Country Director, Syria – Maternity Cover At Mission East

Are you strongly motivated by supporting poor rural communities, based on assessed needs and with a sustainable impact?

Do you have excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills to negotiate and work with a wide range of stakeholders?

And can you demonstrate substantial experience in overseas programme and office management in an international relief and development setting?

If so, you may be our Country Director in Syria (Maternity Cover)!

You will be accountable to the International Director, with day-to-day coordination on programming and HQ relations managed through the HQ Programme Manager for Syria.

International Director, based in Mission East’s Brussels Office.

The Job

The main purpose of your role is to oversee all aspects of Mission East’s work in Syria, with key roles of government, donor and NGO liaison; staff management; country finance oversight; new donor and project identification and development; strategy design and implementation; and security management.

As Country Director, your tasks will be to:

Strategic Leadership

• Take the lead in writing, updating and promoting Mission East Syria country strategy, both internally and externally, and help to ensure that it is in line with the Mission East global organizational strategy
• Identify current and new trends and developments, new areas of project involvement and new donors to support the organization’s strategic direction.
• Provide necessary management support and oversight to needs assessments, project evaluations, MEAL improvements etc.
• Seek in-country funding for the Mission East Syria programme or for its particular thematic components.
• Ensure organization-wide compliance with the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), NGO/Red Cross Code of Conduct, Sphere Minimum Standards, and Mission East policies.

Liaison & Coordination

• Appropriate and extensive liaison with other NGOs, donors, and governmental agencies and Ministries, for excellent coordination and representation through established in-country coordination mechanisms and networks.
• Raise Mission East’s visibility and profile in all relevant and key in-country networks (Clusters, UN Country Based Pooled Funds, government, etc.).
• Ensure that Mission East’s programming conforms with governmental strategies, and Syrian law and collaborates/ coordinates with government programmes as possible.

Project/Programme Management

• Assume overall responsibility for the successful completion of Mission East projects and programs, and achievement of planned targets and objectives.
• Oversee needs assessments for new projects, and assessment / identification of local project partners.
• Provide necessary oversight and management support for the monitoring and evaluation of projects (through the use of Project Work-books and trackers and other MEAL tools), recommending modifications and new activities, and dissemination of lessons learnt and good practices.
• Visit project sites on a regular basis and support good practices in community liaison and participatory development methodologies appropriate to the Syrian context.
• Ensure that complaints mechanisms, information sharing mechanisms and participatory mechanisms are included in programme activities and respected by programme staff, as per Core Humanitarian Standards.
• Promote gender sensitivity, protection principles, and inclusive approaches in all MEED Syria programming.

Proposal Development and Fundraising

• Seek external and in-country funding for current and potential new projects and programmes.
• Coordinate proposal design and writing together with the country team and with support from the HQ Programme Manager.
• Ensure that Mission East Syria’s programming conforms to country government strategies and national policies.

Staff Management

• Line management of and support to senior staff (expatriate and national), including staff development.
• Conducting of staff appraisals (SDD) and setting of Performance Objectives.
• Participation in determination of ongoing/future staff requirements and recruitment processes.
• In coordination with senior management, ensuring that staff training and capacity-building needs are being identified and addressed.
• Ensuring that there are proper and adequate complaints and grievance mechanisms in place and accessible to all staff members, and that all grievances are being addressed in a sensitive and timely manner; play the role of mediator and ‘conflict mitigator’ as and when needed.
• Facilitate and promote good, constructive working relationships between the different departments within Mission East in Syria and between HQ and the field, with a view to building a culture of respect and integrity in line with Mission East’s values and Code of Conduct.

Reporting

• Hold responsibility for internal reporting and communications as per Mission East requirements and procedures.
• Ensure timely delivery of quality reporting to donors and external partners as appropriate, including narratives, budgets, work plans.

Security Management

• To be responsible for the safety and security of all national and international staff & visitors.
• Oversee security and Health/Safety management systems in Syria.
• Lead security planning and field security management.
• Oversee awareness and implementation of Mission East security policy and procedures through field staff, including regular risk assessments.
• Represent Mission East at appropriate security coordination meetings.

We expect you to have:

• Substantial hands on senior leadership experience in a humanitarian/development NGO setting, including strategy development and detailed coordination.
• Experience of living and working in Syria or other neighbouring countries would be an advantage.
• Education should be of degree level or higher, preferably in development studies, engineering, community development or another relevant discipline.
• Demonstrable experience of
  • direct management and coordination of multi-sectoral, multi-donor projects and programme(s) in a range of sectors relevant to Mission East’s programme and within a challenging context like Syria
  • donor liaison, writing and preparation of proposals and applications and in successfully securing funding of large relief and development projects, including development of budgets, logframes, and work plans.
  • assessing the needs of poor rural communities and appropriate and sustainable ways of addressing them.
  • managing cross-cultural communication and complex interpersonal relations; managing, negotiating and working with expatriate staff, managers, government officials, national staff, other non-governmental staff, community elders etc.
• Recent and relevant direct experience of security management in a high-risk and complex conflict environment

You will display:

• Leadership and decision-making ability
• Personnel management and team-building skills with an ability, both to delegate, supervise and support, as well as to perform tasks more directly as and when needed.
• Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication and mediation skills.
• Clear understanding of NGO accounting and financial management.
• Strong writing skills, especially in proposal and report writing.
• Demonstrated understanding of/engagement with M&E approaches and processes.
• Understanding of key Quality Assurance Standards for humanitarian work such as SPHERE, Core Humanitarian Standard, Red Cross Code of Conduct etc.
• Strong external representational skills.
• Fluency in spoken and written English.
• Excellent computer skills in Word and Excel. Experience with Outlook, Power Point etc.
• Sympathy with Mission East’s organisational values.

You may have:

• Sound knowledge and experience in some of Mission East’s programme sectors would be preferable.
• Knowledge of Arabic language would be an asset.

Other requirements:

• All staff are required to sign Mission East’s Code of Conduct and Child Safeguarding Commitment.
• Professional References will be taken up for the successful candidate.
• Mission East upholds high standards in all aspects of Safeguarding. In view of the nature of this role potentially requiring involvement with vulnerable individuals (including situations where there are potential imbalances of power), you will be required to provide a self declaration and formal certificate of previous good conduct.
• Mission East upholds high standards in Counter Terrorism (COTER) and sanctions regulation compliance. In view of this role being field-based, Mission East will conduct a thorough pre-employment background check of successful candidates, including checking through the SDN sanctions lists.

We offer:

• Fixed-term contracts in our overseas programmes roles, with the possibility of further extension. The initial duration of the contract is 6 months.
• Rest & Recuperation benefit and leaves in accordance with Mission East policy.
• An organization in development where you will have room to make an impact.
• A non-accompanied position based in Damascus.