Syria: WASH and SHELTER Coordinator

Jul 12, 2021 | TGH
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TGH is an organization for international solidarity based in Lyon, France, and founded in 1994. TGH designs and implements emergency, rehabilitation and development programs in the following sectors: water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH), food security and livelihoods, education and protection, mainly child protection. TGH is currently operating in 10 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Presentation of the mission

TGH was registered in Syria as INGO in May 2017 and has had a permanent presence since November 2017. TGH works under the coordination of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), officially mandated by the Syrian Authorities to coordinate activities of humanitarian organizations committed to providing assistance to the conflict-affected Syrian population in Syria.

TGH’s sectors of intervention in Syria are: WASH, Education and Protection. The WASH working group is active in Syria and coordinated by the Ministry of Water Resources and SARC; the Education sector is coordinated by the Ministry of Education through the Directorate of Planning and International Cooperation and UNICEF in Damascus. The Early Recovery and Livelihood Sector is led by UNDP. The Protection sector is led by UNHCR and UNICEF (for Child Protection).

TGH in Syria is active in four governorates namely Rural Damascus, Hama, South Idleb and Daraa and manages 3 to 5 different projects funded by ECHO, SHF and AICS. Project coordination is done from Damascus. In 2020, TGH’s projects benefited to more than 270,000 IDPs and returnees living in conflict-affected areas through the delivery of WASH, Education and Child protection services. Discussions are on-going with other donors such as UNHCR and OFDA for potential future work.

TGH’s strategy in Syria for 2019-2022 is to “Respond to the acute humanitarian needs of Syrian most vulnerable and exposed people while increasing their resilience capacities in country”. Our strategy consists in shifting, gradually and where appropriate, to more development-oriented programming, while maintaining the capacity to provide humanitarian assistance as needed.

In the field of WASH, TGH provides drinkable water through Water Trucking (WT) and, at the same time, rehabilitates boreholes, water systems and pumping stations in a more durable perspective. In 2020, TGH installed a reverse osmosis unit in Rural Damascus. TGH also implements WASH-in-school activities, e.g. rehabilitation of hygiene infrastructures, hygiene kits distributions to the children, hygiene promotion. In parallel, TGH provides capacity building to community-based committees and local authorities in sustainable management of WASH services. Specific hygiene and WASH-related activities have been implemented since the summer 2020 in view of fighting Covid-19’s spread and to foster preventative measures. The WASH and Shelter team is composed of two national staffs in Damascus, two in Dar’a and two in Hama.

Efforts to make schools a safe and supportive environment for education, which includes the rehabilitation of school premises, are coupled with activities to support children’s education and wellbeing, targeting out of school children as well as children already in school. TGH also organizes support classes out of working hours for those children unable to attend classes otherwise. TGH reinforces school staff’s knowledge and capacities in non-formal education (NFE) and psychosocial support, and accompany them in the implementation of these activities with the required conflict-sensitive approach. The aim is to prevent and to respond to child protection concerns through these activities as well as through case management and referrals of affected children towards specialized services.

The Education and child protection activities are implemented by Education and Protection team composed of 20 national staffs in Damascus, 9 in Daraa and 7 in Hama. 

In addition, 6 expatriates are working in TGH Syria mission: WASH and Shelter Program coordinator, Education and Protection Program Coordinator, Logisitic Coordinator, Admin Coordinator, Grant and Meal Manager and Country Director.

Job description

He/she supports the County Director on the overall implementation of the WASH and shelter (including school rehabilitation) programs in all governorates of Syria where TGH is operating; this includes requirements definition, writing grant applications, planning, defining strategies and reporting to donors.


He/she supervises the overall work of the WASH and shelter (including school rehabilitation) team ensuring program development and quality as well as the timely implementation of projects.

He/she provides direct supervision and support to the operational and overall functioning of the mission within 3 or 4 bases in Damascus, Hama, Dara’a and maybe Ar-Raqqa in coordination with TGH program and support staff.

In direct collaboration with the Country Director, the sector program managers and the support services departments, the WASH and Shelter Coordinator main responsibilities are:

