Grants Officer

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on the 1st of 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

• Project background

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.

• The Qudra2 project

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 / Assignment

The main role of the Grants Officer (GO) is to support the implementation of the Qudra 2 project component related to NGO partner grants. Working under the management of the Project Manager (PM) of Expertise France in Lebanon, the GO will work on regular basis both in the office and on the field with a Grants Admin and Finance Assistant (GFA).

The Grants Officer will be supervising the GFA in coordination with the PM. The portfolio of partner NGO grants encompasses 5 projects throughout Lebanon. The position is based in Beirut, within the Expertise France Lebanon coordination office.

Responsibility 1: Operations

• Oversee all NGO partners operations in coordination with the Protection Officer and the GFA.
• Follow up, in coordination with the Protection Officer and the GFA, on the implementation activities of all NGO partners in the field, ensuring that activities and expenditure are progressing according to their workplans and budget forecasts.
• In close collaboration with the M&E team and GFA, ensure that monitoring data is collected and archived in a timely manner and that feedback to NGO partners is provided in a timely fashion.
• Make sure that any updates/information needed are shared in due time with partners (official letters, activity progress reports, minutes of the meetings, etc...)
• Support the PM, M&E team in preparing for activities and evaluations.

Responsibility 2: Coordination

• Report to the PM, any context updates, population needs, new NGOs implantation in the areas.
• Lead coordination meetings with NGOs part of the Qudra 2 project.
• Communicate regularly with the PM on activities updates and report challenges and discuss solutions.

Responsibility 3: Finance, Logistics and Administrative support

• Make sure that logistical, administrative, and financial procedures linked to project implementation are followed according to EF requirements.
• Follow up and ensure that all administrative documents related to project implementation are up to date and stored.
• Collect weekly the logistic needs and prepare the purchase and service requests when needed.

Responsibility 4: Reporting

• Make sure with the GFA that the NGO partners issue timely monthly and quarterly qualitative reporting (both narrative and financial, including quarterly financial forecasting).
• Review all data/reports from the NGOs and ensure the accuracy of financial reports in accordance with their activity planning (financial supporting documents, revising Budget vs Actuals).
• Draft the monthly/quarterly information sheet summing up monthly/quarterly achievements and planned activities with PM guidance/support.
• Support the PM in producing donor reports and ad hoc reports related to field visits and attendance at workshops, conferences, seminars, etc...

• Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge

Education level

University degree in Management, Political Science, Social Sciences, or related fields.

Qualifications

• 4 to 5 years NGOs/ CSOs work experience, including small and medium sized organizations. 
• Strong knowledge of NGOs financial reporting requirements (work experience on finance is an asset).
• Excellent knowledge of the Lebanese civil society, and the Lebanese aid ecosystem in general.
• Fluency in English and Arabic (written and spoken). Excellent command in French is a plus.
• Excellent computer skills: MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Excellent communication and reporting skills.
• Strong relationship skills and the ability to work effectively with local stakeholders.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented.
• Previous experience work experience with international agencies would be an asset.