Dinami Programme Lead

Thessaloníki

Organization: Amna
Location: Thessaloníki
Grade: Mid level - Mid
Occupational Groups:
- Project and Programme Management
Closing Date: Closed

Refugee Trauma Initiative (RTI) is at a critical stage in its development. Founded in 2016 Refugee Trauma Initiative is committed to supporting community and frontline workers to bring non-clinical mental health support to every child and family affected by violence and displacement. Our mission is to help communities heal from violence and displacement. Our vision is a world where caring mental health workers are within reach of anyone affected by trauma.

RTI is seeking a passionate skilled manager with experience running therapeutic youth programmes to join RTI’s programmes team to lead the Dinami programme. The RTI Dinami programme, meaning ‘power’ in Greek addresses the emotional challenges of being a young person in a new country, navigating hostile asylum processes on top of the experiences of war, conflict, and displacement. We do this through a community-based, collective healing approach: bringing young people from ages 14-25 together to have fun, experience respite, learn new skills, create, and connect. Dinami is for both refugee and Greek youth to foster new friendships and promote diversity and inclusion.

Our Dinami model is participatory, experiential, and youth-led: through project/process-based learning through sports, creative and practical skills, and social events we aim to support and empower vulnerable young people to feel part of a caring community, to recognise and grow their personal resilience and resources, to build confidence around existing or new skills and to build community cohesion.

As part of a small, specialized team your work will support families, children and young people have who have been displaced by war, persecution and climate change. You will be a therapeutic practitioner with who is experience facilitating youth projects. You will have some experience managing a team and this will be a skill you will already bring and be committed to growing. Ideally you will also have experience designing and delivering trainings.

Safeguarding:

The role-holder will have experience working according to ethical and good practice safeguarding principles. You will be expected to adhere to and promote RTI’s Child and Vulnerable Adult Safeguarding and protection Policies as they will be involved and responsible for programmes working with children and vulnerable groups in different settings.

Role Responsibilities:

1. Team management:

Manage the Dinami team: Oversee teams work streams, workloads and weekly schedules, ensuring a balance of responsibilities, and supporting team members development to meet the Dinami teams needs
Lead Dinami team meetings, ensure minutes of meetings are recorded and progress with actions are monitored and followed up.
With the Dinami Head of Programmes induct and train any new team members in RTI/Dinami’s approach, practices, safeguarding, GDPR etc.
Manage the Dinami Traineeship Programme including managing trainees: induction, training, development, review and feedback processes
With RTI Head of Programmes oversee the Dinami budget
As needed engage with sponsors, donors, and other Dinami stakeholders
As needed attend conferences representing Dinami and RTI
As needed work with RTI Head of Advocacy and Development, contribute to advocacy pieces such as blogs and social media posts, as well as to funding applications.

2. Dinami hub programme:

From September 2020 – April 2021 the Dinami team tested whether the Dinami programme could be scaled into a training and capacity building programming, like the RTI Baytna programme. The tester pilot demonstrated the value of this. This year Dinami will launch an official Dinami Hub Pilot programme to create a network of organisations across Northern Greece called a Dinami ‘hub’. The Dinami team will train and provide capacity building support to.

Create and manage opportunities and partnerships with local and international partners who Dinami can work with and where relevant train to co-design and facilitate Dinami programmes.
With the support of RTI’s Head of Programmes and Head of Operations project manage the preparation, launch and maintenance of the Dinami Hub pilot programme across Northern Greece
Develop and manage stakeholder relationships with partners, developing a supportive, collaborative network
With RTIs programmes team review and develop the hubs training materials and capacity building programme
Manage the Dinami Hubs budget
Oversee the evaluation of the Dinami hub pilot. If the pilot proves to be a success, with RTI’s Senior Leadership Team support the strategic scale up of an international Dinami Hub progarmme.

3. Dinami Direct Delivery:

Throughout the year Dinami, in collaboration with youth associates and external facilitators facilitates psychosocial/collective healing project-based learning processes and spaces for different age groups between 14-25 in and around Thessaloniki and online.

With the Dinami team design, implement and facilitate Dinami workshops and ensure quality of Dinami programming including:
Designing project arc and weekly & individual session plans according to the Dinami model & intended outcomes
Organising logistics e.g. venue, transport, snacks etc. as relevant
Recruitment and attendance management
Provide mentorship and coaching to workshop participants, helping them develop skills, work out solutions to specific challenges, and helping link them to education or livelihood opportunities/resources
Evaluation – working with the RTI Monitoring and Evaluation Team throughout the projects
Lead community outreach, identifying youth (individuals or groups, refugee or local) in or around Thessaloniki and building strategies to engage them in youth programs,
Identify and train youth associates to create a network of RTI trained youth facilitators. Create training opportunities to develop facilitation skills.

Qualifications and Experience:

Experienced manager (min. 2-3 years)
Experience running psychosocial/therapeutic programmes
Experience working with youth and designing programmes
Experience working with vulnerable populations, ideally working with refugees and asylum seekers
Experienced facilitator
Experienced trainer
Experience in child and youth protection and safeguarding
Eligible to work in Greece immediately; committed to living in Thessaloniki
Proficiency in English and Greek required, and/or Arabic/Farsi/Kurdish language skills highly desirable
Strong written skills
Proficiency with computer programmes e.g. outlook, one-drive, Microsoft softwares, basic design skills

Desirable but not essential:

Child and Adolescent specialism
Fluent in written and spoken Arabic or Farsi
Already living in Thessaloniki

Skills and Behaviors:

Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling RTI values. 
Excellent at initiating and managing own work
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to effectively communicate with internal and external stakeholders
Ability to work independently and to carry out assignments to completion within parameters of instructions given, prescribed routines, and standard accepted practices
Must be able to work under pressure and meet deadlines, while maintaining a positive attitude
Understands the importance of a supportive working culture and works actively to engage with the team and its rituals
‘Perfectionist’ (you don’t want errors, typos in ANY public-facing content) + someone with aesthetic sense for digital content

Benefits:

1. RTI offers Psychological Support Fund for its employees and are eligible to apply after the end of the probation period. 

2. RTI offers reflective supervision to all staff

How to Apply:

Please send your CV and motivation letter to dea@refugeetrauma.org by 14th May 2021. In your motivation letter please address the following four points:

1. What attracts you to this role and working with RTI?
2. Why have you chosen to work with youth?
3. How is the way you work values-based, trauma-sensitive & identity-informed?
4. What skills and qualities do you possess that will equip you to manage different programmes within Dinami simultaneously?
5. What experiences do you have that would position you to project manage the Dinami Hub Pilot?