Program Specialist (Electrical Engineer) - ARE Activity

BACKGROUND

The Lebanon Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) program is a multi-year project funded by USAID to develop rural economics in Lebanon through support to the agro-food sector and other industries to unlock local and export sales potential while also creating jobs and increasing farmers’ and worker’s incomes. ARE will increase jobs; improve incomes; improve female participation and employment opportunities; increase domestic and export sales; increase private sector investment; improve access to finance; link value chain actors to domestic and international markets; and improve farm production through improved practices, technology, increased volume, and/or decreased cost.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Program Specialist will work closely with ARE’s Intervention Managers and Technical Advisors to ensure sound and innovative implementation of interventions, especially those including an engineering component (PV systems, electrical installations, etc..). The Program Specialist will coordinate with the Grants Management team, Procurement team, Communications Team, Business Development team, as well as the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team, to ensure that tasks are in line with project outputs and overall objectives.  The Program Specialist will also coordinate closely with ARE’s partners and provide support to submit deliverables as planned, in a timely manner. The Program Specialist will be based in Beirut, with travel to project areas all over Lebanon, as needed.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

Programmatic and Technical Responsibilities:

• Research and gather resources relevant to upcoming or ongoing interventions, and/or to topics related to agriculture, agri-business, light industries, light manufacturing, etc.

• Communicate with partners to ensure smooth and effective implementation of activities
• Coordinate and/or attend collaboration meetings with partners and beneficiaries
• Review technical deliverables and reports received from partners to ensure they meet ARE requirements
• Assist in drafting and/or reviewing and/or editing technical reports
• Assist in drafting and reviewing interventions’ concept notes that include a renewable energy component and system installation
• Draft preliminary designs and cost estimates for renewable energy and PV systems interventions
• Review conceptual designs submitted by ARE partners for renewable energy and PV Systems and verify the adequacy of the submitted data
• Draft and/or review Cash flow and Return on Investment reports
• Assist in reviewing Request for proposals, Request for quotations, Annual program statements and Fixed amount award contract deliverables and milestones
• Conduct field visits to inspect and review delivered equipment and installed systems as required
• Draft purchase Procurement action requests along with the relevant needed specifications
• Coordinate with the MEL team on data and reporting needed to ensure that targets and objectives are met
• Ensure that all MEL-related documents are provided to the MEL team in due time as/if needed
• Coordinate with the Communications team on highlights and details to be received from the field
• Support in drafting weekly updates related to assigned interventions
• Communicate feedback from partners and beneficiaries to ARE team and ensure follow up, when needed
• Prepare and/or review presentations relevant to the ongoing interventions, as assigned
• Support in organizing, planning and managing ARE’s events, trainings, and visits
• Maintain and update individual program activities on MS project including document control and deliverable tracking
• Other programmatic and technical duties, as assigned

Administrative Responsibilities:

• Ensure that all deliverables and documents are appropriately saved and documented
• Ensure that all trackers related to the ongoing interventions are updated on a regular basis
• Other administrative duties, as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline such as electrical engineering, electro-mechanical engineering, etc.
• Certification in renewable energy design software (i.e. Aurora, BlueSol, PVSyst, Helioscope, etc.) is preferred
• Advanced Program management software skills is a plus (i.e. MS Project, Primavera, etc.)
• 6-8 years of experience in engineering field. Experience in donor-funded projects’ implementation, follow up and reporting and previous USAID experience are preferred
• Capacity to review and draft technical reports
• Ability to apply financial/business skills in agricultural programs is a plus
• Ability to coordinate and work collaboratively with various stakeholders
• Ability to work under pressure
• Willingness to conduct field visits, when requested
• Excellent/fluent written and spoken English and Arabic

LOCATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The Program Specialist will be based in the project’s main office in Beirut, Lebanon, and travel throughout the country as needed.

REPORTING

The Program Specialist will report to the Program Manager.