Assistant Project Officer-North (Tripoli)

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY: 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 humanitarian and longer-term development needs alike. A growing programmatic focus is on mitigating the emerging tensions between hosts and refugees, particularly over economic resources, by addressing both livelihood opportunities and conflict mitigation capacity. Mercy Corps will be working with communities in areas with significant tensions between Lebanese and Syrians. Mercy Corps will work with the municipality to select respected local leaders and provide them the skills to identify sources of common tensions and create plans to implement projects that will mitigate sources of tensions. Mercy Corps will then work with the municipality to select and implement projects. Furthermore, Mercy Corps will be helping municipalities to identify capacity gaps and working with them to address these gaps and thereby increase their ability to manage the refugee crisis. GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY: The Assistant Project Officer will support his/her colleagues in the engagement with both the communities and the municipalities, and will work with the Program Manager in all aspects of implementation. It will involve fulfilling specific deliverables outlined in the project plan. This will namely include supporting the building of key relationships with the municipality and local leaders, coordinating between the municipality and local leaders, and disseminating information. ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS: Program Implementation: Support the Program Manager in planning and implementing program activities to meet key deliverables based on timeline and scope agreed with the donor; 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; Provide day-to-day support and coordination, including administrative, financial and logistical support. Trouble shoot any administrative problems and report any challenges or bottlenecks to Program Manager; Support Program Manager in organizing meetings, community engagement and awareness raising/information dissemination events; Participate in monitoring and evaluation system design and implementation for all aspects of the program, including monitoring  program progress by developing and applying monitoring tools to inform reports to donors and key 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 in community engagement preferred; Strong understanding of refugee issues in the current Lebanon context; Excellent knowledge of local context in Tripoli Written and oral communication skills in English preferred; 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; SUCCESS FACTORS: The successful Assistant Project Officer will be able to multi-task, prioritize, problem solve. S/he will have attention to detail and an ability to work independently. 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.