Adolescent Project Officer Dfatd

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY: Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. The agency pursues its mission through emergency relief services, sustainable community development, civil society and economic development initiatives. Mercy Corps has been present in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently has offices in Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya. Working in Lebanon since 1993, Mercy Corps promotes economic development and increased opportunity for marginalized communities while responding to emergencies as they have emerged. Until recently Mercy Corps’ focus has focused on bolstering civil society and give voice to under-represented groups through the empowerment of young leaders. Recently, the country office portfolio expanded in response to the massive refugee influx from Syria, to address key needs like non-food items/winterization, water and sanitation, child protection, and capacity building. The conflict that began more than three years ago in Syria has resulted in a steady increase in Syrian refugees to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.  To date, more than one million refugees have fled to Lebanon, and the numbers continue to mount. All refugees who have entered Lebanon are staying with host families or in rented accommodation.  As numbers rapidly increase, humanitarian conditions are deteriorating.  The burden on host communities and the financial and emotional stress on refugees and their hosts is tremendous. Mercy Corps is responding to these needs by addressing urgent basic needs, child protection as well as the psychosocial impact of the conflict and displacement. With the support of the Government of Canada, Mercy Corps will support Syrian and Lebanese adolescent boys and girls, between the ages of 13 – 17 who are not currently enrolled in school or are at high risk of dropping out of school as a means of providing them with life skills, drawing adolescents away from their segregation, and encouraging greater interaction between host communities and refugees. Furthermore, program will reach out to young adults between the ages of 20 – 24 from among refugee and host communities, seeking their involvement and building their skills to act as mentors and facilitators within the program. GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY: The Adolescent Project Officer will provide support to the Program Manager in all aspects of implementing the program to ensure that it meets its key deliverables on-time and within budget.  He/she will closely work with local partner organizations to ensure accountability to Mercy Corps’ policies and donor rules and regulations, as well as other local actors including municipalities and service providers ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS: Project Implementation: Support the Program Manager in planning and implementing program activities to meet key deliverables based on timeline and scope agreed with the donor; Provide day-to-day support and coordination with local partners and service contractors, including administrative, financial and logistical support. Trouble shoot any administrative problems and report any challenges or bottlenecks to Program Manager; Support Program Manager in implementing activities, organizing meetings, community engagement and awareness raising/information dissemination events; Liaise with key stakeholders to build Mercy Corps acceptance within local communities to facilitate program implementation, including informing the wider community actors about Mercy Corps’ programming; Support the Program Manager to identify adolescent participants, and young adult mentors through community and stakeholder consultations; Participate in monitoring and evaluation system design and implementation for all aspects of the project, including monitoring  program progress by developing and applying monitoring tools to inform reports to donors and key stakeholders; Prepare weekly reports to be submitted to the Program Manager. Contribute to quarterly reports and other ad hoc reports to meet donor and internal requirements; Organize local organizational training sessions and support to improve the organizational and technical capacity of local partners to provide adolescent life-skills and psychosocial services; Support the Program Manager to coordinate with humanitarian and development partners including United Nations, international and local NGOs, municipalities and other stakeholders; Assist in filing and record keeping of program activities; Implement Mercy Corps’ Gender Equity policy and applies Do No Harm approaches; Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission; Other assigned tasks, as necessary.  KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:  Experience working with adolescent boys and girls or broader youth engagement required; Protection-related programs experience preferred; Strong understanding of refugee issues in the current Lebanon context; Strong management skills, with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues and ability to work with refugee and host community populations; Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including report development, writing and editing; Positive, respectful attitude and collaborative approach to problem solving; Demonstrated attention to detail; ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently as well as cooperatively with team members; Significant knowledge and understanding of the current political, economic, cultural and historical context of South Lebanon preferred; SUCCESS FACTORS: The successful Adolescent Project Officer will combine program management skills and experience in adolescent programming. S/he will have an outstanding ability to implement innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in the country. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and working independently are essential. Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving is essential in a complex security and political environment like Lebanon. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.