Partnerships Coordinator

Programme & Policy

Job Description

BACKGROUND

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, IRC offers life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in more than 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, IRC restores safety, dignity, and hope to millions uprooted by conflict or disaster. IRC leads the way from harm to home.

In 2007, the IRC began providing humanitarian assistance to vulnerable and crisis-affected people in Jordan in response to an influx of Iraqi refugees and the strain on host communities. Following the eruption of the Syrian war in 2011, hundreds of thousands of refugees crossed into Jordan. The ongoing insecurity in Syria and the growing needs of refugees have strained Jordan’s resources and infrastructure and exacerbated pre-existing issues like water scarcity and high unemployment.

As resources become more limited, refugees and host communities have fewer economic opportunities and become more vulnerable. The IRC’s new strategy for Jordan shows our commitment to improving the safety, health, education, and economic well-being of people affected by conflict, in camp-based (Za’atari, and Azraq camps) refugees and urban-based refugees, and in coordination with the humanitarian community and the Government of Jordan.

JOB OVERVIEW

The Partnerships Coordinator (PC) is responsible for providing overall strategic guidance and leadership to the Partnerships Unit at the Jordan Country Office. The purpose of this unit is to lead all aspects of the management and coordination of all the partnerships in the Jordan Country Program including but not limited to its sub-awards portfolio. The unit’s core focus is to support Jordan’s teams in the delivery of high-quality partnerships that are strategic and aligned with IRC and donor requirements in order to provide the best quality services and outcomes for the communities we serve.

This role will lead in building and promoting attitudes and values conducive to collaborative partnerships among the team, based on a clear and shared understanding of IRC's role and approach, and core partnership principles in line with the country’s Strategic Action Plan (SAP) and according to the new PEERS to ensure delivering on our ambitions to ‘partner first’ and as equals.

The Partnerships Coordinator will work closely with programs and the Technical Unit to effectively harmonize and integrate partnership principles across the different sub-sectors of IRC, bringing them in line to have integrated and high-quality services to clients.

The Partnerships Coordinator will manage other specific duties & responsibilities including Business Development & Context Analysis/Research, Award Management (PCM, Budget Management, Reporting, and Monitoring), Staff/Talent Management & Performance, External Relationships, Partnerships & Coordination. The Partnerships Coordinator will report to the Senior Programs Coordinator.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Management and Technical Quality

- Provide overall strategic direction, leadership, and implementation of the Partnerships Management System, including the facilitation of a coherent, inter-departmental, ‘one IRC’ approach to partnerships in line with the Country’s Strategic Action Plan ambitions to highlight opportunities for collaborative partnerships to deliver better outcomes.

- Chair the Partnership working group to promote a coherent, strategic, and coordinated approach to local partnerships in IRC Jordan.

- Supervise the partnership management operating procedures for IRC Jordan that set out efficient and responsive processes, delineate clear roles and responsibilities, and articulate IRC Jordan’s strategic approach to partnerships.

- Ensure quality project delivery, reporting, and strong compliance with international and national standards as well as the existing donors.

- Lead the maintenance and coordination of partner program, finance, and compliance monitoring schedules and coordinate support for partners to address any concerns or issues that may arise, and ensure response and support plans are implemented.

- Facilitate collaborative review and reflection (monitoring) of a project with partners, including progress against objectives and donor compliance, and develop monitoring tools as needed, and that key monitoring information and learning are documented.

- Ensure the timely submission of Gov. approvals for ongoing and new grants in coordination with the relevant staff/officer

- Monitor the timely submission of accurate financial and activity reports from partners.

- Ensure that comprehensive electronic files for partnerships are maintained.

- Review and collaborate with other partnership staff to support the drafting and compilation of partner reports into overall donor reports.

- Guide and support programs in fostering partnership relationships with governmental agencies and municipalities

Business Development & Context Analysis/Research

- Co-facilitate and support robust stakeholder analysis processes and informed decisions in each outcome area as to whether working in partnership with local civil society, government, and private sector actors, implementing services directly or both, will produce the best outcomes for the people we serve.

- Collaborate with technical coordinators to proactively identify potential partnerships with local and national organizations, including those that are led by women/youth and serve women and girls.

- Co-facilitate and guide partner mapping and selection processes to identify new partners, including identifying women-led, youth-led, and women/girls serving organizations.

- Proactively engage partners in program development efforts.

- Be responsible for the pre-award due diligence process with respect to all new sub-awards, including through appropriate vetting, analysis of risks associated with the award, and the identification and implementation of appropriate measures to mitigate those risks, working with other departments as appropriate.

- Identify key actors for effective programming through stakeholder analysis and social network analysis

- Promote an effective analysis of local actors and an appropriate identification of the organization’s role and added new value

- Ensure the Actor Mapping is up-to-date and accessible to all programs

- Support the incorporation of appropriate partnership-related language in all the steps of the project cycle of a project.

Award Management

- Oversee, facilitate, and coordinate all steps of sub-award life cycle management, from partner identification, and due diligence including contributing to and facilitating the collaborative risk analysis and management, agreement development, start-up, implementation, monitoring through to close-out, and coordinating all program, operations, and finance components.

- Supervise the effective startup of sub-awards, including the timely development and delivery of partnership agreements and sub-award opening meetings with partners.

- Provide and/or facilitate targeted sub-award and partnership management trainings, refresher trainings, and ongoing support on partnership management and compliance for key partners and IRC staff

- Participate in the Project Cycle Meetings (PCM) and the Go/No-Go discussions to promote program approaches and designs that are in line with the Country’s SAP

- Review quality technical and financial reports in a timely manner using IRC and donor formats and ensure that partner payments are not delayed in coordination with the partnership finance focal point, reviewing the partners’ payment tracker.

- Provide a quarterly Partnership Management Report to the SMT, incorporating input from technical coordinators and operational leads as appropriate.

- Attend the biweekly AMU meeting on Grants/partnerships and flag any support needed from HQ during that forum

Staff/Talent Management & Performance

- Recruit, supervise, and build the capacity of team members in relevant technical and management competencies through developing a staff capacity-building plan to ensure quality partnership approaches across all sectors

- Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting annual performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews.

- Approve and manage attendance and leave requests to ensure adequate departmental coverage; ensure monthly, accurate timesheet submission and carry out probationary reviews

- As required identify staff performance issues and work with Human Resources to document and address these by the National Staff Employment Policies

- Adhere to and act by the IRC Global HR Policies and Procedures, and communicates through word and example a high standard of compliance with all applicable policies and regulations

External Relationships, Partnerships & Coordination

- Ensure and champion robust partner relationship management grounded in collaborative, humble, and principled approaches

- Promote and apply the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS).

- Contribute to building a strong understanding of PEERS throughout CRRD/RAI office, and ensure that IRC’s partnership principles, skills, and approaches are applied by staff across programs and projects with partners.

- Promote meaningful collaboration with partners throughout the project, from assessment, and identification through design, monitoring, adaptation, and closure, consistent with the partner responsiveness Impact standards and fostering ongoing partnerships beyond the sub-award project cycle.

- Develop strategies and mechanisms for cohesive capacity strengthening to support partners

- Ensure appropriate proactive and reactive communications and engagement with IRC partners through regularly scheduled partnership management meetings.

- Implement standard best approaches for systematic partner feedback on a) IRC's management of the relationship (as well as appropriate action in response to the feedback), b) partner engagement in program development

- Ensure that all capacity-strengthening initiatives are owned by the partner and based on the partnership principle

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Position Reports to Senior Programs Coordinator Position directly supervises: Partnerships Manager and Partnerships Officer

Indirect Reporting: Country Director/ Deputy Director of Programs/ Regional Partnerships Advisor

Other Internal: Deputy Director of Operations, Deputy Director of Finance, Other Program Coordinators, Program Managers, HQ-based (NYC, DE & UK) IRC regional support teams, MEAL Coordinator, and Grants Coordinator

Other External: Relevant other stakeholders, e.g., UN bodies, NGOs (international, Jordanian), local and national authorities.

Qualifications

JOB REQUIREMENTS

- University degree or equivalent in International Development or Affairs or any relevant field

- Minimum of 7 years of professional experience running a partnership or grants portfolio in both humanitarian and development contexts.

- Demonstrated successful experience in capacity building, project design, and program coordination

- Demonstrable experience working effectively with national and local civil society organizations

- Experience working with and coordinating with donors, UN bodies, NGOs, INGOs, and other stakeholders.

- Experience and skills in reading and reviewing financial reports

- Strong writing and analytical skills, including with M&E and assessment data framework for use in program decision-making

- Competent in Windows, MS office programs, emails, and relevant databases.

- Fluent in spoken and written English and Arabic.

Demonstrated Managerial/Leadership Competencies:

- Promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible, and able to handle pressure with professional grace

- Ability to plan, prioritize, coordinate, and manage human resources.

- Demonstrated strong interpersonal and intercultural communication with success working both within a team and independently.

- Excellent organizational and time management skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.

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, 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 Anti-Retaliation and Combating Trafficking in Persons

Gender Equality: 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.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants based on 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.

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Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: rescue.org