Lebanon: Lebanon – A Deputy Field Coordinator Program in Akkar

Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-political and non-religious international aid organization. Our teams are committed to supporting civilians’ victims of marginalization and exclusion, or hit by natural disasters, wars and economic collapses, by answering their fundamental needs. Our aim is to provide emergency relief to uprooted people in order to help them recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency. The association leads in average 190 projects by year in the following sectors of intervention: food security, health, nutrition, construction and rehabilitation of infrastructures, water, sanitation, hygiene and economic recovery. PUI is providing assistance to around 7 million people in 21 countries – in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and France.

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Humanitarian situation and needs :

As the Syrian Crisis is in its sixth year, the number of Syrians seeking refuge in other countries has reached an unprecedented scale. With more than 250,000 people killed, 1.2 million injured and 6.5 million people displaced, there are now 13.5 million vulnerable people inside Syria alone. Over 4.5 million refugees from Syria have fled to neighbouring countries particularly Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

After Turkey, Lebanon is the second host country for Syrian refugees with over 1.125 million refugees registered for an overall population of less than 4.5 million (Source: LCRP 2016). Prior to this crisis, Lebanon was already hosting half a million Palestinian refugees; the pressure on the Lebanese government and local population is very high. Although Lebanon remains stable and Lebanese institutions are expected to function again after election of a new president in November 2016, increasing tensions between communities are also expected, in line with the decisions made in 2015 to put a limitation to the registration and movements of refugees.

Due to some concern of infiltration of terrorist groups in Lebanon, in March 2015, the government of Lebanon, through the General Security Directorate, is enforcing entry regularization among refugees entering from Syria. The Lebanese government has also asked the UNHCR to stop the registration process hence new refugees and new born babies cannot be registered anymore either. Since then, it is now much harder for Syrians to enter the country, while those residing in Lebanon are also facing difficulties in renewing their residency or having access to humanitarian aid or public facilities. This situation will cause an increased economic strain on the families, although the ban on work has been left (for occupations related to construction, agriculture and maintenance only) in 2016.

As the Syrian crisis is now protracted, with unprecedented number of civilians affected by the constant violation of the Humanitarian laws, there is little perspective for the refugees to return to their home country. The Syria Crisis Response Conference which took place in London in 2016 clearly intends to address the humanitarian needs of this protracted crisis, by setting up consistent multi years response tackling current issues, considering the evolution of needs and the and the necessity to provide the refugees from Syria with some perspectives and ensuring the social stability in Lebanon. The spill over of the Syrian crisis into Lebanon compounded pre-existing vulnerabilities among the Lebanese society, especially in areas where the level of social infrastructures is not developed or strong enough to cope with.

First challenge is the reduction of the aid available to tackle basic needs: in 2015 and first semester of 2016, only 56% of the funding requested were allocated to the humanitarian response to the Syrian Crisis in Lebanon.

This led to decrease in basic assistance provided to the refugees, and therefore to an escalation in negative coping mechanisms of most vulnerable households, (such as begging, child labour, child marriages, sexual services for food/accommodation, limitation of movements due to transportation costs, etc.).

What is more, if (un)conditional cash assistance is the main relevant way to respond most basic needs of registered poorest refugee families, level of indebtedness is a key factor for explanation of vulnerability In the long lasting crisis, and needs to be monitored constantly. As weather conditions are also very harsh in the winter, access to proper shelter conditions is a main priority as well. Most vulnerable Syrian refugees are mainly settled in small shelter units (SSU), collective shelters (CS) or informal settlements (IS).

London Syrian Crisis Conference focuses as well on the education and health services provision, which need to be upgraded in terms of quality and provided in a more sustainable way, as no return to Syria is realistic in the next upcoming years. According to the 2015 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees (VASyR), 27% of households among the Syrian displaced population count at least one member with a specific need: chronic disease (13%), permanent disability (3%), temporary disability or another issue. 70% of displaced households reported a child needing care in the month prior to the survey.

Refugee populations have in many cases settled in areas inhabited by impoverished and vulnerable Lebanese communities further stretching limited or non-existent sources of income and public services at the local level, and especially in poorest areas such as Akkar..

Akkar and Sahel

Some areas of Lebanon are suffering from a long-lasting, chronic underdevelopment combined with the burden linked to the presence of Syrian refugees. The young governorate of Akkar (established in 2015 but still largely depending on Tripoli, capital of the North governorate) falls in this category: with 99,093 registered with UNHCR and a significant yet unknown number are not registered, and 23,273 Lebanese living below the poverty line as defined by the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), Akkar is the poorest governorate of Lebanon. The governorate is suffering from chronic institutional neglect and a lack of access to basic public infrastructure and services (water, sanitation, education, transport, health, etc.) The significant presence of Syrian refugees is pressuring on already weak services and strong competition in livelihoods, that hit Lebanese most vulnerable households.

