Activating Market-based Agricultural Livelihoods (AMAL) Project Manager at Norwegian Refugee Council

About NRC Iraq:

Since the Government of Iraq declared that combat operations against the Islamic State Group (IS) had ended in 2017, Iraq has been recovering from the significant damage and destruction caused by the armed conflict. Of the more than six million Iraqis who fled their homes since 2014, 4.78 million Iraqis have returned to their area of origin and 1.28 million remain internally displaced. Many Iraqis have returned to areas that lack basic infrastructure, services and livelihood opportunities, or where explosive devices have not been cleared. Other challenges returnees and secondarily displaced people face include the lack of security, community acceptance, housing, property and civil documentation issues as well as critical educational and health service gaps. Throughout this, Iraq continues to host over a quarter of a million Syrian refugees.

The UN estimates that more than 4.1 million Iraqis will have needed assistance in 2020, 1.77 million of them in acute need. With military operations against IS group having ended, the Iraqi government faces new challenges to ensure an inclusive reconstruction and reconciliation that will sustain peace.

Since 2010, NRC Iraq has been assisting internally displaced Iraqis, Syrian refugees, returnees, and host communities in Ninewa, Dohuk, Erbil, Kirkuk, Basra, Salahdeen and Anbar Governorates. We focus on assisting the newly displaced, those experiencing protracted displacement in camps, people moving to new areas of Iraq and resettling, and people returning to and living in hard-to-reach places by improving their chance of obtaining a durable solution. NRC runs integrated programmes across Iraq to respond to people in need through our shelter and settlements, education, camp management, legal assistance, livelihoods, cash activities, and partnerships.

Despite the end of the armed conflict with ISIS in end 2017, large numbers of Iraqi’s impacted by the conflict are trying to rebuild their lives. Many still face danger or are stuck in a protracted displacement situation. A large proportion of the displaced have returned to their area of origin. NRC Iraq works with all the populations in need including IDPs in and out of camps, returnees and host communities. In addition, NRC supports Syrian refugees in Iraq as well as populations impacted by climate-change induced displacement.

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.

Duties and responsibilities

The purpose of the Project Manager’s position is to implement the Activating Market-based Agricultural Livelihoods (AMAL) project in Anbar (Ramadi and Ana districts), representing NRC at coordination forums, as delegated by the Area Program Manager and the AMAL Project Lead.

Generic responsibilities:

Line management for AMAL project field staff.
Contribute to the development of Country and Area strategies, initiate and participate in the development of proposal/project development, in line with needs-profile and in collaboration with Core Competency (CC) Specialists.
Manage AMAL project implementation using key project cycle management tools (work plan, procurement plan, spending plan) in line with the project proposal, CC strategies, NRC policies/procedures and donor requirements.
Implement agreed technical direction and ensure high technical quality of projects, including compliance.
Provide regular progress reports to the Area Manager and the AMAL Project Lead (as and when required.
Adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures.· Ensure that projects target beneficiaries most in need of assistance, explore and assess new and better ways to assist.
Manage area office project budget and conduct regular budge monitoring.
Ensure capacity building of project staff and transfer key organizational and technical skills.
Liaise and collaborate with relevant local authorities and other key stakeholders.
Represent NRC in relevant forums/clusters/working groups.

Specific responsibilities:

Support design of market assessments/ Value chain analysis and the infrastructural assessments in Ramadi and Ana districts in Anbar governorate in coordination with AMAL Advisors and Country office specialists;
Project cycle management: manage project budget and submit regular spending plans; conduct monthly expenditure reviews and take corrective actions to effectively manage and report expenses to the donor; develop work plans for the field teams and follow up with progress on a daily basis; develop procurement plans and ensure all procurements are done in time; contribute to budget development;
Donor compliance: ensure donor rules and regulations are followed and all necessary documentation is in place and backed up in NRC SSD as needed;
Responsible for the quality of the program: quality of data collection and distributions are according to Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) with correct accountability measures in place;
M&E and reporting: with support from the Core Competency Specialist, AMAL project lead and M&E, ensure that the following activities are implemented according to the work plan: market assessments/value chain assessments; infrastructural assessments, beneficiary assessments and verification; Ensure realistic monitoring plans are prepared and followed; PDM surveys; and end line surveys. Ensures reporting tools are in place for daily tracking of activities/trainings/distributions; ensure monthly and quarterly reports submitted to the country office.
Overall coordination of beneficiary selection process; ensures there is a communication strategy with beneficiaries in place; ensures there is a functioning complaints mechanism;
Support in identification and procurement of service providers while putting in place systems to ensure quality;
Capacity building of national livelihood PM and PCs in the area office and maintain an overview of all livelihood grants in the area office.
Coordinate with the Logistics, Finance and Security departments to organize activities;
Establish strong coordination with stakeholder and represent NRC in external meetings as needed, primarily with Directorate of Agriculture, Directorate of Water Resources, Directorate of Trade and any governorate level coordination mechanisms on Agriculture/Livelihoods as well as infrastructure;
Cooperate closely with counterparts from NRC core competencies to identify opportunities for integration/synergy of NRC services alongside livelihoods/infrastructure.

Critical interfaces

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

Project planning: Area Manager, Core Competency Specialist, AMAL Core management team
Area operations: AM, Support staff (Logistics, Finance/Administration, HR), Security
Staff capacity building: AM, Core Competency Specialists
Implementation: Project staff, Area Office support teams.

Scale and scope of position

Staff – 2 x Project Coordinators, 9 x Project Officers and 7 x Assistants
Stakeholders – NGO’s, UN Agencies, Government Directorates
Budgets – Approximately EUR 6.7 million (Annual budget of approx. EUR 2.5 million)
Information – NRC online tools, GORS, Agresso, Sharefile, Onedrive
Legal/Compliance – Must adhere to NRC internal and donor compliance requirements

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:

Required Professional Competencies:

University degree or higher education relevant to the assignment (Agriculture, Agriculture economics, Agricultural Engineering);
Minimum 4 years of experience from a senior level project management position in a humanitarian/recovery context;
Proven experience of working within Agriculture programms and able to present working knowledge of the livelihoods and infrastructure elements of agriculture focused programming;
Experience in market based programming and community development driven (CDD) approach
Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts;
Experience overseeing multiple activity streams and managing multiple budgets;
Experience with community engagement principles and approaches;
Commitment to an evidence and needs based approach;
Demonstrated experience managing teams and providing capacity building support;
Experience in integrated programming;
Fluency in English, both written and verbal; Arabic is a plus.

Additional skills:

Knowledge of Market system development (MSD) or M4P
Previous experience and contextual knowledge within Iraq is an advantage
Skills in monitoring and evaluation would be beneficial.
Experience with multi-sectoral and integrated Cash programming
Experience with early recovery /reconstruction projects is an asset.
Familiarity with the UN Cluster system and response coordination mechanisms.

Required Behavioural Competencies:

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

Planning and delivering results.
Working with people.
Communicating with impact and respect.
Coping with change.
Analyzing.
Handling insecure environments.

Context/ Specific Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

Previous experience and contextual knowledge within Iraq is an advantage
Skills in monitoring and evaluation would be beneficial
Experience with multi-sectoral and integrated Cash programming
Experience with early recovery /reconstruction projects is an asset
Familiarity with the UN Cluster system and response coordination mechanisms

Performance Management

The employee will be accountable for and evaluated on the responsibilities and the competencies, based on NRC’s Performance Management Framework. The following documents will be used for performance reviews: