National Programme Officer Education and Income

The Embassy of Switzerland to Lebanon and Syria represents the Swiss interests in Lebanon and Syria. The Swiss Cooperation Office is responsible for humanitarian and development programmes in Lebanon. Switzerland’s cooperation strategy in Lebanon focuses on four domains of intervention: Protection and Migration, Education and Income, Conflict Prevention and Peace Promotion, and Water and Sanitation.  

The Swiss Cooperation Office of the Embassy of Switzerland to Lebanon and Syria is looking to recruit an experienced National Programme Officer to manage all aspects of its Education and Income portfolio in Lebanon.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Manage all humanitarian and development projects under the Education and Income portfolio of the Swiss cooperation programme in Lebanon, with a current focus on education. Ensure the full project cycle management in all operational and financial aspects (the latter together with the finance team), from identification and planning, to implementation and monitoring, reporting, evaluation, knowledge management and advocacy.
• Contribute to the orientation of the Swiss cooperation portfolio in Lebanon by providing context monitoring and analysis, inputs for policy and strategy positions.
• Represent the Embassy in meetings and platforms in line with the defined objectives and priorities, and provide inputs for meetings such as programmatic documentation, speaking notes, oral and written briefings. Plan, coordinate and manage delegations and events.
• Develop and actively engage with a network in the fields of education and income (national authorities, national and international partners, relevant experts, decision-makers and other relevant stakeholders)
• Flexibility to fulfil tasks and responsibilities as necessary beyond the field of education and income is expected.

Competencies and selection criteria:

• In-depth knowledge and understanding of national, regional and global initiatives and dynamics related to education; existing network in the education domain.
• Strong analytical and writing skills, as demonstrated by a history of producing analytical reports and briefings.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in project cycle management, incl. strategic, operational, financial and administrative aspects, as well as issues of conflict sensitivity, governance, protection, gender and inclusion.
• Initiative and high degree of organisational skills, ability to work independently, result oriented and precisely under pressure. High sense of team spirit.
• Strong networking, negotiation and advocacy skills. Sensitivity to cultural and political dimensions of communication.
• Arabic as mother tongue or proficient fluency; fluency in English, written and spoken. Fluency in French an additional asset.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in international cooperation, including experience in the field of education (access and quality of education, governance of education system, education in emergencies, transition from education to work). Experience in related fields such as economic development (job creation, entrepreneurship) and/or protection (child protection, decent work) is an asset.