Sahel area is the Lebanese most northern coastal area bordering Syria. All of listed above issues are maximized in the area, where 63% of its residents live on less than 4 USD per day, and is marginalized in national developmental agenda. The main employment sector is agriculture, followed by public service and army. However, unemployment rate is high and tensions are palpable in the area, as it combines a long-term established environment of religious, political and interpersonal tensions, to what is now added a competition over resources between the host communities and the Syrian refugees. The later are suffering from their legal status when it comes to livelihood, their access to legal work being very limited. The existing infrastructure and public services in Sahel, which was already deficient before the Syrian crises, is now under an increased pressure with the presence of Syrian refugees.

The intervention implemented in Akkar tends to be more and more integrated, due to the protracted nature of the crisis and the necessity to support both refugees and poorest Lebanese. In Akkar, PU-AMI supports both the educative, water supply and healthcare infrastructures and services. This integrated approach requests high quality intervention in order to have optimal impact by the supported communities.

Our action in the field

Present in the country since 1996, PUI has a long experience in assisting conflict affected populations in the South. Since 2012, PUI has been actively involved in the Lebanon emergency response to the Syrian crisis with presence in the North (Akkar), Mount Lebanon and South (Saida) of Lebanon.

In 2017-2018, PUI aims to reinforce the ability of each vulnerable community to become self-reliant and resilient to crisis, through 2 programmes orientations :

• Humanitarian Assistance Programme: to provide a protection-based humanitarian material assistance and services for the most vulnerable refugees and host communities affected by the Syrian crisis, based on the targeting system and relevant vulnerabilities monitoring. .
• Resilience Programme: to develop and strengthen access to social and community infrastructures (schools, health facilities) and well-being with regards to specific poor and vulnerable groups .

Click here for more information about our response to the crisis

As part of our activities in Lebanon, we are looking for a Deputy Field Coordinator Program in Akkar.

The Deputy Field Coordinator ensures at base-level the smooth implementation of PUI’s program in Akkar, targeting the Syrian crisis affected populations. She/He is also responsible for representation on technical topics by humanitarian stakeholders at local level and in charge of proper reporting to the donors supporting the Program.

Under the supervision and line management of the Field Coordinator, the Deputy Field Coordinator is responsible at base level for the direct supervision of the Programs being implemented in the Base, more specifically, Shelter, WASH infrastructure, Protection, education/Psychosocial, livelihood, and health.

• Programmes: He/She coordinates the project teams and ensures the operational and qualitative aspects of the programmes are put into practice properly (monitoring of objectives, respecting due dates and budgetary provisions, quality control, synergy of the teams) according to the contractual documents and in line with PUI policies and procedures
• Representation: He/She will participate in the technical forums (Working Groups) at local level
• Human Resources: He/She will be the direct line manager of the Project Managers in this base and will ensure that appropriate support and capacity building is brought to the senior managers of the programmes.
• Logistics and Administration: He/She will oversee the logistic and administrative duties of the projects with the support of the Logistic Department
• Strategy: He/She will ensure that the programmes developed are in line with PUI mandate and strategy, and will propose new interventions according to the evolution of the humanitarian situation in the region.

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Training and Experiences

Training

Bachelor’s or Master degree in a field related to Project Management, international development and/or social sciences

Experiences

• Minimum of 2 years in the areas of program development, project management, donor reporting and grant compliance;
• Successful experience in consequent team management (at least 10 staffs).
• At least 2 years experience as a Humanitarian Project Manager

Knowledge and Skills

• Strong Knowledge of Project Management methodology and cycle
• Excellent command in writing and editing documents in both English and French

Software

Pack Office

• Strong computer skills essential, including ability to operate Microsoft Word, Excel,
• database management software, statistical packages,
• GIS

Required Personal Characteristics

• A strong commitment to humanitarian principles and the will to make sure beneficiaries needs are covered as best as the resources available allow.
• Capacity to delegate and to supervise the work of a multidisciplinary team;
• Strong commitment to support/develop capacity of national staff and developing second layer of leadership;
• Problem solving and leadership skills;
• Proven management ability and inter-personal skills – team player;
• Ability to work on own initiative and collaboratively as part of a diverse team and manage a varied workload;
• Proven capacity for analysing and synthesizing comprehensive information and technical data;
• Ability to write and edit reports under deadline pressure;
• Ability to guarantee effective and timely outputs;
• Self-motivated, flexible and adaptable to the needs of the team and organization;
• General ability to resist stress;
• Important organization and rigor skills.

Languages

English – Mandatory

French – Desirable

Proposed Terms

Employed with a Fixed-Term Contract – 6 months

Starting Date : December 15th 2017Salaire / Indemnité

Monthly gross income: from 1 980 Euros up to 2 310 Euros depending on the experience in International Solidarity + 50 Euros per semester seniority with PUI

Cost covered:Round-trip transportation to and from home / mission, visas, vaccines…

Insurance including medical coverage and complementary healthcare, 24/24 assistance and repatriation

Housing in collective accommodation

Daily living Expenses (« Per diem »)

Break Policy : 5 working days at 3 and 9 months + break allowance

Paid Leaves Policy : 5 weeks of paid leaves per year + return ticket every 6 months

To know more about our job offer, look at the complete job description on our website!

Please send your application ( Resume and Cover letter) to Jean-Christophe Ouedraogo, Human Resources Officer for Expatriates at recrutement@premiere-urgence.org with the following subject: “DepFieldCoPr-LIB”