Partnerships and Delivery Manager – Early Recovery At Adam Smith International

Job description

Reports to: Deputy Fund Manager

Location: Damascus, Syria

Duration: March 2025 – May 2026

About ASI & AFNS

Adam Smith International is a global advisory company that works locally to transform lives by making economies stronger, societies more stable, and governments more effective. Our clients are governments, international organisations, companies, and foundations. They come to us to develop strategies and to design, deliver and evaluate programmes that address the big challenges facing the world.

As a company with experience of delivering lasting results, including in fragile states and where there is conflict, we are prepared to manage a high level of risk to achieve our purpose.

Our core team of staff and technical experts, in multiple offices around the world, ensures the quality of delivery and high ethical standards that we and our clients require.

ASI is owned and operated by its employees. We are committed to corporate integrity and a triple bottom line of social, environmental and financial performance. This commitment was formally recognised when we became a certified B Corp. The certification indicates we balance profit and purpose through the highest standards of transparency and accountability as well as social and environmental performance.

The Aid Fund for Northern Syria (AFNS) is a multi-donor humanitarian fund tackling urgent needs in northwest Syria. Established in 2022, we champion localisation, integrated programming, and sustainable, cost-effective solutions across health, education, WASH, cash assistance, CCCM, nutrition, shelter, protection, food security, early recovery, and livelihoods. Governed by a Steering Board of donors and local and international NGOs, AFNS operates through a consortium led by Adam Smith International. Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, we will expand into previously inaccessible areas, transitioning into the Aid Fund for Syria. The Fund unites Syrian and international partners in a shared mission to sustain life-saving humanitarian aid.

Objective

AFNS is seeking a highly skilled Early Recovery (ER) focused Partnerships and Delivery Manager to lead and oversee the technical implementation, partner coordination, and strategic planning of ER interventions. The role involves managing a multi-million-dollar portfolio, ensuring high-quality program delivery, and engaging with internal and external stakeholders to strengthen AFNS’s impact in early recovery programming.

Key Responsibilities

Delivery & Technical Support

· Participate in grants kick-off meetings with partners when new grants are awarded.

· Serve as the technical focal point for ER grants and ensuring partners follow AFNS manuals and standard guidelines of ER sector in Syria.

· Align AFNS ER interventions with triple nexus and transitional dynamics to shift towards development.

· Provide technical guidance and support for integrating ER with other sectoral interventions contributing to AFNS overall strategic objectives.

· Ensure programmatic oversight by reviewing implementing partners’ reports (quarterly, inception, financial, and final narrative) submitted through the GMS system, ensuring quality and compliance.

· Ensure timely and transparent feedback to partners, addressing technical concerns.

· Follow up on payments in collaboration with AFNS finance focal points.

· Ensure meaningful engagement of local and community led initiatives and grassroots in grants where they are included and support their equal participation.

· Provide hands-on capacity-building support for partners throughout project implementation.

Partnership Management & Compliance

· Ensure partner staff are aware of AFNS manual, guidelines and policies, immediately raising any compliance issues.

· Track partner-related technical, operational, financial, HR, or grant issues and coordinate support.

· Lead or participate in PPA (Partner Performance Assessment) meetings, providing data-driven evaluations of partners’ capacity and performance on the AFNS GMS system.

· Address outstanding partnership issues, ensuring timely resolution of concerns, including compliance-related allegations.

· Coordinate, participate in, and schedule Due Diligence and Capacity Assessments (DDCA) for new and potential partners.

· Review the partners’ standard and incident reports, to provide necessary feedback in a timely manner.

· Conduct partner reviews/meetings and participate in learning sessions as needed.

· Assist partners in strategizing ways to ensure program delivery meets targets.

· Lead on special conditions updates meetings mentioned in the PFA (Partnerships Framework Agreement).

Monitoring, Reporting & Risk Management

· Conduct and report on field visits with field officers, providing insights to the line manager.

· Conduct regular meetings with field officers to ensure two-way communication and active engagement.

· Strengthening TPM (Third-Party Monitoring) processes by providing detailed feedback and working with the MREL team to enhance report quality.

· Collaborate with the AFNS risk unit in the preparation of the partners’ risk matrix and risks mitigation.

Coordination & Representation

· Attend ER sectoral meetings and any coordination ad-hoc and ER-relevant meetings.

· Contribute to the development of expressions of interest and call for proposals.

· Actively engage with field officers and conduct Focus Group Discussions with the communities as means for community engagement and need-based analysis to feed into AFNS allocation strategy.

· Serve as AFNS’s representative in engagements with local authorities and community stakeholders in Syria.

· Collaborate with the AFNS Communication & Advocacy Team to develop success stories, showcasing program impact.

· Monitor, review and share security updates from implementing partners, work with the AFNS security manager to assess communicated partner risks and escalate where needed.

AFNS Strategy & Policy Development

· Contribute to overall development of AFNS allocations strategies and specifically set ER interventions packages required for the allocation.

· Contribute to building AFNS ER Strategy and ensure its full efficient role through transitional dynamics and standards to bridging towards resilience and development.

· Collaborate with audit teams and provide necessary support during internal and external audits.

· Participate in reviewing and improving the AFNS manual when required.

· Track and analyse key external trends, reports, and policy discussions, particularly in ER, to inform AFNS’s strategic direction.

Note: As ER is integral to AFNS programming, the ER-PDU Manager may be required to undertake additional related tasks not currently detailed here. These tasks will be communicated by the Deputy Fund Manager, in line with the allocated days for the role.

Availability

The Adviser must be available to serve on the programme between March 2025 and May 2026, for a maximum duration of 275 working days, with an average of up to 18.33 working days per month. The level of effort may vary monthly, but the total number of days for the role will remain fixed.

Job requirements

Required Qualifications & Experience

State the minimum qualifications required to successfully perform the job.

· Have B.S degree in engineering, architecture, civil or mechanical engineering is essentially required. Post graduate or master’s degree in the relevant field is desirable.

· Minimum 8 years of experience in early recovery programming, with a strong focus on infrastructure, resilience-building and long-term solutions. At least 2 years of experience should be in partnership-based or community-driven programming.

· Demonstrated experience in managing partnerships, overseeing grants (financial and compliance aspects), and leading reporting processes preferably within UN, NGO, or donor-funded programs.

· Strong understanding of the triple nexus, particularly in conflict-affected and protracted crisis contexts.

· Experience in organizational capacity development, including designing and delivering training, mentoring, and coaching for staff and implementing partners.

· Excellent communication, negotiation, and advocacy skills, with experience engaging with NGOs, INGOs, authorities, and humanitarian actors.

· Proven experience in field-level representation and coordination with key stakeholders, including NGOs, UN agencies, and local authorities.

· Fluency in Arabic and strong proficiency in English.

· Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in diverse cultural contexts.

· Experience in the context of Syria and knowledge of the regional dynamics is highly desirable.