Project Manager Assistant

Salary: $750/month

Contract type: External Expert

Contract Duration: August 2023 – January 2024 (6 months), renewable.

Project Title: Strengthening resilience of vulnerable refugee and IDP women impacted by crises, displacement, and disasters due to climate change and exacerbated food insecurity in Baghdad.

About us: Mercy Hands for Humanitarian Aid (MH) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that works in conflict torn and disaster affected areas to save lives, sustain human rights and restore a healthy community. Mercy Hands has implemented since 2005 protection interventions in Iraq for both children and youth with a gender sensitive approach, addressing both emergency and development needs, and fostering sustainable development pathways.

About the role: The Project Manager Assistant will assist the Project Manager in the implementation of the project “Strengthening resilience of vulnerable refugee and IDP women impacted by crises, displacement, and disasters due to climate change and exacerbated food insecurity in Baghdad”, in partnership with UN Women.

Mercy Hands will target vulnerable women (refugees and IDPs) in Baghdad (Abu Ghraib, Latifiya, Radhwania, Mahmoudia districts) through agricultural training on innovative farming techniques (i.e. aquaponic and hydroponic systems) and asset distribution, to improve their economic conditions, through entrepreneurial training and tutorship for female beneficiaries, through grassroots mobilisation to advance dialogue on women’s engagement in climate action. With the project, Mercy Hands will support vulnerable women in building adaptive capacities to environmental shocks and help them meet their needs in the shorter and longer term.

The Project Manager Assistant will facilitate the implementation of project activities on the ground and will be based in MH HQ in Baghdad. She will liaison between be the Project Manager and the field staff (i.e. staff working in the Women’s Empowerment Centres) and will report directly to the Project Manager.

Responsibilities: The Project Manager Assistant’s duties include:

• Coordinating the implementation of the activities taking place in the 4 women’s empowerment centres, namely:
  • Organise 8 two-day training sessions on aquaponic system, for a total of 480 female participants.
  • Organise 1 one-day training on hydroponic system, for 50 female participants.
  • Organise 4-months bi-weekly course on business development for 330 female beneficiaries.
  • Establish a tutorship system to provide individual tutorship sessions to 400 women.
  • Establish 4 female-led community committees and Supervise organisation of their bi-monthly meetings.
  • Organise 20 public awareness raising events on gender, climate change and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for a total of 2.000 male attendees (5 events per centre, over 5 months).
  • Organise 20 community dialogues for male representatives of the community, for a total of 500 male attendees (5 community dialogues per centre, over 5 months).
• Supervising the distribution of 470 aquaponic systems and 50 hydroponic systems.
• Overseeing design of agricultural newsletter for sharing agricultural tech news, to be sent out over the entire project duration.

Candidate requirements:

– Experience in staff management;

– Experience working with NGOs in Baghdad;

– Experience in coordinating with local authorities;

– Knowledge of Arabic and English;

– Ability to travel (within Baghdad governorate);

– Experience and/or interest in Green Economy, Agriculture Teach (greenhouse – hydroponic farming);

– Good knowledge of IT communication tools;

– Immediate availability.