Program Coordinator – Jobtech for Refugees and Youth

Program Coordinator – Jobtech for Refugees and Youth

Location: Addis, Ethiopia

Position Status: Full-time (2.5 Years with scope for extension)

Risk Level: Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability. 

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.

Mercy Corps has been present in Ethiopia since 2004 working to drive bold and transformative ideas, working closely with government, the private sector and civil society actors to build a more resilient country, ensuring that programs are responsive to and influenced by participants and stakeholders. With the launch of Mercy Corps Global Strategy, Pathway to Possibility, the country office is poised to operationalize its three-year strategy with a vision to enhance the resilience of climate- and conflict-affected communities through market systems development for improved livelihoods, access to food, and safe and clean water to thrive in the face of crises. Currently, we operate in five regional states – Afar, Oromia, Somali, Amhara and Tigray. Working with a diverse base of donors that includes the United States Government, GAC, Hilton Foundation, United Nations, JOA, Sweden, EKN, and other foundations, Mercy Corps Ethiopia empowers people to recover from crisis, build better lives and transform their communities for good.

Program / Department Summary

Jobtech refers to digital platforms that connect people to work opportunities that build livelihoods. The taxonomy of what we mean by jobtech and examples of technology companies that are solving Africa’s unemployment problem can be found here (https://jobtechalliance.com/what-is-jobtech/). Jobs within jobtech could range from gig-work (think Uber, Glovo) to digital services for microenterprises to tech-enabled skilling.

What are we solving for?

We believe that jobtech, the use of technology to enable, facilitate, or improve people’s productivity to access and deliver quality work, is the future of work, and has the potential to create millions of jobs and/or improve livelihoods. However, it is significantly underdeveloped on the African continent, limiting its promise of job creation. Despite the scale of potential impact, it is poorly understood, the ecosystem is nascent, few start-ups have scaled successfully in this space, and the learning and community infrastructure around it is not consolidated (particularly compared to sectors like Fintech). There has never been a more important time to harness and shape jobtech’s enormous potential to drive meaningful employment for young people.

The Jobtech Alliance, launched by Mercy Corps and BFA Global in 2021, has a portfolio of grants which allows us to conduct a range of acceleration activities with jobtech start-ups, and to conduct wider ecosystem-building activities. We partner with jobtech start-ups across 10 African markets to support strategy, product and operational innovations which make their services more viable and scalable, more inclusive and/or delivering better quality jobs for the users they serve. We conduct research to better understand what makes these innovations work (or not), and conduct exploratory research on emerging themes to help guide the sector. To-date, the program has worked with 50 platforms and created over 40,000 quality jobs across the continent.

Jobtech for Refugees and Youth:

The Jobtech for Refugees and Youth program is a multi-country initiative focused on creating jobs and improving livelihoods for refugees and displaced youth through technology-enabled platforms. Building on the progress of initial programming in Uganda, the program has expanded to include Ethiopia, with Uganda remaining a key implementation country. We support jobtech platforms that are looking to scale, expand, or overcome growth barriers, and work with refugee youth to equip them with the skills, assets and capacities to access these opportunities.

The Position Summary

Reporting to the Jobtech for Refugees Program Manager, the Program Coordinator will serve as the primary implementer and day-to-day operational lead for the Jobtech for Refugees and Youth program in Ethiopia. He/She will lead the recruitment and enrollment of refugee and displaced talent onto jobtech platforms, coordinate and facilitate collaboration between refugee job seekers, partner organisations, and digital work platforms. Additionally, he/she will take ownership of procurement, contracting, and administrative processes for Ethiopia and participate in the documentation of insights and lessons learned for knowledge products published by the Jobtech Alliance.