Program management

  • Lead WASH and shelter (including school rehabilitation) programming for TGH mission in Syria, ensuring program quality through strategy development and participatory program design in close collaboration with the Country Director, the Program team and national partners.
  • Develop and adjust strategies for emergency, recovery and rehabilitation programming based on thorough humanitarian context analysis, TGH and partner capacities, resource availability and coordination with the sector and government line ministries.
  • Work with the Country Director, the Program team and national partners to prepare concept papers and grant proposals as well as to secure funding.
  • Support the Program Team in the implementation of operations and monitoring of progress on project indicators and outcomes, ensuring compliance with donor’s requirements and sector standards.
  • Manage program budgets and ensure spending is consistent with available resources, donor commitments and co-funding requirements in coordination with the Administration Coordinator.
  • Contribute to the improvement of comprehensive program monitoring systems ensuring that monitoring data inform management decisions and are used in program management.  
  • Conduct field visits to Hama, Dara’a and Rural Damascus for program monitoring and capacity building of field teams and partners.
  • Prepare or assist program staff to prepare regular program reports for donors and partners as required. Ensure timely information flow of emergency operations. Respond to internal and external requests for reports and information about programs.
  • Exchange information and technical support with headquarters WASH and Civil Engineering Technical Department Referents and the sector partners (clusters) in Syria ensuring compliance with sector standards and best practices. 
  • Ensure regular program coordination with Country Director to support the relationship with donors, including provision of regular project updates, preparation of modification requests and preparation of donors monitoring visits.
  • Ensure program coordination and complementarity with SARC, OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF, government line ministries, INGOs and NNGOs. 
  • Contribute to relevant Protection, Gender and Environmental issues mainstreaming in Syria programs.
  • Evaluate program quality, including documenting best practices and lessons learned from Syria WASH and shelter (including school rehabilitation) programs and ensuring these are considered in program design.
  • In direct link with the HQ Wash and Civil Engineering Technical Experts, ensures the review of technical design (water points, WASH facilities, schools etc.) and the methodology of activity soft components (training, hygiene promotion, capacity-building of Water Authorities, etc.).

Data collection and monitoring tools

  • Review & develop the technical documents, guidelines & procedures
  • Review monitoring tools package and RACI structure (responsibility assignment matrix).
  • Visit TGH operational offices and teams (Hama, Dara’a and Rural Damascus) to support the roll-out of new monitoring tools and RACI structure with each staff involved.
  • Conduct short refreshment training for all TGH or non-TGH staff e.g. SARC staff involved in data collection as necessary.
  • Provide on-the-job quality control of collected data ,advise teams on possible improvement and share lessons learnt and best practices.
  • From Damascus, provide continued support to field teams. In consultation with TGH WASH and Civil Engineering technical unit in HQ, improve tools and procedures when their use shows that improvements are needed.
  • Support MEAL officer on data analysis based on the monitoring tools package, and on how to integrate lessons learnt from analysis in activity implementation.
  • Support program team in creating new assessment tools for shelter intervention adapted to Syria context.
  • Preparation of monthly feedback reports to be sent to WASH staffs in charge of data compilation at office level.

Staff management

  • Supervise directly the WASH and shelter Program Managers and Officers and other team members as required.
  • Adapt tasks and responsibilities allocation within the Program team to accommodate program requirements or specific situations.
  • Identify capacity building needs for staff and partners involved in the response. Take the lead on coordinating any formal or informal training for the Program Team and partners.
  • Provide direct support to the Program team through training sessions and appraisals.

Representation

  • Represent TGH at UN cluster meetings, government coordination meetings and other programming forums in Syria, along with the sector program managers when relevant and/or the Country Director.
  • Along with the Country Director, maintain fluid relationships with the donor agencies and supports the follow-up of funding opportunities for TGH Syria programs.
  • With the Country Director, contributes to programs complementarity and synergies by maintaining fluid relationships with international and local organizations, specifically those working in same geographical areas and WASH sector.

General support to the mission

  • Safeguard that conduct and work of the Program Team respects core humanitarian values of humanity, independence, neutrality and impartiality. 
  • Contributes to the respect of security measures applied by the Country Director.
  • Supports the implementation of internal procedures in coordination with the Administration, Finance and the Logistics Coordinators
  • Supports internal improvement processes. Contributes to knowledge and information sharing within the INGO team.

This list of responsibilities could be modified according to the needs in the field.

Security, working and living conditions

The current volatile and unpredictable context in Syria requires strict security rules in terms of movements and transmission of information / communication with the Country Director and the Headquarters.

Working and living conditions in Damascus are good. Communication means are satisfying (efficient internet, international phones).

The office is separated from the guesthouses. Individual rooms are available for each expatriate.

When in the field, international staff movements are strictly limited and under tracking. The Wash- Shelter Coordinator will perform short-term field visit and go out of the country every 3 months.

Profile

  • At least 3 years of humanitarian experience in the field, with at least 1 year in a coordination position (WASH –shelter program).
  • Experience in the following sectors: Water supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, shelter
  • Experience in managing emergency and early-recovery operations in challenging security environments and understanding of the humanitarian environment (standards, stakeholders and mechanisms).
  • Experience in grant management and knowledge of procedures of main donor agencies: ECHO, OFDA, OCHA (SHF), UN Agencies or others.
  • Practice in designing M&E systems, tools, quality data collection, analysis and use of M&E data for program decision making.
  • Excellent communication and writing skills in English. Preferably competent user of spoken and written French.
  • Ability in successful team management and capacity building
  • Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work effectively on a team and to lead a team of specialists from a range of fields.
  • Autonomy and rigor. Developed skills for work organization and tasks prioritization
  • Capacity to represent TGH at high level coordination meetings with different stakeholders.
  • Experience of Arabic or Muslim countries and knowledge and/or Arabic language is a distinct advantage
  • Proficient user of MS Office pack. Knowledge on data treatment and GIS software will be positively considered.