PROJECT COORDINATOR (Agronomy background)

Starting date: 1 August 2024
Fixed short-term contract: Minimum of 8 months full time position (2 months probationary period).
Based in: Damascus, Syria, with frequent travel inside Syria, particularly inside Lattakia, Tartous and Hama governorates.

BACKGROUND:

The Syria crisis has been described as the largest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. 6.8 million Syrians were displaced internally and over 5.5 million Syrians fled outside the country. Currently, 12,5 million people are estimated to be severely food insecure across the country and an additional 1,9 million people are at risk of sliding into acute food insecurity. Caritas Austria, through its implementing partners, has provided humanitarian assistance in Syria and neighboring countries since 2011. Today, Caritas Austria continues to be actively involved inside Syria with a focus on basic assistance, protection, education and livelihoods. In addition, Caritas Austria started implementing an impactful early recovery programme in the agriculture and food security sector, which is implemented by two national NGOs in Syria.

PURPOSE & RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Project Coordinator will steer and monitoring Caritas Austria’s agriculture and food security programme inside Syria. Responsibilities include programme development including needs and response analysis, building and maintaining partnerships and providing technical guidance for implementing partners in order to help beneficiaries build productive and sustainable agricultural systems. All aspects of the position are governed by a strong commitment to humanitarian standards and Caritas Internationalis’ Partnership Principles.

The Project Coordinator will be part of Caritas Austria’s Middle East/ Asia team and will be based in Damascus, Syria. The Project Coordinator will report to the Programme Manager, based in Vienna and the Head of Syria office, based in Damascus.

SPECIFIC TASKS:

• Closely work with implementing partners to oversee activity implementation and support them to comply with: programme proposal, logical framework and budget, agreements with service providers and Caritas Austria internal policies and processes;
• Support the development, implementation and updating of annual work and MEAL plans in close cooperation with the MEAL officer and programme manager, thereby integrating MEAL findings;
• Assist implementing partner field teams and technical experts (consultants) in supervising the implementation of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and offering consultancy services to beneficiary farmers, collectives and other training participants;
• Assist implementing partners on procurements; testing and reviewing of specialist equipment and agricultural inputs;
• Promote awareness of and adherence to professional standards and good practices in the field of agriculture and food security;
• Frequently travel to project sites inside Hama, Lattakia and Tartous governorates;
• Frequently meet and closely cooperate with implementing partner organisations;
• Prepare reports in coordination with the Caritas Austria Programme Manager;
• Represent Caritas Austria and participte in relevant working groups, clusters and coordination mechanisms with the back donor and funding partners;
• Contribute to the communication strategy in coordination with partners, the Programme Manager and the HQ communication department;
• Ensure compliance with Caritas Austria security policies for Syria and contribute to reviewing security plans.

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS:

• Be a resident of Syria, with the ability to work inside Syria;
• Bachelor’s degree in agricultural science/ agronomy/ veterinary medicine;
• Minimum 3 years’ experience of implementing development projects in Syria in the Food and Agriculture Sector;
• Excellent communication skills; a positive and enabling spirit; experience in working with implementing partners is a plus;
• Experience in delivering capacity building trainings and developing high quality and engaging resources; experience in working with farmer collectives and the Farmer Field School (FFS) model is a plus;
• Good command of Arabic and English and excellent numeracy skills with ability to produce excellent written reports/ presentations;
• IT proficiency (Windows Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and proficiency in online research;
• Analytical thinking skills and strong environmental awareness;
• Interest in conservation agriculture and organic farming approaches;
• Good organizational and management skills; flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced environment, set priorities, and meet deadlines;
• Willingness and ability to travel inside Syria (up to 50%).