Head of Food Security and Emergency Projects for Northeast Syria

Type of position: Paid job

Country Programme: Syrian Response

Base: Derik, North East Syria, with travels within the region

Duration: 12 months with possible extension

Start date: as soon as possible (preferably December/January)

Line Manager: Area Programs Director for Northeast Syria

About the PIN:

People in Need delivers assistance in Northern Syria addressing the needs of IDPs and hosting communities in several sectors such as food security, livelihoods, shelter, protection, education and WASH. PIN is well-established organization with several field offices, direct implementation and more than 400 employees. Main office sits in Erbil and provides support services to field teams inside Syria. PIN’s contribution to the Syria humanitarian response is amongst the largest, with an annual turnover of over $50 million across Syria and funding from humanitarian donors including ECHO, BHA, SDC and European Union.

PIN’s key programming sectors in NES include a combination of early recovery and immediate humanitarian response programs in order to:

• Improve water service delivery and ensuring equitable access to Water and Hygiene services, in urban and rural areas;
• Improve food security;
• Improve access to shelter;
• Improve economic recovery and livelihoods recovery;
• Improve children psychosocial wellbeing.

General Position summary:

With supervision from the Area Programs Director and technical guidance from Programs Quality Director and PIN´s Knowledge & Learning department, the Head of Food Security and Emergency Projects will be responsible for 1) The Project Management of PIN’s a large FS & Emergency project across NES (BHA) throughout the Project Cycle and 2) Ensuring BHA and related projects which include emergency components (BHA LEARN) are to a high technical and quality standard.

Duties and responsibilities:

Project management

• Leading regular monthly project review meetings (project kick off meeting inclusive) & coordination between programs and support departments to ensure program implementation links well to financial, procurement, HR, MEAL planning;
• Control over overall project spending, financial forecasting and updated workplans against project timeframe;
• Following upon project progress: indicators and project targets (to be) achieved;
• Internal project approval processes, oversight of archiving being done & project records being in place (ELO).
• Ensuring protection/accountability and gender is mainstreamed throughout the projects

Cooperation with grants department:

• Consolidating/reviewing program reports per project to ensure accuracy of the inputs;
• Preparing the technical design for new project proposals within the areas of expertise and relevant donors’ portfolio.

Programme Development

• Further development of the sectoral strategy identifying potentially new geographical areas, ways of implementation, sub-sectors and potential partnerships.
• Program technical guidance and focus on quality aspects within the programme implementation;
• In coordination with PMs and NWS Food security and Emergencies team contribute to development of relevant tools, SOPs and technical standards.
• Identifying lessons learnt for further incorporation into programming, proposing relevant changes and reviewing the level PDM and evaluation findings are used to improve implementation;
• Updating feedback tracker and managing its use as program/project memory tool, facilitating the flow of information between the tracker and implementation (inclusive the follow up on the necessary actions identified through the feedback and relevant for the respective project/program and area of operations).
• Identify potential areas for studies and research to help develop further proposals based on evidence of impact

Team Management

• Management of the senior program staff within designated technical expertise and coordination with other senior program staff relevant for the project;
• Assess training and development needs required for the programme team to meet the project and individual objectives and ensure quality programming.

External representation:

• Coordination with relevant NES WGs, supporting AD/APD on project specific activities and updates to donors.

Suitable candidates for this position should possess:

• At least 3 years of professional experience within a humanitarian and/or development organization;
• Proven field experience in Food Security programming;
• Experience in building the capacity of national teams;
• Experience in representing an organisation in strategic meetings and coordination fora;
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills;
• Excellent command of English, knowledge of Arabic would be an asset;
• Strong grasp of all stages of programme cycle management and quality standards in humanitarian programming including safeguarding and accountability mechanisms;
• Strong organizational, critical analysis and problem-solving skills;
• Experience of working in complex and volatile contexts, including familiarity with the humanitarian context of Syria or the Middle East, would be an advantage.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

• This position is an unaccompanied position. The position is based in Derik. The location is perceived as less conservative, offering opportunities for a social life outside work hours. Location of the position may change as the security situation in Syria is fluid.
• PIN has a new guesthouse to accommodate all the international staff with individual rooms being available.
• The position is expected to be able to travel to other PIN locations;
• Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all PIN’s offices and guesthouses. There are a number of health services available with medevac mechanism for INGO’s members. There is reasonable access to most consumer goods.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and PIN’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
• Head of Food Security and Emergency Projects is expected occasionally travel to Erbil for meetings

People in Need offers:

• Salary as per PIN salary scale (subsistence allowance of 1 200 EUR is already included): 3 200 -3 300 EUR;
• Accommodation in PIN’s guesthouse on PIN’s expenses;
• 25 days of paid leave annually;
• Reimbursement of travel expenses with travel to the country of residence once per every 6 months of completed work;
• R&R benefits according to PIN’s policy including extra days of, allowance and regional flights
• Reimbursement of costs of visas and vaccinations; assistance with visa application procedure;
• Free medical helpdesk and psychological consultation available online;
• Travel health insurance.