Projects Manager – Syria

Job Purpose To manage and expand our work on Syria. We are scaling up our presence in the Middle East to meet the urgent need to support Syrian civil society to design and deliver peacebuilding programmes. Working with a range of local partners inside Syria and in neighbouring countries, we seek to strengthen people’s capacity to manage and resolve conflict peacefully.   Duties and Responsibilities   1. Strategic development Lead the development of a  coherent strategy for the long term development of our work on Syria, aligning this strategy with that of the wider MENA programme; Manage effective relationships with principle partners and initiate new collaboration with international and local organisations working on similar issues; Ensure the programme develops both on the ground and is connected to global policy-level debates; Manage project budgets to ensure they are designed in line with optimal cost ratios detailed in the Business Plan, and support an effective and efficient staffing structure.   2. Project and Grants Management Lead the development of clear project workplans, ensuring clear roles and responsibilities for project staff and partners; Manage strong donor relationships, including the submission of timely, high-quality financial and impact reporting; Expend project funds in a timely and efficient manner and in accordance with the deliverables explained in project proposals and contracts; Ensure compliance with contract arrangements with donors and partners; Line-manage project staff as appropriate, overseeing the delivery of high quality outputs, including research, trainings and advocacy.   3. Project design, monitoring and evaluation Oversee the development and maintenance of project M&E frameworks; Assess impact as projects proceed and make adjustments as necessary; Use lessons emerging from current work to contribute to the design of new work contributing to sustainable improvements to peace and security in border regions;   4. Advocacy, policy influencing and communications Work in a team to develop advocacy messages and strategies based on evidence gathered from project implementation and research; Work in a team to identify advocacy targets and opportunities to disseminate project advocacy messages; Develop communications outputs and content for press releases, International Alert’s website and other sources.   5. Stakeholder management and liaison Act as focal point for key national and international project stakeholders, including government agencies, UN agencies, the wider donor community etc; Provide regular updates and reports to the MENA team and the Department for Emerging Programmes regarding project progress; Organise and facilitate regular project partner and stakeholder coordination, planning and monitoring meetings;   6. Contributing to Alert’s organisational processes and strategies Contribute to organisational processes, such as strategy development and roll-out; Take proactive steps to ensure that effective relationships are created and maintained with staff at different levels within the organisation; Contribute to Alert’s initiative on knowledge management, e.g. by articulating lessons learned from Syria projects and sharing them across the organisation; Any other tasks as may be reasonably required   Travel requirements   This post is based in either the UK, Lebanon or Turkey, dependent upon preference and work-permit status. Considerable travel (4 months per year) is expected within the Middle East and to/from Alert’s head office in the UK. The post does not require travel inside Syria at this stage.   Requirements Essential Extensive peacebuilding experience and/or the ability to apply a peacebuilding lens to experience in the field of civil society capacity building. A strategic thinker with experience of developing programme strategies. Has managed projects when based in a conflict-affected or conflict-prone context. Has designed proposals and raised funds. Has engaged with senior political and civil society figures and has earned the respect of these figures. Has solid experience of working in challenging contexts and dealing with sensitive topics. Excellent communication skills, both written and oral. Significant people and project management experience, including experience of liaising with donors. Financial acumen - can manage financial expenditure with accuracy and oversight, in line with project budgets. Desirable Fluent Arabic Experience of working in/on Syria or the Middle East Experience of project M&E Experience of undertaking and/or managing research projects Experience of remote personnel management