The role requires strong coordination skills, a proactive leadership orientation, and the ability to work across multiple stakeholder groups including donors, ecosystem actors, private sector partners, implementing organizations, and refugee-led organizations.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Responsibilities:

• Identify, vet, and develop partnerships with refugee-led organizations, CBOs and other potential partners capable of recruiting and placing refugees into work on platforms
• Lead the recruitment and enrollment of refugee and displaced talent onto jobtech platforms through trusted partner organisations and channels (see above)
• Coordinate and facilitate interactions between jobtech platforms and partner organisations, serving as the primary liaison for day-to-day operations with support from the Jobtech Alliance team members engaging with platforms
• Lead and oversee all field activities and program implementation in Ethiopia, ensuring activities are delivered on time, within scope, and to quality standards.
• Coordinate procurement, contracting, and administrative processes within the Mercy Corps Ethiopia country office, ensuring compliance with organisational and donor policies.
• Track and manage activity progress against workplans, ensuring adherence to scope, timelines, and budget allocations for Ethiopia-based activities, with support from Program Manager.

Community of Practice (CoP)

• Plan and facilitate regular CoP engagements (e.g. convenings, webinars, knowledge exchanges) that bring together the diverse set of members (e.g. donors, ecosystem stakeholders, private sector actors, jobtech platforms etc.)
• Drive CoP membership growth, with a particular focus on incorporating new members from emerging geographies with support from the Program Manager
• Track CoP performance against targets outlined in the program proposal and report on progress to the Program Manager.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning & Reporting

• Conduct field visits to verify data accuracy and collect qualitative insights that will help adapt and improve the program.
• Assist in gathering insights and lessons learned, contributing to research as well as donor reporting while ensuring it meets both organisational and donor standards.
• Support the alignment of program activities with key performance indicators (KPIs) and help maintain data integrity for accurate reporting and informed decision-making.

 Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work 
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options

Supervisory Responsibility

N/A

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of programs with technical reporting to obtech for Refugees Program Manager (based in Kenya)

Works Directly With: Director of Programs (Mercy Corps Ethiopia), Venture Partners (Jobtech Alliance), Results Learning & Research Team (Jobtech Alliance), Ecosystem Lead (Jobtech Alliance), Finance and Operations Teams, Human Resources

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 & Skills

• Demonstrated Experience and understanding of the refugee working context is a must
• A history of excellence in achieving results and self-management.
• Minimum of 3 years experience working in project management, management consultancy, livelihoods or employment.
•  Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, Economics,Business Administration,Social Sciences, or other related fields
• Experience engaging with the private sector (as placement partner/collaborator or as a staff) is required. Experience working with refugees is strongly preferred. Experience working in a start-up or with technology solutions is a plus.
• A dynamic, “outside-the-box” attitude is required, with proven ability to think and act creatively in challenging environments.
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organize a workload among different tasks and team members
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal), and a collaborative approach to working with others.
• Working and written fluency in English, given work with a regional English-speaking team.
• Outstanding analytical capacity, with capacity to bring clarity for others and make quick decisions.
• Comfortable using shared document platforms including GSuite, as well as Microsoft Applications (Word, Excel and Powerpoint).

Success Factors

You are a self-manager who is passionate about refugee livelihoods and the role technology can play in creating economic opportunity. You are great at managing relationships with a diverse set of actors. You are geared around impact rather than effort, honest about what is working and what isn't, and comfortable stepping up to lead when the moment demands it. You have strong analytical instincts, can quickly spot opportunities for intervention, and are always ready to get your hands dirty.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  and it requires up to 30% travel to meet the Refugee stakeholders and build relationships within the settlements, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited.  Housing for this role is in individual housing and staff will have access to good medical services and the living situation is of a high standard.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organisations 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

Risk level; Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.

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. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of 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 e-learning 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 ([email protected]).

Application Process

All qualified individuals are invited to apply for the advertised position. All applications, including a CV, three references, and all applicable official papers, must be sent electronically.

Only candidates that are short-listed will be acknowledged and called for interviews.

“Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer promoting gender, equity and diversity. Qualified female and young candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. We are committed to empower women and youth.”

DEADLINE FOR ALL APPLICATIONS: July 15, 2026