Expertise France is looking for a Senior Protection Project Manager for its Qudra2 project in Lebanon.
Qudra 2 – Resilience for Syrian refugees, IDPs and host communities in response to the Syrian and Iraqi crises – is a multi-donor, multi-partner regional programme. It is is co-financed by the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (EUTF Syria), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), and aims at alleviating the impact of the Syrian and Iraqi crises on refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. The first phase of Qudra was implemented in 2016-2019. Its second phase started in September 2019 and is expected to end in August 2023.
The Middle East is currently experiencing a profound crisis. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq are both a reflection and a transmitter of this crisis, with growing potential to further destabilise neighbouring countries and the wider region. These crises have resulted in a humanitarian disaster affecting more than 13.5 million people who were forced to flee their homes from Syria, and more than 17 million people in need of humanitarian aid (12.2 in Syria and 5.2 in Iraq).
Lebanon is now home to the largest number of Syrian refugees per capita relative to its total population, putting a severe strain on the country’s fragile infrastructures, economy, and security. As of November 2020, the Government of Lebanon estimates that the country hosts 1.5 million Syrians who have fled the conflict in Syria, including 879,598 registered as refugees with UNHCR, along with 257,000 Palestine Refugees in Lebanon, Palestinian refugees from Syria, other UNRWA eligible persons from Lebanon. Even though Lebanon has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, it continues to host the highest number of displaced per capita in the world. The Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017-2021 (LCRP) estimates the total number of people living in Lebanon at 5.9 million, with 3.2 million people in need, including 1.25 million vulnerable Lebanese. Some 44 per cent of all displaced Syrian individuals (646,811 people) reside in these the governorates of Akkar, Baalbek-Hermel and Beqaa bordering the Syrian territories.
During the last two years, host communities and refugee populations have seen their situation dramatically worsen due to the profound political, social and economic crisis that has hit the country, and that was compounded by the impact of the COVID 19 disease, leading to a dramatic increase of poverty levels throughout the country. The Beirut Port explosion has further devastated the country’s general economy and the society’s capacity to cope. Finally, the current political crisis has considerably undermined the legitimacy and capacity of the State to provide services and the financial breakdown of the country is severely impacting previously subsidized sectors, such as oil, electricity and pharmaceuticals.
In Lebanon, Expertise France seeks to improve protection opportunities for vulnerable children, youth, and adults as well as other marginalised groups, such as older persons and persons with disabilities. To this effect, the project activities revolve around two pillars:
- Strengthening local and national systems and service delivery capacities of the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) in selected geographic areas
- Enhancing the self-development and wellbeing of marginalized children and adults through child protection and protection activities in 14 Social Development Centres (SDC) run by MoSA through selected NGOs
Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Programme Director, the Qudra 2 Project Manager will undertake the overall responsibility of Qudra project to ensure timely and quality implementation of project activities in coordination with MoSA, the European Union Delegation (EUD) and other concerned stakeholders. The Qudra 2 Project Manager will lead a team of two project officers who will be placed under her/his direct supervision.
His/her overall duties include the following:
Project management, monitoring, evaluation and learning
- Provide overall leadership over the project planning, budget, implementation and monitoring;
- Hold overall responsibility for the timely and quality project delivery;
- Ensure the project is implemented in close coordination with MoSA;
- Provide technical support to MoSA and NGO implementing partners to ensure protection / activities meet the required quality standards;
- Ensure that the new workstream on older persons is mainstreamed in the project and implemented smoothly starting from February 2022;
- Oversee the partnership with NGO implementing partners and the collaboration with SDC directors and teams;
- In coordination with the relevant team members of the Stabilisation & Resilience Unit, implement planning, operational and budgetary monitoring tools to assess (1) the real-time progress of activities, including cross-sectoral activities such as recruitment, reporting, management, etc.; (2) achievement of indicators under the project logical framework; and (3) budget expenditure and running balance;
- Organize and facilitate quarterly and annual project reviews that include the preparation of progress reports and project team meetings to assess the intervention strategy and contextual changes;
- Participate in quarterly Country Advisory Committee meetings and contribute, in support of GIZ, to the drafting of the agenda and minutes;
- In collaboration with the M&E team, collect information and draft narrative reports for donors in compliance with the requirements;
- Provide recommendations on project monitoring, improvement of practices, and on potential revisions of activities if needed;
- Ensure that findings / recommendations of past and future assessments (e.g. Results-Oriented Monitoring, Mid-Term Evaluation, Comparative Perspective Assessment on Social Stability, Beneficiary Satisfaction Surveys) are acted upon and/or used to improve the project results;
- With the technical support of the Communication Officer, ensure the visibility of the project in line with EU requirements;
- With the support of the Finance team, monitor the efficient budget utilisation and suggest reallocation of funds if needed;
- Organize capitalization exercises to take stock of project achievements and lessons learnt and to highlight promising practices, if any, or to devise corrective course of action;
- Develop an “exit strategy” in consultation with MoSA before the project closure that will aim at ensuring the sustainability of the achieved results.
Staff Management and Supervision of Experts
- Responsible for managing the core Qudra 2 team that is composed of the Project Officer and the Protection Officer;
- Supervise and mentor the core Qudra 2 team members, including by communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews;
- Provide technical guidance to the core Qudra 2 team members to allow them to manage their respective portfolio in a professional manner;
- Provide capacity development opportunities to the core Qudra 2 team members based on identified needs;
- Supervise the recruitment of experts, coaches, trainers, case managers and recruit EF project staff if needed
- Ensure that experts deliver their assignments in a timely manner and as per the expected outputs;
- Monitor the project staff deployed to MoSA and the SDCs (coaches, case managers, etc.) by reviewing their monthly activity reports and discussing their performance with MoSA.
Monitoring on protection / social protection sectors and project development
- Keep abreast of developments in the protection / social protection sectors in Lebanon, including in relation to the institutional framework, stakeholders and programmatic guidance;
- Ensure coordination with other partners implementing EUTF-funded projects related to MoSA / SDC in particular;
- Keep the Programme Director informed of programmatic updates and potential project ideas and initiatives.
Institutional representation & partnership
- Participate in coordination and technical meetings, represent EF in relevant Inter-Agency Working Groups (e.g. SGBV, Protection, Social Stability) and discussions;
- Represent EF with MoSA, at the level of the Director General, on all matters related to the project strategy and implementation;
- Maintain a good working relationship with the EUD at technical level;
- Build up a collaborative network of peers, government agencies, UN agencies, international and local NGOs engaged in issues related to protection / social protection;
- Participate in Qudra 2 regional workshops with Qudra implementing partners.
Candidate's profile
Qualifications and skills
- Master’s Degree in international development, human rights, social protection, social policies or any related field;
- Demonstrated knowledge in Protection, Child Protection and/or Social Protection programming;
- Strong programme/technical and budget management skills, planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation skills;
- Strong written and oral communication skills, effective representation and liaison skills;
- Ability to apply skills and knowledge in a range of capacities, including direct implementation, advisory functions, training and the transfer of technical knowledge and management skills to others;
- Personal qualities: Team leader skills, promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure well; result-oriented; pays attention to detail and quality;
- Fluency in English. Fluency in French and Arabic is an asset.
Professional experience :
- Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in humanitarian and non-humanitarian sectors, with specific experience in protection projects in emergency or post-conflict settings;
- Proven experience in project management and/or project coordination working for an INGO, a UN or a bilateral agency.