Regional Gender Project manager

Internal Job Grade – C2. National position

Contract typ – Fixed term. One year renewable based on fund availability (current plan for funding is until end of November 2023)

Reporting to : Line management: Regional Gender Justice Coordinator – MENA RP

Matrix management:

**Staff reporting directly to this post :**None.

Key relationships/interactions: Regional Head of Programmes, MENA Regional Gender Justice Coordinator, MENA Gender Advocacy Advisor, Regional Communications Advisor, Masarouna Project Manager , Oxfam’s Country offices the Middle East and North Africa (with a specific focus on Jordan, Lebanon and OPT), Regional Admin and Finance Officer, and Oxfam Quebec colleagues.

Location : In any of: Jordan, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. Candidates need to be legally entitled to work in the country where they are based.

Shaping a stronger Oxfam for people living in poverty.

Department Purpose

The Regional Platform (RP) of Oxfam in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has a mandate to:

• Provide strategic leadership, management & accountability of and to Oxfam country programmes in MENA.
• Deliver regional impact, developing partner relationships, brand and impact in the region through relevant influencing and advocacy work, public engagement and programming
• Connect, coordinate, convene – Connect practitioners to sources of expertise, convene people to share knowledge and learnings, and coordinate capacity building initiatives
• Enable operational agility and efficiency – Provide support to Oxfam country offices

Team Purpose

Power to Choose is a multi-country program implemented by Oxfam country offices in Lebanon, Jordan and OPT, with a regional/ above country component. Strides 2 is a regional initiative covering North Africa and Middle East. These countries reflect diversity and in the same time similarities in terms of civic space restrictions, level of internet penetration and the extent to which they are affected by conflict. Similarly, young people face conservative opposition to their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Their marginalization is caused by socially and culturally constructed norms, values and taboos. Current legislation linked to or directly on SRHR reflects these social norms, often based on religious and traditional arguments and discourses.

Activities under Power to Choose and Strides 2 will be implemented by Oxfam offices or feminist partners. Other activities will be implemented at the global or regional level. This position will be responsible for managing the regional activities in coordination with other Oxfam offices and partners.

Job Purpose

The position of Regional Project Manager will lead on and is accountable for all the programmatic, management and partnership aspects of the project, and exercises direct management of the activities which are implemented by the Oxfam RP in collaboration with project partners, wider civil society, and Oxfam country offices in the target countries. The Regional Project Manager will be responsible for the project cycle’s proper management, including financial monitoring, monitoring and evaluation, drafting and reviewing progress and donor reports, planning and promoting learning. The Regional Project Manager will also have a key role in facilitating and building relationships with key stakeholders, feminist networks and allies, and will support in identifying further funding opportunities and new project ideas in line with Oxfam’s agenda on inequalities in the MENA region

The position is a national position (with local terms, conditions, and benefits) and will require some travel within the MENA region (Covid-19 permitting).

The position reports to the Oxfam Regional Platform.

Job Responsibilities

1. Project Management – 50%

• Oversee the implementation of all aspects of the two projects (technical steer and project management) while ensuring coherence, standardized approaches, and programme quality – in line with the project’s influencing objectives as set in the project proposal;
• In collaboration with colleagues at the Regional Platform and country offices, lead on preparing and revising workplans, spending plans, monitoring and evaluation plans, risk management plans, and other aspects of quality project management;
• Lead on activities such as research, advocacy campaigns, learning, alliance-building – that are under the direct implementation of the Oxfam Regional Platform, in close collaboration with Regional Platform colleagues and Oxfam country offices;
• Exercise budgetary oversight on the project as a whole, and on activities directly implemented by Oxfam’s Regional Platform;
• Ensure that the project’s implementation is in compliance with donor requirements and in alignment with Oxfam’s MENA Regional Strategy;
• Lead on drafting narrative reports to donors, and review project financial reports prepared by the finance team;
• Lead on the project’s context and risk analysis in the target countries, and advise on amendments to strategies, approaches and activities – where necessary, and in discussion with project partners and Oxfam colleagues.

2. Organization of regional events and research and learning – 20%

• Organize and co-organize regional trainings, capacity building, consultation and learning exercises
• Ensure that findings of the project’s influencing, advocacy and campaigning work are communicated to external and internal audiences, and are feeding into new opportunities for such work in the MENA region;
• Promotes learning within the project and with external actors
• To develop research TORs together with relevant colleagues in line with project requirements and manage researchers and outputs.

3. Relationship building and networking with partners and allies – 20%

• Establish good working relations with Oxfam feminist partners and women rights organizations, in line with Oxfam’s partnership approach and organizational values;
• Develop and maintain positive relations with relevant stakeholders such as local and regional civil society organizations, think tanks, universities, policy institutes, government counterparts, donors, and other relevant external stakeholders;
• Facilitate alliance building of Oxfam and partners and other actors.

4. Business development / fundraising – 10%

• Contribute to the development of new funding opportunities in MENA, in collaboration with Oxfam Regional Platform and country office teams;

Job Requirements

Essential

• University degree on social sciences or related.
• Experience in working directly on gender equality in MENA, and more specifically on SRHR;
• Experience in building partnerships, alliances and relationships with organizations and stakeholders in MENA;
• Experience in project management with international NGOs, including in work planning, budget management and oversight, managing sub-grants, monitoring and evaluation, report-writing, among others;
• Experience in engaging in policy issues around gender equality and SRHR in the MENA region.
• Experience in working with local or regional civil society partners;
• Excellent soft skills such as diplomacy, communication and interpersonal skills, and negotiation;
• Sensitivity to cultural differences and the ability to work in a variety of cultural contexts within MENA;
• Willingness and ability to travel within MENA (approx. twice a year);
• Excellent English and Arabic (reading, speaking, writing)

Desirable

• A master’s degree in gender studies, social sciences, international development studies, public policy studies, or equivalent;
• Experience in managing a regional (multi-country) project;
• Experience in collaborating with regional partners;

Key Attributes:

• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities.
• Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of gender/gender mainstreaming, women’s rights, and diversity for all aspects of development work.
• Commitment to Oxfam’s safeguarding policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible.

Organisational Values:

• Equality: We believe everyone has the right to be treated fairly and to have the same rights and
• opportunities.
• Empowerment: We acknowledge and seek to expand people’s agency over their lives and the decisions that impact them.
• Solidarity: We join hands, support, and collaborate across boundaries in working towards a just and sustainable world.
• Inclusiveness: We embrace diversity and difference and value the perspectives and contributions of all people and communities in their fight against poverty and injustice.
• Accountability: We take responsibility for our action and inaction and hold ourselves accountable to the people we work with and for.
• Courage: We speak truth to power and act with conviction on the justice of our causes.