Partnership & Capacity Strengthening Officer – Trócaire Syria Response hosted by Caritas Lebanon

Trócaire was established in 1973 and is one of Ireland’s top INGOs. The organisation was created in response to the widening gap between rich and poor and our collective duty to reduce it. We are  a social  justice organisation working  in partnership with  local development and humanitarian actors, to support people and communities to tackle the root causes of poverty, injustice and violence and to use their own power to create positive and lasting change. This is an exciting time in the history of the organisation as we deliver upon our new strategic plan for 2021 – 2025.

Trócaire launched a response to the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. In 2013. Our partners provide protection services, resilience building support and basic needs assistance to refugees and vulnerable host communities, with an emphasis on women and girls. Our ambition in Lebanon is to protect human dignity during crisis: timely, locally driven responses that are designed in consultation with crisis-affected communities and which meet internationally accepted standards in the humanitarian sector. We commit to ensuring the mainstreaming of protection principles to prioritise the safety and dignity of programme participants, meaningful access to assistance and services, and accountability to those we serve.  We promote participation and empowerment of those involved, addressing barriers women and girls face and support the development of community and self-protection capacities.

The Partnership & Capacity Strengthening Officer is a new role and is responsible for supporting with the delivery of Trócaire’s civil society capacity building activities and with the coordination of activities, in collaboration with Trócaire’s Programme Team and local partner agencies.

Please note: this position is only open to national candidates. For the candidate with the required experience and passion for the role, Trócaire offers a competitive package of salary and benefits based on the Trócaire national staff Grading and Salary Structure.

Safeguarding Programme Participants Policy:

Trócaire is committed to Safeguarding people within our programmes from Exploitation and Abuse and has specific policies on this commitment (including a Global Code of Conduct) which outlines the expected behaviour and responsibility of all staff, consultants and other organisational representatives. Any candidate offered a job with Trócaire will be expected to sign Trócaire’s Safeguarding Policies and Global Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents

Key Duties & Responsibilities:

In particular, this role will involve the following components:

Capacity Strengthening and Organisational Development

• In close coordination with the Head of Programmes and other Programmes and Finance team members, engage closely with Trócaire partners to better understand their immediate short- and long-term plans for growth and programme development;
• In coordination with Project Managers, lead in the facilitation of organisational capacity assessments of local partners and support the development of the Organisational Improvement Plan (OIPs)
• Support Programmes and Finance staff to support Trócaire’s team members to take a coordinated approach to partner capacity building;
• Coordinate with Trócaire staff in the Country Officer, HQ and the Localisation Hub for technical support for partners based on their needs (identified within their OIP)
• Lead in the organisation of trainings and workshops, in coordination with Trócaire Programme Team and Partners

• Conduct visits to partner offices and project sites to provide mentoring and support on organisational development and follow up on OIPs;
• In coordination with the Head of Programmes, develop TORs for key activities and projects under Trócaire’s Capacity Strengthening Project including leading on the development of consultant TORs and consultant recruitment.
• Review, provide critical feedback on, and support the revision of manuals, guidelines, training materials and other outputs relating to partner capacity strengthening, ensuring quality control.
• Ensure that all resources relating to partner capacity strengthening are stored using Trócaire’s online systems.
• Work closely with Trócaire’s Technical Advisors to ensure that programming approaches are in line with best practices, are well defined, documented and consistently applied;
• Create opportunities and tools for partners to assess Trócaire’s strengths and areas for improvement of its capacity strengthening approaches and ensure organisational follow-up on recommendations.
• Deliver quality training and mentoring to selected local partners in areas including human resource systems strengthening, and the strengthening and implementation of other organisational policies and systems.

Capacity Strengthening Project Management

• Oversee the timely and effective delivery of Trócaire’s Capacity Strengthening project work plans and ensure all agreed upon activities are carried out to good effect;
• Lead in ensuring quality and timely implementation of Trócaire’s outcome and activities with the capacity strengthening projects, to strengthen the organisational, technical and financial capacities of local partners to effectively undertake their work;
• Working with the Trócaire Business Development and Grants Manager, support partners with the preparation of timely and quality consolidated donor reports for capacity strengthening outcomes.
• Act as focal person within Trócaire for the Capacity Strengthening Projects with project partners; and ensure effective referral and support on technical issues by relevant Trócaire staff, including Protection and Accountability Manager, MEAL Manager, Technical Advisors and Programme Accountant
• Jointly with the Programme Finance Manager review the Project Budget versus Actual reports to avoid under/over spending and ensure accurate budget forecasting and expense planning;
• In coordination with the Programme Finance Manager and the BDGM, ensure compliance of projects with donor rules and requirements.
• In close coordination with Trócaire’s MEAL Manager, ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems are in place, ensuring strong ongoing monitoring of activities and tracking of progress against relevant results frameworks;
• Coordinate with the MEAL Manager, other Trócaire team members and potential consultants, as well as with partner staff, on the evaluation of project activities, documenting lessons learned through case studies and review workshops.
• Maintain updated project files on Salesforce and hard copy;

