FabLab Project Manager

Job description:

The FabLab Project Manager is in charge to ensure an accurate, proper, timely and high quality implementation of the Fab Lab project in Gaza North.

S/he has a major responsibility for the projects steering and outcomes.

The three main tasks of this function are:

Management of the Fab Lab, its resources and equipment:

• The management of the Fab Lab in accordance with the Tdh Child Safegurading Policy in order to ensure that the Fab Lab is a child protective environnement;
• The management of the Fab Lab equipment in accordance with the Fab Lab Charter of use of permises and equipment;

Project Cycle Management:

• To look after the beneficiaries of the Fab Lab by helping and advising them for their personal projects and motivating them to do well;
• To develop capacity building of beneficiaries of the Fab Lab by providing trainings and organizing workshops on new information technology (IT), digital literacy and some vocational training;

Develop and strength external and internal coordination:

• To develop the networking and visibility of the FabLab.

The FabLab Project Manager, based in Gaza, reports to the Head of Gaza Office also based in Gaza.

As manager of the FabLab - set up in the Tdh/ Beit Laya Development Association (BLDA)’ center - s/he has a functional line with the PM Technical Support at HQ and with the Child Protection team, working in the Child Protection Center  run by Tdh and BLDA.

Context:

Palestinian children were born into one of the most complicated and protracted conflicts in the world, involving 69 years of war, 49 years of military occupation and 10 years of blockade of the Gaza Strip. In a volatile context, characterized by prolonged strain and economic isolation, major child protection concerns such as gender-based violence, child labor, early marriage, school dropouts and negative coping mechanisms are widespread and increasing.

Since 1973, date of opening Tdh delegation in Palestine, Tdh is providing concrete and efficient assistance to children, youth and their community through its interventions focused on four main objectives: (i) combatting child labor, (ii) providing justice for minors, (iii) implementing child protection systems and (iv) contributing to develop an inclusive education system.

With the goal of pursuing these 4 objectives through an innovative approach and on the strength of its expertise - based on the success of a first experience of implementing a humanitarian Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab) for the refugee population in Greece – Tdh is going to implement a FabLab in the Gaza strip.

Considering the specific context aforementioned, this FabLab will be designed especially for vulnerable and marginalized children, youth and young adults (12-24 years old), mainly victims of child labor, drop-out school children, and children in or at risk of being in contact with the law, with the aim of enhancing their vocational and educational skills.

The FabLab, being a space for digital fabrication and creativity, will increase youth and children future employability by allowing them to acquire IT and digital skills as well as creativity, innovative thinking and entrepreneurship within a protective environment where social protection and assistance activities will be also provided.

The first phase of the project is a one-year pilot starting from May 2018 with an expected opened time of the space in June 2018 and the aim to target 150 vulnerable children, youth and young adults. At first, the intervention aims at establishing the first friendly and protective FabLab in the Gaza Strip including an adequate, accessible and equipped physical space, furniture, tools, and machines as well as the required human resources including the FabLab Manager, an assistant and a facilitator (social worker already working in BLDA center).

Key responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of Tdh Head of Gaza Office and in close cooperation with the PM Technical Support at Tdh Lausanne, the incumbent will undertake the following activities. This will be under the overall coordination of the Country Coordinator based in Jerusalem.

Management of the Fab Lab, its resources and equipment

• Directly supervises her/his assistant;
• Encourages effective team work and collaboration, especially on issues related to cross-sectoral collaboration (in this case between BLDA’ Child Protection team - providing social protection and assistance services - and Tdh’ FabLab team – providing vocational and educational services);
• Ensures the coaching of any collaborator under her/his responsibility, from the recruiting to the final collaboration reports. Uses the good practices so that her/his management respects the policies of Tdh;
• Conduct annual performance appraisal of the team members that s/he supervises and set perfomence objectives according to the annual work plan of the Project; Shares them with the Tdh Head of Gaza Office;
• Promotes and encourages a culture of compliance and ethics throughout Fab Lab. As applicable to the position, maintains a clear understanding of Tdh’ and donor compliance and ethics standards and adheres to those standards. Communicates these values to staff and to partners and requires them to adhere to these values;
• S/he is in charge of the safety and security in and of the FabLab space and material, for this purpose:
• In order to minimize risks related to careless handling and improper use, a strict charter of use of premises and equipment will be developed by the FabLab Manager in collaboration with BLDA’ team, with the support of GHL and under the suprevison of the Tdh’ Head of Gaza Office;
• S/he is in charge to present and explain this charter to all new beneficiaries who will signed a related code of conduct;
• Ensures full adherence and respect of this charter by each users of the FabLab;
• Regarding the material, s/he is in charge of the budget, order, storage, maintenace and inventory of the material required in the FabLab;
• S/he is responsible of the proper secure and locked storage of material in an appropriate warehouse;
• On a monthly basis, s/he performes an inventory of the material following the Tdh processes, in conformity with the Tdh Logistic Manual;
• S/he is responsible of data protection in line with Tdh’s Data Protection SoPs and Kit including managing and protecting password, user database and archives;
• With the support of the PM Technical Support at HQ level, s/he is responsible for the development and revising of SoPs of the FabLab related to usage, maintenance and safe usage of the internet by users, especially by minors.

