Integrated Center Officer

Background/Context:

The IRC has operated in Syria since 2012, providing protection, health, economic recovery, and early childhood development programs in Idleb, Aleppo, Ar-Raqqa, Hassakeh, and Deir ez-Zor, with new programs expanding into Hama, rural Damascus, and Homs. With a team of over 700 members, the IRC has established trust and strong community relationships, ensuring access and effective service delivery. It plays a significant role in Syria’s NGO, donor, and coordination forums, holding key positions and adapting to the evolving context.

With the new realities under the new government, as of December 2024, the IRC has deployed a team to Damascus to set up operations and engage in coordination structures for newly accessible areas across Syria—including parts of NES, NWS, and other previously unreachable locations in South and Central Syria, adjusting operations to maximize coverage and efficiency.

IRC has over 10 years of experience in Syria implementing cash, agriculture, and livelihoods programming, and was one of the first organizations to use cash transfers, supporting vulnerable communities with MPCT since 2014 in the northwest, and 2015 in the northeast.

Job overview:

The IRC Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) team is implementing emergency relief and early recovery programs in Northeast Syria. These activities support short-term, basic need provision and longer-term development of marketable skills and productive assets. Within its livelihood portfolio, the IRC provides employment support services, including vocational training, financial literacy and transferable life skills classes, and apprenticeships with existing businesses to promote the development of marketable skills and on-the-job training. The IRC also supports the delivery of micro-grants to new and existing enterprises to continue and grow their economic activities, improve their business processes, and better manage the demands of the crisis. The Livelihoods Center officer will be responsible for helping to implement the ERD program portfolio specifically focusing on skills training.

Responsibilities:

• With the Livelihoods Manager, identify targeted business skills & financial management training needs of ERD program beneficiaries (including SME/Vendors).
• Oversee the day-to-day management of IRC’s integrated center.
• Support and facilitate all the integrated activities in coordination and cooperation with the Health and protection teams.
• Manage the schedule of the center to ensure timing and targets are hit.
• Ensure appropriate day-to-day supervision of activities including working with training assistants, partners and participants on attendance sheets, logistics and other issues.
• Participate in designing and leading the collection and analysis of data on relevant trainings and any follow up with participants.
• Create linkages with other IRC programming in women’s empowerment, health and protection as well as with other actors. 
• Assist the Livelihoods Manager in assessing and selecting partners, 
• Work with the Livelihoods manager, and MEAL department to develop monitoring and evaluation tools to track the effectiveness of support provided.
• Ensure that the activities are implemented in accordance with the approved Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) and other IRC policies.
• Ensure that vocational trainings are meeting target indicators in relation to approved milestones and of the desired quality to achieve the desired goal/impact.
• Support the Livelihoods Manager in developing detailed activity plans in line with program objectives, ensuring that those plans are implemented and any expected delays and/or modifications are communicated and raised in a timely manner with the ERD Coordinator.
• Following up and supervising all aspects of the vocational training, basics of Community cohesion training, and financial management training.
• Prepare and follow up on all the documents needed for the vocational, Community cohesion, and financial management trainings, such as PRs, cash plans, payment sheets, payment reports, and contracts, also contributing to the process of evaluating and following up,
• supervise the process of following vocational training beneficiaries received training. This follow-up is to collect indicators related to the increase in monthly working days, monthly income, and knowledge.

Staff Performance Management, Learning & Development:

• Hire, supervise, and build the capacity of team members in relevant technical and management competencies.
• Develop and implement remote management capacity building approaches to build the strengths the teams in Syria.
• 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.
• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.
• Approve and manage time, attendance and leave requests to ensure adequate departmental coverage; ensure monthly, accurate timesheet submission and carry out probationary reviews.
• Hold high-quality meetings with each direct report on a regular and predictable basis, minimally on a monthly basis.
• Provide a measurable development plan including on-the-job learning with the aim of strengthening technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team and providing guidance on career paths.
• As required, identify staff performance issues and work with Human Resources to document and address these in accordance with the National Staff Employment Policies.
• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.
• Promote and monitor staff care and well-being. Model healthy work-life balance practices. Support appropriate interventions in response to identified staff care needs of both national and international staff.
• Look for opportunities to support staff in their career growth, where appropriate. As part of succession plan and nationalization goals, identify, train and develop capability and capacity of national staff to successfully transition role and responsibilities, by the end of assignment.