Project Manager - North Lebanon

Position Summary

The Project Manager will manage a project that aims for more inclusive governance in Wadi Khaled – North Lebanon by ensuring that local decision-making processes are more inclusive and participatory and that development is more sustainable, equitable, and accountable. The project engages with local and national governance actors, youth, women and other marginalized groups within the community at large, to promote the principles of good governance and to guarantee a more participatory and representative governance in the target communities.

The Project Manager will oversee day-to-day operations and implement the project’s activities, ensuring that the program is on time, within budget, and delivers high-quality results. He/she will be based in Halba Office and will require frequent visits to Wadi Khaled as per the project activities. He/she will also have to conduct visits to the Beirut Office as deemed need with the Program Director.

The Project Manager will supervise the project team (4 staff) and work under the supervision and guidance of the Program Director. He/she will work closely with the Gender Advisor, MEAL Manager, and other relevant staff in the Search Beirut office, the MENA team, as well as trainers and technical experts working on the project to ensure the deliverables are of high quality, and delivered in a timely manner.

The position holder will more specifically have the following Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Roles and Responsibilities:

1.      Activity Design and Implementation

• Design the project’s activities, building on Common Ground Approach, Community Dialogue Approach, Enduring Change Package and other methodologies and tools used in Search;  
• Ensure the quality, effectiveness and ultimately the impact of Search’s ongoing project activities;
• Analyse conflict, stabilisation and social cohesion dynamics in target communities and ensure activity design responds to and is informed by these;
• Design new activities that meet the purpose of the project, as well as fit with Search-Lebanon’s strategy;
• Ensure Search’s project activities are inclusive, and conflict and gender sensitive;
• Adapt activity design to digital and virtual methods to ensure project continuity in times of movement restrictions due to pandemics, tensions or other factors;
• Keep abreast of Search-worldwide peacebuilding work, findings from evaluation of other countries’ projects, including lessons learnt and best practices, and use the findings to enrich project activity design;
• Regularly monitor the quality, resonance, reach, relevance of project activities by organising reflection and learning meetings (in close collaboration with the MEAL Manager);
• Closely collaborate with the MEAL Manager to ensure a monitoring system and monitoring and evaluation plan and system for the project;
• Participate in the design of new programs and projects to ensure that your learning from ongoing activities informs the design of new projects.
• Participate in project launch, mid-term reviews and close-out workshop; and
• Support the strategy and mission of Search in Lebanon, the region, and globally.

2.      Project Planning and Reporting

• Plan the work of the project team, including capacity building of the team, partners and target participants;
• Ensure activities are delivered on time and with high quality;
• Ensure activities are documented by relevant staff;
• Develop and follow project’s monthly work-plans that derive from the annual workplans;
• Develop and regularly update the project’s annual work-plan;
• Ensure that costed workplans for the project are developed and regularly updated;
• Produce activity and project reports that are drafted in a results-based manner, ensuring high quality, consistency and completeness; 
• Produce at least one well written success story from the project per quarter; and
• Take the lead in coordinating with finance teams to ensure BvA meetings are done.

3.      Team Management and Supervision

• Lead the hiring process for consultants, staff (temporary and full time) when needed, to ensure human resources meet the needs of the project;
• Supervise, guide, evaluate the team members (when hired), ensuring a high team spirit and excellent atmosphere
• Set objectives and performance plans with your team and regularly evaluate staff performance in a collaborative and inclusive manner, providing regular and honest feedback;
• Provide technical leadership and oversight to project staff;
• Ensure the welfare of all affiliates of the project is taken care of in line with agreements set with them;
• Lead by example in your team in terms of compliance with Search policies, that include but not limited to Code of Conduct, Partnership Policy, Child Protection Policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, among others;
• Ensure team issues and grievances are resolved in a collaborative manner; and
• Available to provide cover for other Project Managers or senior roles on an interim basis.

4.      Relationship with Stakeholders

• Maintain a network of participants, stakeholders and influencers at the local and national and level and a contact database relevant to the project;
• Manage the partnership agreements with the various stakeholders by keeping track of contracts and their end dates, ensuring timely renewal of agreements and keeping track of support provided to each stakeholder;
• Develop and maintain proactive, positive and professional relationships with consortium partners, civil society organisations, international organisations, UN agencies, media outlets, ministries, local authorities and local communities;
• Build connections between local community peacebuilding activities to ensure project activities are locally driven;
• Ensure Search has a key role in reinforcing partner’s capacity to deliver appropriate services (this can be removed as much has been mentioned about capacity building).

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key duties.

Required Profile:

Education

• Bachelor’ degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, Development, Political Science, International Affairs, Social Sciences or other relevant field (Master’s Degree preferred);
• Additional education or training in conflict management, media for peacebuilding, communication for social change would be a strong asset;

Experience:

• Minimum of five years of related experience in project management.
• Significant experience designing and conducting project activities; 
• Experience in designing, planning and facilitating community dialogues, round tables, town hall meetings etc, in-person and virtually (online);
• Experience working on inclusive governance projects is a major asset.
• Experience working in Wadi Khaled is an advantage.
• Dynamic leader with creative problem-solving skills, particularly in challenging situations;
• Spoken and written fluency in English and Arabic;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, 
• Strong organizational skills and attention to details;
• Ability to work under pressure and in challenging environments