PROJECT OFFICER QUDRA2

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1st January 2015 under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. Expertise France is the French public agency for international technical assistance.

EF designs and implements cooperation projects addressing skills transfers between professionals. The agency also develops integrated offers, assembling public and private expertise in order to respond to the partner countries' needs. With a business volume of 148 million Euros, a portfolio of over 500 projects in 100 countries, and 63,000 days of expert missions every year, Expertise France promotes French and European development policy goals.

EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programmes, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programmes. www.expertisefrance.fr

Context

The Middle East is currently experiencing a profound crisis. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq are both a reflection and a transmitter of this crisis, with growing potential to further destabilise neighbouring countries and the wider region. These crises have resulted in a humanitarian disaster affecting more than 13.5 million people who were forced to flee their homes from Syria, and more than 17 million people in need of humanitarian aid (12.2 in Syria and 5.2 in Iraq).

Lebanon is now home to the largest number of Syrian refugees per capita relative to its total population, putting a severe strain on the country’s fragile infrastructures, economy, and security. The population of Lebanon was estimated at about 4.8 million (including almost 1.5 million of Syrian and Palestinian refugees). Even though Lebanon has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, up to date it has taken in about a fourth of its own population. According to UNHCR, in April 2018, 986 942 persons from Syria were registered as refugees in Lebanon. In the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017-2020 (LCRP), the total number of people living in Lebanon is estimated at 5.9 million, with 3.3 million people in need. Among the Syrian refugee population in Lebanon, which today comprises over 1.5 million people, the Bekaa Valley contains the highest concentration of refugees, with over 360,000 registered with UNHCR.

Stabilisation and Resilience background

In Lebanon, the Stabilisation and Resilience Unit of Expertise France ensures the consistency and the coordination of two projects in the field of crisis management. The first project is a second phase of the QUDRA project funded by EU and BMZ, for the benefit of both Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities.  The second project is funded by AFD (Agence Française de Développement) and aims at helping local and international Lebanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) become lasting, key players in mitigating and ameliorating the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis on Lebanon.

’Qudra – Resilience for Syrian refugees, IDPs and host communities in response to the Syrian and Iraqi crises’ is a regional action financed by the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the Madad Fund and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), seeking to strengthen the resilience of Syrian refugees, IDPs and host communities in response to the Syrian and Iraqi crises.  The programme launched in June 2016, has been jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Expertise France (EF) and Spanish Agency for International Development (AECID) in programme partner countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and North Iraq.

In Lebanon, the project seeks to improve social stability between communities in Lebanon through a comprehensive and local approach of protection for children and adults. To do so, activities revolve around four pillars: (i) support to Social Development Centers (SDCs) of the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), (ii) Child Protection activities, (iii) Protection activities and (iv) campaigns and communication activities. Expertise France works within the framework of the LCRP and MoSA National Plan for Safeguarding women and children in close partnership with Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA).

The second phase of the programme will end in 2023. The programme is implemented in 14 areas of Lebanon, in collaboration with NGO partners, Social Development Centers (SDCs) and the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA).

Job Description

Project Partnership Development, Planning and Management

Under the supervision of the Qudra 2 Project Manager (PM), lead on the co-operation with all NGO implementing partners throughout the partner’s project cycle, including target revisions, budget follow-up, and support to operational adaptation when and where necessary. Specifically, this includes:

• Organise a monthly follow-up with each NGO partner and identify and share with the PM any technical, management or budgetary problems faced, potential risks, and propose solutions.
• Organise quarterly bilateral reviews with each NGO partner to monitor program progress against both programmatic and budgetary targets. With the support of project assistant, prepare all necessary documentation and produce mintes of each meeting. Support follow-up and adjustments to programme design as necessary.
• Review partner quarterly activity plans and budget forecasts and provide feedback to PM and partners.
• Review NGOs partner’s quarterly narrative and monthly financial reports as well as the  M&E  data and provide feedback to PM and partners.
• Organise all-partner events such as joint workshops, technical updates, capitalisation, etc.

Project Implementation and Administration

Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical, programme, operational, and administrative tasks, preparing related materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems. Specifically, this includes :

• Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to regularly discuss implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations and/or to alert PM for higher-level interventions and/or decisions. Keep records for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• In collaboration with fellow team members, plan project activities on a monthly basis, including setting of objectives, expected outputs, and resources required.
• With the support of project assistant, provide timely information to the EF support units for the elaboration of technical specifications related to procurement and delivery of goods and services.
•  Provide input into the development of M&E and indicator tracking plans for all grants, and the development of additional M&E tools as necessary to monitor progress of the project.
• Work with the MEAL team to identify and incorporate suitable accountability mechanisms.
• Conduct regular programme field visits and exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support. Take appropriate action to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems observed in the field for timely action to achieve results.
• Liaise with local representatives of MoSA to support coordination with SDCs directors and local implementing partners.

• Support the development and implementation of Qudra 2 communication plan.

Project Monitoring, Learning and Information Management

Conduct and provide situation analysis for the development, design and management of protection related project themes. Research and report on development trends (e.g. economic, social, health) and data for use in programme development, management, monitoring, evaluation and delivery of results. Specifically, this includes:

• Stay abreast of political, social, economic, and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
• Participate in inter-agency meetings/events to share and receive up-to-date situation updates and to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues.
• Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders in concert with fellow pproject members.
• Provides regular updates and reports on progress in areas or responsibility to the PM.
• In collaboration with M&E team, draft inputs for donor reports, Country Advisory Committee reports, Quarterly reviews and any other relevant reporting mechanisms required.
• Ensure filing and sharing of key documents and information related to the above areas of responsibility.

Profile

• Master degree in a relevant field such as, international relations, public policy, project management, protection;
• 5 years successful experience in management of social protection projects for vulnerable groups ideally refugees, IDPs, youth, women;
• Experience with public agencies/ public offices, European programmes is a plus;
• Excellent knowledge of the Lebanese political context as well as of the relationship between host and refugee communities;
• Diplomacy, patience and negotiation skills;
• Highly organised, rigorous and methodical attitude
• Computer skills: office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and database packages
• Excellent reporting and writing skills
• Professional working knowledge of English & Arabic are required. French is an asset.