Country Representative

I-General overview of position / working conditions:

• Title: Country Representative
• Location: Lebanon
• Line manager: HQ Area Manager
• Line report(s): Project-Partnership Manager, Administrative and Financial Officer, National Office Assistant, Translators/Interpreters, Consultant Support
• Status: Lebanese fixed-term contract

Asmae is a French international solidarity NGO specialized in child development. It is independent, non-religious, non-political, and open to everyone.

Created in 1980 by Sister Emmanuelle following her experience with scavengers in Egypt’s slums, Asmae keeps on respecting its founder’s values and methods: listening and proximity, pragmatism, respect of the differences, professionalism and reciprocity.

Asmae’s action aims to support vulnerable children and their families through providing tailor-made and long lasting support to local stakeholders working on education and child protection.

Its vision, “A fair world which guarantees that children can live and grow with dignity within their environment, to become free women and men who contribute to society”, is broken down into four missions:

• Stimulate child development through a global approach. To do this, Asmae also works on family support by taking their environment into account;
• Build the capacity of local stakeholders involved in child development, boost cooperation amongst them and maximize their social impact;
• Stand up for children by raising awareness and advocating;
• Experiment, disseminate and share practices.

Nowadays Asmae supports education and child protection projects through 46 local organizations in Burkina-Faso, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali and the Philippines. Furthermore, in France, Asmae also directly manages a mother and childcare center and a community-based development program.

II- Background on Asmae in Lebanon:

Asmae has been operating in Lebanon since 1986 (local coordination office opened in 2005) and is currently working in partnership with six local organizations in areas related to education and child protection, i.e. Prevention of school drop-out and underperformance, Prevention and care of children at risk, and Adolescence support. Activities are mostly located in and around Beirut, with some in other parts of Lebanon as well.

Asmae's team in Lebanon is composed of four members working from our office in Beirut: a Country Representative, a Project & Partnership Manager, an Administrative and Finance Officer and a Child Protection Technical Advisor. A Project Officer and an Education Technical Advisor will be recruited specifically in view of the launch of a new project.

III- Mission:

Under the supervision of HQ Area manager, the Country Representative serves as national Asmae representative and contributes to the deployment of the intervention strategy that s.he leads in coordination with the operational teams reporting to her.him.

The Country Representative organizes work and ensures compliance with the security regulations that protect people and property. S.He supervises activities related to Asmae’s operations in the country, complying with established regulations.

The Country Representative oversees Asmae external visibility and advocacy activities. S.He helps establishing public and private fundraising strategies and directs their implementation, consistent with the strategy issued by Headquarters.

IV- Responsibilities:

4.1. Establishes a country operational strategy and oversees implementation

• Ensures monitoring of development issues and geopolitical challenges in countries where Asmae operates
• Works with teams to identify and propose geographic focus and operational areas in order to develop Asmae operations within the country
• Ensures compliance with strategic orientation developed in collaboration with Area Managers and approved by Headquarters
• Oversees preparation of strategic and operational plans (analysis of national context, strategy to support partners within operational areas, budget forecasts, annual action plans), consistent with orientations established by Headquarters
• Supervises monitoring and evaluation of the operational strategy within the country
• Ensures the relevance, quality, and consistency of projects within the country, and proposes strategic reorientations when necessary
• Ensures that Asmae fulfills the contractual commitments it has made to donors.

4.2. Implements public and private fundraising strategy within the country:

• Establishes fundraising strategy for the country
• Ensures monitoring and analyzes donor strategies for the country
• Ensures the implementation of institutional or private fundraising in link with HQ
• Coordinates with Headquarters to prepare funding requests for submission to donors
• Supervises preparation of proposals as well as monitoring-reporting-evaluation (internal and external) related to projects funded by institutional or private donors. Ensures that these activities are consistent with Asmae’s operational framework and methodology and that they comply with donor requirements.

4.3. Human resource management:

• Establishes and/or implementing HR policies within the country, consistent with the national regulatory framework and ensuring compliance with national regulations
• Ensures the inclusion of collaborators and develops team cohesion
• Ensures annual appraisal are done as per Asmae’s policy
• Recruits collaborators within countries and integrates them into operations.

4.4. Oversight of safety and security measures:

• Ensures monitoring and analysis of the security context, and ensures that field teams fully understand that context
• Ensures that all new staff members and visitors receive a security briefing and that all international staff members are debriefed before leaving
• Ensures the implementation of security procedures and regulations and that field teams comply with them
• Responds to security incidents, following the Security Plan.

4.5. Budget, financial, and administrative management:

• Prepares the Country Budget and supervises financial project monitoring, consistent with the operational strategy and internal procedures
• Supervises the preparation and proper conduct of financial audits involving Asmae and/or its partners, in coordination with Administrative and Financial Management
• Supervises the carrying out of the financial monitoring of partners
• Supervises the enforcement of internal administrative and accounting regulations established by donors, Asmae teams, and local partners, consistent with the national regulatory, fiscal, and social framework
• Oversees the implementation administrative and legal procedures required by national authorities.

4.6. Facilitating internal and external relations

• Serves as the Asmae representative for registration with the local authorities and related obligation
• Develops relationships and communications with institutional stakeholders (ministries, agencies, international organizations) and organizations (national and international NGOs) as well as potential donors. Develops relationships and communications with key stakeholders involved in education and child protection.
• Ensures the implementation and/or supervision of actions to facilitate external communications
• Supervises preparation for field visits by collaborators from Headquarters, donors, Asmae partners, and institutional stakeholders
• Helps implementing the intra-organizational activities of HQ Program department