The Syria crisis is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. Inside Syria, six million people are internally displaced and 13.1 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. There are four million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. This is no short-term humanitarian episode. The devastating human consequences to huge numbers of people will endure for decades. The destruction of relationships, communities, livelihoods, homes and infrastructure will take years to repair.
Across the Middle East, IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria crisis. With an annual budget in excess of $140 million supported by more than 3,000 staff and workers in the region, IRC is undertaking programs in Syria and the neighboring countries of Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan in the fields of health, child protection, education, women’s protection and empowerment, NFI and food distribution, cash assistance, water and sanitation, and livelihood programming. Our work in these challenging settings gives rise to some of the most pressing issues facing contemporary humanitarian action, including questions of access, security, funding and coordination.
Job Overview/Summary
The Chief of Party (CoP) is responsible for managing USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)-funded program that includes health and nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); and shelter activities to support conflict-affected populations. Entitled Amal (“hope” in Arabic), the consortium will include international and Syrian partners with humanitarian response capacity. Pending donor approval of an award modification, the CoP will subsequently lead the start-up and implementation of programming.
Major Responsibilities
Strategic Management
•Provide strategic direction, leadership and overall management of the overall Amal consortium based on the agreed scope confirmed by USAID OFDA, including development of work plans, spending plans, and other project management tools
•Manage all aspects of the consortium including programmatic, administrative, operational, and logistical components with a focus on achieving the results defined by OFDA
•Serve as primary focal point to OFDA to negotiate consortium implementation and articulate key implementation constraints and risks
•Liaise with IRC’s Regional Office to ensure program planning is aligned with IRC’s strategic planning to mitigate risk to IRC or partner organizations
•Anticipate future funding under existing award and collaborate with partners to strategically position Amal to secure top-up obligations
Consortium Start-up
•Recruit staff and consultants to launch consortium start-up and implementation that serves partnership approach in Syria that builds on existing IRC Syria teams
•Collaborate with IRC’s Partnership Team to ensure sub-awards, Project Support Plans, and other required documents are established based on IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS) and US Government regulations
•Collaborate with relevant Supply Chain Team to identify Amal-specific operational needs and establish plans to support partner implementation, included capacity building and monitoring measures
•Engage with Humanitarian Access Team to ensure partners receive necessary access and security capacity building to secure access to targeted communities, mitigate risk, and report on incidents
•Engage IRC’s Health Team and relevant Technical Advisors establish necessary capacity building and mentoring to program sectors, as well as monitoring of partner deliverables
•Establish mechanism for compliance oversight within IRC and partners to comply with US Government rules and regulations, including providing partners capacity building
•Integrate risk mitigation and Do No Harm approach into needs assessments and program decision-making, as well as gender and protection mainstreaming
•Design and initiate key monitoring requirements based on OFDA indicators, including Third Party Monitoring mechanism to support program oversight in Syria
•Facilitate consortium governance structure to ensure collaboration across partners
Consortium Management
•Coordinate grant management deliverables, including financial and narrative reports, in collaboration with IRC’s Grants Team. Ensure that all internal and external reporting requirements are met, and that reports are of a high quality and are submitted on time
•Respond to OFDA’s ad hoc information requests
•Collaborate with Finance Team to complete necessary spending planning in collaboration with partners and completing necessary OFDA quarterly reports
•Lead budget realignment, as needed, across the consortium to ensure IRC and partners budgets are aligned with original budget and track spending as needed
•Network with international and Syria humanitarian actors working in Syria to understand context and programming modalities to inform program design
•Facilitate systematic partner feedback on IRC's management of and performance in partnerships, as well as taking appropriate action in response to the feedback to ensure the smooth operation of the consortium
•Define and provide oversight to competitive or non-competitive processes for identifying and selecting potential new partners, as needed
•Engage with other OFDA-funded consortia to align compliance and other key similar challenges
•Participate in relevant workshops and meetings to support coordination and collaboration
•Other tasks as needed
Key Working Relationships
Position Reports to: Country Director
Indirect/Technical Reporting: N/A
Position directly Supervises: Senior Amal Coordinator, Amal Compliance Advisor, Amal Project Officer, Amal MEAL Manager
Key Internal Contacts:
Country Program: Deputy Director for Programs, Deputy Director for Operations, Health Coordinator, Partnership Coordinator, Protection Coordinator, Humanitarian Access Team
Region/Global: Whole of Syria Health and Protection Coordinators, Regional Partnership Director, Global Inclusion Advisor
Key External Contacts: Amal partner organizations
