Iraq: Project Manager WASH

Jan 2, 2019 | Cooperazione Internazionale
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COOPI Cooperazione Internazionale, is a humanitarian, non-confessional and independent organization founded in 1965 in Milan, Italy. For more than 50 years we have been dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty and to supporting populations affected by wars, socio-economic crises or natural disasters in their path to recovery and sustainable development, by making use of the professionalism of local and international operators, and through our partnerships with public and private bodies and civil society organizations.

The Iraq humanitarian crisis is recognized as one of the worst global crisis, with about 3,1 million of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), 11 million of people in need (with a total population of 36 million of inhabitants) and hundreds of thousands of people moving to go back to the recently liberated areas exhausted by the war. Fallen under the control of the militias of Daesh on 2013, Mosul district sees one of the picks of the crisis. October 2016 the offensive driven by the Government’s army has started to take back control of the area. The area in the region of Ninewa is characterized by massive movements of people being displaced or going back to the areas which are being progressively liberated. The crisis has negative consequences also on the people who managed to never move. With reference to needs in the Education sector, end of 2016 only 60% of school-age children has access to school. Among the children part of displaced households, less than 33% have access to school. The impacted territories are affected by lack of teachers and school personnel. Many barriers make the school access difficult to children.

COOPI has started its humanitarian action in the sectors of Education in Emergency and WASH, installing and activating temporary schools in 4 villages in the Qayyarah sub-district (south of Mosul), delivering formal and informal education, WASH in facilities and protection activities for about 1.200 children and around 70 teacher, psychologists and facilitators. Currently COOPI has achieved the funds to renew the EIE project in 4 additional villages around Mosul and intends to establish a base office in Mosul. COOPI is also aiming at expanding its activities in other areas in the Education in Emergency, WASH and Protection sectors.

Job Title: Project Manager WASH, Iraq

Duty station: Erbil, with frequent missions on the field and to Baghdad when requested

Donor: OCHA

Direct supervisor / Reports to: Iraq Head of Mission

JOB DESCRIPTION

He/she is responsible for the project’s execution, in technical, economic/financial terms, in terms of resources management on field, and in terms of internal and external reporting in compliance with COOPI and the donor’s procedures. He/she ensures the expected results attainment in budget management.

The project will require good logistics and operative skills and experience in implementing WASH projects; on the other hand, as a future perspective, the Project Manager may be requested to contribute at programme developing also in other sectors, depending on the funding opportunities occurring in the period of collaboration.

Responsibilities:

  • Activity planning and management: in cooperation with the project staff, he/she plans and monitors the activities’ progress, in compliance with the contract signed with the donor and with COOPI and the donor’s procedures.
  • Administrative and financial management: in collaboration with the Project Administrator/Administrative Coordinator he/she plans all expenditures to make. He/she regularly monitors all made expenditures. He/she supervises accounting and the project cash safe/bank account management and, where there was no dedicated staff, he/she directly manages the accounting and the project cash safe/bank accounts, making use of the instruments made available by the organization (Desy). In cooperation with the Project Administrator and in coordination with the Administrative Coordinator he/she prepares the Purchases Plan. He/she ensures the organization and donor’s procedures respect when purchasing goods and services.
  • Reporting: in coordination with the Head of Mission ad with the Administrative Coordinator, he/she ensures the preparation, in compliance with the deadlines, of all financial and narrative reports – interim and final – expected by the project. He/she is responsible for the preparation of all formal communication and contract modifications requests (ex. budget modification) of the projects he manages.
  • Staff Management: In coordination with the Head of Mission and in compliance with the country’s rules/laws and with the COOPI’s regulation in the country, he/she selects the local staff to be employed in projects, and manages any other project’s expatriate staff. By making use of the organization’s tools he/she evaluates the local staff employed for projects and he/she participates to the evaluation of his/her own project, upon request by his/her direct supervisor. He/she coordinates and supervises the work done by all the project staff, in compliance with the organization’s security procedures. He/she is responsible for the initial and continuous training of the local staff under his/her responsibility.
  • Goods management: he/she is responsible of the correct management of all goods purchased for the project, both directly and purchased by other offices/field offices. For all goods purchased by the project he/she updates the inventory, in cooperation with the Administrative Coordinator.
  • Institutional relations: In relation to the project of his/her competence, he/she communicates with the donor’s officers, the local authorities which are competent in the aspects related to the project, the project’s partners  and beneficiaries, in compliance with the organization’s guidelines.
  • Programme Developing and projects’ writing: upon request by his/her direct supervisor, and cooperating with the project staff, he/she elaborates, writes and prepares all necessary documents to present new projects, in accordance with the organization’s processes and procedures, in the WASH sector (mandatory) and possibly in other sectors too, depending on the needs and on the collaborator’s abilities.

Candidate Profile:

We are looking for a dynamic and innovative individual with:

  • Advanced degree in Civil or Environmental Engineering or related field are preferred or equivalent work experience;
  • Minimum 3 years of experience in the humanitarian field as project or programme manager or in a similar position;
  • Strong project management skill is a mandatory requirement;
  • Demonstrated experience in the field and in the sector of WASH will be a strong asset;
  • Previous experience with the donor will be an asset;
  • Previous experience in country or in the region will be an asset;
  • Previous experience in business development and project writing will be an asset;
  • Working experience within an insecure environment with responsibility for security planning, monitoring and management;
  • Strong analytical and practical problem-solving skills;
  • Strong supervisory abilities, and demonstrated capacity of teamwork and of coordination with relevant actors;
  • Very good inter-personal and writing communication skills;
  • Ability to organize work efficiently and deliver assignments in a timely manner often under time constraints;
  • Proficiency in written and spoken English;
  • Knowledge of Arabic and/or Kurd will be an asset;
  • Computer literacy, with high proficiency in the use of standard office software applications (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
  • Valid driving license.