Lebanon: Partnerships Program Manager - Beirut, Lebanon

This role is temporary for 2-3 months.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions
into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.
Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps program addresses a large array of needs and gaps, across a number of technical sectors. Projects include emergency response for basic needs; livelihoods and protection projects; WASH projects; and potential for cash transfer programming. The program will be implemented through local and/or regional partner NGOs and will be managed remotely from the Beirut office, Lebanon.

General Position Summary

The Program Manager's role is to lead the management of large multi-sectoral programs/grants. Under the direct supervision of the Director of Programs for South Central Syria (SCS), the Program Manager is responsible for coordinating mutli-sectoral emergency response programs through partner organizations in the program areas; supporting partner organizations to implement quality livelihoods, protection and WASH interventions; contribute towards strategic vision of the Mercy Corps team and manage a team of program officers. The position holder will work closely with implementing partners to ensure smooth, efficient and effective implementation of the programs. The position also involves understanding how the collection of partner projects fits within Mercy Corps' grant portfolio and Mercy Corps wider strategy, with support and guidance from the Director of Programs for SCS. The position encompasses a wide range of project activities, including planning and coordination of high quality interventions at grant and sub grant level, monitoring and verification of activities in coordination with Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Adviser (MEL Advisor), supporting budget and proposal development at partner and donor level, collating information collected from partners, reporting to donors, arranging trainings with partners and mentoring and coaching of specific partner staff where appropriate.

The Program Manager will be involved in relevant technical sectors including but not limited to: Non-Food Items; Food; Livelihoods; Protection; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

The position holder will work closely with the Director of Programs for SCS, who will seek to expand the skills of the Program Manager and delegate more responsibility during the duration of the contract. The Program Manager will also line manage Program Officer(s) staff who implement day to day administrative tasks with the Program Manager's support and guidance.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program Support

• Ensure that the programs targets are met according to the implementation work-plan. This includes being responsible for the quality of periodical reports/updates and grants tracking system by ensuring that sub grant and grant records are kept up to date.
• Decision making on projects to fund, in consultation with relevant team members.
• Closely follow the implementation of partner activities from the design phase through to implementation and close out.
• Pay close attention to issues, trends or concerns that arise from partner reports, updates and meetings. In discussion with Director of Programs for SCS, make decisions and take action.
• Actively seek out new programming opportunities, through keeping abreast of the context, actively identifying new potential partners, and new geographical areas of operation.
• Ensure technical quality to all projects, and seek technical support when required. Recognize programmatic gaps either in current quality of implementation or potential future areas of implementation. Liaise with Mercy Corps' experts in specific fields to acquire the required technical support.
• Maintain positive and professional working relationship with partners. Be responsive to their needs and challenges. Ensure the same consistent approach is used throughout the team.
• Coordinate internally with finance, compliance, humanitarian access and program development teams, ensuring a consistent approach to project design, implementation and close out. Suggest opportunities for improved integration and collaboration when possible.
• Help design project frameworks/objectives with local partners, and ensure that the projects funded meet set criteria and standards and feed into the larger Mercy Corps grant.
• Work closely with Mercy Corps' MEL Manager to ensure adaptive approaches to remote monitoring of partner projects.
• Organize and facilitate meetings/workshops/trainings to help increase the capacity of local staff and implementing partners in planning and implementation of our programs.
• Provide specific coaching to local partners, maintaining a consistent approach with other team members.
• Ensure grants are spent on time, appropriately and to budget. Keep track of spending in coordination with Finance Manager and Director of Programs for SCS.
• Lead on donor level proposal design and proposal writing in coordination with Director of Programs for SCS.
• Ensure a good understanding of the Syrian conflict context and humanitarian need trends.
• Maintain up to date knowledge on donor requirements and compliance issues, relevant to specific grants.
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Provide professional guidance and support to the Program Officer(s) and other team members. Ensure effective line management of Program Officer(s).
• Represent the team in Regional Meetings; donor meetings and coordination meetings when requested.
• Assist in any other task or duty assigned by the supervisor.

Representation and Coordination

• As required by the supervisor, represent Mercy Corps at donor meetings, and government and sectoral coordination forums/meetings.
• Under supervision of the Director of Programs for SCS, develop and maintain working relationships and coordinate with relevant international and local agencies including humanitarian and human rights organizations, local authorities and local partners.

Other

• Participate in and support internal office coordination and planning meetings and workshops.
• Ensure all activities are gender sensitive and follow Mercy Corps' Gender Equity Policy.
• Apply Do No Harm standards to ensure activities do not have detrimental effects on vulnerable communities.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Organizational Learning

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
  to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility

Program Officer(s).

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director of Programs for SCS.

Works Directly With: All Mercy Corps department and staff as well as staff from partner(s) organizations.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor or equivalent in relevant field (Distributions, Food, Protection). Masters is preferred.

• 3-5 years of experience working in Non-Governmental Organization, ideally focused on humanitarian relief.

• Experience of line management is required.

• Experience in implementing humanitarian programs such as Non Food Items distributions, food distributions, livelihoods interventions or child protection initiatives.

• Demonstrated experience in emergency response programming in highly insecure environments.

• Commitment to local capacity development and past experience of engaging and working with local stakeholders in project design and implementation.

• Demonstrated capacity to collaborate closely with INGOs, national NGOs and Community Based Organizations.

• Good organizational and project management skills.

• Proven ability to work cooperatively with colleagues from other departments in a team environment, and to lead a diverse group of people.

• Understanding of participatory methodologies for project design, implementation and evaluation.

• Knowledge of humanitarian standards and codes, including SPHERE, CHS is an asset.

• Working understanding of procurement, administration and finance systems.

• Demonstrated familiarity with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) is required.

• Show great initiative and be able to work well in a team and independently.

• Demonstrate knowledge of the Middle East conflict context and understands project needs.

• Commitment to high level of confidentiality with sensitive information.

• English language written and spoken is essential, Arabic preferred. Excellent written English is desired.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have proven experience working effectively and respectfully with NGOs and CBO representatives, and will have effective verbal and written communication as well as multi-tasking, organizational, and prioritization skills. S/he will have demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines, and work independently and cooperatively with team members. S/he should have excellent coordination skills, the ability to manage multiple deadlines and show initiative to improve program implementation. Sensitivity to multi-cultural humanitarian and development work and ability to train and facilitate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals with various skill sets and working styles are all critical. An ability to creatively solve problems, juggle multiple priorities under tight deadlines, and to calmly and diplomatically deal with unexpected and sudden events impacting program operations are also essential.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is based in Beirut, Lebanon and might require 10% travel to Amman, Jordan. This temporary position is unaccompanied. Beirut is a modern city with a nice climate, access to excellent schools and diverse entertainment options. The security environment is calm, and good medical services are available.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

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PI102000377

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