Inclusion Officer - Beirut

Organizational Description: Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (www.theIRC.org) is a world leader in relief, rehabilitation, and post-conflict development services for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. The IRC is currently working in over 25 countries around the world, addressing both the immediate and lifesaving needs of conflict affected people in emergencies and the reconstruction needs of post-conflict societies.

Job Overview / Summary:

The Inclusion Officer with a focus on Dirasa Project in partnership with UNICEF will be responsible for the overall inclusion component implementation in Beirut and Mount Lebanon and will be directly supervising the schools’ Inclusion focal points to ensure children with disabilities are identified, assessed, provided with the needed services and devices, and properly followed up on including the availability of Individual Education Plan for each child in coordination with the child’s educators, school staff and caregivers.

Major Responsibilities:

Project Implementation:

• Participate in Out of School Mapping Activities targeting Children with Disabilities (CwD: functional difficulties in different domains including hearing, vision, communication/comprehension, learning, mobility, and emotions).
• Supervise the schools’ focal points to ensure children with disabilities are identified, assessed, and provided with the needed services.
• Assess the needs of the children with disabilities in the assigned schools, and provide the support needed in the following: Individual assistive devices, center inclusion kits, and individual inclusion kits.
• Actively attend all the UNICEF provided capacity building opportunities and cascade to the inclusion focal points and educators in schools.
• Refer children to the needed therapy service.
• Proper follow up the Individual Education Plan for each child in coordination with the child’s educators and caregivers
• Provide regular support and capacity building for the schools’ Inclusion focal points to be able to deal with the children with disabilities in a proper way.
• Ensure that learning activities in all assigned schools respond to quality education standards for children with disabilities.
• Regular field visits to Dirasa schools.
• In coordination with the Education Officer, monitor regular attendance and drop-out for CwD in schools.
• Conduct and facilitate parental engagement and awareness sessions to the community members including topics relevant to the caregivers of children with disabilities in the program.
• Coordinate with other staff in the Education program to integrate the parental inclusion sessions provided by UNICEF within the regular parental engagement planning and implementation.
• Coordinate with procurement officer and schools’ focal points to ensure that the Inclusion materials distribution process is implemented in a timely manner.
• Support schools to establish a clear referral pathway at the level of each school to cover the needs of the different children.
• Assess schools’ need, and support with minor accessibility rehabilitation (ramps and toilets) based on reports submitted to UNICEF.
• Maintain a gender ratio close to 50:50 for all children in the program, ensuring equal access to opportunities and service.
• Record the identification and referral of children using a specific platform and report challenges.
• Participate in mandatory RIMS trainings and commit to initiate, register, and track outgoing referrals as well as accept incoming referrals (as applicable) through RIMS.
• Contribute regularly to related service mapping platforms and exercises.
• Should be aware of the Secretary-General Bulletin Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), and the internal reporting mechanisms for SEA cases through mandatory trainings.
• Cascade the Inclusion training to the Inclusion focal points and teachers
• Coordinate and follow up with caregivers and school personnel to make sure the students’ attendance is sustained and regular. Awareness sessions, home visits and phone calls follow up will be required to ensure children with disabilities retention in the program.
• Any other task as requested by the Education Program.

Data collection and reporting

• In coordination with the Education Manager, the Inclusion Officer will be responsible for regular reporting on the inclusion component. In addition to quarterly narrative reports, quantitative data to be reported on Activity Info, Child Level Monitoring and the Special Needs Tracking Sheet
• In coordination with M&E team, the Inclusion Officer is expected to perform baseline and endline surveys for targeted children (Syrians and Lebanese) and communities to identify projects beneficiaries, and prepare name lists of children in accordance with educational level and age group.
• Collect data needed for monthly and quarterly reports using dedicated monitoring tools including Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Children Satisfaction Survey
• Ensure a good quality of data collection in the assigned Dirasa schools and Makani centers and provide feedback on challenges in data collection processes and tools.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Education Manager
• Position directly supervises: Inclusion focal points
• External: other NGOs working in education in Beirut and Mount Lebanon

Job Requirements:

• University degree in education, pedagogy, psychology, or related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of working experience in the education sector, including inclusion and coaching.
• Facilitation and capacity building experience and skills.
• Experience in working with refugee communities Lebanon.
• Experience in working in partnerships is a plus
• Working experience in a NGOs and/or INGO is a plus
• Fluency in written and spoken English is mandatory.
• Autonomy and ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Flexibility, commitment, work ethics and team spirit.

Travel and other requirements: The position will be based in Beirut, with ongoing field visits within Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.