Senior Project Officer – Life Skills & Employment

Job Title: Senior Project Officer – Life Skills & Employment
Department: Jerusalem, West Bank, Gaza (JWBG)
Band: 8
Reports To: Program Manager, SALALEM
Country/Location: JWBG/Gaza

CRS Background:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian relief and development agency of the Catholic community in the United States and has been present in Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza (JWBG) since 1961. The CRS JWBG country program currently supports programs in the sectors of humanitarian relief, livelihoods, civil society strengthening, and social justice promotion through its field offices in Jerusalem, Gaza, and Bethlehem. For further information about CRS, please visit: www.crs.org.

SALALEM is an innovative, five-year project that focuses on improving the networks and skills of young women and youth with disabilities, enabling them to enter and remain in the labor market. This project further seeks to build support from key influencers in the home, workplace, and community, creating an enabling environment in which young women and youth with disabilities realize increased agency and self-reliance. Through SALALEM, these marginalized individuals in Gaza and the West Bank will become better prepared for jobs, with opportunities to contribute to the well-being of their families and communities.

Job Summary:

As a lead for the SALALEM project team based in Gaza, the Senior Project Officer (SPO) will facilitate the achievement of project objectives related to Life Skills and Employment. The SPO will coordinate with other key project staff including the Project Officers (PO) for Entrepreneurship and for MEAL. The SPO will provide technical guidance and advice to staff and implementing partner(s) and will support the Program Manager in developing strategies for promoting equality and inclusion of young women and youth with disabilities. Strong leadership, coordination, and relationship management skills will ensure that the SALALEM project applies best practices and constantly works towards improving the impact on those we serve.

Job Responsibilities:

• Organize and lead technical, monitoring, and reporting activities throughout the project cycle - start-up, implementation and close-out - in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices. Responsible for design and implementation of Life Skills and Employment activities within the SALALEM Leadership Institute as outlined in the detailed implementation plan including curriculum design, training implementation, and measuring outcomes.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise project staff. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, contribute to the recruitment process of project staff, and complete performance management for direct reports.
• Engage and strengthen partnerships, applying appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools, and approaches. Coordinate and oversee working relationships with all local project stakeholders. Support and coordinate capacity building and technical support activities for both CRS and partners staff to ensure assigned project activities are implemented per project guidelines and standards.
• Ensure accountability and learning accompany project activities throughout the project cycle. Support accountability through coordinating project evaluation activities and guiding partners in their efforts to reflect on project experiences. Analyze implementation challenges and report any inconsistencies and/or gaps to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules. Ensure learning through regular
monitoring, evaluation, and accountability mechanisms is used to inform learning-to-action discussions and adaptive management.
• Coordinate activities required for ensuring the financial, material and human resources for the quality implementation of the project. Conduct periodic budget reviews and follow-up with partners on timely submission of financial reports to facilitate proper tracking of resource use.
• Prepare and compile reports per established reporting schedule. Ensure project documentation for assigned activities is complete with all required documents and is filed per agency and donor requirements. Assist with preparation of trends analysis reports and documentation of case studies and promising practices.
• Supervise and perform ad-hoc inspections of various processes and resources at project sites to ensure timely project activities implementation and adherence to established process standards and procedures. Ensure proper tracking of resource use for project activities through periodic budget reviews and follow-up with and assistance to implementing partner.

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Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:

Education and Experience • Bachelor's Degree is required. Degree in International Relations, Management, or a related field would be a plus.

• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in project management and support, ideally in a field related to livelihoods or education for an NGO.
• Knowledge of approaches and industry best practices for social behavior change, women’s empowerment, disability inclusion, and/or adult education programming strongly desired.
• Experience working with partners, participatory action planning, and community engagement.
• Experience supervising staff is required.
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data.
• Experience using MS Windows, MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), and ICT4D systems (e.g. iForm, CommCare, PowerBI) a plus.
• Additional education may substitute for some experience.

Personal Skills

• Analysis and problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners
• Proactive, results-oriented and service-oriented
• Attention to details, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities

Required/Desired Foreign Language: Strong written and oral English and Arabic required.

Travel Required: Travel in Gaza required regularly. Project or country level meeting outside of Gaza anticipated on occasion (10%).

Key Working Relationships:

Supervisory: Life Skills and Employment team including Field Officer(s), Project Assistant, and Project Officer for Workplace Improvement.

Internal: Reports to the Program Manager for the SALALEM Project. Responsible for coordination within the project team including with MEAL, ICT4D, and Entrepreneurship staff as well as with the Head of Office and Operations departments including Administration, Finance, etc. Coordinates with project colleagues in the West Bank, as needed, and other programming staff in the Country Program.

External: Serves as key point of contact with two project partners in Gaza. Provides support for donor and third-party monitor visits, as needed. Participates in coordination with other relevant stakeholders, including relevant peer organizations and cluster coordination.
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
• Trusting Relationships
• Professional Growth
• Partnership
• Accountability

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Interested candidates with relevant education and work experience are encouraged to complete the application form and submit their CV and a cover letter that directly addresses the positions requirements on line at http://jobs.crsjwbg.org no later than 12 October 2019.