Partnerships Manager – Capacity Strengthening – Cash Consortium of Sudan (CCS) at Mercy Corps

Job Description

• The purpose of the CCS Partnerships Manager – Capacity Strengthening is to lead in supporting activities under the CCS pillar 3) strengthening capacity of local partner organizations with an emphasis on accompaniment and mentorship. The Partnerships Manager – Capacity Strengthening is responsible to establish a common approach and good practices for partnership between international and local partner organizations, and to manage a team to support accompaniment and mentorship with CCS’ local partner organizations. Beyond the local partner organizations, s/he will coordinate with the CCS Secretariat, representatives of international partners, and other NGOs and will attend key coordination meetings and support information sharing across partners.

Essential Job Functions
Capacity Strengthening

• Develop strong relationships with all partner organizations– national and international.
• Lead common due diligence exercises for all national partners.
• Lead common capacity assessments for all national partners.
• Establish local partner capacity strengthening agenda for the CCS.
• Coordinate with CCS and partner teams to plan capacity strengthening sessions as needed, managing resource allocation to work with any other country, regional and/ or global support colleagues, consultants, etc.
• Manage CCS Partnerships team of 2-4 team members dedicated to accompaniment and mentorship with local partner organizations.
• Coordinate with the CCS Partnerships team on planning and implementing training and coaching interventions provided for local partners.
• Support CCS and local partners in ensuring consortium planning, design and implementation are inclusive and oriented towards enhancing the voice and role of local partners within the consortium.

Team Management

• Advise and mentor Secretariat and partner staff on implementation of capacity building activities and approaches, including support for strengthening coaching skills within the consortium.
• Develop team member capacity to assume greater planning and implementation responsibilities with attention to high quality program outputs.

Program Management & Quality

• Maintain accurate records of capacity building activities, prepare periodic progress reports, and contribute to donor reporting requirements as relates to the CCS Partnerships pillar.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Ensure the consortium partnership activities are compliant with donor and grant holder rules and regulations.
• Manage the consortium partnership budget and ensure partner expenditures are in line with agreed upon budgets.
• Monitor expenditures and forecasts, ensure timely identification of under/over spends and propose and implement solutions.

Representation and Coordination

• Participate where relevant in external representation of the consortium with various groups, including donors, UN agencies, the World Bank and local authorities as feasible.
• Represent consortium progress to donors as well as within the Cash Working Group, the Emergency Livelihoods Cluster, other relevant clusters, working groups related to Social Protection, and other coordination fora as strategic.
• Share learning from the consortium with the greater humanitarian and development community within Sudan as well as regionally and globally, as relevant.

Organizational Learning

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve – we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

• 2-4 Partnerships Mentor roles
• Accountability

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: CCS Director
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: CCS Secretariat. local and international partners, Mercy Corps Regional and HQ Technical Support Units
Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in international development, social sciences, management, or a related field.
• At least 3-5 years of relevant experience in capacity building, organizational development, or NGO management, preferably in Sudan or similar contexts.
• Prior experience with civil society programming and interest required; strong preference for previous capacity building, community mobilization, advocacy, or grassroots organizing experience (particularly in crisis setting).
• Previous team management and training skills are required.
• Proven experience in conducting capacity assessments, designing capacity building interventions, and delivering training and mentoring support to local organizations.
• Strong understanding of capacity development methodologies, adult learning principles, and participatory approaches.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders.
• Fluency in English and Arabic, both written and verbal
• Commitment to the principles of partnership, local ownership, and sustainability in development programming.