Regional Coordinator

The JLI is hiring a Regional Coordinator for its Middle East Hub on Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) and Faith. The Regional Coordinator is expected to manage the hub’s activities ranging from project management and coordination, network engagement, research management and mapping, external communications, M&E and reporting, to admin and finance. They will be the focal point for the hub with support from JLI staff, hub co-chairs, and hub members.

Background

About the JLI
The Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities (JLI) is a global learning network of researchers and practitioners. We build fair and equitable spaces to create and share evidence on religions and religious actors in development, humanitarian action, peacebuilding and community work.
We aim to strengthen partnerships between and amongst faith and non-faith actors, internationally and locally. Since its inception in 2012, JLI has founded numerous global Learning Hubs, convening a transdisciplinary collective of actors from around the world, to address evidence gaps on issues of common interest – such as Gender Based Violence, Ending Violence Against Children, Refugees and Forced Migration, and Anti-Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, amongst others.

In 2020, JLI made a strategic decision to focus its efforts on challenging the unequal power dynamics that we see manifesting in the way evidence is used and created globally. JLI’s Fair & Equitable Initiative is the organisation’s response to these power imbalances and colonial legacies in the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding sector. The Initiative seeks to shift power, resources and leadership to local, national, and regional levels, by creating and supporting new Regional Learning Hubs. Regional Hubs are transdisciplinary, horizontal learning communities, allowing for local, national, and regional actors to define and pursue their own evidence agendas.

About the Middle East hub on Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) and Faith
The Middle East Learning Hub on MEAL and Faith, was launched in June 2022, following nine months of coalition building and initial research. The Hub brings together local, national, and regional actors –including researchers, faith organizations, and development and humanitarian practitioners – from Iraq,Lebanon, Syria and Syrian refugees in Turkey with a shared interest in MEAL and faith.
The Middle East Learning Hub was founded by the JLI, with the support of Adyan Foundation (Lebanon), Danmission MENA, Syria Bright Future (Syria/Turkey), and the Iraqi Institution for Development (Iraq).
The hub was launched following a series of Listening Dialogues (open discussions) in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, in which relevant institutions and individuals were invited to reflect on the state of the evidence on MEAL and faith in the region, and collectively identify a way forward for the Middle East Hub. The hub is led by the JLI Regional Coordinator, with the support of two hub co-chairs who will rotate regularly, with supervision from the JLI research team.

Roles and Responsibilities

Project Management and Coordination
● Co-develop the strategic goals and direction for the hub
● Lead the implementation of the hub’s action plan (adapting and adjusting where needed)
● Plan and facilitate regular hub meetings
● Coordinate for a 2-3 days regional in-person meeting for the Middle East Hub in the region (Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Syria), including both logistics and meeting design
● Manage seed funding grants for hub members to conduct small learning projects on MEAL and faith
● Identify regional and international conferences and support hub members in speaking about their work

Network Engagement
● Regular follow-up and communication with hub members
● Providing regular updates to JLI staff and network members on hub activities
● Manage reporting and communications with hub donor(s)
● Build and hold key strategic relationships in the region to benefit and forward the hub’s activities (e.g. in government, media, or civil society)

Research Management and Mapping
● Continue mapping of relevant topics related to MEAL and faith and stay up-to-date on relevant publications and events
● Hire a research assistant and coordinate with them on research-related tasks
● Co-lead on designing and overseeing the production of three research-based guides/tools on MEAL and faith

External Communication
● Facilitate communication of hub activities e.g. through blog posts, webinars, social media, JLI newsletter and website
● Coordinate with translators to produce project material in both English and Arabic language

M&E and Reporting
● Develop periodic M&E tools to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of hub activities and collect members’ feedback (e.g. surveys, interviews, informal feedback discussions, etc)
● Develop the narrative bi-annual reports and submit them to the donor via an online portal

Admin and Finance
● Monitor and review the project’s budget and spending with the support of JLI’s Finance and Operations Manager
● Organise, track, and archive project’s documentation

Budget and Timeline

All activities under the Middle East Hub should be concluded by April 2024, with possibility for extension. We anticipate that the consultancy would take around 5 days per month. The Regional Coordinator is expected to start as soon as possible. Budget allocated for this role is 25-30 USD/hour, depending on experience.

Regional Coordinator Profile

The Regional Coordinator should:
● Be a local resident in the Middle East region
● Have 2+ years experience in humanitarian, development, peacebuilding, interfaith and/or community work in the region
● Have a proven understanding of and interest in MEAL and faith (and ideally the intersections of the two) in the region
● Have a proven track record in facilitating participatory workshops/dialogues in Arabic and English, including the ability to communicate complex and new ideas in accessible ways
● Be skilled and experienced in coordination, project management, communications (and ideally research)
● Be sensitive to and respectful of religious, social and cultural differences and comfortable with working in intercultural, interfaith, and international teams
● Be able to fully communicate and understand written and spoken Arabic and English

The Regional Coordinator reports to the JLI Senior Research Fellow and works closely with the Fair and Equitable Coordinator, the Finance and Operations Manager, colleagues in charge of communications at JLI, and the hub co-chairs.