Syria Response Director

The SRD will provide overall senior management and assurance of the integrity of the Syria cross border program operations, as well as strategic direction and high-level representation of the program, within the structure of the wider GOAL program that incorporates cross border activities into northern Syria and programming within Turkey. To ensure holistic management within a cohesive strategic framework the support functions for both country programs will be managed by the Systems Director (ACD-S). The SRD has a direct reporting line to the Middle East Regional Director as does the ACD-S, the Finance Controller, the Internal Audit Coordinator and the Turkey Program Chief of Party (COP). Initial contract for 12 months.

Main responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and vision for the Syria programme
• Provide senior level leadership to the Syria program team as led by the HOP, for an integrated approach to the direct programme implementation, as led by the Area Coordinator for Idleb and of implementing partners, to achieve the results as defined in the program agreements, while maintaining excellence and accountability to beneficiary population and the donors.
• In coordination with the Partnership and Organisational Development Advisor ensure close oversight of implementing partners to ensure a coordinated rollout of the implementation modalities.
• In coordination with the Regional Director and Liaison Advisor participate in discussions with Government of Turkey (at National and Provincial level) and other counterparts (AFAD, TRC), to ensure cohesive buy-in and understanding for the Syria cross border program;
• Overall program budget responsibility through ensuring good program financial management by developing implementation plans, making budgetary decisions, monitoring implementation of activities versus spend rates, reviewing all field support requirements and costings, and ensuring that donor budget is adhered to, and modified as necessary.
• Oversee smooth coordination with support functions (HR, Administration, IT, Procurement, Logistics, Internal Audit and Donor compliance) related to the implementation of the Syria program in close coordination with the Systems Director (ACD-S) and Deputy Head of Systems (DHOS) responsible for the overall support system.

Responsibility 1 – Strategic Leadership and Vision

• Work with the Regional Director and HOP to articulate the country program vision.
• Provide strategic leadership and vision to attain programme goals and objectives through the development, implementation, reviews, presentation and management of all aspects of this large programme.
• Input, recommend and lead discussion of programme priorities and explore, evaluate and present new programme/ business opportunities that leverage impact and/ or complement core activities with the wider country SMT and Regional Director
• Work collaboratively with the HOP and Area Coordinator to ensure that overall programme direction, vision and strategy are well defined and clearly communicated within the GOAL team and externally to government and national partners
• Contribute actively to GOAL’s overall External Communications Strategy for the combined Syria and Turkey programs, and ensure implementation, roll-out and dissemination as appropriate.
• Work with the Regional Director to pursue business development opportunities, nurturing relationships with donors, OCHA, potential and existing partners as they relate to diversifying GOAL’s funding base in Syria

Responsibility 2 – Safety and Risk Management

• Coordinate with the ACD-S and AC to ensure the safety of the entire country team according to best practices, GOAL Global guidelines and field realities. Strategic decisions relating to safety and risk management should be made only after discussion with RD.
• Liaise with the Regional Director, Global/Regional Security Advisor, ACD-S and AC on crucial events, high-risk periods, incident reporting or security policy changes. The SRD would take the role of Crisis Manager in the event of a major crisis incident.
• Work with the Area Coordinator to monitor the operating environment in Syria, and the Turkey Safety and Security Advisor as relates to the stance of the host government and any influence of external actors on the operating environment in Syria. NB daily operational security falls under the responsibility of the ACD-S.
• Work with the SMT to ensure that the Syria Risk Register is updated quarterly and grant specific risk registers are developed to reflect the actual risks and that appropriate mitigating measures are developed and implemented as relevant.
• Responsible for the development and review of donor updates (including for donor reports) regarding the operational environment and risk mitigation measures.
• Provide overall leadership for contingency planning relating to the Syria Program Implementation with full participation of the SMT and participate in broader contingency planning under the leadership of the RD and Regional Security Advisor.

Responsibility 3 – Representation/Visibility

• Ensure that all communications are in line with the holistic GOAL Syria Response communication strategy and reflect the best interests of GOAL in the region - with the overall objective of building and maintaining strong working relations with key internal and external stakeholders, beneficiaries, prime and subcontractors, suppliers and partners.
• In conjunction with the Government Liaison Advisor, Turkey COP, and Area Coordinator ensure that the Country Program vision is communicated to government counterparts as relevant, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of GOAL’s overall objectives and its role as an INGO operating cross border programming from Turkey – specifically referencing humanitarian principles including impartiality and the primacy of humanitarian need.
• Maintain strong and regular contact, and ensure good relations and accountability to the donors, the government counterparts and implementing partners.
• Work closely with other agencies through the NGO Forum and other mechanisms to coordinate humanitarian actions and advocate for a supportive work environment for humanitarian agencies.
• Work closely with the Regional Director to represent the programme to the wider humanitarian and development community, ensuring that the Syria programme is well understood and well represented in various fora

Responsibility 4 – Compliance and Accountability

• Work with the Area Coordinator to ensure that programme management and implementation is fully compliant with organizational and donor regulations, including all financial and procurement systems and policies and the overall ethical framework;
• Support the Internal Audit Coordinator as required for providing input into investigations of corruption, fraud and conflict of interest, in particular as relates to providing recommendations for the mitigation of risks and incorporation of lessons learnt into SOPs and organisational practices within programs or the interface between programs and support functions.
• Provide high level oversight of the management of the program budgets to meet stated objectives, results and indicators, ensuring cost-effective use of GOAL and donor resources, whilst adhering to budget limitations.
• Ensure SOPs are in place that guide program input decisions (including flour for bakeries, fuel for water stations) and include appropriate review and approval processes. Ensure appropriate analysis of input requirements and actual inputs provided is being carried out by the various program teams.

