Capacity Building Officer - Beirut

Background

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933, the IRC offers life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in more than 40 countries and in 22 cities in the United States, the IRC restores safety, dignity, and hope to millions of vulnerable individuals who are uprooted by conflict or disaster. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

In Lebanon, the IRC implements programs in the education, protection, women’s empowerment and protection, economic recovery and development, and child protection sectors. In child protection, one of the IRC’s main objectives is to strengthen the national child protection system to provide a quality response to children and families facing protection issues both during and outside of emergencies. To reach this objective, the IRC partners with local child protection actors to build their capacities.

In Lebanon, Syrian and Palestinian refugee and/or stateless children who require protection, such as adolescent boys working on the street have been referred to the judicial system as they have been perceived as children in conflict within the law and.. Whilst humanitarian agencies aim to ensure basic services for the most vulnerable children and their families, these interventions are not able to protect Syrian and Palestinian children from harm which may result from a child in contact with the judicial system and may experience the following:

Aggressive interview techniques used by front line investigators.

Late forensic testing for sexual assault without an explanation of the procedure. Detention rather than protection due to the General Prosecutors interpretation in cases of begging or sexual exploitation.

Prolonged periods of detention due to arbitrary administrative procedures

Procedures that are not child friendly during the actual investigation and trial.

Decisions taken regarding cases may not reflect the best interest of the child.

Objective:

The main objective of this position is to hire a Capacity Building Officer

His /Her role will include:

• Preparation and organization of meetings and discussion with municipality members, Municipal police, Lawyers, partner staff.
• Training preparation and delivery on Child protection and access to justice topics to Judicial staff in North Lebanon and to our Partners.
• Reporting and M&E

Major responsibilities:

The scope of work for the Capacity Building will be as follows:

Internal coordination: Coordinate with the IRC Access to Justice Manager, Senior child protection systems strengthening manager, and the Legal Officer.

Technical:

• The capacity building officer will be organizing and delivering trainings during the project duration. The topics of the trainings should be discussed and prepared with the IRC Access to Justice Manager. Training topics will be around transparency, access to justice for children and accountability to children, Clinical Management of Rape, Physical Examinations and Forensic testing, Child friendly skills, and child rights.
• Design trainings package for community stake holders from different backgrounds, such as municipal police, lawyers, ISF members …
• Set timely training plans based on identified needs for the partners and community stakeholders in the areas of the intervention.
• Raise all the training materials and plans to the Senior Capacity Building for his/her review and approval prior putting them into action.
• Deliver trainings to the CP partners and community stakeholders in the areas of the intervention.
• Conduct weekly monitoring visits to the partners activities sites and share documented feedback on the visits with the partners.
• Provide technical support and on Job coaching to CP local partners implementing PSS activities for children and caregivers in the areas of intervention.
• Liaise closely with the Access to Justice manager and senior Monitoring and Evaluation officer to develop M & E tools needed for trainings and other capacity building activities, (trainings pre/posttests, observation tools, database, training evaluation forms etc.…).
• Work closely with the Senior M&E officer to support the CP partner’s capacity on M&E. 

Reporting:

• Reporting on workshops conducted (inclusive of dates and times), names of staff documentation of attendants’ lists, discussions, observations/analysis, challenges, success stories, recommendations, and plans. Reports to be submitted to the Senior Capacity Building Officer.
• All reports should respect the confidentiality of Access to Justice project to the extent possible.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:  Senior Capacity Building Officer.
Position directly supervises:  no direct supervision.

Indirect Reporting: Access to Justice Manager.

Job Requirements:

• Education, bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in social work or related field.
• Work experience: 2 to 3 years in working in child Protection, preferably on Juvenile Justice.
• Strong experience in case management.
• Strong experience in delivering and facilitating training programs.
• Strong knowledge Child Protection and of the Juvenile justice system in Lebanon.
• Strong communication skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken Arabic and English.
• Staunch advocate of child protection and child rights.