WEAM Social Cohesion Desk Officer

WEAM Social Cohesion Desk Officer

JOB DETAILS

LOCATION: Bekaa, with frequent travel to Akkar, Beirut and areas all over Lebanon

CONTRACT TYPE: 1 year, renewable

JOB FAMILY: Programmes

ONE OXFAM GRADE: D        ZONE:2

DEPARTMENT:

GLOBAL PROGRAMMES                                                                 

TEAM: Governance and Economic Justice

SALARY: tbc

HOURS: 40 (FTE)

FLEXIBLE WORKING

We believe flexible working is key to building the Oxfam of the future, so we’re open to talking through the type of flexible arrangements which might work for you.  

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organization.

DEPARTMENT PURPOSE: For Oxfam in Lebanon, Governance is defined as the set of processes and approaches that are set to ensure accountability, responsiveness, participation, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, and rule of law between different systems, structures, groups, or – even – individuals.

Governance projects focus on strengthening social and fiscal justice, accountability, participation, local leadership, and inclusiveness within and between members of the community, Local Authorities (LA), and national authorities, with no discrimination related to age, gender, nationality, religion, or socio-economic situation. To achieve this objective, diverse projects are implemented with various relevant stakeholders including local community groups, local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Municipalities, Union of Municipalities, local service-provision establishments (e.g. Social Development Centers (SDCs) and Water Establishments), and representatives of government ministries.

The Governance Program aims to empower marginalised women and men, particularly youth, to exercise their basic rights to influence decision-making in support of more accountable, effective governance, particularly in relation to respect for basic rights, access to services, resource management and distribution, and gender equity.

TEAM PURPOSE: Oxfam in Lebanon is increasingly working at local, national and international levels to “ensure that women and men and non-binary individuals are protected and empowered to enjoy their basic rights and access services enabling them to live in dignity within a more equitable society.” To achieve this vision, Oxfam in Lebanon implements activities under two main programmatic pillars; the Governance and Economic Justice pillar and the Humanitarian Pillar.

JOB PURPOSE: Oxfam Italia in partnership with Right to Play, SHiFT and ALEF is implementing a European Union-funded project entitled “Working for Engagement, Acceptance and Mediation: A Community-based Approach to Social Cohesion in Lebanon – WE’AM.” The project is implemented between March 2023 and December 2025 in Lebanon. WE’AM aims to leverage experiences and complementarities to build consensus and stimulate lasting social cohesion initiatives in Lebanon following three working streams: addressing drivers of tensions at the community level; disseminating gender-responsive conflict prevention and resolution tools and methods; mainstreaming community-level social cohesion into programming.

Oxfam Social Cohesion Desk Officer will be responsible for aligning social cohesion approaches across the activities. The Officer will maintain relations with relevant stakeholders and support in the implementation of activities.

Furthermore, the social cohesion desk officer will make sure that Oxfam map, connect to, engage and partner with the relevant right-holders and duty-bearers including community members, CSOs, authorities and business actors that are targeted through the projects interventions including community structures, network and individuals taking part in capacity building programmes, and service provision.

The social cohesion desk officer is expected to work closely with the Governance and Economic Justice programme team, Gender, MEAL, Protection advisors and the Oxfam Policy team towards common objectives.

JOB REPORTS TO

Project manager

ROLES REPORTING TO THIS JOB

none

BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY

N/A

GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE

All over Lebanon

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (Technical, Leadership, People and Resource management)

Project coordination and budget management (40%)

• coordinate the day-to-day field activity implementation and daily communication with relevant stakeholders;
• support in developing and implementing monitoring plans for the field work, progress of the implementation, and spending plan;
• Support the project manager and  Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) team to ensure the implementation of all MEAL activities together with partners for all stages (baseline and endline, learning reviews, project indicators monitoring, and other relevant monitoring activities;
• Assist in project communication across various departments at Oxfam including finance, HR, communication, policy and others;
• Undertake regular field trips to the project sites with the purpose of joining efforts with implementing partners, performing monitoring assessments of activities, progress, systems and mechanisms;
• Report verbally and in writing the progress of project’s interventions to the project manager
• Work in compliance with the sector and Oxfam principles and standards of localisation, local leadership, and feminism;
• Enable and implement technical expertise related to the field of work including Social Cohesion, governance, Advocacy and others;
• Ensuring partners’ and community participation as appropriate, as well as accountability towards communities;
• Ensure project activities have the appropriate visibility in compliance with donor requirements and procedures.

Partnering (40%)

• Map and connect to potential partners and participants involved in the project, maintain positive and constructive relationship with relevant stakeholders;
• Implement principles and approaches of local leadership at the community and local level;
• Participate in relevant fora and coordination meetings and national level;
• Attend relevant sector coordination meetings as appropriate and feed information for continuous programme adaptation and compliance with sector standards;
• support with Oxfam’s representational role in front of external stakeholders, such as CSOs and local authorities;
• Assist with the coordination of visits of donors, and/or partners related to the project.

Reporting & Communication (20%)

• Monitor and submit timely, comprehensive and compliant activity reports;
• support the review of subgrants and initiatives reports  based on inputs from selected sub-grantees;
• Establish and maintain clear lines of communication with project staff and ensure internal communication among the project’s stakeholders at Oxfam and the community level;
• Implement community feedback and accountability mechanisms and ensure timely reporting of observations, especially concerns and dissatisfactions;
• Act as a focal point with project’s field-level stakeholders and beneficiaries, communicate Oxfam’s and the projects interest and report back updates, reactions, and progress to relevant colleagues at Oxfam.

CORE DIMENSIONS (see Standard Role Profiles)

• Requires the ability to analyse and communicate complex information to a wide audience;
• Work pattern is a mixture of reactive and project work;
• Communication, negotiation and diplomacy when connection to both internal and external project’s stakeholders and participants;

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Most importantly, every individual in Oxfam needs to be able to:

• Live our values of INCLUSION, ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT, COURAGE, SOLIDARITY and EQUALITY (read more about these here)
• Ensure you commit to our ORGANIZATIONAL ATTRIBUTES (including adhering to the Code of Conduct):

1. Be committed to our feminist principles, and to applying them in your day-to-day behaviour and your work. Be ready to keep learning, with accountability to those who experience oppression as a result of their identities, such as their gender, race/ethnicity, disability, class, or LGBTQIA identity."

2. Be committed to undertaking Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure all people who come into Oxfam are as safe as possible.

EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE & COMPETENCIES

ESSENTIAL

• Humility
• Relationship building
• Mutual accountability

In addition:

• Minimum 2 years professional work experience in international humanitarian/development work, including at the national level;
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex projects;
• Knowledge of EU procedures
• Demonstrated technical expertise and experience in local economic development, livelihoods and/or social cohesion and advocacy programming;
• Demonstrated partnering abilities
• Exposure to MEAL frameworks and plans, including in complex programmes
• A Bachelor Degree (or higher) in international relations, business administration, management, human rights, social sciences or related field;
• Proven analytical and strategic planning skills;
• Good communications and people skills;
• Good writing and communication skills able to negotiate effectively between different stakeholders, and to represent the partners in different settings ;
• Good fluency in written and spoken English

Desirable

• Technical Expertise and experience in social entrepreneurship initiatives, and community engagement
•  

SAFER RECRUITMENT: Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us. Offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks.