The Organisation
JRS began working in the MENA region in July 2008, responding to the needs of Iraqi refugees. Today JRS accompanies, serves, and advocates on behalf of refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees, and vulnerable host community members in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. JRS programmes in the region deliver multisectoral interventions including home visits, emergency assistance, child and adult education, mental health and psychosocial support, social services, protection, health care, livelihoods, community building and advocacy programmes.
Job Purpose
In close collaboration with the Regional Director and the Regional Programmes Team, the Regional Head of Programmes for JRS MENA provides leadership to regional strategies and programmatic priorities; regional grants management/fundraising; regional representation; programme quality; and supports countries as required.
The Regional Head of Programmes is responsible for leading the quality and relevance of JRS’ programme strategy in the MENA region and ensuring that the programmes offered by JRS will be mission driven programmes of quality that are responsive to the developing situation through directed planning and reflection with field staff and Regional and Country Office specialists in the areas of intervention. S/he will also be responsible for leading the development and delivery of JRS’ grants strategy in the MENA region. They will track funding gaps, analyse opportunities, and engage potential and existing donors. In addition, they coordinate key relationships between JRS colleagues in the Country Office and other international offices.
S/he will manage and supervise two teams in the Regional Office:
- The Regional Programmes Technical Specialists: MEAL, Livelihoods, Education, and MHPSS
- The Regional Programmes Officers responsible for grant management
S/he will work closely with their teams, other Regional Office staff members, and Country Directors to lead the development of country programmes strategies that address needs of affected populations, align with JRS’ Strategic Framework, and adapt to the realities of the funding environment.
Main Responsibilities of the Position
Strategic Lead & Advice
- Serves as a member of the leadership team with the Regional Director; Regional Finance Officer; and the Regional Human Resources Officer.
- Defines and reviews on a regular basis the regional programme strategy.
- Supports country offices in setting and reviewing their programme strategies.
- Ensures that country programme strategies are in line with the agreed upon regional strategy and priorities.
- Participates in the recruitment and appraisal of members of the regional programmes teams and senior programmes staff at country level.
- Shapes existing programmes within a protection framework, including a possible shift of focus from an education to protection model for some education projects.
- Facilitates project evaluation planning and delivery and determines how the exit, closure or transfer process can best be achieved in a healthy way for each project.
- Represents JRS MENA’s work externally, networking/building relationships with donors, partners and other stakeholders as needed.
Quality Control Improvement
- Leads regionally the programme quality improvement initiatives including the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS).
- Coordinates a regional learning system including sharing of evaluation’s recommendations, best practices, and lessons learned between countries.
- Facilitates exchange of expertise and experience between countries.
Technical Support
- Ensures that technical support (remote and in-country) is provided by Regional Programmes Team to country offices either upon their requests or whenever need is identified.
- Coordinates country field visits of Regional Programmes Team members as per priorities and support needed.
- Monitors country programmes on a regular basis and provides updates to country and regional management teams.
- Ensures that technical standards and guidelines are made available to country programme teams.
- Provides induction training to Regional Programmes Team members.
- Liaises with JRS technical specialists in the International Office to ensure proper coordination, dissemination of policies, standards or guidelines to countries and as well act as interface between regional office/countries and IO technical specialists for specific requests coming from the field.
- Works closely with Country Directors and Programmes Officers to ensure that programme planning, development, and evaluation timelines are followed.
- Ensures that programmes are evidence-based and reflect the current response plans for the various countries and meet international standards for humanitarian response.
- Ensures the implementation of the JRS Global commitment to Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) in all programming.
- Contributes to the development and implementation of a Programme Director formation programme, in collaboration with the Regional leadership team.
Grants & Partnership Management and Fundraising
- Leads the ongoing grant planning process to develop effective strategies to meet funding targets, in cooperation with the Regional Director.
- Tracks funding gaps, donor interests and requirements, and potential funding streams and develops a matching strategy to guide the work of the grants team.
- Engages existing and potential donors to find synergies between priorities and generates new opportunities.
- Organises and builds the capacities of the Regional Programmes Officers (grants managers) to secure and manage funding.
- Oversees the support provided by the Regional Programmes Officers to countries on proposal development and reporting.
- Provides guidance and capacity building to Regional Programmes Officers on project reporting and grant requirements.
- Provides occasional reviews and serves and quality control for reports, as requested by grants team.
- Coordinates development of regional proposals and reports to donors and conducts strategic review of regional proposals and relevant country proposals as per grant management guidelines.
- Coordinates with counterparts in the JRS international team to support identification and acquisition of funding and ensure grant requirements are met.Ensures close liaison with country offices and regional finance, and HR teams to align the work of the grants team with organisational needs and priorities.
Flexibility
- Works independently and prioritizes tasks.
- Plans for both long term project development as well as immediate needs.
- Ensures prompt execution of other reasonable tasks that are within the ambit of the position as requested by the Regional Director.
- Is available and willing to travel to the Country and Project offices in the region (approx. one time per year to each country) and for other global JRS meetings.
Qualifications, Skills, and Personal Attributes
- Commitment to JRS’s mission, vision and values; ability to convey with enthusiasm JRS’s role in accompanying and serving forcibly displaced people and to advocate for their right to protection and a life in dignity.
- Advanced University degree in humanitarian/development studies or other related discipline.
- Proven experience of at least seven years’ programme management experience, preferably in complex humanitarian environments, at a senior level in a humanitarian or development organization.
- Strong experience in programme design, management, monitoring and evaluation, donor liaison and multi-donor grant management at country and/or regional levels.
- Experience working with institutional donors such as ECHO, PRM or UN agencies.
- Experience in planning and/or delivering on programme and/or funding strategies.
- Experience in sectors of protection, health, education, livelihoods and/or community building are an asset.
- Experience supporting programmes remotely is an asset.
- Fluency in verbal and written English. Arabic and French are an asset.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word and Excel.
- Knowledge of international standards regarding humanitarian interventions (e.g., SPHERE standards).
- Experience with humanitarian accountability.
- Integrity, honesty, flexibility, dynamism, and a good team worker.
- Excellent interpersonal skills that build trust and instill confidence.
- Excellent time management, coordination, planning, and organizational skills.
- Acceptance of diversity and inclusion as core values.
- Ability and willingness to travel to JRS project sites and adapt to modest living and working conditions.
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