Social Officer

Job Summary

The main purpose of the position is to identify the most vulnerable beneficiaries, especially older people at risks for shelter rehabilitation and support them to safeguard their occupancy in these shelters and access nearby services. The role includes identification of people in need of shelter assistance, facilitation of relations between refugee and host communities, awareness raising on Housing, Land and Property rights (HLP), negotiation of Occupancy agreement between Landlord and families, capacity building of resident committees at collective shelter level, information sharing about nearby services (health, protection etc) and referral to appropriate services. The role will coordinate with the senior Shelter engineer to ensure full inclusion of the most vulnerable families in the project activities, promoting community cohesion, identify and facilitate resolution of issues. The officer will be responsible to adequately address the needs relating to tenure situation of the Syrian refugees living in residential and non-residential settings. In addition, the officer will ensure beneficiaries in Concern’s programme area receive all services available that they are in need of and to identify needs of Syrian refugees or vulnerable Lebanese which are not being addressed.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Identification and assessment of beneficiaries.
   1. Identification and assessment of older people at risk within Concern’s area of intervention (Akkar) to be eligible for shelter rehabilitation.
   2. Identification of collective shelters in need of rehabilitation of their common area and hosting persons of Concern.

2. Co-ordination of shelter intervention
   1. Support the engineer in negotiating an acceptable rent with the landlords on behalf of the refugees
   2. Ensure full inclusion of the beneficiaries in the development of the BOQ for the rehabilitation of their premises to ensure their needs are met
   3. Ensure all occupancy agreements including the BOQs are fully explained and understood by all stakeholders and the subsequent signatures are secured.
   4. Provide guidance to ensure that refugees and stakeholders understand their entitlements and agree to written tenure agreements

3. Safeguarding  household security of tenure
   1. Full monitoring of beneficiaries holding Occupancy Agreements secured by Concern at a minimum of 1,3 and 6 months after the start of the agreement
   2. Preparation of contractual agreements documentation with adequate filing system.
   3. Secure tenure situations through dialogues with landowners and beneficiaries with the aims of supporting refugees to remain in their location for a set period of time following the signed agreement after the improvement of their housing conditions.
   4. Awareness raising of Housing, Land and Property rights of refugees, when engaging with building owners, local authorities, and the households.
   5. Resolve property disputes and evictions or property issues as they arise with relevant stakeholders and authorities.

4. Training of resident’s committees in collective shelters
   1. Creation of a resident committee if not yet existing in all identified collective shelters
   2. Provision of a serie of trainings for them to understand their roles and responsibilities, and carry out their tasks
   3. Support the committees in the identification of risks and rehabilitation needs in the common space with the Concern engineer
   4. Secure tenure situations through dialogues with landowners and beneficiaries with the aims of supporting the residents in decreasing or freezing their rent for a set period of time following the signed agreement after the improvement of their common area conditions.
   5. Follow up with the families after the service has been provided to identify additional needs

5. Referrals & Service Mapping
   1. Provide documentation and information about all services in the area (including addresses and contact details) to beneficiaries after identification of service of each Municipality of intervention as well as nationwide.
   2. Identification of beneficiaries requiring other services and full follow up of referral to other services.
   3. Coordination with Concern Case Management team for identification of protection cases
   4. Sharing of Concern Complaint Response Mechanism and contact details.

6. Reporting and Communication

1. In coordination with the WASH/Shelter team, support Concern to meet its minimum quality and accountability requirements in emergencies
2. Produce weekly/daily progress reports on ongoing works.
3. Document and record all works fully including any investigations on owner-beneficiary disputes, referral issues etc;
4. Facilitate communication flows between refugee leaders, community focal points and Concern staff by providing timely information as required
5. Co-ordination with other programme teams to ensure effective identification of beneficiaries and assistance to these beneficiaries.

7. Participate to emergency response in IS and housing units as part of the RNA
   1. In coordination with the Shelter and WASH Team, support Concern to meet its minimum quality and accountability requirements in emergencies;
   2. Conduct technical assessment following emergency at the request of the WASH/Shelter PM;
   3. Report on needs and assistance required;
   4. Delivery of shelter and NFI kits to people in need living in IS or sub-standards housing units;
   5. Identify the skills and promote self-help approach within the refugee populations
   6. Provide technical guidance in the installation of shelters to beneficiaries;
   7. Facilitate communication flows between Refugee leaders and Concern staff by providing timely information as required;
   8. Participate to the referral system of Concern enabling people in need to access the adequate services.

8. Adhere to the standards of conduct outlines in the Programme Participant Protection Policy and Concern Code of Conduct, Child Safeguarding Policy and Anti-Trafficking Policy,  Concern Anti-fraud Policy.

9. Support and promote the standards outlined in the Programme Participant Protection Policy and Concern Code of Conduct to their team, partner organisations and beneficiaries, and be committed to providing a safe working environment.

10. To contribute to the establishment of preventive measures to reduce the potential for abuse in Concern programme (as per P4 section 6)

11. Support Concern’s work in Lebanon by undertaking other tasks as appropriate and required

Skills, Qualifications, Experience and Attitude Required

• University Degree in law, construction, social sciences  or similar
• Experience in humanitarian organisation, especially in the Protection sector
• Proven experience with rental agreements is a strong advantage.
• Experience in working with older persons is appreciated
• Excellent communication skills in Arabic
• Good knowledge of spoken English is desirable
• Strong negotiation and mediation skills and ability to work independently
• Strong organizational skills and able to coordinate and manage a diverse array of activities and stakeholders
• Report writing skills and computer skills in word processing and spreadsheets
• Experience in conducting surveys, managing data and statistics is desirable
• Strong commitment to ensuring the protection of refugees
• Commitment to Concern equal opportunity and gender practices
• Commitment to humanitarian principles and values
• Strong sense of security management and willingness to follow security guidelines and regulations