Organizational Capacity Building Coordinator - Youth For Tomorrow

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY: Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just 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 Organisational Capacity Building Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating organizational and technical capacity building for local partners engaged in the Youth for Tomorrow program.   S/he will be responsible for coordinating knowledge exchange between partners and other community based organizations engaged in the program.  The Organisational Capacity Building Coordinator will work closely with the sub-grant management team in the finance department to ensure effective follow up and support is provided to partners.    S/he will support preparing of all sub-grant documentation for the Youth for Tomorrow Program.  S/he will also ensure all partner narrative and financial reporting has the level of quality required to effectively track program implementation, as well as ensuring that it meets Mercy Corps’ minimum standards and donor requirements.  S/he will take a lead role in ensuring that the Youth Centres have effective systems and processes in place to manage their activities, and will work with the YTF program team and partners to propose innovative solutions to improve Youth Centre Management and sustainability.    ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS: Partner Selection and Assessment Assist with the selection of partners, based on transparent selection criteria Ensure effective communication with potential partners to explain selection criteria, and the eventual choice of partners, and make sure the process is documented Work with selected partners to ensure their choice of sister partners from local CBOs is carried out in a transparent and fair manner, with appropriate communication Work with the Program Manager and the M and E coordinator to adapt the Organisational Capacity Index Tool to the needs of the YFT program Assist with identifying capacity building needs of partner organisations, working with the sub-grant management team to ensure pre-award assessments are carried out, and work with the YFT deputy program manager and program manager to carry out the organizational capacity index assessment with partners Ensure that the process of identifying capacity strengths and gaps with partner organisations is participatory, and allows partners to have ownership of the process to strengthen their work Provide technical advice and guidance to YFT partner organisations to assess the capacity of their ‘sister partner’ CBOs Develop a capacity development plan with each partner organization to guide capacity building activities over the life of the program (6 organisations to be targeted:  three youth for Tomorrow partners and three additional community based organization ‘sister partners’)  Coordination of Capacity Building Activities for Partners Coordinate with the MC team to provide capacity building activities for partners as required, and lead training sessions with partner organisations as required. Work with the deputy program manager, the employability coordinator and the psychosocial support coordinator to establish a work plan for technical capacity building with partners Recruit consultants and service providers as required to develop appropriate training materials and coaching for partner organisations Review all developed training materials to ensure quality, and monitor service provision Support YFT field teams to systematically strengthen the capacity of local CBO partners in order to implement program activities, providing as required training and support on coaching techniques Support partners to innovate and test mechanisms to improve the sustainability of their centres  Knowledge Exchange and Mentoring Networks Work with the YFT team and partners to establish an effective mechanism to allow partner organisations to exchange best practices and lessons learned, and to provide informal coaching to each other as they implement program activities Establish a mentoring network between YFT staff and partners, and other ‘sister partner’ community based organisations working on protection and livelihoods to improve outreach of YFT activities, and monitor the effectiveness of these mentoring relations  Monitoring and Evaluation Assist in ensuring that partners are implementing activities as in their workplan, on time and within budget, with the quality required Ensure all partner narrative and financial reporting has the level of quality required to effectively track program implementation, as well as ensuring that it meets Mercy Corps’ minimum standards and donor requirements.  Work with the M and E Coordinator to set frameworks and criteria for monitoring of all partner capacity building interventions Work with the monitoring and evaluation coordinator and the YFT team to ensure that program monitoring effectively captures the impact of YFT interventions   Coordination Support the Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager to coordinate with humanitarian and development partners including United Nations, international and local NGOs, municipalities and other stakeholders; as required  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.  SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Organisational Capacity Building Officer (TBC). ACCOUNTABILITY: REPORTS DIRECTLY TO:  Youth for Tomorrow Deputy Program Manager WORKS DIRECTLY WITH:  YFT team, Partnership Advisor, Operations, Finance, and HR department, YFT partner organisations KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:  BA/S or equivalent in social work, social sciences, human rights, or other relevant field preferred; Extensive experience with development of training methodology for civil society organisations Experience in capacity building with civil society organisations Experience with Protection and Livelihoods programs for Youth Experience in community mobilization preferred; Understanding of refugee issues in the current Lebanon context; Understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues and ability to work with refugee and host community populations; Written and oral communication skills in Arabic and English, 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 preferred. 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.