Project Manager – Missing Persons Project

TITLE: Project Manager – Missing Persons Project LOCATION: Remote POSITION: Consultant REPORTS TO: Senior Program Officer

About SJAC

Founded in 2012, The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting meaningful justice for Syria that holds perpetrators accountable and addresses the grievances of victims, leading to lasting peace and respect for human rights.

Position Summary

The Project Manager oversee SJAC’s field work under its missing persons project. This includes efforts to document those missing by ISIS, build the capacity of forensic partners to investigate and preserve mass graves, and build networks with families of the missing within formerly-ISIS held Syria. Preference will be given to applicants with the ability to travel to Raqqa and other areas of NE Syria, in order to meet with project partners and beneficiaries. SJAC anticipates the selected consultant will work 19-22 days per month.

General Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage team of eleven documentation coordinators collecting interviews with victims of ISIS and their families
• Directly collect documentation from victims of ISIS and their families
• Manage relationship with local stakeholders, keeping them informed of SJAC’s work and building buy-in for the project
• Establish connections with missing persons’ communities in order to inform them of the promises and pitfalls of ongoing efforts to discover the fate of the missing.
• Coordinate regular technical and psychosocial trainings for humanitarian workers investigating the fate of the missing.
• Ensure regular, secure transfer of documentation from the field to SJAC.
• Communicate findings from documentation team clearly to SJAC’s headquarters.
• Professionally represent SJAC as needed at meetings, trainings, workshops, and panels with UN, government, INGO, and NGO entities.
• Develop and manage strategic partnerships with data sources, humanitarian and service providers, UN entities, and other NGOs in furtherance of SJAC’s mission.
• Follow SJAC’s ethical standards and SJAC’s security policy, including chain of custody, in order to conduct the work with no harm to persons or to data.
• Track monitoring and evaluation indicators and write quarterly reports for funders.

Skills and Experience

• Relevant university degree. BA, Masters preferred
• 3-5 years of experience managing human rights or humanitarian projects in the Middle East, work experience in Syria preferred.
• Knowledge of the Syrian conflict, and preferably the period of ISIS control within Syria. Knowledge of missing persons investigations preferred.
• Experience working with victims of severe human rights violations, and ‘do no harm’ standards
• Expertise in implementing gender sensitive programming.
• Experience managing staff remotely
• Professional fluency in written and spoken Arabic. Kurdish language skills a plus.
• Professional proficiency in English.

SJAC is a diverse organization made up of 40+ team members around the globe. We pride ourselves in our ability to implement programming that is inclusive and responsive to the needs of all Syrians, and believe that our own team’s diversity of viewpoints and experiences helps us to achieve that goal. We encourage all interested applicants to apply, regardless of race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or age.