Accountability Team Leader

All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s core values: dedication, innovation, inclusivity and accountability. These attitudes and believes shall guide our actions and relationships.

1. Background

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) supports people affected by displacement living in Lebanon and advocate for their rights inside the country, regionally and internationally. We also work to serve vulnerable Lebanese affected by the deteriorating economic situation in the country, and are providing assistance to vulnerable households in the neighbourhoods most affected by the Beirut port explosion.

In 2020, NRC’s programmes in Lebanon reached 450,124 refugees and Lebanese with Legal assistance and counselling, Shelter, WASH, Education Youth and emergency assistance. NRC Lebanon works across the country in Iinformal Ttented Ssettlements (ITSs), urban areas and Palestinian refugee camps, including through partnerships with other NGOs. NRC Lebanon’s Covid-19 response includes crosscutting activities and sector-specific Covid-19 work. NRC also implements activities together with national and international NGOs to extend its access to people in need. In Lebanon, NRC has nearly 450 staff and has its Country Office in Beirut and operations in Beirut/ Mount Lebanon, North, Bekaa, and South.  

NRC Lebanon is committed to ensuring an effective two-way communication with communities, for the affected population to have access to information, to request for a service and to give a complaint or feedback on NRC's assistance, when they wish to do so. NRC Lebanon’s centralised Community Hhelpline has three main objectives. The first and most important objective is to enable affected populations to request services and to give complaints or feedback about services received. The second is to improve accountability towards beneficiaries and stakeholders through active outreach. The third is to contribute to improve programme design and organisational performance. 

 2. Role and responsibilities

The Accountability Team Leader will manage the day-to-day smooth running of the community helpline to ensure that beneficiaries and other stakeholders have access to a variety of communication channels to request for NRC services or give a complaint or feedback.

The Accountability Team Leader is responsible for 1) Managing a team of Helpline Assistants within the Community Helpline Call Centre function; 2) overseeing and ensuring consistent and systematic, recording, processing and response of request for services, complaints and feedback received from the communities in which we work; 3) Categorizing service requests based on urgency, sector and area and prepare portfolio of cases for case handling; 4) Providing trainings on Accountability and the Community Helpline.

1. Generic responsibilities

1. Ensure adherence with NRC policies, guidelines and standards.
2. Line manage all related Helpline staff (support as a backstop for operating the Helpline as needed) and provide technical support to the Helpline focal points in the Area Offices.
3. Develop weekly work plan for the Helpline Assistants to ensure the running of the Community Helpline and provide daily follow up on all related activities.
4. Monitor the team and individual performance to ensure all goals set for the Helpline and Assistant position are being met. 
5. Promote and share ideas for improvement, sharing of lessons learned/ experience between Assistants.
6. Ensure capacity building of relevant staff in Country and Area Offices and transfer key skills.
7. Advice and support line managers and staff on HR procedures, policies, and documents required.
8. Prepare periodic related reports, advise on best practices, and suggest improvements.
9. Oversee day-to-day smooth running of the centralized Community Helpline Call Centre.
10. Ensure that NRC’s related activities are implemented within NRC’s Protection mainstreaming guidelines and report any breaches/concerns to the line manager and/or focal point for proper action.  

 2. Specific responsibilities

• Ensure that request for services, complaints and feedback through the different communication channels are responded to with an appropriate call back or text and followed up on with timely and confidential response and closure.
• Support operators with triaging of calls, complaints and feedback.
• Share categorized portfolios of admissible service requests with sector-specific focal points for case handling.
• Timely flag challenges and trends reported through the helpline to the Manager. 
• Conduct monthly meetings with sector specific focal points and ensure that that the helpline tools are up-to-date (e.g. helpline FAQ)
• Share service-related complaints with Coordinator for follow up.
• Ensure that sensitive complaints related to Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Sexual Harassment (SEA &SH), child protection, fraud/corruption and misconduct/malpractice are immediately forwarded to the Manager for follow up.
• Maintain and update a secure and confidential helpline database and records that considers safety of the complainant for sensitive complaints in line with NRC data protection policy.
• Provide a supportive, calm and professional interaction with stakeholders reaching out to the NRC community helpline, and assist with information about NRC services or follow up.
• Follow up closely on the service requests dashboard to generate reports on any trends or protection concerns and prepare regular reports accordingly.
• Support the Accountability Coordinator in providing training on accountability and the community helpline when needed.
• Ensure referral and follow up on identified cases as per NRC Safe Identification Reporting and referrals’ SOPs.
• Provide regular reports on complaints, feedbacks, trends and requests for services to the Accountability Manager according to NRC reporting standards. 
• Follow up on the Accountability unit’s visibility, this includes updating brochures, videos and leaflets.

Critical interfaces

• Beneficiaries, Contractors and target communities, and key external stakeholders
• Programme Managers, Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinators, Protection Coordinators, Programme Focal Points.

3. Competencies 

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

1. Professional competencies

• Bachelor degree in social sciences, humanities, or any other relevant field
• At least 3 years of experience in an international NGO preferably in an emergency or post-conflict setting in Humanitarian Response, beneficiary reception and/or counselling, accountability, or related field.

• Experience in handling sensitive/confidential information of complaints and feedback
• Experience and ability to train others and transfer knowledge

• Experience in data analysis and report writing and ability to present data and convey information clearly and concisely and identifying trends
• Experience in managing helpline call center. 
• Fluency in both English and Arabic (speaking, reading, writing)
• Proficiency in MS Office Applications (Word, Excel…)

2. Behavioural competencies

• Working with people
• Analyzing
• Communicating with impact and respect
• Managing performance and development
• Handling insecure environments
• Planning and delivering results