ECD Partnership Senior Officer

Background

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities that support them, as well as with those who remain within their homes and communities. At-work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. IRC reaches over a million children annually with education and child protection programs in 25 countries around the world.

The Syria crisis is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. Inside Syria, 7.6 million people are internally displaced and 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 4.8 million in hard-to-reach areas. 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.

IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria crisis. IRC is undertaking programs in Syria in the fields of health, protection, and economic recovery and development.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.

High-quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs provide the foundation for children’s future academic success, health, prosperity and wellbeing. A large body of scientific evidence emphasizes the need for increased investment in early childhood, particularly for children experiencing conflict, crisis and displacement; these children are extremely vulnerable to the long-lasting effects that prolonged stress has on the developing brain.

In December 2017, Sesame Workshop and the IRC were awarded the MacArthur Foundation’s inaugural 100&Change grant to make real progress toward solving a critical problem of our time. With the extraordinary investment of $100 million, our partnership will transform the language, early reading, math, and social-emotional skills of a generation of children ages 0-8 affected by the Syrian war. Focusing on children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria over the next five years, the plan combines the depth of in-person services, reaching 1.5 million children, with the breadth of mass media, reaching 9.4 million children. For more information, please visit: http://refugee.sesameinternational.org/.

Job Overview/ Summary:

IRC’s ECD Partnership Senior Officer will be based in Amman.Under the direct supervision of ECD Coordinator and Technical Partnership dotted line of Partnership Coordinator. The ECD Partnership S. Officer for Northwest Syria will work closely with ECD Manager and Partnership team, he/she will be responsible for grant management, and financial management of IRC’s Ahlan Simsim (ECD) partners and sub-awards. The ECD Partnership S. Officer will ensure timely, effective, and high-quality support on range of program activities.

The ECD Partnership S. Officer will also support the ECD Coordinator in internal and external representation activities, communication, and knowledge management initiatives, as well as donor reporting and partnership program development opportunities as required.

The ECD Partnership S. Officer is responsible for four key objectives:

Partnership programs Quality and Implementation: lead and support the effective execution of partnership activities in collaboration with relevant team members (ECD team and partnership team). Follow-up on procurement and spending related to partner program activities, review budget variance against projection in collaboration and support from Partnership team.

Grants Management: Ensure effective grant and budget management and contribute to new proposal and concept notes.

Coordination and Partnership: Build strong coordination and evaluation mechanisms with ECD partners, verification of reports received from partners and compilation of quantitative reports to donors.

Partners Support & Development: Support in identification and selection of new partners as needed.Provide support in relation to roll out and analysis of assessments of each partner’s base knowledge and capacity and support programmatic capacity building according to the AS program plan.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program Implementation and Quality

• Working closely with the ECD Manager and provide support – as required - to partners, guidance on program activities, etc. with partner related to good practices in ECD, services for children, caregivers programming, approaches to outreach, etc. (or other topics as identified together with ECD Manager)
• Review partner ECD related tools and processes in line with IRC- ECD/ Ahlan Simsim technical standards.
• Identify and raise technical challenges IRC and partner staff will face in the delivery of ECD services and propose tools and mechanisms to overcome them in a timely manner in consultation with the ECD Coordinator and the Partnership Coordinator.
• In collaboration with the Partnership team, coordinate partner trainings and workshops, regular communication, problem solving, and reporting.
• Support the ECD Coordinator with strategic decision making, planning, and partner engagement regarding Ahlan Simsim Partners.
• Ensure the documentation of key partner support from trainings and workshops (pre/posttest, attendance sheet, evaluation) to be filed with the Partnership Department and provide feedback and support in the implementation of the recommendation made after trainings.

Grants management

• Work closely with Grants and Partnership team and other relevant sectors to complete grant management documents and deliverables within donor guidelines.
• Support the ECD Coordinator in identifying any technical gaps in existing ECD partnership and work with the team to develop innovative approaches and mechanisms to address them.
• Work closely with the ECD and Partnership teams in designing and developing new and potential funding opportunities for sustaining the relationship with existing partners, or/and expanding with potential new partners.
• In collaboration with ECD team and Partnership teams support the ECD Coordinator in producing donor reports and other materials related to partnership activities as required.
• Review and support partners in the development of the Scope of Work in coordination with the Partnerships lead and other relevant staff.
• Participate in partnership management activities as it relates to the ECD technical part such as due diligence, opening meeting, review, and reflection visits etc.
• In collaboration with Partnership team support on filling the sections that are related to ECD in the partnership’s tools
• Ensure effective Budget management as appropriate and timely spending of grants to achieve program goals in collaboration with relevant team members.

Coordination and Partnership

• Work closely with ECD Manager in supporting the development of strategic partnerships with local partners to facilitate effective adoption and implementation of an integrated ECD activities and scaling up.
• Actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders, in particular partners, and other relevant actors in coordination with the ECD and Partnership teams.
• Work with Partnership team and other Program sector colleagues to come up with strategies for integration of ECD activities and Sesame Seeds content across a range of partner programs.
• Coordinate with ECD MEAL Manager for monitoring and evaluation of partner activities to ensure key indicators and targets are met and are consistent with IRC donor requirements
• Contribute to the development of regular reports, both qualitative and quantitative, in relation to ECD capacity building and ECD sub-awards. Work with Partnership team to ensure timely and quality reporting from partners
• Share on a bi-weekly basis with the ECD coordinator, a report of the partners and their current status (challenges, successes and next steps)
• Develop and update a database of ECD actors in close cooperation with the ECD Coordinator and Partnership team.

Partners Support & Development

• In collaboration with Partnership teamwork work with partners to conduct regular analysis of data collected from field teams to note trends and inform programming accordingly, as well as sharing information via reports as needed.
• Regularly use feedback to support partners to improve programming and to improve on communication and coordination with partners.
• Support the assessment of capacity building needs based on observation and assessment of each partner’s knowledge and capacity in ECD.
• Coordinate with the ECD Manager in strengthening the technical capacities of partners, including conducting trainings, coaching, and mentoring.
• Support regular information sharing regarding challenges and needs at the field level.
• Represent IRC in internal and external forums as needed, including clusters, and coordinate activities with them.

Others

• Adhere to and act in accordance with the IRC Global HR Policies and Procedures.
• Other duties as assigned by direct manager to enable and develop IRC programs

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:Early Childhood Development Coordinator – NW Syria CP

Position Dotted Reporting to: Partnership Coordinator – NWS

Position directly supervises:N/A

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: ECD Manager, Partnership, grants, finance and supply chain /NWS, Regional Technical Lead ECD (Ahlan Simsim), other IRC programs.

External:Partner organizations in Syria and Gaziantep