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.

Program Summary

The PROPEL Africa Project (Pathways to Resilience, Opportunities, Professional Employment and Learning) aims to address the persistent challenge of youth unemployment and underemployment in Liberia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. Currently, young people encounter systemic barriers to securing dignified employment, arising from misalignments between skills development and labour market needs, and inadequate access to financial resources. Implemented by JA Africa and Mercy Corps, PROPEL responds to these challenges through a dual approach: equipping underserved youth aged 15–30 with relevant, demand-driven business, employability, and life skills, while simultaneously improving the way the labour market works for young people.

Position Summary

The Market Systems Specialist will facilitate changes that strengthen the systems around youth employment and entrepreneurship. Indicatively, the focus will be on business development services (BDS), market linkages, digital services, and access to finance for self-employment, digital job/job-matching platforms, vocational training, and other access-to-work interventions, such as childcare for gig and waged employment. Private-sector engagement is critical, and advocacy for regulatory changes may also feature. The purpose of the role is to influence private and public sector actors that shape youth employment markets to become more effective, inclusive, and youth-responsive.

Essential Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• In collaboration with the PD and wider PROPEL team, provide leadership and strategic vision to the systems-change components of the program, including contributing to workplan development, market and labor assessments, partnership selection and management, and overall sector strategy.
• Lead analysis of labor market systems (using or adapting Mercy Corps’ system labour market assessment approach) to identify constraints, opportunities, and leverage points for improved youth employment outcomes.
• Design interventions that strengthen key market system actors’ (such as Business Development Service providers, jobtech platforms, vocational skills providers, and financial institutions) incentives and capacity to play critical functions in more inclusive and effective ways.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to ensure interventions apply market systems development principles and best practices
• Coordinate with consortium partner technical leads to ensure direct and MSD interventions are as complementary as possible

Market Systems Interventions

• Identify and engage high-potential private-sector and public-sector partners.
• Support co-creation of solutions that improve youth access-to-work, job creation, or entrepreneurship pathways.
• Promote integration of digital tools and innovative service delivery models.
• Lead intervention implementation and partnership management
• Assume responsibility for translating program learning into tangible adjustments to intervention strategies, applying adaptive management principles

Program Quality & Learning

• Collaborate with MEAL teams to track ecosystem-level changes and learning.
• Collaborate with relevant teams to develop the evidence and learning agenda, and support any research on the project led by the Research and Learning team
• Contribute to thought leadership on youth employment systems.
• Collaborate with PD, TEQ team, donors, and other stakeholders to showcase PROPEL system-change successes

Capacity Building

• Build skills of PROPEL team members in market systems development approaches.
• Facilitate cross-country learning on ecosystem interventions.

Security

• Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.
• Ensure that PROPEL activities are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of security.

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 toward 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.

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.

• In collaboration with the PD and wider PROPEL team, provide leadership and strategic vision to the systems-change components of the program, including contributing to workplan development, market and labor assessments, partnership selection and management, and overall sector strategy.
• Lead analysis of labor market systems (using or adapting Mercy Corps’ system labour market assessment approach) to identify constraints, opportunities, and leverage points for improved youth employment outcomes.
• Design interventions that strengthen key market system actors’ (such as Business Development Service providers, jobtech platforms, vocational skills providers, and financial institutions) incentives and capacity to play critical functions in more inclusive and effective ways.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to ensure interventions apply market systems development principles and best practices
• Coordinate with consortium partner technical leads to ensure direct and MSD interventions are as complementary as possible
• Identify and engage high-potential private-sector and public-sector partners.
• Support co-creation of solutions that improve youth access-to-work, job creation, or entrepreneurship pathways.
• Promote integration of digital tools and innovative service delivery models.
• Lead intervention implementation and partnership management
• Assume responsibility for translating program learning into tangible adjustments to intervention strategies, applying adaptive management principles
• Collaborate with MEAL teams to track ecosystem-level changes and learning.
• Collaborate with relevant teams to develop the evidence and learning agenda, and support any research on the project led by the Research and Learning team
• Contribute to thought leadership on youth employment systems.
• Collaborate with PD, TEQ team, donors, and other stakeholders to showcase PROPEL system-change successes
• Build skills of PROPEL team members in market systems development approaches.
• Facilitate cross-country learning on ecosystem interventions.
• Work closely with the country team’s security focal point to develop and maintain systems that promote the safety and security of all team members.
• Ensure that PROPEL activities are designed and implemented with a clear analysis and understanding of security.

• Exceptional technical and practical implementation knowledge of the Market Systems Development approach.
• Master’s degree in international development, business, economics, or related field, or extensive experience in market systems development programme management.
• 7+ years of experience in market systems development or private-sector development programs.
• Strong understanding of youth employment ecosystems in Africa.
• Experience with market systems assessments (or equivalent), partnership brokering, and MSD intervention design.