regularly reviewed and adjusted based on emerging evidence, epidemiological developments, community perspectives and operational learning. - Ensure that community engagement and participation are integrated meaningfully across the response and that affected communities have appropriate opportunities to influence program design, implementation and adaptation. - Ensure that Do No Harm, conflict sensitivity, protection, gender sensitivity, safeguarding and inclusion are systematically incorporated into program design and implementation. - Promote approaches that address not only immediate response needs but also community trust, social cohesion and resilience where relevant to the response context. - Ensure that program learning, evidence, good practices and lessons are systematically documented and shared within Mercy Corps and with relevant external stakeholders. - Oversee appropriate monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning systems across the portfolio and ensure that findings lead to concrete management action. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONAL OVERSIGHT - Provide strategic oversight of program start-up, implementation, adaptation and closeout across the Ebola portfolio. - Ensure that project and response teams maintain realistic implementation plans, clear priorities and appropriate rapid response capacity. - Establish appropriate portfolio management mechanisms to monitor delivery against objectives, timelines, budgets, quality standards and donor commitments. - Work closely with program managers and technical leads to identify implementation bottlenecks and ensure timely corrective action. - Ensure effective coordination among programs operating across different geographic locations and funding mechanisms. - Support appropriate delegation of operational responsibility while maintaining clear accountability for portfolio-level performance. - Ensure that program implementation remains responsive to changes in access, security, epidemiological conditions and community needs. COORDINATION, REPRESENTATION AND ADVOCACY - Represent Mercy Corps strategically with t