Responsibility 5 - Support Function Management

• Work closely with the Area Coordinator to coordinate all programme support function needs with the relevant departments within the support structure of the wider GOAL Syria/Turkey systems departments promoting a high level of teamwork across and within the programme and programme support teams (Finance, HR, Admin, Procurement, Logistics, IT and Donor Compliance)

• Work with the HR department, the HR Coordinator, the DHOS and the technical leads to oversee staff recruitment and training to ensure staff are of the quality and capacity to ensure the successful implementation of activities. Monitor and advise on staffing needs throughout the programme. Ensure evaluations and disciplinary measures are executed as necessary and according to GOAL policy.

• Work with the Procurement Coordinator, the ACD-S and GOAL HQ (as necessary) to manage all programme procurements ensure that practical procurement plans are put in place and monitor procurement performance against agreed delivery times.

• Liaise with the Logistics Coordinator and the Deputy Head of Systems regarding stores, fleet, assets and other general logistics needs.

• Ensure that general administration management issues are mapped, flagged and dealt with promptly and efficiently by the team and referred as appropriate within the wider GOAL Syria Response team.

Responsibility 6 – Implementing Partner Programme Oversight

• Provide dynamic leadership to ensure technical and financial integrity of the programs as implemented by partners to achieve project goals, objectives and targets.
• Work closely with the PODA, Partner GM and AFC-Partners to ensure that the partner activities are planned, managed and coordinated with technical and operational team members. Ensure that tasks are accomplished within prescribed timeframes.
• Ensure partner programmatic implementation in compliance with agreement clauses, GOAL and donor policies, regulations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Ensure project planning (i.e., development of work plans and operating budget) and reporting (i.e., review and approve periodic budgets and reports) includes partners as appropriate.
• Ensure program quality of implementing partners is monitored and that knowledge management activities and organizational capacity development is provided to implementing partners as appropriate, using customized capacity building tools and approaches to ensure measurable impact.
• Ensure that achievements and best practices of partners are captured and disseminated including the continual re-evaluation of programme activities and information, with resulting activity adjustments.
• Conduct regular meetings with senior staff members of implementing partners as a vehicle for monitoring progress on, and providing leadership to the holistic program

Requirements (Person Specification)

Essential

• Senior level management and supervisory experience of at scale programming (including country programs) commensurate with the scale and scope of Syria programming. At minimum, you must have at least eight years of progressively more responsible supervisory work experience that involved direct leadership of professional and support staff, oversight and evaluation of staff performance and deliverables, and contract/grant management.
• Demonstrated track record of achieving results in a development context. Specific and relevant development outcomes achieved as a result of your leadership should be documented in your application.
• Demonstrated track record of working in teams and fostering partnerships at a senior level. Effective partnerships with relevant institutions (including OCHA and the cluster system).
• Excellent oral and written communication abilities in English. You should possess an ability to effectively communicate with a wide variety of stakeholders to communicate goals and expectations to their teams, and to deliver timely and high quality oral and written analysis and reporting.
• Demonstrated capacity to oversee monitoring, evaluation and learning. You must possess a demonstrated ability to provide oversight and leadership for high quality results monitoring and assuring data quality, and for evidence based adaptive management.
• Master level qualification in health, social sciences or an equivalent area; and/or equivalent senior experience in relevant programmatic areas of health and protection and/or managing large humanitarian projects at a senior level. You should be able to demonstrate sufficient academic knowledge, learning and understanding in areas relevant to the program, the humanitarian and development sector and the political realities of the operating environment.

Desirable

• Experience working in the Syria Response and/or a strong demonstrated understanding of the country context and that of the wider Syria crisis.
• Leadership experience managing large country programs as Country Director in the relevant humanitarian and development sectors
• Experience managing FFP, ECHO, DFID, EU, USAID funded programming specifically emergency or/or resilience focused program in a conflict/post conflict environment
• Proficiency in Arabic an advantage

Our package includes a competitive salary, shared accommodation, health and travel insurance and 20 days annual leave. Additional benefits are available after 12 months of service. Salary range for this role is € 55,000 to 67,000.

GOAL has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Child Protection Policy, which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants and children from exploitation. GOAL also has a confidentiality policy ensuring the non-disclosure of any information whatsoever relating to the practices and business of GOAL, acquired in the course of duty, to any other person or organisation without authority, except in the normal execution of duty. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to these policies any job offer made is also subject to police clearance. GOAL is an equal opportunities employer.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document. Any published closing dates are estimated. Due to the nature of GOAL’s work we aim to fill vacancies as quickly as possible. This means that we will close adverts as soon as we have found the right candidate and this may be before the published closing date. We would therefore advise interested applicants to submit an application as early as possible.

https://www.goalglobal.org/careers?gh_jid=932154