Networking & Coordination on Partnership & Localisation

• In close collaboration with the Head of Programmes, represent Trócaire in networks or platforms focused on partner capacity strengthening and localisations.
• Identify opportunities to share learning by partners and Trócaire at relevant forums (e.g. Capacity Strengthening Working Groups, Localisation Community of Practice, webinars, etc.).
• Coordinate with Trócaire Localisation Hub, on learning, innovation and strategic involvement in localisation spaces.
• Collaborate closely with peer agencies, including Caritas agencies and other partnership agencies.

Other:

Undertake other agreed tasks related to the project and Trócaire’s overall work in Lebanon as agreed with the Head of Programme.

Behavioural Competencies in Line with Trócaire’s Competency Framework

• Leading: Reflecting our values of Participation & Accountability, acts to inspire and lead others to achieve their potential, demonstrating Trócaire’s values with integrity in order to achieve our organisation’s objectives.
• Communicating: Reflecting our value of Participation, being one organisation, communicating clearly and transparently across, teams, units, divisions, locations and other external organisations. Getting our message across with impact.
• Collaborating: Reflecting our values of Participation & Solidarity, partnering effectively as One Trócaire organisation and, in solidarity, maintains positive relationships built on trust and respect.
• Stewardship of Resources: Reflecting our value of Accountability and decision-making around the best use of resources. Using our resources transparently, sustainably, ethically, fairly & with integrity; acknowledging Trócaire’s reputation in the use of resources. 
• Delivering Results: Reflecting our values of Accountability & Perseverance, getting a quality job done through effective performance, planning and decision making.
• Continual Improvement & Learning: Reflecting our values of Participation & Courage, constantly looking to learn and develop self, employees, and partners to better fulfil Trócaire’s’ mission.
• Flexibility & Change: Reflecting our values of Participation & Courage, adapts positively to change and to different ways of doing things; manages or takes part in change processes in a way that is appropriate to role in the organisation.

Person Specification – The ideal person will have

Qualification

Third level qualification in business, human resources, social sciences, development studies or related field of study

Experience

• Minimum of 3-5 years’ experience working in partnership within development and humanitarian programmes
• Experience of capacity building of local civil society organisations
• Experience of organisational development, including human resource and other systems strengthening
• Experience working with civil society partners and good understanding of partnership approach.
• Experience of working with, and a demonstrated understanding of, humanitarian standards and principles of good practice
• Experience of developing training materials and providing training to a range of audiences
• Experience working on the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and/or knowledge of the context
• Project cycle management using results frameworks and/ or logical frameworks.

Skills

• Proven strategic thinking and planning skills, including ability to think creatively, analyse and be innovative, set priorities, manage work plans and evaluate progress.

• Demonstrated ability to lead & work in a team.
• Excellent facilitation & capacity building skills and experience of applying them when working with individual organisations or groups of organisations.
• Excellent written, oral and presentational communications skills.

• Strong communication, facilitation and training skills

• Excellent and proven organisational skills.
• Highly developed relationship, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.

• Demonstrated capacity for teamwork and coordination
• Fluency in Arabic and excellent written and oral English
• Solid IT and data entry/analysis skills – especially in the use of Excel
• Able to work independently being a strong team player
• Strong organisational skills, initiative, ability to prioritise work

Qualities

• Commitment to, and understanding of, Trócaire’s aims, values and principles, including a commitment to principles of partnership, rights-based approaches, social justice and development
• Diplomacy and negotiation skills, and ability to lead and influence
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Ability to work productively in multi-cultural environments
• Capable of working in challenging, unstable and/or high stress contexts and environments, including volatile crisis situations

Application Submissions Guideline

The contract for this position will be national and hosted by Caritas Lebanon.

The position will be based in Beirut and prospective candidate should be entitled to live and work in Lebanon. Much of the work will be based in Beirut with some travel outside of Beirut, expenses will be reimbursed for this travel.

Please note: Trócaire is committed to Safeguarding people within our programmes from Exploitation and Abuse and has specific policies on this commitment (including a Global Code of Conduct) which outlines the expected behaviour and responsibility of all staff, consultants and other organisational representatives. Any candidate offered a job with Trócaire will be expected to sign Trócaire’s Safeguarding Policies and Global Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.