مطلوب منسق/ة مشروع للعمل لدى الاونروا

CONSULTANCY – TERMS OF REFERENCE

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is the largest UN operation in the Middle East with more than 30,000 staff. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.

Consultant: Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) Project Coordinator, HQ Amman

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of adverse mental health and psychosocial issues are of increasing concern to Palestine refugees. In many UNRWA fields of operations, children and adults are exposed to violence, conflict and displacement. This is further complicated by a variety of external factors, including poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, oppression and exclusion. If not addressed, psychosocial distress can impede on daily fife function and lead to mental illness, unhealthy and risky behavior, substance abuse, low academic achievement and increased school dropout rates, in addition to exacerbating the prevalence of non-communicable diseases.

In line with UNRWA’s Medium Term Strategy 2016-2012, which recognizes that the core UNRWA programmes are among the agency’s strengths to facilitate greater coherence, consistency and quality of mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) interventions and their impact across the Agency in order to protect and improve the MHPSS well-being of Palestine refugees. In 2017, the Agency adopted a MHPSS framework that sets out general principles and concepts that guides MHPSS programming across the Agency and ensures that minimum MHPSS standards and practices are integrated into UNRWA programme interventions including prevention/promotion activities, assessment modalities, and core interventions and referrals systems. Moreover, the framework calls for a well-coordinated and technically supported structures in all UNRWA fields of operations, building on the capacities of the education, health, and relief and social services programmes to support the psycho-social wellbeing of children and adults in times of both relative normalcy and emergency.

As a result, and starting in 2019, UNRWA will – through an Agency-wide approach – aim to strengthen psychosocial support to Palestine refugees and foster their resilience and social inclusion through professionalizing the social workforce of the Relief and Social Services programme, strengthening UNRWA’s approach towards the responsibilities of the school counsellors and developing a comprehensive and sustainable staff care system.

PURPOSE

UNRWA seeks the services of a Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support Project Coordinator to oversee the overall coordination of a cross-departmental project, implemented jointly by the relief and social services, education and human resource departments, that aims to strengthen the psychosocial support to Palestine refugees through programme interventions to foster their resilience and social inclusion.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the overall supervision of the Director of the relief and social services department, the coordinator will work with the Chief of Social Services to coordinate the overall implementation of the project regarding the professionalization of the social workforce as well as the coordination with the education and human resources departments to ensure the smooth and effective implementation of all the project activities.

Specific tasks related to this objective are:

· Provides technical support on MHPSS and project coordination to headquarters programmes (especially education, relief and social services and human resources and field office and oversees the overall implementation of the project to ensure coherence and consistency with the project agreement.

· Supports the coordination mechanisms for the MHPSS project with the relief and social services, education and human resources departments to ensure the smooth implementation of the project related activities in line with the project log frame and engages with other departments as appropriate.

· Follows up with finance, external relation office, relief and social services, education and human resources the project budget allocation, monitors the expenditure and prepares the financial reporting required to the donor.

· In collaboration with education, relief and social services, health departments and the protection division, establishes and maintains quality and accessible referral mechanisms for refugees experiencing serious threats and risks, severe psychological distress and trauma, as well as other mental health and psycho-social conditions to appropriate services as necessary.

· Convenes regular meetings with the relief and social services, education and human resources departments to follow-up the proper implementation of the project activities, highlight any challenges and propose solutions.

· Organizes two/three Agency-wide workshops for cross programmatic coordination and cooperation to ensure effective implementation of the project activities.

· Consolidates and prepare all project reporting to the donor.

· Provides and coordinates the logistical support of the project related activities.

· Provides regular updates and reports to the Director of Relief and Social Services on the implementation of the project.

· Any other related tasks.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

· An advanced university degree from an accredited educational institution in psychology, social sciences, development studies, public administration or any relevant field;

· At least five years of experience including at least three years in a project management capacity preferably in the field of coordination of mental health and psychosocial support programmes and activities.

· Excellent command of written and spoken English language.

Competencies

· Ability to develop clear goals consistent with agreed strategies, capability to develop, monitor and adjust plans and actions as necessary

· Acts in accordance with the profession’s ethics and values respects and promotes individual and cultural differences

· Ability to prepare, coordinate and conduct meetings and workshops

· Excellent communication, interpersonal and negotiation skills

· Ability to present data and information in a clear and constructive way.

· Ability to work under pressure

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

· The expected start date is April, 2019; end date December, 2020

· The Consultant will work under the overall supervision and guidance of the Director of Relief and Social Services.

REMUNERATION

Pertinent to the assessed qualifications of the candidate remuneration levels will be set at the P3 level.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV or UN Personal History Form demonstrating clearly the knowledge and experience required to meet the consultancy requirements via [email protected]indicating the title of this consultancy “MHPSS Project Coordinator” in the subject line of the message. The deadline for the submission of applications is 28/4/2019.

UNRWA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from both women and men. UNRWA encourages applications from qualified women. Only those applicants shortlisted for interview will be contacted. UNRWA is a non-smoking environment.