Role Overview
The Kenya Country Lead provides strategic leadership and oversight of BSP field activities in Kenya and serves as Mercy Corps' primary programme representative with stakeholders from the National Police Service (NPS) and county-level representatives, including national and county government officers, community leaders, and local organisations. Working closely with the BSP Team Leader, Deputy Team Lead, and consortium partner technical leads, the Country Lead ensures effective delivery across all four programme outcomes in Kenya, maintains strong government and stakeholder relationships, coordinates implementation across multiple border locations, and supports adaptive programme management.
The position provides leadership and management oversight to programme field staff and local partners while ensuring that programme activities remain aligned with national priorities, donor expectations, and programme protocols.
Working with the Team Lead, other Country Leads, and the Communications Specialist, s/he will identify opportunities to influence policy discussions on Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) at the national and regional level and will build relationships with policymakers to support policy influencing and learning opportunities. Finally, s/he will work with local civil society organisations to design and support interventions that support community engagement in counter OIC efforts, including capacity building, community-police dialogues, local counter OIC campaigns, and media engagements.
Essential Job Responsibilities
Strategy and Programme Leadership
- Work with the Team Leader (TL), Deputy Team Leader (DTL), and consortium technical leads to ensure that the BSP in Kenya contributes to the programme’s aims of OIC disruption and is responsive to Government of Kenya (GoK) interests.
- Contribute to shaping the programme’s learning, research, and influencing agendas.
Programme Management
- Lead implementation of Mercy Corps’ BSP activities across Kenya in line with programme objectives and annual work plans.
- Ensure integration across programme outcomes at strategic border locations, including:
- Evidence and analysis
- Law enforcement strengthening
- Community engagement in counter OIC actions
- Victim protection and referral systems
- Work with the DTL and MRELA Manager to ensure that implementation is aligned to programme country workplans and budgets, ensuring delivery is on time, target, and budget.
- Lead adaptive management processes, ensuring programme delivery responds to changing operational and political contexts, emerging risks, and programmatic learning.
- Ensure that programme implementation is responsive to emerging local needs and opportunities, and consistent with Mercy Corps’ programme guidelines, principles, values, and quality standards.
Government Representation and Stakeholder Engagement
- Serve as a principal representative for Mercy Corps with BSP-relevant Government of Kenya institutions including the National Police Service, the Directorate of Criminal Investigation’s Task Force, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Counter Trafficking in Persons Secretariat.
- Alongside the TL and DTL, represent BSP in Kenya with the British High Commission and other HMG counterparts.
- Maintain strong relationships with county-level governments in programme locations.
- Support national coordination mechanisms relating to organised immigration crime and border security.
- Engage with other actors working on OIC, counter-trafficking, and victim support in Kenya, building a network for learning and policy influence.
- Engage stakeholders and local partners at the county and community levels in Kenya on action planning and developing strategies in support of counter-OIC/community-policing programming activities.
Risk Management
- Monitor contextual developments affecting programme delivery in partnership with the BSP Risk and Security Manager.
- Support implementation of programme risk management systems, ensuring compliance with BSP security protocols and standard operating procedures.
- Participate in incident management and crisis response where required.
- Promote safeguarding and Do No Harm approaches across programme implementation.
Team Management
- Manage project officers operating at field sites, ensuring quality and performance in the delivery of community engagement and community-policing interventions.
- Oversee performance of Kenyan sub-grantees, and provide team members and implementing partners with information, tools, and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
- Contribute to programme team-building efforts, help team members identify problem-solving options, and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and Reporting
- Work closely with the programme M&E Manager to ensure that effective M&E systems and processes are embedded within programme implementation and that data is collected, analyzed, and used to inform ongoing adaptation of programme strategies and delivery approaches.
- Assess and analyze impact and adaptively manage the programme to meet results.
- Contribute to the production of formal and informal reports and work plans on all aspects of Kenya programme delivery in a timely and efficient manner.
Accountability to Beneficiaries & Safeguarding
- Support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work.
- Actively learn about safeguarding and integrate it into work, practicing Mercy Corps' values and encouraging open communication.
Requirements & Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Security Sector/Police Reform, Border/Security Management, or related discipline.
- At least 15 years’ experience working on security sector or police reform, community policing, or crime prevention programming in the Horn of Africa.
- In-depth understanding of the Kenya context, including border security, governance and policing frameworks, OIC and migration dynamics, and key stakeholders working within the organised crime and irregular migration space.
- Excellent representational skills, with demonstrated experience working to influence national government and national police/security sectors’ ways of working and policies.
- Solutions-oriented individual, with strong strategic thinking capabilities.
- Demonstrated effectiveness managing a diverse team of staff, consortium partners, and local implementing partners, building a cohesive and results-oriented team to deliver on complex programming results.
- Experience working with a diverse range of community members to discuss sensitive and delicate topics in a conflict-sensitive manner.
- Excellent writing, reporting, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Demonstrated sensitivity, skill, and experience working within different cultural settings and navigating public affairs and communications on sensitive issues.
