SME Grants Officer – Syria Idleb

General Description of the Programme:

GOAL has been working in Syria since 2013, responding to the acute needs of conflict-affected communities. GOAL is working in Idleb Governate, both through direct implementation and through partners, delivering food, non-food programming to highly vulnerable populations, and provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) through support to Water units, as well as emergency support to recently displaced households.

GOAL has been working in North Aleppo Governate since 2019, through direct implementation and through partners, delivering food, non-food programming to highly vulnerable populations, as well as emergency support for recently displaced household.

Job purpose:

GOAL will be introducing market support activities to help local shops develop their businesses. The SME grant officer will help administer a cash grant program to shops to help them address an identified need and grow their business. The SME grant officer will work closely alongside SME technical officers who will be providing mentoring and technical advice.

Duties, objectives, and competencies

Plan the project.

• Develop SOPs, MOUs and templates needed to assess and administer the activities.
• Select the sub-districts and villages GOAL will target.
• Create a detailed work plan which identifies and sequences the activities needed to successfully complete the project.
• In collaboration with Deputy Field Managers, sensitize relevant stakeholders to the program.

Implement the project.

• Contribute to the development and administration of a small grant program, inclusive of developing eligibility and selection criteria, preparing an application form, finalizing a review/evaluation process, and developing a contract between GOAL and grant recipients.
• Sensitize potential recipients on the grant process alongside other team members.
• Chair meetings that will review applications and select grant recipients. Ensure that the meetings are transparent, and all applicants are fairly reviewed and evaluated against the established criteria. Prepare decision memors.
• Administer the disbursement of the small grants in collaboration with the finance team.
• Provide regular progress reports to team members and management. Document lessons learned.
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to GOAL and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements (essential)

• Bachelor’s degree in (social science, economics, information management) or any relevant field.
• Minimum 3 years working experience with an NGO including at least 2 years in either livelihoods, cash, food security or markets-based programming.
• Minimum 1 year management experience or team leader with an NGO, private company or government department.
• At least 6 months experience working in the livelihood’s economic activities, social and economic empowerment, business development.
• Good understanding of NGO programming and humanitarian assistance activities, including operations and logistics.
• Good negotiation and problem-solving skills.
• Integrity, transparency, and strong work ethics.
• Understanding of cross-cutting issues, such as gender, protection, youth, and environment
• Ability to work under pressure and with limited supervision.
• Good analytical and reporting skills.
• Good command of spoken and written Arabic. In addition, English is an advantage.
• Strong computer skills with particular competencies with Microsoft Office applications (including MS Word and Excel).

Requirements (desired)

• Previous experience administering a grant program and/or selection process for beneficiaries.
• Experience working with small businesses or traders.