Hotline Officer at Mercy Corps (Lviv, Ukraine)

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 / Department Summary

Mercy Corps’ Ukraine crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Ukrainians and other conflict-affected people where they are: displaced inside Ukraine, refugees in Poland, Romania and Moldova, or trapped behind frontlines. We aim to reach 500,000 vulnerable people with multi-purpose cash assistance, in-kind humanitarian support, and protection services across four countries. Almost all of our impact will be delivered in partnership: with Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian and Moldovan civil society organizations through a granting program that matches humanitarian action with capacity strengthening, and with peer international NGOs through a consortium in Ukraine.  Mercy Corps is responding to the Ukraine crisis with large-scale consortium programming with a focus on Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA). The Consortium is a partnership between four international humanitarian aid agencies to model and deliver innovative, effective cash and other humanitarian assistance programs to support people affected by the Ukraine crisis within Ukraine.

General Position Summary

A Community Accountability Reporting Mechanism (CARM) is an essential part of Mercy Corps’ commitment to program quality, integrity, and efforts to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse. CARM provides individuals, organizations, local groups, and other stakeholders a way of bringing questions, ideas, suggestions, and complaints to directly Mercy Corps, through safe and confidential channels – and then, to receive a response from our organization. In the context of the Ukraine emergency response, designing and implementing an effective CARM will play a key role in ensuring that emergency assistance is responsive to the changing needs of displaced people, and can adapt over time.

The Community Accountability Hotline Officer is an important team member who directly handles questions, suggestions, feedback, and complaints from community members via phone, e-mail, SMS, and other social media messaging platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, etc). This role is vital to making sure that our commitments to responding to community feedback are met. The information received will be classified and recorded, and when necessary, will follow up on suggestions and complaints received from the communities, ensuring compliance with Mercy Corps Minimum Standards. Additionally, it will support the accountability team in generating progress reports for accountability and goal tracking reports.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Receiving & Responding to Feedback

• Receive and answer all incoming calls to the Mercy Corps hotline, as well as incoming messages on other platforms that are open to the community to provide feedback (social messaging, SMS, e-mail, etc.)
• Receiving calls from clients, program participants, and beneficiaries every weekday day from Monday to Friday and ensuring that the hotline is fully functional.
• Answering calls and responding to questions in a helpful, understanding, courteous manner.
• Accepting feedback and criticism in a professional manner

Accurately Recording & Processing Call Details

• Accurately recording feedback information in the appropriate forms for each call with a good attention to detail.
• Respecting caller confidentiality and protecting by following best data protection practices.
• Flagging and immediately escalating any major complaints and instances of misconduct including fraud, allegations of child abuse, sexual exploitation, or other serious violation
• Record and report suggestions and complaints received through the system from beneficiaries of the different Mercy Corps programs implemented in region
• Categorize and record all suggestions and complaints in a secure database
• Ensure the confidentiality and security of all comments received

Accountability & Team Support

• Demonstrate Mercy Corps accountability mechanisms to program participants and ensure that each participant is aware of the use and availability of each method of feedback
• Propose new ideas, improvements, and adjustments to the accountability mechanism or process to ensure the smooth functioning of the program
• Other activities as required by project management

Security

• Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps global, regional and Ukraine specific security procedures and policies, as determined by country leadership

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

Code of Conduct

• Ensure all field and office-based activities are conducted in full respect to the humanitarian principles and in an organized and dignified way
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission

Knowledge and Experience

•  Candidates with previous professional experience in social work, customer service, project development, client relations, market research, health administration, education, or other related areas are encouraged to apply
• Proven experience in accurate data collection and entry
• Experience in documenting client data
• Good computer skills: proficiency in MS Office package with strong knowledge of database basics and data entry.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, stressful environment and with the ability adapt to the rapid changes
• Excellent listening, interpersonal and communication skills – with the ability to work with diverse populations.
• High level of self-awareness with the maturity to deal with constructive feedback
• Fluency in either Ukrainian or Russian is required, fluency in both is preferred. Proficiency in English is helpful but not required.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Safeguarding & Ethics: 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. 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.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.  We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

2023-03-02T17:21:02.000 2023-04-02T23:59:59.000 Mercy Corps