Psychosocial Support Coordinator - Youth For Tomorrow

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY: Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. The agency pursues its mission through emergency relief services, sustainable community development, civil society and economic development initiatives. Mercy Corps has been present in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently has offices in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps has implemented community development programs focused on promoting economic development and increased opportunity for disadvantaged communities, while responding to emergencies as they emerged in the country.  In 2012, the program portfolio shifted in response to the massive refugee influx from Syria and Mercy Corps in Lebanon has solidified its emergency response programming while integrating longer-term development programming by focusing on key sectors: Protection, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH), Governance and Conflict, and Livelihoods.  The conflict that began more than five years ago in Syria has resulted in a steady increase in Syrian refugees to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.  To date, more than one million refugees have fled to Lebanon, and the numbers continue to mount. All refugees who have entered Lebanon are staying with host families or in rented accommodation.  As numbers rapidly increase, humanitarian conditions are deteriorating.  The burden on host communities and the financial and emotional stress on refugees and their hosts is tremendous. Mercy Corps is responding to these needs by addressing urgent basic needs, child protection as well as the psychosocial impact of the conflict and displacement.   With the support of the Government of Canada, Mercy Corps is launching the Youth for Tomorrow program, which will be implemented in Saida, Mt. Lebanon, and Tripoli.   This three-year program is part of a regional initiative by Mercy Corps, funded by the Government of Canada, in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to build improved, evidence-based provision of psychosocial support and market-driven skills to vulnerable youth in the region.  The program will benefit from regional synergies to increase impact and will contribute to improving the evidence base for interventions of this type.   The program will engage Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese adolescent boys and girls, between the ages of 12 – 18 who are not currently enrolled in school or are at high risk of dropping out. The program will also engage young adults between the ages of 19 – 35 from among refugee and host communities to act as mentors and facilitators within the project.  Youth for Tomorrow will provide adolescents on-going psychosocial support and market-driven skill-building opportunities while building an enabling environment for young people through community engagement and provision of enhanced adolescent and youth services.      GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:   The Psychosocial Support Coordinator will be responsible for building the capacity of the Mercy Corps team, partner staff and youth coaches to implement successful activities which develop psychosocial support and life skills amongst youth, through social and recreational activities carried out in the Youth Centers.  S/he will be responsible for ensuring there is a standardization of approaches for providing psychosocial support to youth across YFT activities.  S/he will also take the lead on ensuring that all team and partner staff are able to identify child protection related issues and provide support vulnerable youth, will support community centres to develop strategies and plans to support vulnerable adolescents and youth that may require additional psychosocial support.  S/he will also work with the program team and partners to develop and implement training methodology for community gatekeepers and CBPN members to build awareness on protection issues, and  enable them to establish effective community based protection networks in the areas of the three Adolescent Friendly Community Centres.  S/he will also contribute to the development of effective monitoring systems to measure the effectiveness and impact of psychosocial support activities on target beneficiaries.    ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS   Program Implementation and Quality:  Ensure quality implementation of program activities and alignment and progress against workplan Review curriculum and approaches developed under the previous program and other relevant Protection and Livelihoods programs nationally and regionally Ensure that staff and partners are trained on all elements required to ensure successful implementation of the program activities which look to develop psychosocial support and life skills amongst youth, through social and recreational activities carried out in the Youth Centers. Develop training materials to assist community members to establish or improve community based child protection networks in the areas of the three Adolescent Friendly Community Centre Ensure standardization of approaches for providing psychosocial support to youth across YFT activities. Ensure that program activities contribute to the psychosocial wellbeing of youth Work with partners to coordinate and supervise the training of the coaches and provide quality feedback and performance review; Work with partners to coordinate trainings, meetings and schedules with each respective community centre   Capacity Building Train MC staff and CBO partners and coaches in proposed life skills and psychosocial support curricula, and provide ongoing coaching and feedback to ensure the quality of activities Provide day-to-day support and coordination for training activities under the program with local partners and consultants, YFT staff and team, coaches, including administrative, financial and logistical support. Trouble shoot any administrative problems and report any challenges or bottlenecks to the YFT deputy program manager;   Capacity Building for Child Protection Build the capacity of the MC team on how to identify child protection related issues and how to support vulnerable youth, both for the YFT team and other MC programs Work with the field teams to build the capacity of local CBOs, youth coaches and psychologists on how to identify child