Activating Market and Agricultural Livelihoods (AMAL) Project Manager Iraq Nineveh

Job Description

All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s core values: dedication, innovation, inclusivity and accountability. These attitudes and believes shall guide our actions and relationships.

Duties and responsibilities

The purpose of the Project Manager’s position is to implement the AMAL project in Mosul, representing NRC at coordination forums, as delegated by the Area Program Manager and the AMAL Project Lead.

Generic responsibilities: 

• Line management of AMAL area based team.
• Contribute to the development of Country and Area strategies, initiate and participate in the development of proposal/project development, in line with needs-profile and in collaboration with Core Competency Specialists.
• Manage AMAL project implementation using key project cycle management tools (work plan, procurement plan, and spending plan) in line with the project proposal, Core Competency strategies, NRC policies/procedures and donor requirements.
• Implement agreed technical direction and ensure high technical quality of projects, including compliance.
• Provide regular progress reports to the Area Program Manager and the AMAL Project Lead (as and when required).
• Adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures.
• Ensure that projects target beneficiaries in Agriculture potential areas and most in need of assistance, explore and assess new and better ways to assist.
• Manage area office project budget and conduct regular budge monitoring.
• Ensure capacity building of project staff and transfer key organizational and technical skills.
• Liaise and collaborate with relevant local authorities and other key stakeholders.
• Represent NRC in relevant forums/clusters/working groups.

Specific responsibilities: 

• Support design of market assessments/ Value chain analysis and the infrastructural assessments in Ramadi and Ana districts in Anbar governorate in coordination with AMAL Advisors and Country office specialists;
• Project cycle management: manage project budget and submit regular spending plans; conduct monthly expenditure reviews and take corrective actions to effectively manage and report expenses to the donor; develop work plans for the field teams and follow up with progress on a daily basis; develop procurement plans and ensure all procurements are done in time; contribute to budget development;
• Donor compliance: ensure donor rules and regulations are followed and all necessary documentation is in place and backed up in NRC SSD as needed;
• Responsible for the quality of the program: quality of data collection and distributions are according to Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) with correct accountability measures in place;
• M&E and reporting: with support from the Core Competency Specialist, AMAL project lead and M&E, ensure that the following activities are implemented according to the work plan: market assessments/value chain assessments; infrastructural assessments, beneficiary assessments and verification; Ensure realistic monitoring plans are prepared and followed; PDM surveys; and end line surveys. Ensures reporting tools are in place for daily tracking of activities/trainings/distributions; ensure monthly and quarterly reports submitted to the country office.
• Overall coordination of beneficiary selection process; ensures there is a communication strategy with beneficiaries in place; ensures there is a functioning complaints mechanism;
• Support in identification and procurement of service providers while putting in place systems to ensure quality;
• Capacity building of national livelihood PM and PCs in the area office and maintain an overview of all livelihood grants in the area office.
• Coordinate with the Logistics, Finance and Security departments to organize activities;
• Establish strong coordination with stakeholder and represent NRC in external meetings as needed, primarily with Directorate of Agriculture, Directorate of Water Resources, Directorate of Trade and any governorate level coordination mechanisms on Agriculture/Livelihoods as well as infrastructure;
• Cooperate closely with counterparts from NRC core competencies to identify opportunities for integration/synergy of NRC services alongside livelihoods/infrastructure.

Critical interfaces

By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Project planning: Area Manager, Core Competency Specialist, AMAL Core management team
• Area operations: AM, Support staff (Logistics, Finance/Administration, HR), Security
• Staff capacity building: AM, Core Competency Specialists
• Implementation: Project staff, Area Office support teams.

Scale and scope of position

• Staff – 2 x Project Coordinators, 9 x Project Officers and 7 x Assistants
• Stakeholders – NGO’s, UN Agencies, Government Directorates
• Budgets – Approximately EUR 6.7 million (Annual budget of approx. EUR 2.5 million)
• Information – NRC online tools, GORS, Agresso, Sharefile, Onedrive
• Legal/Compliance – Must adhere to NRC internal and donor compliance requirements

Competencies

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

Required Professional Competencies:

• University degree or higher education relevant to the assignment (Agriculture, Agriculture economics, Agricultural Engineering);
• Minimum 4 years of experience from a senior level project management position in a humanitarian/recovery context;
• Proven experience of working within Agriculture programms and able to present working knowledge of the livelihoods and infrastructure elements of agriculture focused programming;
• Experience in market based programming and community development driven (CDD) approach
• Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts;
• Experience overseeing multiple activity streams and managing multiple budgets;
• Experience with community engagement principles and approaches;
• Commitment to an evidence and needs based approach;
• Demonstrated experience managing teams and providing capacity building support;
• Experience in integrated programming;
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal; Arabic is a plus.

Additional skills:

• Knowledge of Market system development (MSD) or M4P
• Previous experience and contextual knowledge within Iraq is an advantage
• Skills in monitoring and evaluation would be beneficial.
• Experience with multi-sectoral and integrated Cash programming
• Experience with early recovery /reconstruction projects is an asset.
• Familiarity with the UN Cluster system and response coordination mechanisms.

Required Behavioural Competencies:

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies and the following are essential for this position:

• Planning and delivering results.
• Working with people.
• Communicating with impact and respect.
• Coping with change.
• Analyzing.
• Handling insecure environments.

Context/ Specific Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

• Previous experience and contextual knowledge within Iraq is an advantage
• Skills in monitoring and evaluation would be beneficial
• Experience with multi-sectoral and integrated Cash programming
• Experience with early recovery /reconstruction projects is an asset
• Familiarity with the UN Cluster system and response coordination mechanisms

Performance Management

The employee will be accountable for and evaluated on the responsibilities and the competencies, based on NRC’s Performance Management Framework. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:

• The Job Description
• The Work and Development Plan
• The Mid-term/End-of-trial Period Performance Review Template.
• The End-term Performance Review Template
• The NRC Competency Framework

We Can Offer

• Contract period: 12 months
• Salary/benefits: According to NRC’s salary scale and terms and conditions
• Duty station: Ninevah, Iraq
• Travel: 50% within the area of operation (Mosul, Sinajar and Baaj)

We will review applications on an ongoing basis, interested candidates are encouraged to apply early.

About Us

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. We work in crises across 31 countries, providing emergencies and long-term assistance to millions of people every year. We stand up for people forced to flee, advocating their rights. NORCAP, our global provider of expertise, helps improve international and local ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. NRC also runs the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, a global leader in reporting on and advocating for people displaced within their own country.

Employment with NRC may lead to employment in or deployment to Regions, Countries, Areas or Offices that may be host to considerable health, safety and security risks. NRC takes this very seriously and we have procedures in place to reduce known risks, but will never be able to take away all risks. NRC requires staff members who travel on an international contract to the field to undergo an medical examination with our medical provider. Employees must produce a Health Clearance Certificate before departure stating that there are no relevant health concerns. If staff are unable to provide this, NRC reserves the right to terminate the Contract of Employment.