Project Senior Officer (Food Security & Livelihood)

Action Against Hunger (ACF) Action Against Hunger is a leading humanitarian and development agency working to combat the causes of hunger and malnutrition in over 46 countries worldwide. Eleven years into the Syrian conflict, more than 1.3 million Syrians have sought refuge in Jordan. This influx of refugees has strained Jordan's economy and resources, with Syrians often accepting worse working conditions and lower compensation than Jordanians and taking on low-skill, informal jobs in sectors such as in manufacturing, construction and agriculture. In 2022, Jordan had a 23% unemployment rate. For Syrian refugees, unemployment rates are significantly worse with 80% of Syrian refugees unemployed in 2021, up from 50% and 65% in 2019 and 2020. 

Action Against Hunger has been operational in Jordan since 2014, delivering livelihoods, social protection WASH and MHPSS programming in Irbid, Zarqa, Mafraq, and Madaba governorates. Through its livelihoods and social protection program, ACF aims to improve the livelihoods status of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians through decent and sustainable employment opportunities; strengthening sustainable livelihoods and value chains and enhancing the capacity of local actors to promote economic opportunities and improve working conditions. So far, ACF has reached over 6,000 beneficiaries through its social protection and livelihood activities in 2022. Action Against Hunger is also an active member of the Livelihoods, Basic Needs, Food Security and Durable Solutions Working Groups; Graduation Approach and Vocational Training Taskforces; and Common Cash Facility Steering Committee.

ACF is looking for its program in Jordan for Project Senior Officer (Food Security & Livelihood)

Main place of work:  Irbid, with frequent field movement to other Action Against Hunger areas of implementation

Position Overview: The objective of the post is to lead program implementation with the support of Project Manager Assistant. The position is responsible for managing beneficiary relations throughout the entire project cycle, including identification, service delivery, follow-up, and monitoring. The role also involves overseeing the provision of trainings, the implementation of small grant distributions, and support to business development and self-employment initiatives. In addition, the post holder will ensure the successful delivery of business development and specialized farming skills trainings in collaboration with Field Assistants and relevant technical consultants.

Responsibilities:

1) Contribute to the project cycle management in line with project proposals and directions from Program Manager M Assistant (PMA)

• Support PMA and participate in planning, scheduling and it’s daily follow up.
• Support in developing all project components tools as asked by the PM.
• Lead the Field Assistants in delivering project objectives & activities.
• Supervise and Support the Field Assistants in compiling and following-up beneficiaries’ lists among different projects components.
• Keep a close communication with the PMA to update him/her on the on-going activities, potential problems / threats and successes.
• Propose solutions and possible improvements and elaborate lessons learned / capitalization material.
• Ensure a continuous evaluation of methods and follow-up of projects, and propose improvements.
• Represent the Organization in meetings with local stakeholders, receive feedback, Issue meeting minutes and put in place a proper archiving systems of the different exchanges.

2)Lead the implementation of the project and make sure its aligned with ACF SOPs and donor requirements:

• Lead the beneficiary selection following the criteria set by Action Against Hunger.
• Collaborate with the Field Assistants and data team in compiling beneficiaries list.
• Liaise with the data team to ensure beneficiary’s data is up to date and archived properly.
• Ensure that the beneficiaries are informed about application / registration procedures and any other information needed (including the feedback and complaint mechanism).
• Ensure that Field Assistants maintain documented-regular follow-up with the beneficiaries.
• Enhance the collaboration with other local entities (CBOs, youth centres and local cooperatives).
• Oversee the Cash assistance distribution including CFW according to ACF SOPs and best practices. 
• Develop and facilitate the training for project beneficiaries and technical support (climate smart agriculture, post-harvest), and support the facilitation of LSE training. 
• Monitor and follow up on the attendance and outcomes of the training sessions, through regular visit in the field with support of Field Assistants.
• Contribute to the development of training material and conduct training on business development support (including financial literacy, financial management, accounting, organizational structure, etc.) in agreement with the PMA.
• Design and roll out the business start-up grant proposal template, selection criteria and conditions, delivery procedures, risk mitigation measures and monitoring aspects, under guidance of the PMA.
• Design and deliver training sessions on start-up grant proposals and provide regular coaching and feedback to identified project beneficiaries with support of Field Assistants.
• Explain the grant conditions and grant agreement to project beneficiaries and liaise the delivery with finance department.
• Support design of market linkages activities with the PM. Roll out the implementation of the activity.

3) Lead and Liaise with all relevant parties for the implementation Livelihood Project activities and make sure its aligned with ACF SOPs and donor requirements:

• Identification of potential MSMEs, Public Institutions, Vocational Training Institutions to deliver, CFW, OJT and VTC to project beneficiaries.
• Identify the needs, design and follow-up the capacity-building program dedicated to the partners, while ensuring that Action against Hunger training selection criteria are applied.
• Liaison with finance and MEAL departments on delivery and monitoring of start-up grants.

4) Support reporting including activity progress, quality plan implementation, and field updates and needs

• Ensure with the PMA that updated data’s are reported, overall report the achieved activities and provides analysis over the performed activities and signal bottlenecks.
• Keep a close communication with the PMA to update him/her on the on-going activities, potential problems / treats and successes.
• Identify, analyse and evaluate processes and gaps in the implementation of activities and make recommendations for improvement, ensuring the timely and high quality implementation of the activities
• Produce and ensure follow up on implementation plans for the basic need and livelihood activities and report on progress to the PM.

5)Fulfil general responsibilities and contribute to broader Action Against Hunger Jordan operational quality and consistency

• Maintain the confidentiality of all sensitive information at all times
• Commit and comply with ACF policies, guidance, and procedures including but not limited to Internal Regulations (IR), Code of Conduct, ACF values, Safeguarding, Prevention from Sexual exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), Gender and Nutrition
• Commit to and comply with the organisation’s gender, age, and diversity principles and policies (working with people, communication)
• Support in the promotion of ACF policies through daily activities and through team management