Partnership Coordinator - Education

All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s core values: dedication, innovation, inclusivity and accountability. These attitudes and believes shall guide our actions and relationships.

Background

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) supports people affected by displacement living in Lebanon and advocates for their rights inside the country, regionally and internationally. We also work to serve vulnerable Lebanese affected by the deteriorating economic situation in the country, and are providing assistance to vulnerable households in the neighbourhoods most affected by the Beirut port explosion. In 2019, our programmes reached 330,314 refugees and vulnerable Lebanese with Legal Assistance, Shelter, WASH and Education. NRC Lebanon’s Covid-19 response includes crosscutting activities and sector-specific Covid-19 support. NRC also implements activities with local partners to extend its access to people in need. We have operations in Beirut/ Mount Lebanon, Bekaa, South and North Lebanon.

NRC has strong experience leading consortiums and education in Lebanon targeting out of school refugee children. This includes collaborative school rehabilitation, teacher professional development, and retention support programming. NRC works with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) and the Center for Educational Research and Development (CERD) to mainstream of components of its Better Learning Programme, an evidence-based psychosocial support intervention for classroom settings, within MEHE public schools. In the Nataf3al consortium, funded by Agence Française de Développement (AFD), NRC partners with Amel Association, Ana Aqra, Alert International (start date 1 January 2021, for 39 months). Additionally, NRC partners with Amel in the 5-months ECHO funded non-formal education project, starting on 1 January 2021, to facilitate enrollment into formal public education.

1. Role and responsibilities

The Partnership Coordinator will significantly contribute to completing the projects deliverables, building on NRC’s existing partnership toolkit. The role requires a diverse set of skills including an understanding of partnership programming in protracted crisis and the ability to collaboratively increase national NGOs’ organisational capacity. The successful candidate will be a strong networker with the ability to explain and share knowledge with a wide range of stakeholders. The position is part of the Partnerships Unit in the Programme Support Unit, with M&E, Protection, Accountability and Grants, and will have a strong technical line to the Education Specialist to ensure quality project delivery.

Generic responsibilities

1. Contribute to adapting the global NRC partnership toolkit to the Lebanon context.
2. Support local capacity through facilitating the transfer of relevant NRC expertise, experience and tools to national NGO partners.
3. Contribute to a harmonized approach to partnership between NRC Lebanon programme response and NRC partners, in line with NRC policy, guidance notes and toolkits.
4. Support learning and development of staff on issues of partnership.
5. Oversee and be responsible of mainstreaming protection guidelines in the NRC activities as per NRC’s Protection mainstreaming guidelines and ensure that all breaches/concerns reported are properly resolved.

Specific responsibilities

• Provide support to the Partnership Board, which will oversee the selection of NGO partners and the development of partnership agreements.
• Conduct a mapping of national service providers of MEHE-regulated non-formal education (NFE) programmes.
• Conduct consultations with potential partners to outline the content, scope and conditions for the partnership, including detailed beneficiary targets and indicators.
• Lead the development of partnership agreement, which outlines the exact scope and type of service delivery envisaged between NRC and its NGO partner(s).
• Act as focal point for contracting and sub – granting related issues to NRC operational partners.
• Coordinate the effective start-up of partnerships and coordinate it with all departments involved
• Ensure the adherence of the intervention with NRCs project cycle management approach.
• Assess the partner NGO’s priority needs in terms of capacity development, based on which a jointly drafted action plan will be developed with the NGO partner.
• Coordinate capacity-building activities aiming at ensuring smooth implementation of the partnership grant, but also at supporting the overall development of the NGO partner.
• Monitoring partner learning progress and the application of the transferred knowledge, hence, identify and report challenges and achievements. While also maintaining a clear partnership archiving system.
• Support a structured approach to partnerships, including the development of tools for identifying, assessing, capacity building, monitoring and evaluating partnerships.
• Actively integrate partner feedback into tools and guidance and ensure strong mutual learning between NRC and its partners.
• Conduct field visits to partner activities and provide the coaching and mentoring when possible and relevant.
• Develop and maintain effective and positive working relationships with relevant stakeholders including partner agencies.
• Work actively with the protection, accountability, grants and compliance units to ensure strong mainstreaming of core NRC principles across operational partners.

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Education Specialist, Project Managers, and Project Coordinators
• Technical Specialists, Grants, M&E, Finance, Protection, Accountability, and Compliance teams

2. Competencies

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

1. Professional competencies

These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

Generic professional competencies:

• Bachelor degree or equivalent
• Minimum 4 years’ experience in humanitarian/development field, preferably in partnerships, civil society strengthening and/or non-formal education projects
• Proven ability to work effectively with national and local civil society organizations required
• Excellent coordination, communication (verbal and written) and networking skills
• Fluency in both English and Arabic (speaking, reading, writing)

Context/ Specific skills, knowledge and experience:

• Experience of designing and implementing partnership programming
• Understanding of Protection Principles and Principles of Partnership

2. Behavioral competencies (max 6)

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioral competencies and the following are essential for this position:

• Strategic thinking
• Working with people
• Empowering and building trust
• Analyzing
• Influencing
• Planning and delivering results