Awards & Project Manager, Ahlan Simsim
Amman
- Organization: IRC - International Rescue Committee
- Location: Amman
- Grade: Mid level - Mid level
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Occupational Groups:
- Project and Programme Management
- Managerial positions
- Closing Date:
The Ahlan Simsim early childhood development (ECD) initiative was launched in 2018 as a partnership between the IRC and Sesame Workshop with inaugural funding from the MacArthur Foundation and later the LEGO Foundation. It reached more than 4 million children and caregivers with ECD services and programs, and generated a library of high quality ECD content, and resource bank of impactful program models. Partnerships with Ministries of Education, Health and Social Development have resulted in co-designed ECD programs that are now embedded within government services.
Ahlan Simsim seeks to reach children and families where they are with effective, scalable, and sustainable interventions to support child development, including NGO and government-delivered early education for children and support and training for caregivers using engaging multimedia content. Ahlan Simsim has developed and will continue to co-design and support partner-led interventions with key public and private stakeholders working across the many sectors that serve children and families, including health, protection, and livelihoods. For more information, please visit: https://www.rescue.org/ahlansimsim.
In its next phase, the Ahlan Simsim initiative will expand and deepen its interventions to bring vital early learning and nurturing care to more children and families affected by crisis and conflict in the MENA region. The Ahlan Simsim initiative is supported by multiple funders and comprised of multiple grants and projects, with an overarching aim of supporting the youngest children and their caregivers with high quality impactful programs and resources. The IRC’s Ahlan Simsim team manages and implements core regional ECD grants, and provides ECD technical support and guidance to country programs on additional country-specifics grants.
Reporting to the Ahlan Simsim Project Lead, the Awards & Project Manager will be responsible for the overall management of the Ahlan Simsim initiative and its grants. They will play a critical role in ensuring smooth coordination and communication across IRC and Sesame Workshop teams and other partners at country level, regional HQ in Amman, and global HQ in New York.
Major Responsibilities
1. Award Management & Compliance
- Lead the implementation of systems for tracking and managing the full award lifecycle, from supporting pre-award coordination to leading on post-award management, compliance and close-out.
- Maintain up-to-date award and compliance trackers, grant files, and award-management workflows; ensure all documentation is accessible and organized.
- Coordinate with IRC’s awards management, finance, and country teams to ensure timely reporting, quality deliverables, and compliance with IRC and donor requirements.
- Monitor partner reporting, compliance, and deliverables in coordination with the partnership leads and ensure alignment with IRC’s sub-award management procedures.
2. Project Management & Operations
- Support the development and monitoring of project workplans, budgets, and spending plans; maintain tools for tracking deliverables, risks, and milestones.
- Oversee administrative and operational aspects of the regional project, including procurement planning, consultant management, and event coordination.
- Provide support on budget tracking and financial oversight in coordination with the Regional Finance Coordinator, including review and submission of financial reports and spending plan.
- Coordinate consultant recruitment, contract management, and payment tracking with relevant supply chain, HR, and finance teams.
3. Coordination & Information Sharing
- Serve as a focal point for internal communication and coordination across IRC country programs, regional HQ, and global teams.
- Organize and facilitate regular team and coordination meetings, including scheduling, agenda setting, and documentation of action items.
- Lead knowledge management efforts, ensuring project files, trackers, reports, and meeting documentation are systematically maintained and accessible.
- Consolidate inputs for internal and donor updates, supporting high-quality, consistent reporting across teams.
Key Working Relationships:
- Position Reports to: Ahlan Simsim Project Lead
Other Internal and/or external contacts:
- Internal: Various relevant regional, country, and HQ program, awards management and operations staff
- External: Sesame Workshop staff; partner organizations; consultants and service providers
Minimum Qualifications:
·At least 5 years of experience in program administration, grants management, and/or project management at an international NGO or similar organization
·Knowledge and expertise in the use of project management methodologies and tools, resource management practices and change management techniques
·Self-directed, able to independently set priorities and solve problems with minimal guidance
·Excellent interpersonal and oral and written communication skills
·Demonstrated ability to successfully work in a fast-paced environment, within and across departments/functions and develop positive relationships with locally and remote based staff
·Experience working in conflict and crisis settings and knowledge of humanitarian programming
·Ability to prioritize trade-offs between on-time, on-scope or on-budget project delivery
·Demonstrated ability to manage complex project budgeting, monitoring and mitigation planning
·Knowledge of early childhood development or education is a plus
·Knowledge of the Middle East regional context, with experience working in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon or Iraq strongly preferred
·Fluent in written and oral English and Arabic
Working Environment:
·Standard office work environment
·Travel around 15% but flexible
·Position is based in the IRC Regional Office in Amman, Jordan
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.