Senior ERD Manager

 The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, IRC offers life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in more than 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted by conflict or disaster. IRC leads the way from harm to home.

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 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 substantial settings gives rise to some of the most pressing issues facing modern humanitarian action, including questions of access, security, funding and coordination.

Job Overview/Summary: The Senior ERD Manager, under the direct supervision of the ERD Coordinator, will be responsible for providing operational and programmatic support for the effective and successful design, implementation, and monitoring, and evaluation of the IRC ERD Programs within northwest Syria. These programs include cash and basic needs' programming consisting of unconditional multi-purpose cash assistance and temporary income programming through cash for work; agriculture and livestock support programming; and livelihoods programming including vocational training and apprenticeship placements and business grants. He/she will work closely with the ERD Coordinator and the relevant program Managers in the overall strategy and design of ERD activities and the day-to-day project management of ERD programs.

Major Responsibilities:

Project implementation

• Support project managers in project management of the ERD program portfolio by providing technical and operational support; developing program design along with program Managers; and ensuring all direct and partners implementation is in line with standard methodologies and IRC’s Outcomes and Evidence Framework.
• Work on documenting the lessons learned of the various projects in collaboration with project managers.
• Assist project managers in overall budget management, spending plans, procurement plans, work plans, and other project management tools and processes relevant to their project, and consolidate for final review and tracking and for further review by the ERD Coordinator and relevant support departments.
• Attend and actively participate with the project manager in Project Cycle Meetings (PCM) that include a review of Budget versus Actual (BvA), progress against targets, donor compliance issues, donor reporting monitoring, and other project management topics.
• Ensure smooth management, implementation, and integration of project work plans and budgets (budget forecasting, development of spending plans, procurement plans, and budget follow-up), ensuring the best use of resources across activities and analyzing value for money.
• Write and review inputs from project managers and partners for donor reports (including annexes related to it such as log frames, risk management, financial report, etc.), in close coordination with IRC’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL), Grants, and Finance team.
• Review draft project designs developed by project managers, making sure it is well structures and aligns with IRC’s guidelines and objectives, and that it is discussed with relevant operation departments, such as field management and humanitarian access and security to mitigate and keep an eye on risks throughout implementation.

Team management

• Develop and implement remote management capacity strengthening approaches to build the strengths of the team in Turkey, Jordan and Syria taking into consideration staff strengths and areas of improvements and the Syria country program succession plan.
• Adhere to IRC’s HR policies and procedures.
• Hire, supervise, and build the capacity of project managers and other team members as advised by the ERD Coordinator in relevant technical and management competencies.
• Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including presenting clear expectations, setting annual performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented periodical performance reviews.
• Identify issues, problems and/or concerns affecting the program with the project teams and, as needed, present recommendations to the ERD Coordinator.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)

• Follow-up on the timely reporting of progress in internal and external reports
• Lead on developing or adapting existing program MEAL tools and processes.
• Lead discussions on Post-Distribution Monitoring and other monitoring reports’ findings; project evaluations, baseline reports, and other related assessments.
• Ensure that data is properly led, documented, and analyzed to generate learning. Develop project learning documents based on program success, challenges, beneficiary and staff/partner feedback, and MEAL analysis on outcomes. Ensure projects are continually adapted to this learning in order to develop responsive and evidence-based programming.
• Lead on the reporting of and management of program-specific complaints and feedback received from clients or staff in close coordination with IRC’s Syria MEAL team and global Ethics and Compliance Unit
• In collaboration with the ERD Information Management team and Syria MEAL team, lead in the development and implementation of markets assessments including labor market assessments and value chain assessments.

Program quality, support, and development

• Work with ERD Coordinator on the continuous development and improvement of the IRC ERD program strategy for Syria.
• Support the ERD Coordinator, and engage the project managers as needed, in implementing IRC's commitment to increasing its work with local partners, as per ERD’s partnership strategy by ensuring quality in technical and operational co-design, implementation, and outcomes and supporting partners with learning and any needed capacity sharing.
• Proposal and Program Development: Support the ERD Coordinator in the development of quality proposal budgets, logical frameworks, and technical narratives to support continued program strengthening in response of the needs of communities IRC is serving.
• Represent IRC at coordination meetings, including but not limited to Syria Resilience Consortium meetings, Clusters, and Technical Working Group meetings. Engage with key players and represent the IRC in donor and partner meetings as requested by the ERD Coordinator.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: ERD Coordinator

Position directly supervises: Implementation Manager, Cash and Basic Needs Manager, Senior Livelihoods Officer, Program Support Officer.

External relationships:

• Syria Resilience Consortium members and partner organizations in northwest Syria
• Cluster coordinators, co-leads, and partners agencies at the Whole of Syria and Gaziantep level
• Donors and partners