Social Worker

Position: Social Worker

Location: Zalka, Lebanon

Type of assignment: Full time

Salary:  According to internal salary scale, based on profile and experience

Start Date: ASAP

Contract length: 12 months (potential extension based on needs, funds available, and work performance)

CONTEXT 

Founded in 1994, La Chaîne de l’Espoir (CDE) is an international NGO headquartered in Paris, France. Its mission is to strengthen healthcare systems and provide to everyone, especially children, equal chances and opportunities of survival and development.  

CDE is currently active in twenty-seven (27) countries with a global approach, mainly focusing on children, mothers and disadvantaged communities. Find our activities briefly elaborated as follows: 

• Prevention and screening from an early age, particularly through school health programs; 
• Care and surgery to meet the most urgent needs of children and their mothers; 
• Training and transfer of skills to local teams (capacity building) thanks to our international network of experts in all areas of surgery; 
• Construction and equipment of hospital facilities adapted to local needs. 

CDE has been implementing humanitarian activities in Lebanon since 2005, working through local partners, such as HeartBeat, to provide access to medico-surgical care to children suffering from cardiopathies and orthopedics disabilities. In late 2020, CDE eventually opened its mission in Lebanon to respond to growing needs due to the significant deterioration of the situation. Since then, CDE had implemented two (2) projects related to tertiary healthcare, including several aspects such as the strengthening of the healthcare system, early detection of congenital orthopedics disorders, psychosocial support, etc. – via direct and indirect (through local partners) implementation. Lately, CDE is launching a large-scale project to provide general pediatric surgery for vulnerable populations through a network of governmental hospitals. Aiming at enhancing providing a supportive environment to children undergoing treatment, their caregivers and the healthcare staff, CDE intends to implement various activities that require the expertise of a Social Worker.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Under the management of the Case Management Officer, the Social Worker is the front-liner in the identification of vulnerable individuals in Lebanon to benefit from CDE projects. S/he is a member of the program team that includes him/herself, Social Worker, Hotline Operator, Case Management Officer, Project Officer, Project Assistant, MHPSS Caseworker and Psychologist.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Welcomes the beneficiaries and presenting the project;
• Conducts comprehensive social and economic assessments for identified beneficiaries in need of medico-surgical intervention;
• Follows up with the beneficiaries, facilitating the process and ensuring that the procedures of the interventions are properly followed;
• Performs regular field visits to ensure the effectiveness of the interventions;
• Documents cases and filling social files and all required documents according to the internal procedure. Ensures all relevant documents are available and that the beneficiaries’ files are complete;
• Works on internal referrals to respond to the beneficiaries’ needs based on CDE’s available services;
• Assesses beneficiaries’ needs that require support from an external stakeholder to facilitate the referrals in close collaboration with CDE’s team;
• Maintains good working relationships with various partners and stakeholders to ensure access to secondary health services,
• Perform job-related tasks outside working hours for urgent cases in rotation with other team members;
• Contributes to identifying and sharing positive and success stories;
• Ensures data entry, filling beneficiaries’ database, and contributing to regular written reports;
• Reports problems arising to the line manager;
• Ensures regular internal communication and collaboration with CDE’s social team on continuous basis and with all missions’ staff including the program, the medical and the support (HR, MEAL, etc.) departments on based on the needs. 

Any other tasks as requested by the line manager and agreed upon based on urgent/important needs. 

PROFILE

Education

Bachelor’s degree in social work [Required]

Experience

At least 2 years of relevant work experience with an NGO in medical and/or social support projects [Required]

Reporting, filing, and conducting assessments [Required]

Experience in providing social support to children and vulnerable populations [Required]

Knowledge of protection-related issues is a plus.

Specific skills

Capacity to travel to CDE’s projects’ implementation areas of Lebanon [Required]

Excellent verbal and written communication skills [Required]

Ability to listen and share decisions [Required]

Ability to work effectively as part of a team to achieve common goals and objectives [Required]

Excellent organizational & documentation skills [Required]

Ability to classify and to manage multiple priorities [Required]

Solution oriented, polyvalent and flexible [Required]

Patient and sense of diplomacy in operational environment [Required]

Good understanding of medical ethics and patient education [Required]

Strong commands of Microsoft office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint) [Required]

Language

Fluent in Arabic (speaking, writing, reading) [Required]

Strong commands in English [Required]

Knowledge of French is a plus

CDE always ensures its team members:

• Are driven to answer beneficiaries’ needs
• Works in line with the humanitarian principles and CDE’s values
• Respects at all-time CDE’s procedures in place
• Have a sense of team work in multicultural context
• Maintain confidentiality of work