Syria: Protection Program Manager

Feb 6, 2021 | Cooperazione Internazionale
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Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) is an Italian humanitarian non-governmental organization founded in Milan in 1965.  For more than 50 years of long-term support and constant presence in the field, COOPI has been engaged in breaking the cycle of poverty and responding to specific emergencies in numerous sectors, including Food Security, Humanitarian Aid, Health, Socio-Economical Services, Water and Sanitation, Human Rights, Education and Training, Migrations and Sustainable Energy.

COOPI has been active with its humanitarian action in Syria (Damascus) since 2016 and it's currently implementing the following programs: Food Security, WaSH and Protection in South and North Syria. The main donors funding COOPI's activities in Syria are ECHO, UNHCR, OHCA and AICS.

Role purpose

The Protection Program Manager reports directly to the Country Representative at mission level.
S/he:

  • provides leadership and strategic direction of COOPI's protection program in Syria, under the supervision and in close collaboration with the Country Representative;
  • is responsible for the implementation and development of the country protection programme in line with COOPI’s organisational and country strategy, policies and procedures;
  • in consultation with the Country Representative, formulates the protection strategy and ensures its implementation in accordance with COOPI policies, donor expectation, local and international legislation;
  • coordinates and evaluates all aspects of the COOPI projects, and facilitates the flow of information from the field to the capital;
  • is responsible and direct manages one protection project and she/he supervises the implementation of other protection projects as well as provides technical supervision on protection component of multisectoral projects.

We encourage international staff already in the country to apply.

Responsibilities

Coordinates, develops and supervises the protection program strategy and its implementation

  • Leading the design, development and update of the protection program strategy under the supervision of the Country Representative and in coordination with the project managers;
  • Ensuring COOPI’s interventions in Syria are in compliance with COOPI and Sector protection principles, standards and global guidelines;
  • Contributing to the identification of potential funding opportunities being responsible of proposals writing and supporting the project team for proposals writing to address the identified needs;
  • Leading and coordinating program assessments;
  • Ensuring objectives and results are met within the required time frame and budget and according to COOPI and donors' procedures;
  • Taking preventative and corrective action when necessary;
  • Ensuring and supervising the overall planning and follow-up of technical reporting for donors, authorities and internal requirements in coordination with the support departments;
  • Ensuring synergy between Program and Support Office;
  • Ensuring the implementation of recommendations resulting from internal audit, experts' field visits, HQ advisors, etc;
  • Piloting the internal quality control by promoting monitoring mechanisms, facilitating internal control and external evaluations.

Institutional relations

  • Developing and maintaining relationships with relevant stakeholders and representing COOPI at relevant state level meetings in order to facilitate and ensure cooperation and partnerships;
  • Ensuring information-sharing with donors, Sectors and Local partner.

Programs' implementation & development

  • S/he will directly manage Protection funded project in Aleppo and technically supervise the implementation of protection component in other multi sartorial projects;
  • Activity planning and management in compliance with the contracts signed with the donors and with COOPI and the donor’s procedures;
  • Ensuring and supervising the overall planning and follow-up of technical reporting for donors, authorities and internal requirements in coordination with the support departments;
  • Ensuring synergy between Program and Support services;
  • Ensuring the implementation of recommendations resulting from internal audit, experts’ field visits, HQ advisors etc;
  • Piloting the internal quality control, by promoting monitoring mechanisms (ex: self-evaluation tool), facilitating internal control and external evaluations;
  • Supporting the project team for proposals writing (narrative and financial) to address the identified needs;
  • Activity planning and management in compliance with the contracts signed with the donors and with COOPI and the donor’s procedures;
  • He/she is responsible for the preparation of all formal communication and contract modifications requests (ex. budget modification) of the projects he manages;
  • He/she writes and prepares all necessary documents to present new projects, in accordance with the organization’s processes and procedures, to new and current donors.

Administration/finance and HR

  • Administrative and financial management and regularly monitoring of expenditures;
  • He/she supervises accounting and the project cash safe/bank account management;
  • He/she ensures the preparation, in compliance with the deadlines, of all financial and narrative reports;
  • He/she is responsible for the initial and continuous training of the local staff under his/her responsibility.

Logistics

  • He/she ensures the organization and donor’s procedures respect when purchasing goods and services;
  • He/she is responsible of the correct management of all goods purchased for the projects,  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 staff.

Requirements

Essentials

  • Advanced degree in Social subjects or related field or equivalent work;
  • A minimum of 5 years of work experience in the humanitarian field as protection project or programme manager or in a similar position. Demonstrated experience in protection or related field in fragile context, including assistance to IDPs, refugees and returnee's;
  • Experience of working within an insecure environment with responsibility for security planning, monitoring and management;
  • Experience in working with different Donors (ECHO, USAID, UN agencies etc.);
  • Strong supervisory abilities, and demonstrated capacity of teamwork and of coordination with the relevant actors;
  • Experience in remote management of team;
  • Good knowledge of humanitarian standard and background;
  • Good report writing skills;
  • Proficiency in written and spoken English;
  • Computer literacy, with high proficiency in the use of standard office software applications (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint).

Soft skills

  • Problem-solving ability and ability to organize work efficiently and deliver assignments in a timely manner often under time constraints;
  • Strong analytical skills;
  • Very good inter-personal and writing communication skills;
  • Good leadership skills, aimed at managing and motivating a team;
  • Positive ability to bear stressful and complicated situations;
  • Diplomatic and confidentiality skills.

Plus

  • Previous experience in similar context;
  • Previous experience in UNHCR projects management;
  • Arabic.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the application closing date, once a sufficient number of applications have been received.