NOA, Programme Officer (Operational), Temporary Appointment up to 6 months

UNICEF implemented the only major humanitarian social protection program in Lebanon, the No Lost Generation (NLG)/Min Ila Program serving almost 50 000 Syrian children. The program helped households to invest in the human capital development of children and reduce reliance on negative coping strategies like child labour through the provision of a cash transfer and referrals to complimentary services. In addition, UNICEF monetized in 2018 its 2nd shift transportation programme with ‘Reaching School’ programme which intended to help households meet the costs of sending their children to school. Parents are free to decide on the best way for children to reach school and are not obligated to use the bus drivers engaged in previous years. Finally, UNICEF is piloting cash programmes in relation with WASH. While the amount of available resources changed, and the No Lost Generation (NLG) / Min Ila Program will not be implemented during the year 2018/19, UNICEF Lebanon Country Office has demonstrated strong commitment to continuing with humanitarian cash programs with this year Reaching School and Cash Based Safety nets in course of design. As well UNICEF at the global, regional and county office levels, has been and will seek to continue to be at the forefront of innovative programming in this area.

In addition, UNICEF Lebanon has been instrumental in setting up the Lebanon One Unified Inter-Organizational System for E-Cards (LOUISE), which serves the cash transfer programs of all UN agencies and NGOs delivering cash and will continue with its commitment to the development and improvement of the joint system.

Reaching school programme:

In order to mitigate obstacles to access  quality education, UNICEF during the academic year 2016/17, provided vulnerable children busses to get to second shift schools through contracting local transportation companies. From January 1, 2018 this support changed through monetization of the service. Vulnerable families with children who are eligible for support and attending a second shift schools received a cash transfer of $20 per child /per month to support their attendance at school. The cash is intended to help households meet the costs of sending their children to school.Given the good results and the wide acceptance and preference from beneficiaries of the monetized form of assistance this programme will continue during the academic year 2018/19.

Monitoring activities in the field are essential in order to ensure (1) cards, PIN codes etc reach the intended vulnerable children and their families, (2) any issues that arise are solved quickly with the various stakeholders and colleagues on the ground and (3) the risk of fraudulent activities is sufficiently mitigated, (4) partners engaged for field work are monitored against work plans and budgets, (5) trouble shoot issues arising in the field whether with beneficiaries complaints or the community. The operational programme officer will verify and control that the activities are correctly implemented in the field and reach the intended children.

Cash-Based Safety Nets Programs:UNICEF will also implement by January 2019 other cash-based safety nets integrated with UNICEF or non-UNICEF programmes with the objective of integration and improvement of the uptake and completion of services of which beneficiaries face income-related constraints. The Programme Officer (Operational) will be responsible for supporting at the all the cash programs implemented by UNICEF in its area, Mount Lebanon and Beirut but as well ensure harmonization of the activities and monitoring across areas.

For every child, a Champion

Under the close supervision and guidance of the Chief of Field Office and Programme Specialist (Cash and Voucher), the role of the Programme Officer (Operational) is to coordinate, in the assigned areas, the joint planning, implementation and management of the UNICEF Reaching school program as well as any other cash-based programs UNICEF undertakes such as Cash based safety nets, technically lead by the Programme Specialist Cash (Implementation) and the Education Specialist. The Programme Officer should ensure the achievement of the expected results in the areas of intervention and UNICEF Partners and relevant Inter-Agency sector members.

The Programme Officer will as well ensure the tools, activities and monitoring undertaken by the Operational team in Beqaa and North are harmonized and will ensure the compilation of the monitoring outputs.

Finally, the Programme Officer will play an operational role with the LOUISE Call Center by liaising between UNICEF Cash MIS system and programmatic needs and the Call Center.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Coordinate, in the assigned area, the joint planning, implementation and management of the UNICEF Cash Programmes

Facilitates the technical working relationship with UNICEF partners, UNHCR and WFP in the field, and other UNICEF Field Office staff.

Monitors the work of implementing partners (registration, household visits) in the field on an ongoing basis;

Provides feedback from the field for improvement of the technical design of the program, based on its changing and emerging needs to the Programme Specialist Cash Transfers and the Education Specialist.

Covers Card and PIN Distribution, Payments, etc. in his/her Governorate for the reaching school programme;

Conducts ongoing progress tracking (implementation of core processes of the program as they happen, in order to understand day-to-day performance against implementation targets) and to identify and resolve operational bottlenecks/challenges) at the Governorate level, reporting any bottlenecks or delays to the Programme Specialist Cash Transfers (Implementation) and Education Specialist in a timely fashion;

Conducts ongoing operations analysis (analysis of program performance over the medium term in order to identify areas with poor performance, or processes in which all areas are performing below expectations and which therefore represent operational bottlenecks, and identifying solutions such as design improvements, additional trainings or technical support, etc.) at the Governorate level, reporting any bottlenecks or delays to the Programme Specialist Cash Transfers (Implementation) and Education Specialist in a timely fashion;

Keeps the Chief of Field Office, Programme Specialist Cash Transfers (Implementation) and Education Specialist informed of risks and opportunities related to the program

Solves and follows-up on complaints received from beneficiaries via the Call Center and Cash MIS, or from other agencies;

Enters complaints and updates received from beneficiaries into the MIS;

Resolves complaints and updates in the MIS on a daily basis;

Performs regular spot checks and monitoring of implementing partners Registration Enumerators, Household Visit Officer and Supervisors, and Call Center Operators and reports at least weekly on this to the Programme Specialists and Chief of Field Office;

Attends relevant sector working group meetings at the Regional level.

Ensure the tools, activities and monitoring undertaken by the other Operational Officers in Beqaa and North are harmonized and will ensure the compilation of the monitoring outputs: 

Ensures the liaison between Specialists, Programme Associate and the Operational Officers in the Beqaa and North in all activities on all activities to be undertaken, tools to be used and monitoring processes.

Compiles the monitoring outputs from all the areas and provides Specialists and Programme Associate compiled data with analysis on the monitoring outputs.

Ensure all complaints and updates are solved within an acceptable timeframe and provides support to other operational programme officers when needed.

Be UNICEF operational focal point to the LOUISE Call Center:  

Attend on a weekly basis to the LOUISE Call Center to endorse the role of supervision of the operators according to the LOUISE Call Center MoU.

Ensure the role of focal point at technical level on the Call Center and interact with WFP and UNHCR technical focal points.

Ensure the Call Center CMS responds to UNICEF needs and full integration is guaranteed with the complaint and updates module of UNICEF Cash MIS.   

How can you make a difference?

The efficiency and effectiveness of support provided by the Programme Officer (Operational) to the development, implementation and monitoring of programs/projects facilitates the delivery of concrete and sustainable results for the respective section, which in turn enhances the offices and UNICEF’s capacity in helping the most vulnerable women and children.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

A minimum of  a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Management Information Systems or relevant field.

 A minimum of one year of responsible work experience preferably related to this vacancy requirements.

Fluency in English and Arabic required.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.