Project Cycle Management

• The beneficiaries having access to the FabLab are chosen in close collaboration with BLDA’ Social Workers – and under the supervision of the Tdh Head of Gaza - on the basis of the action plans of the ongoing cases managed by them;
• The FabLab Manager is in charge to develop activities and animations in order to:

• Provide a daily support and assistance with the aim to coach, help and advise the beneficiaries to design and make their personal projects and motivating them to do well;
• Guide users on how to operate the softwares and the machines (3D printer, computers, etc);
• Develop and strength skills of beneficiaries by providing punctual trainings and organizing specialized workshops on new information technology (IT), digital literacy and some vocational skills;
• A weekly schedules of the activities is developed by the FabLab Manager and cleary accessible by all beneficiaries;
• S/he in charge to maintain, store, and share with the Tdh’ Head of Office, a participants daily attendance lists;
• In close collaboration with the Tdh team of the Gaza Office, s/he participates actively to the monthly quality follow-up of data; the monthly tracking of budgets; the reporting on the project success, as measured by expected outcomes and indicators; the preparation of narrative, statistical and financial reports for donors as required, in a timely manner.

Develop and strength external and internal coordination

External Coordination

• At the FabLab project launching – and for each new phases of the project in the future - under the supervison of the Tdh Head of Gaza Office and in close collabortation with BLDA’ team, s/he is in charge to organize, coordinate and conducte a kick off meetings involving key actors;
• For the final end of FabLab Project - or end of a specific phase of the project - under the supervison of the Tdh Head of Gaza Office and in close collabortation with BLDA’ team, s/he ensures the organization, coordination and conducting of the closure workshops involving key actors.
• Within her/his field of activity, strengthens and develops synergies with the international Fab Lab network, and especially with others Fab Lab actives in the region, with local authorities and government institutions, with NGOs and local organizations, with the Gaza IT community, with Start-up, with universities, with research centers, etc., with any key actors allowing to develop and strength the newtworking and visibility of the Tdh Fab Lab; and even more to create opportunities to access to services and learning opportunities for the beneficiaries;
• In coordination with the Regional Communication Coordinator, contributes to the correct communication and visibility of the FabLab Project under his/her responsibility and the Tdh Foundation. Produce, jointly, awareness/advocacy documents.

Internal Coordination

• Under the lead of the Tdh Head of Gaza Office, participates as an active member in regular internal coordination meetings, in which s/he presents a detailed review of current achievements, challenges faced and options considered for the FabLab Project;
• Ensure the correct flow of the FabLab Project operational information to the Tdh’ Gaza Office team, as well as to the PM Technical Support at HQ level;
• In cooperation with the PM Technical Support at the headquarters, drive and contribute to research in the field and explore the partnership avenues/methods for its implementation (relations with institutions, others Fab Labs, IT community, Start-up, university, research centre, local NGO, etc);
• In coordination with the Regional Communication Coordinator, contributes to draft articles or required internal reports on the FabLab Project’ activities for HQ.

CHILD SAFEGURADING POLICY – SAFETY - SECURITY

• Knows and implements institutional policies on security, child protection, sexual exploitation and abuse and fraud prevention;
• Commits to ensure the best implementation possible of the Tdh Child Safeguarding Policy (CSP) in her/his area, including participation in annual audit, and reviews and updates of action plan;
• Commits to inform the Tdh Head of Gaza Office and/or Country Coordinator and/or the Program Officer and/or the Head of MENA Region and to deal with any case of any allegations or possibility of transgression, even potential, of the CSP;
• Respects Terre des hommes security procedures in Palestine and especially in Gaza.
• S/he will have direct access to information, such as the general strategy of Tdh in Palestine, including programming objectives in the field, financial details, and security guidelines.

A professional sense of security, confidentiality, and proper representation is paramount.

The incumbent will conduct her/his duties in respect of the Charter of Terre des hommes and Tdh Child Safeguarding Policy. Terre des hommes expects that its contractors’ professional conduct reflect proper behaviour in accordance with local culture and traditions. The incumbent assures the moral protection of the name of Terre des hommes and defends in all circumstances the interests of the movement.

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• Bachelor's degree in IT with relevant specialization in digital fabrication an advantage
• Fab Academy diploma an advantage;
• Strong technical skills in the field of new technologies and computing technologies
• Good knowledge of programming and associated softwares;
• Good knowledge of electronics and associated softwares;
• Good knowledge of 2D+3D modeling softwares and CAD/CAM;

Among others, key softwares are the following: Gimp, Blender, Open office, Inkscape, Sketch Up, Adobe, Qcad, Eagle and MIT Software;

• Strong knowledge of best practices on data management and safe usage of IT spaces;
• Previous relevant experience and excellent competencies in capacity building development, especially with children, youth and young adults
• Excellent oral expression;
• Strong teaching skills;
• Ability to design and plan training activities for children, youth and young adults;
• Ability to identify and develop skills of others;
• Ability to deal with children, youth and teenagers
• Previous relevant experience in INGOs  and/or extensive knowledge of the relevant programs
• Child Protection in a longer-term approach/Gender based Violence/protracted crisis/resilience/Juvenile Justice;

Others personal abilities

Fluency in English and Arabic  

• Sound personal organisational skills, including time management, ability to meet deadlines, multi-tasking, prioritisation of tasks;
• Creative being and loving search inspiration and new innovative ideas;
• Resourceful who likes to address challenges and who is problem-solving;
• Communication of professional needs in a clear, concise and responsible manner;
• Flexibility and strong adaptation skills;
• Tolerance and acceptance of diversity;
• Positive attitude and sens of humour.

Qualified and interested candidates should send their CV along with a cover letter to [email protected] no later than May 12th. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Applications received beyond this deadline, hand-delivered or mailed to the office, will not be considered. No additional information will be provided by phone or email.

Please write “FabLab Project Manager ” in the subject of your application email.

Due to high volume of applications only short listed candidates will be contacted. Applications will be reviewed on a continuous basis; interested candidates should apply as soon as possible.

Thank you for your interest in Terre des hommes.