Area Manager - Nineva

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the shelter, education, emergency food security, legal assistance, and water,sanitation and hygiene sectors.



The Norwegian Refugee Council has approximately 5000 committed and competent employees involved in projects across four continents. In addition, NRC runs one of the world’s largest standby rosters -NORCAP, with 650 professionals, ready to be deployed on 72 hours notice when a crisis occurs

NRC in Iraq

The unfolding crisis in Iraq is one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in the world today, with millions of uprooted Iraqis, and hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. For the past several years, millions of people have been displaced from and within Iraq as a result of military operations. At the end of 2015, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) began a military operation to enter and retake control of parts of the country under the control of armed opposition groups, especially in the Anbar governorate. Civilians have been caught in the crossfire. 

NRC has been present in Iraq since 2010, with offices located in Baghdad, Erbil, Dohuk, Kirkuk and Mosul.  We have scaled up our response across Iraq to meet the large-scale crisis facing the country, reaching Iraqis with emergency assistance and supporting Syrian refugees as they live in exile.  Our goal is to always be prepared to work in new settings, so we are establishing more local partnerships in Iraq.  Additionally, NRC is part of the UNICEF and WFP-led Rapid response mechanism (RRM), which enables us to reach newly displaced populations with the most urgent life-saving assistance.

Today, NRC is one of the biggest cash providers in Iraq. Our emergency assistance also includes distributing food rations, hygiene kits, water and basic non-food items (NFIs). In the winter months, we also provide blankets and heaters.  We pay particular attention to gender equality and ending gender-based violence (GBV).

Area Manager – Nineva Area office Iraq

The purpose of the Area Manager position is to ensure high quality and cost effective programme/project implementation within the designated geographical area.

Role Specific Information

• Overall responsibility of managing Nineva Governorate Area Office including sub offices within the governorate
• Implement existing activities in line with NRC policies and procedures
• Produce assessments for new areas of operation, outline possible areas of intervention, and develop program strategy for implementation
• Support the development of concept notes, project proposals, and budget development for scale-up post emergency activities
• In conjunction with Country Office, liaising with donors on new funding and operational areas of programming
• Ensure grants opening and closure meetings are conducted periodically
• Liaise regularly with local authorities (political and security), donors and humanitarian actors in the area of operations;
• Represent NRC at coordination initiatives at area level
• Responsible for area specific input into Country and CC strategies including contingency plan
• Provide regular feedback input to advocacy initiatives
• Responsible for overall staff security, including completing security risk assessments for possible new areas of intervention
• Ensure training is provided to all staff and capacity building initiatives are in place
• Ensure work and development plans are completed by all staff members in the area of operations and performance feedback sessions are conducted on a minimum quarterly basis
• Ensure NRC’s data collection systems are in place and information is properly stored and analyzed
• Overall responsibility for the recruitment of qualified staff for the area office
• Contextualize, adapt and implement SOPs and procedures to ensure effective provision of assistance to hard-to-reach areas

Our Ideal Candidate:

A university graduate in a relevant field(s) with minimum 5 years experience in Senior project management in humanitarian/recovery settings, especially in complex and volatile environments. Fluency in English, both verbal and written is required.  Knowledge of Arabic and previous work experience in the Middle-East and Iraq will be a distinct advantage.

Additional Information:

Contract period: 12 months (extendable)

Salary/benefits: According to NRC’s salary scale and terms and conditions

Duty station: Nineva

Approved health certificate will be requested before contract start