Project Coordinator At Relief International

Title: Project Coordinator

Department: Program

Location: NES – Hasaka/Derek with travel to the field.

Reporting to: Hub team leader

Technical reports: Technical reporting line: Protection Director (RI), Dr Ted Barker – Co-Principal Investigator (King’s College London), Dr Gina Vale – Survey Director (King’s College London)

Budget responsibility: Budget Holder

ABOUT Relief International.

Relief International (RI) is a leading nonprofit organization working in 16 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

RI includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.

Position Summary.

The XCEPT C3 research project, funded by FCDO and delivered by King’s College London, seeks to better understand the drivers of peaceful and violent behavior in conflict-affected populations in Syria, Iraq and South Sudan. Extensive data collection will take places across the three countries through a large-scale survey, semi-structured interviews and oral histories. For Syria, KCL has partnered with Relief International to implement the research in NES (Hassakah, Twina Camp, Al-Hol Camp, Kisreh and the surrounding areas, various locations in al-Basira sub-district).

The Project Coordinator will manage all aspects of the implementation of research, he/she shall develop, lead, monitor and evaluate in line with the requirements of KCL’s research design and ethical framework. The post holder will act as a center point, actively coordinating between KCL, RI and any additional partners who will support in implementing the project activities. The position has line management responsibility for eight PSS enumerators who will be responsible for data collection. The position will closely collaborate with the protection manager based in NES and the protection director based in Amman to ensure smooth implementation of planned activities and complementarity of projects

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

Project Management

• Under the leadership of the NES Hub team leader, and supervision of the Protection Director at RI and Researchers at KCL, provide planning, programmatic and technical support to the assigned project.
• Ensure activities are in line with the approved project proposal, budget and implementation plan, communicating issues/problems in advance to the Hub team leader and Protection Director and preparing course corrections as needed. Central to the project is a two-wave survey, the post-holder is required to work with the Hub team leader, Protection Director and KCL researchers to ensure we maximize retention of respondents at wave two.
• Continuous supervision and monitoring of project activities, regularly evaluating progress of the outputs and targets (through on track/off track assessments) and develop corrective actions in coordination with Protection Director and KCL researchers to mitigate any delay in implementation
• Raising project risks based on program procurement plan/spend down plan and coordinate with operations to ensure procurement is received in a timely manner
• Under the guidance of the Hub team leader, work constructively with support teams to ensure sound administrative practices with regards to record keeping and communication/visibility and ensure programs are implemented in compliance with donor requirements through the project lifecycle
• In collaboration with the Hub team leader and the RI Grants Unit, organize and lead program kick off meetings, grant review meetings and grant closeout meetings
• Draft all needed narrative reports and other internal program reports and submit to the Hub team leader and Protection Director for review
• Provide leadership for the assigned project, working to ensure short- and long-term impacts and outcomes are successfully achieved and there is a positive impact for the participants
• Frequent travel to program sites across NES (Hassakah, Twina Camp, Al-Hol Camp, Kisreh and the surrounding areas, various locations in al-Basira sub-district) and provide supervision and guidance to the team as needed.
• Perform other tasks and duties as requested by the Hub team leader, Protection Director and the KCL researchers. The post-holder is required to adapt to the needs to of both KCL and RI as the project evolves and tasks/duties shift. In particular, the post-holder will be required to ensure the smooth roll-out of the large scale survey, of all qualitative data collection and of a small-scale MHPSS intervention nested between the two-waves of research.

Staff management

• Line manage staff assigned to project, including day-to-day management, developing of work plans, training plans, regular staff appraisal and performance reviews. The post-holder is required to manage staff activities for the full period of the partnership between KCL and RI, in particular on all data collection and the small scale MHPSS intervention.
• Facilitate regular meetings with PSS enumerators to ensure regular information sharing on project performance
• Provide coaching and technical supervision to staff, in coordination with Protection Director and KCL team

Financial management

• Manage the budget for assigned project(s) and ensure all expenses are according to budget and meet RI standards with regards to financial management and accountability
• Hold monthly Budget Versus Actual meetings with the hub team leader to review spending and suggest course correction in the event of major underspending or overspending.

Monitoring and evaluation

• Play a key role in implementing an effective monitoring and evaluation framework for the program based on RI’s results framework.
• Contribute and support RI’s knowledge management efforts through collating lessons learned and best practices and disseminating to the team.

Communication and Coordination

• Develop and maintain regular and transparent supportive communication structures with Hub team leader, Protection Director, KCL researchers and RI PSS enumerators.
• Closely coordinate the implementation of the project with the Hub team leader, the protection director based in Amman and the KCL team in London, flag any issue and delays of implementation and be proactive in identifying and proposing solutions and mitigation measures
• Participate in internal and external coordination meetings, as requested by the Hub team leader, Protection Director and KCL team

Safeguarding

• Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.
• Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, ensure all people who come into contact with Relief International are as safe as possible.

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS REQUIREMENTS

This position will require a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

• Master’s degree in a relevant field (preferred) or Bachelor’s degree;
• Minimum four years of experience in project management preferably in emergency response/conflict settings;
• Experience in MHPSS projects and activities highly desirable;
• At least one year of supervisory experience in an NGO setting;
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of current issues and operating context in NES;
• Fluency in English and Arabic;
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, tasks efficiently;
• Excellent time management skills and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills, and ability to think critically and creatively;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including patience and diplomacy;
• Must be capable of working both individually and as part of a team.
• Experience of data collection on conflict-affected population, both quantitative and qualitative

RI Values:

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

• Inclusiveness
• Transparency and accountability
• Agility and innovation
• Collaboration
• Sustainability