Senior Psychosocial Support Officer

Islamic Relief Worldwide

Islamic Relief Jordan is a country branch of Islamic Relief Worldwide. Islamic Relief Worldwide is an internationally recognized charity (Charity No.: 328158), looking back on nearly 30 years of experience in humanitarian and developmental aid. It was founded in 1984 in Birmingham, UK, in response to the devastating famine in the Horn of Africa. Since then, Islamic Relief has grown into a charity that is active worldwide, putting development projects, emergency aid, and rebuilding projects into action in over 44 countries around the world.

Islamic Relief Jordan (IRJ) began its operations in 1997 with orphan’s sponsorship, sponsoring hundreds of orphans living in Jordan. IRJ extended its programs to seasonal projects with Ramadan and Qurbani distributions and In-Kind donations. IRJ has established strong partnership with international non-governmental organization and local one’s strengthening the overall response to the Syria crisis. At the onset of Syria humanitarian crisis in late 2011, IRJ provided emergency response to those affected by violence in Syria and has since then scaled up its capacity and operations with number of 70 staff across the country.

IRJ programme department works toward introducing relevant interventions to Jordanians as well as Syrians and Palestinians refugees that would impact their lives and improve their life conditions. IRJ programme act upon IRW mandate and in line with IR-Middle East and Eastern Europe strategy that aims to ensure Safe, dignified and peaceful living conditions for refugees, IDPs and vulnerable groups as well as communities at risk of disasters in the Middle East. IRJ office has expanded with the Syrian crisis in 2011, reaching more than 200,000 refugees by 2013 with an annual income of 35,000,000 GBP.

The department has successfully introduced interventions in a multi-sectors response, being the lead agency responsible for humanitarian assistance in the north of Jordan, reaching more than 240,000 beneficiaries in 2021 and continue providing access to food, health care, cash for shelter and non-food items such as hygiene kits and winterization items in 2021. The programme department is now strategizing the Syrian crisis response in Jordan and working toward a holistic integrated approach with the host community and planning to move toward sustainable development through introducing innovative approaches in education promotion, community development and economic empowerment.

Our values and commitment to safeguarding:

IRJ is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity, and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults, and beneficiaries with whom IRJ engages. IRJ expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organization.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records checks. IRJ also participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.

In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

Structure of IRJ Office

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Project Management

• Provide technical guidance on program planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Manage, coach and supervise protection and psychosocial support staff, enhance staff capacity through training with respect to identified staff needs.
• Contribute to the successful management of the protection and psychosocial support projects and managing the implementation of the project’s activities.
• Support the Community Development Coordinator in resource mobilizing efforts and the formulation of projects plans and inform projects’ design.
• Track and thoroughly review financial reports to ensure protection and psychosocial support projects budget is spent on target.
• Ensure Program objectives and activities are achieved.
• Develop a concept notes with all requirements including log frame, budgeting, and report writing of the projects.

Documentation and reporting

• Ensure training materials and follow up forms are updated and well documented.
• Ensure client progress is clearly documented in the database.
• Work with the monitoring and evaluation team to enhance measurement tools.
• Prepare monthly reports on the activities and progress of the projects.
• Support and lead initiatives for assessments as well as program monitoring and evaluation.
• Close monitoring and control over the data collected from beneficiaries, IRJ’s selection of households, the tracking of cash payments and input provision to beneficiaries.
• Ensure systems regarding database management and security are in place and maintained.
• Ensure data gathering is done according to the latest sector standards and results of relevant lessons are integrated into the project.

Staff Management

• line-manage the protection and psychosocial support staff of the assigned project(s), including day-to-day management, development and training, appraisals, etc.
• Conduct annual performance evaluation for protection and psychosocial support team members;

Financial Management

• Manage the budget of the assigned project(s) and ensure all expenses are according to budget and meet IRJ standards with regard to financial management, including accountability and good governance.

Communication and Coordination

• Develop and maintain appropriate, regular, transparent and supportive communication structures with the assigned project team, IRJ in-country and advisers and other relevant stakeholders (e.g. beneficiaries, community leaders, local and national government officials, UN agencies and other NGOs), with the objective of ensuring good cooperation and partnerships.
• Participate in protection and psychosocial support coordination meetings and other working groups or meetings as required, representing IRJ and feeding back to the staff and Community Development Coordinator on relevant issues.

Logistics

• Support the logistics activities in regards to the purchasing of supplies and equipment for the project.

Quality Management

• Ensure the project(s) are implemented in line with donor proposals and requirements and in accordance with IRJ, donor, country and international standards i.e. Sphere and HAP standards.

Required Qualification:

• Strong experience (4-5 years) working in MHPSS, protection and Psychosocial support programming in international organization, including experience managing humanitarian programs.
• A child protection and/or psychology professional and/or a Master's degree in child protection, psychology, social work or relevant field, or equivalent technical experience.
• Significant experience in working in child protection in emergencies, particularly on Child Friendly Spaces and psychosocial program.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of psychosocial program, and feeding learning into programme design.
• Ability to communicate and maintain appropriate and productive relations with a range of actors, including children, parents, local and national authorities.
• Proven experience in setting up or facilitating income generation activities for communities.
• Proven Project Management skills including planning and budget tracking capacities.
• The ability to think critically and to recommend good solutions to problems.
• Strong organizational skills
• Proven ability to lead a team and being part of a team
• Ability to mentor staff to work professionally and verifiably deliver results for project participants
• Ability to travel independently throughout Jordan, including to rural communities
• Willingness and ability to work extended hours
• Fluent in English and Arabic, written and spoken.
• Advance knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.

Technical knowledge Skills & abilities:

• At least 5 years' experience in psychosocial support Communication and Analysis skills of the needs
• Strong team and leadership skills and ability to manage diverse team with different background and 5kiIIs.
• Good field experience in emergency and development program management, preferably with non-government organizations.
• Good knowledge of current humanitarian policy issues and the international humanitarian context.
• Knowledge of key development/Humanitarian donors engaged in Syrian response programmes (i.e. UNOCHA, SIDA, UNDP, UNHCR, etc.), and of procedures, accountability frameworks and best practices.
• Good knowledge of gender, protection and inclusion issues in Jordan local contexts.
• Good understanding of international humanitarian principles and standards including CHS, SPHERE, ICRC Code of Conduct etc
• Report writing, problem solving and leaderships kills.
• Good understanding of capacity assessment methodologies; excellent ability to identify significant capacity building opportunities;
• Knowledge and experience of Cash and Voucher Programming would be an asset.
• Strong understanding of project cycle management, result-based management and M&E functions.

Personal knowledge Skills & abilities:

• Diplomacy, tact & negotiation skills.
• Able to communicate effectively both oral and in writing with employees at all levels within the organisation and also externally.
• Willingness to work flexibly and outside normal office hours as and when required for humanitarian emergency response

Developing and maintaining relationships:

• Very good team management skills and the ability to lead a team from different background and skills.
• Very good verbal and written communications skills and the ability to relate to people from all backgrounds.

Managing yourself in a pressured and changing environment:

• Demonstrated ability at being flexible and adapt to changing situations.
• The ability to remain calm while dealing with conflicting priorities and working under pressure.

Operating safely and securely in a humanitarian response:

• Relevant experience in implementing security policy/protocols.

Leadership in humanitarian response:

• High-level interpersonal, influencing and communications skills.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

للتقدم على الوظيفة