Field Project Officer – NES At Expertise France

Post Title: Field Project Officer – NES

Duty station: Based in Deir ez-Zor with regular visits to project locations in NES

Duration of assignment: 11 months

Contract type: Service contract

Starting and End date: 1st of March 2024 to 31st of January 2025

1. INTRODUCTION

Expertise France

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1st January 2015 and merging 6 French public agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance.

1. CONTEXT

Syrian conflict

The Syrian conflict is having a devastating and lasting impact on Syria and across the region. With the conflict almost entering its ninth year, the needs of the affected populations for assistance, including 13.1 million people inside the country and more than 5.6 million refugees plus their overstretched host communities in neighboring countries, are of an unprecedented scale. In 2013, the Syria crisis has transformed itself from a humanitarian emergency to a multidimensional and protracted crisis directly affecting several countries in the region – mainly Lebanon and Jordan, but also Iraq, Turkey and Egypt – whose social and economic capacity to deal with the ever-growing influx of refugees is all but exhausted. All actors involved in the response agree that this massive challenge requires a comprehensive regional response not only including humanitarian aid but also longer-term structural support to host countries and communities, especially as no political solution to the crisis is in sight in the short-term.

Many communities inside Syria are facing disrupted humanitarian support and quickly deteriorating public services and infrastructure. In that context, and since 2013, Expertise France has developed and manages direct stabilization projects to conflict-affected communities in Syria, through support to civil society organizations.

1. NORTH-EAST SYRIA: PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

Expertise France (EF) has been implementing direct non-humanitarian assistance programmes in Syria Since 2013. In this framework, EF develops and manages direct stabilization projects to conflict-affected communities in Syria through support to NGOs and CSOs with whom EF builds strong partnerships. Expertise France’s fields of intervention cover the following sectors: agricultural support, economic recovery, vocational training, and health.

Expertise France is about to start a new project in North-East Syria. It aims to contribute to improving the livelihoods of Syrian by supporting the progressive recovery of essential services and economic activity and the reinforcement of civil society in NES.

This project will follow a holistic approach in the design of activities, taking into account the links and exchanges between sectors, local areas, and stakeholders. Targeting one location with a multi-sector approach will maximize the impact by having a positive effect between activities (rehabilitation, vocational training, agricultural support, etc.) and act as potential leverage for sectors not directly targeted by the project (education and child labor, growth of the local private sector, etc.). The activities will be carried out locally by CSOs and CBOs. The project will focus on:

1. Access to basic services is enhanced through the rehabilitation of public infrastructure.
2. Local communities have improved access to inclusive and sustainable livelihoods opportunities.
3. Social Cohesion has increased in areas where a diversity of communities and sociodemographic live.
4. The capacities of local partners are strengthened to implement project activities and improve community engagement.
5. JOB DESCRIPTION / ASSIGNMENT

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager in Erbil and in close coordination with other departments, the incumbent will be responsible for the follow-up with the implementation of EF activities in NES, particularly SABIR project. He/she will carry out the following activities:

• Ensure the proper implementation of the activities through the daily follow-up with the partners and the regular field visits to the project sites.
• Ensure the supported projects are being implemented according to the agreed work-plan.
• Ensure the follow-up with the financial forecast and expenditure plans of the partners.
• Liaise and coordinate closely with the implementation teams of the partners.
• Constantly review, validate and store the projects progress reports and other projects deliverables submitted by the partners.
• Draft a monthly report and provide updates about the context, and projects activities and progress. With writing a monthly work plan.
• Follow up and update any incident information in NES
• Contribute to the identification and selection of local implementing partners and to the development of activities design during the development process of proposals.
• Serve as a focal point to establish and maintain a network of key local-level stakeholders and actors.
• Provide technical support and advise to implementing partners to ensure the supported projects are being implemented to EF rules and regulation and according to the agreed standards.
• Participate in the annual and semi-annual project review meetings.
• In coordination with partners, update IPTTs on a regular basis, and perform follow-up corrections when needed with direct guidance from M&E Advisor.
• Provide quality data control across EF partners and ensure the data is accurate and reported correctly. With Collect qualitative data collection and generate monitoring.
• Ensure the partners’ M&E frameworks are developed and updated as per each granted project.
• Conduct site visits to different project location and activities every week.
• Support Project Manager on research, baselines, data collection tools and analyse logical frameworks to ensure high impacting data is collected.
• Work closely with M&E and program team to ensure discrepancies in data are resolved by using standard procedures.
• Ensure M&E tools are in place and in use for each activity of the project accordingly.
• Support the project manager in updating the overall risk management, issue log, stakeholders register and other project management tools.
• Facilitate information sharing and learning between EF and relevant stakeholders.
• Work closely with the M&E team to ensure discrepancies in data are resolved by using standard procedures.
• Support the M&E team on the collection and submission of partners’ IPTT and log-frames to ensure high impacting data is collected.
• Ensure the accountability systems and mechanism towards beneficiaries, partners and donors are in place.
• Hold regular monthly meetings with the Community- Based Committees to ensure that they are well informed about the project progress and being consulted at all stages of the implementation.
• Any other duties assigned by supervisor.

1. Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge:

• Relevant university degree in Social/Political Sciences, Development Studies, Geography or similar, ideally related to humanitarian/Stabilization sectors.
• Proficient in social cohesion activities in northeastern Syria, with strong skills and knowledge in this field.
• At least 2 years of experience in a similar capacity with well-developed skills in project management and capacity building in emergency and development contexts. INGOs experience is an added advantage.
• Sound knowledge of international donors’ procedures.
• Experience in building staff capacity technically.
• Good analytical, writing and reporting skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken in Arabic, good command in English is an advantage.
• Willingness and ability to provide remote training to local partner organizations.
• Experience in remote management.
• Ethics and values: demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.
• Development and innovation: take charge of self-development and take initiative.
• Work in teams: demonstrate the ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.