protection related issues and how to support vulnerable youth Support community centres to develop strategies and plans to support vulnerable adolescents and youth that may require additional psychosocial support Support partners and youth centre workers to do outreach activities with families of vulnerable youth Act as the liaison between Mercy Corps and partner CBOs on all child-protection related issues and support in training partners on national referral pathways. Work with the program team and partners to develop and implement training methodology for community gatekeepers and CBPN members to build awareness on protection issues, and  enable them to establish effective community based protection networks in the areas of the three Adolescent Friendly Community Centres. Introduce partners to Mercy Corps’ Child Safeguarding Policy and ensure it is followed in all centres and program activities   Team Building Provide technical supervision to the protection officer supporting the YFT activities in Tripoli Contribute to effective communications between Beirut office and field officers, and with partners Contribute to fostering a strong team spirit between MC staff and with partners   Monitoring and Evaluation Work with the M and E coordinator to develop a framework for monitoring of all psychosocial support interventions;  Work with the monitoring and evaluation coordinator and the YFT team to ensure that program monitoring effectively captures the impact of YFT interventions  Work with the M and E coordinator to develop and manage a referral database and ensure timely follow up to referrals Refer protection cases to other external providers Attend the case management working group    Coordination Support the Program Manager and Technical Advisor on  representation of MC child and youth protection efforts with local government authorities, community actors, IGOs/NGOs, interagency working groups particularly the PSS Task Force and CPiE Working Group meetings;    Thought Leadership Support in proposal writing in coordination with senior management Contribute to agency’s understanding of best practices in protection and livelihoods programming Participate in the planning and implementation of Mercy Corps Lebanon Protection, Livelihoods and Youth Strategies   Other Commitment to implementation of Mercy Corps’ Program Management Minimum Standards (PM@MC) to ensure all project planning and documentation is completed in timely manner; Ensure interventions adhere to Mercy Corps’ Gender Equity Policy and Do No Harm strategies Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and not jeopardize its humanitarian mission; Participate in internal office coordination and planning meetings and workshops; Other assigned tasks, as necessary.   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:   S/he will provide technical supervision to the Psychosocial Support Officer based in Tripoli, who will be directly supervised by the program coordinator in Tripoli, and direct supervision of a psychologist     ACCOUNTABILITY: Reports directly to:  ‘Youth for Tomorrow’  Deputy  Program Manager Works directly with:  Operations, Finance, and HR department,  YFT Program Team, Partners.   KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:  MA/S in psychology; BA/S or equivalent in social work, social sciences, human rights, or other relevant field preferred; Minimum of 5 years of experience performing required tasks in a complex emergency or relief context Experience working in youth projects with a child protection background required; Extensive experience in designing and implementing youth life-skills development programming in Lebanon, Understanding of community based protection networks preferred; Experience in parent/caregiver engagement; Extensive experience in providing trainings on child protection related issues in a dynamic and active learning style approach; Strong understanding of national referral pathways; Strong understanding of refugee issues in the current Lebanon context; Strong management skills, with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues and ability to work with refugee and host community populations; Demonstrated skills in data collection and database management, organized, and able to handle many responsibilities simultaneously; Mature, responsible, and diplomatic in their interactions with others; Good writing skills, including reports, best practices, cases studies, etc; Ability to work independently with limited supervision, as well as part of a team; Very strong written and oral communication skills in both English and Arabic, including report development, writing and editing; Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office applications including Excel and Word Positive, respectful attitude and collaborative approach to problem solving; Demonstrated attention to detail; ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently as well as cooperatively with team members; Significant knowledge and understanding of the current political, economic, cultural and historical context of Lebanon preferred;   SUCCESS FACTORS: A successful candidate will have the ability to work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly fluid work and security environment with a capacity to spark innovative approaches to programming and inspire groups to collaborate closely to implement high-quality programs. S/he will have proven experience working effectively and respectfully with host country government and other authorities as well as NGO and CBO representatives. S/he will have a record of accomplishment that demonstrates attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, and successfully meeting programmatic deadlines, as well as anticipating program needs. Familiarity with Child Protection Systems strengthening approaches, Sphere Project’s Humanitarian Charter and Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Pyramid are essential. Sensitivity to multi-cultural international development work and a commitment to working with community members to create safe, nurturing places for youth that foster greater inclusion in the community and productive livelihoods. The ability to solve problems creatively, juggle multiple priorities under tight deadlines, and diplomatically manage unexpected and sudden events affecting program operations is essential.   Able to work in Saida, Tripoli and Mount Lebanon.