Partnerships Manager - Beirut - For National Candidates Only

Background IRC summary:

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 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Contextual Background:

As a part of its Strategic Planning, the IRC Lebanon has recognized that working with Local and International partners will continue to grow in its relevance and created a partnerships unit in 2017 with more that 20 established partnerships today in 2020 with local actors and governmental bodies. Effective partnerships with local and national CSOs and government entities enable the IRC to pursue the strategic objectives set out in IRC 2020 and result in better outcomes for the people we serve.

Job Overview/Summary:

Based in Beirut with occasional travel to the Field Offices in Zahle, Qobayat, and Tripoli the Partnerships Manager will work in the IRC partnership Unit. The purpose of the Partnership Unit is to oversee the management and coordination of IRC's partnership related work in accordance with the IRC Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results (PEERS). He/she will be reporting to the Partnerships Coordinator.

The Partnerships Manager will play a key role in supporting partners and IRC in the development of joint projects. The role will lead the facilitation and coordination of partnership management processes ( with the coordination and support of the Partnerships Coordinator) to ensure well planned, timely, coordinated and coherent partnership management, in close coordination with senior officers and other IRC units. Their role will also focus on supporting partners and programs’ staff to build solid capacity sharing plans across all IRC Lebanon partnerships’ portfolio.

Responsibilities

Partnership Agreement Management

• Co-facilitate and guide competitive and non-competitive partner selection processes to identify new partners, as well as new applications from existing partners.
• Review Partners’ submitted proposals and budgets and support senior officers in this task
• Conduct & coordinate  Partner Identity and Background Review (Vetting) processes, including completion of the report and or review of submitted report by Senior officers
• Coordinate and co-lead Partner's Project Capacity Review (PPCR) processes, including contributing to and facilitating the collaborative risk analysis and management.
• Coordinate with senior officers and coordinator to agree/review appropriate partnership agreement type and draft agreement, taking into account the due diligence outcomes and specific project and donor requirements, liaising with HQ for review and approval (and obtaining donor approvals as necessary).
• Support senior officers  and co-lead as well  Partnership Project Opening, Review and Closing Meetings, together with the Technical Coordinators and Partnerships coordinator
• Coordinate and participate in timely and effective partner program, finance, and compliance review and reflection (monitoring), and work with the Partnerships Senior Officers ,Technical Coordinators to address any project performance issues.
• Coordinate narrative and finance reporting processes, including review and feedback
• Liaise with finance to achieve timely funds transfers and proper financial follow up and support for partners; work with finance to address any challenges in payments and raise proposed disallowed costs to SMT.
• Work collaboratively with the senior officers, partners and IRC staff to constructively resolve any issues that may arise.
• Maintain complete and organized partnership files for each partner.
• Support senior officers and Co-lead the review of the performance of the partner, of the IRC (including on the basis of partner feedback), and of the partnership, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, fostering ongoing partnerships beyond the sub-award project cycle.

Strategy and Program Approach

• Lead with the senior officers and partnerships coordinator the stakeholder analysis process, including to identify local actors that offer capacity strengthening services.
• Support the partnerships coordinator in finalizing the partnerships’ strategies of all programs with concrete operational plans
• Support the partnerships coordinator in operationalizing the government engagement strategy for each program
• Support the partnerships coordinator in finalizing mapping of local actor for all relevant fields

Capacity Sharing Activities

• Member of PWG, and co-responsible for delivering the functions of the PWG.
• Facilitate the collaborative development and delivery of the partner project support plan, ensuring that it appropriately addresses issues identified in the due diligence process, and coordinate with relevant departments for the timely, quality implementation of the plan.
• Ensure IRC understands partner capacity strengthening priorities, and identifies opportunities and plans for IRC to support partner capacity strengthening efforts.
• Support the resourcing of organizational development support where appropriate for partners with the coordination and support of the Partnerships Coordinator;
• Develop materials and processes consistent with best practice to address partner technical and organizational priorities, including: designing and facilitating learning events, providing mentoring and coaching, facilitating peer learning, developing e-learning modules and videos, and utilizing other learning methodologies as appropriate.
• Identify opportunities for IRC to facilitate and promote learning among and between local actors.
• Where appropriate, facilitate an Organizational Development process with partners through a participatory process and in close collaboration with the organization’s leadership (process includes preliminary discussions, participatory self-assessment, action planning, implementation, tracking and documenting progress).
• Collaborate with technical coordinators to integrate technical capacity sharing approaches, including how IRC can learn from local partners.
• Identify opportunities for mentoring and/or coaching follow up activities at the partner organizational and individual levels.
• Lead in capacity sharing monitoring, evaluating, learning and periodic reporting, including documenting successful capacity sharing methods that can be scaled.
• Identify areas for mutual learning between IRC staff and partners, so that IRC can learn from unique partner practices and innovations.

Develop IRC Capacity

• Promote a culture of mutual learning and good partnership among IRC staff.
• Coach, train, and mentor staff to strengthen their abilities to effectively support partners.
• Contribute to quality improvement of existing capacity sharing guidance, tools, and curriculum to adapt to the local context and staff/partner capacity.
• Contribute to the development of capacity sharing standards and best practices for the country and/or region.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Partnerships Coordinator

Position directly supervises: 2 Senior Partnerships Officers ( one direct- one partially)

Indirect Reporting: N/A
Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: IRC Lebanon Finance, HR and Supply chain departments, HQ and Regional grants/compliance teams, Program Coordinators, Regional partnership team, Senior Coordinator

External: In-country donor counterparts, partner organizations,  

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant discipline, Master’s degree a plus.
• Demonstrated successful experience working with partners and/or grants management
• Demonstrable understanding of project planning and management cycles, and strong program design skills.
• Demonstrated experience in working in capacity building roles.
• Highly organized, close attention to detail, and ability to effectively prioritize tasks in a fluid environment.
• Professional fluency in spoken and written English; able to communicate concisely and with impact.
• Very strong English & Arabic writing and editing skills; strong computer skills.

Working Environment: 

The working environment is generally favorable. Lighting and temperature are adequate, and there are no hazardous or unpleasant conditions caused by noise, dust, etc. Work is generally performed within an office environment, with standard office equipment available (personal computer, personal desk, printer, etc.).