Psycho-Social Counsellor

  Psycho-social counsellor as consultant     TERMS OF REFERENCE   Background SDC supports through humanitarian cash assistance Lebanese families hosting refugees from Syria.  The project is located in the north-east of Lebanon’s Akkar District and covers meanwhile all 19 municipalities/villages of Wadi Khaled and Akroum.   This project is implemented in partnership with the NGO, Mada Association, which has seconded staff to SDC for this project. The project office is located in Kobayat and staffed with a Swiss international expert and 9 national staff.   Cash disbursements to Lebanese families hosting displaced families started in September 2012: families continuously hosting Syrian refugees for more than 2 months and not asking for rent or any other compensation from them, receive a monthly cash assistance to contribute to the costs for hosting. The support is based on an assessment of additional costs for hosting e.g. such as water and electricity. The project pays cash assistance of USD 100 per month/host family, respectively USD 150 if there are more than 10 refugees hosted. In addition the project provides a basic Livelihood support to the host families as their incomes decreased as a result of the border closure and increasing costs of living due to inflated prices for goods and services as a result of the crisis in neighbouring country; each host family receives a flat unconditional amount of USD 100 per month.  The project is now in its 2nd phase covering the time span from April to September 2013. An extension of the project is in the planning. An important challenge concerns the need to address protection and psycho-social counselling issues in the work of the project team. In particular there are four thematic areas to be addressed:                     i.            Sensibilisation of project team for the especially difficult circumstances of refugee life.                    ii.            Defusing of project staff working with (sometimes difficult) beneficiaries.                  iii.            Addressing protection issues of especially vulnerable refugees.    Objective: The project assumes specific capacities to work in stressful and sometimes hazardous environments and to react appropriately to various protection issues arising out of the relationship between host families and refugees.     Role and responsibility The role of the psycho-social counsellor is to help the project assistants to cope better with the problems resulting from the stress of their work with the beneficiaries when registering and verifying beneficiaries. This counsellor should dispose of a toolbox of methods including teaching teamwork, cooperation, and respect for people living in especially difficult situations, to assist the three teams of project assistants who are challenged by working in a stressful environment. The role of the Psychosocial Counsellor is to work with the project team in implementing a suitable programme of activities raising the teams’ sensibility for refugees and their hosts in the project area. The psycho-social counsellor will conduct team sessions and – if required – individual counselling of team members.     Specific Responsibilities and Tasks:   -To advise the project team on issues relevant to improve the team’s performance in dealing with registering beneficiaries and refugees hosted by them. -Defuse stressful experiences of the field team. -Propose measures which improve the team’s communication and performance when dealing with the host families and their guests in view of avoiding tensions and conflict.  -To organise special team meetings addressing concerning psycho-social issues in SDC project office in Akkar.     Applicant’s Profile: -Solid professional background in psycho-social counselling -Experience in trauma counselling -At least 5 years of experience in a similar role -Training experience in psycho-social counselling -Experience with staff working in emergency situations and with refugee programmes -fluency in Arabic and English (knowledge of French is advantageous) -Strong communication skills -Proficient team working experience   Timeframe The assignment will cover an induction in the team’s field work and subsequent monthly meetings with the project team.   Basic information sources [1]Project document Phase II „Support to Families and Communities hosting Syrian Refugees“ [2]Project fact sheet   Kobayat, 22 July 2013