Regional Program Coordinator

The IRC has country programs in five Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries – Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Libya. Over a decade of conflict in Syria has pushed millions from their homes and into poverty, and millions more have become refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and further afield. Inside Syria, 6.1 million people are internally displaced and 13.1 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, with three million in hard-to-reach areas. Lebanon is struggling to cope with a so-called ‘triple crisis’, consisting of a pre-existing refugee crisis, near financial and economic collapse and a global pandemic, exacerbated by a devastation caused by the Beirut explosion in 2020, leaving 78% of the wider population below the poverty line and 89% of Syrian refugees below the extreme poverty line. In Jordan, which hosts almost 1.3 million refugees, the economic challenges pre-date the Syrian crisis which further exacerbated the pressures on public services and the high unemployment rate, COVID-19, and water scarcity. Equally complex are the emergencies in Libya and Iraq, where waves of fighting and displacement have overwhelmed infrastructure and services and pushed communities to the brink. The economic, social, and health effects of these crises have impacted the entire region.

The IRC responds to people’s acute and longer-term needs with integrated programs that improve health and safety, prioritize women and children’s protection, foster economic wellbeing, and empower communities to regain control over their lives. Our work gives rise to some of the most pressing issues facing contemporary humanitarian action, including questions of access, conflict sensitivity, coordination, and impact.

Job Overview

The Regional Program Coordinator will be a key member of the MENA regional team providing a range of program support services to country programs and the MENA regional team to ensure effective and efficient programming. S/he will ensure regional projects are well-administered and coordinated, and drive key regional strategic initiatives, providing strategy support to country programs as needed. S/he will have cross-country/sector/department project and award management, reporting, compliance, and coordination responsibilities to drive sound program management practices in line with IRC’s and donors’ regulations and processes.

Responsibilities:

Awards Management, Reporting & Compliance:

• Provide regional management oversight of regional awards, by acting as regional interlocutor with country programs implementing these awards and as sounding board for ideas and solutions.

• Lead on the design, running and follow-up of regular regional Project Cycle Meetings (PCMs) (project design, opening, implementation, closing, and learning meetings) to track progress and quality of projects, identify risks, and ensure that awards are implemented in compliance with IRC and relevant donor regulations.

• Review and analyze regular progress and budget versus actuals (BvA) reports and data, and work with country program staff to address spending risks and monitor the implementation of mitigation measures.

• Coordinate all internal and external narrative and financial reporting in collaboration with the relevant country program and regional departments by sharing reporting timelines, templates and guidance, consolidating and synthesizing inputs to produce well-written coherent reports, and facilitating review by relevant regional colleagues, to ensure high-quality and timely report submissions.

• Work with country program staff to ensure that work, spending, procurement, and recruitment plans are regularly updated and closely monitored and that any revision requests are appropriately escalated to IRC’s donors as necessary.

• Ensure consistent and clear information management by overseeing the regular maintenance of regional award files and updating of internal IRC documentation and awards management tools.

• Ensure that IRC awards are well-administered and implemented in compliance with IRC and donor requirements. Identify and/or respond to capacity gaps within country program teams and work with relevant focal points to ensure accurate and common understanding of donor requirements.

• Work closely with country program and regional MEAL and technical staff and advisors to coordinate internal cross-country learning opportunities and evaluation initiatives related to regional awards; facilitate application of common approaches to achieve shared objectives, program adaptation and quality improvements.

• Assist the country program and regional finance and MEAL departments in in responding to internal and external audits, evaluations, and monitoring exercises.

• Support with donor communication, including award modification and negotiations as needed.

Regional & Country Strategy Support:

• Work with regional teams and country programs to drive prioritized strategic initiatives in line with IRC’s global, regional, and country program strategies to improve program quality and achieve greater impact for our clients.

• Facilitate collaboration between country programs and relevant regional and HQ functions and departments to drive learning and bringing best program practices to scale including but not limited to program quality, strategic partnership, business development, awards management, multi-country design and implementation, measurement, and client responsiveness initiatives.

• Support country programs in setting plans, adapting, and implementing prioritized strategic initiatives.

• Build capacity of country program teams on global and regional strategic initiatives, guidance, and tools.

• Create, adapt, and monitor metrics and reports to measure the effectiveness and performance of countries programs against their prioritized strategic initiatives.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: MENA Deputy Regional Director

Position directly supervises: N/A

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Deputy Director of Programs; country grants, finance, programs, partnership, MEAL and operation teams; regional program support team, technical unit, finance, operation, partnership and MEAL team.

External: Donors; Local partners

Job Requirements

Work Experience: 5-7 years inter-agency, partner and donor coordination and representation, preferably for a multi-sector regional response or consortia; and/or program quality/coordination/management including partner/donor relationship management.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies: Demonstrated knowledge of major institutional donors’ (including Global Affairs Canada) regulations, procedures and requirements strongly preferred; demonstrated knowledge in contract-management; Coordination and program management; Representation and presentation skills; Excellent oral and written communications skills and demonstrated ability to write and produce documents (proposals, reports) with tight deadlines; ability to respond to changing priorities; ability to work independently, be proactive, self-initiate and problem solve; ability to influence without authority.

Language Skills: Fluent in English, verbally and in writing. Arabic language proficiency is preferred.

Standards of Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

The IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and therefore considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. The IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

Working Environment: The position has the option to be based either in IRC’s office in Amman, Jordan OR IRC’s office in Beirut, Lebanon with frequent travel between all regional countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Libya).