Governance and Economic Justice Coordinator

Job Details

Location: Beirut

Contract Type: Fixed term

Job Family: Programmes

One Oxfam Grade: C, Zone: 1

Team: Governance and Economic Justice Pillar

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.

Team Purpose: Oxfam in Lebanon is increasingly working at local, national and international levels to ensure that women and men 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 three main programmatic pillars: The Beirut Response Pillar, the Humanitarian Pillar, and the Governance and Economic Justice Pillar. Under the  Governance and Economic Justice Pillar, Oxfam works with partners to ensure that marginalised women and men, particularly youth, exercise their basic rights to influence decision-making in support of more accountable, effective governance, and that they are empowered to cope with the effects of economic poverty, and have greater access to and control over livelihood assets for sustainable poverty reduction, and reduced aid dependency.

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 accountability, participation, 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. Water Establishments), and representatives of government ministries.

Job Purpose: The Governance and Economic Justice Coordinator will lead and is accountable for all the programmatic, management, program development, influencing and partnership aspects of the Governance and Economic Justice Pillar. As a key role within the Oxfam Lebanon Country programme, the position will be based in Beirut, with regular travel to programme sites in the Bekaa, in north Lebanon, and possibly other areas. He/she will oversee effective management and relationships with relevant external stakeholders, provide oversight over projects in the Governance and Economic Justice Pillar, including financial and program quality oversight, lead in preparing and developing high quality proposals and concept notes, review and approve progress and donor reports, and enhance internal learning and external representation.

Job Reports To: Deputy Country Director-Programmes, with matrix management to the Country Policy Lead

Roles Reporting to This Job: Governance Program Manager, Economic Justice Program Manager, See Change Project Coordinator

Budget Responsibility: $2 million to $5 million USD annually

Geographical Scope: North Lebanon, Bekaa, and other areas

Key Stakeholders: Governance Program Manager, Economic Justice Program Manager, See Change Project Coordinator, Deputy Country Director for Programmes, Humanitarian Coordinator, Beirut Response Coordinator, Country Policy Lead, PMEAL Coordinator, Gender Advisor, Country Director

Key Responsibilities 

Programme Oversight

• Directly line-manage the Governance Program Manager, Economic Justice Program Manager, and See Change Project Coordinator, ensuring implementation of Oxfam’s performance management policies and procedures;
• Support the implementation of Governance and economic justice activities within Lebanon – including ensuring coherence, standardized approaches, and programme quality across the Governance and Economic Justice Pillar as a whole;
• In collaboration with Technical Advisors, the policy team and Program Managers and the Project Coordinator, work to integrate programmes and policy, to ensure that programmes are working towards achieving same aims and leveraging impact in line with Oxfam’s Country Strategy for Lebanon;
• Support team and partner risk analysis related to programme activities before implementation, and provide strategic steer on amending activities and approaches where necessary;
• Support Governance and Economic Justice programme teams and partners in developing and applying appropriate monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) tools in relation to Oxfam’s human rights and economic justice work in Lebanon;
• Support the development and implementation of national programme evaluations, learning events and specific programme-related research activities;
• Support Governance and Economic Justice programme staff and partners in mainstreaming gender throughout Oxfam Lebanon’s Governance and economic justice work;
• Support the identification of capacity building needs and opportunities for Oxfam staff and local partner organisations; and support the development and implementation of capacity-building plans for Oxfam and partner staff.

Programme Design and Strategy

• Lead on programme design and proposal development for projects that fall under the Governance and Economic Justice Pillar;
• Provide specialist Governance and economic justice advice and support to the implementation of Oxfam’s human rights and economic justice interventions and approaches in Lebanon;
• Participate in in-country planning, strategy development and reviews;
• Maintain an up-to-date and comprehensive understanding of Governance and economic justice issues in Lebanon, and ensure that programme teams are operating according to emerging evidence on what works, and what does not work, within the Lebanon context;
• Lead the development of a comprehensive Governance and Economic Justice Strategy for Oxfam in Lebanon, with a strong partnership approach. This includes defining the strategy, designing approaches, identifying key partners and leading on developing funding proposals and reviewing current projects to meet changing needs and requirements.

Policy and Influencing

In collaboration with relevant Policy Advisor(s), and in coordination with the Country Policy Lead, the Governance and Economic Justice Coordinator is expected to:

• Lead on specific research activities and ensure that influencing and policy work is based on sound research and programmatic evidence;
• Support advocacy and campaigning on human rights and economic justice issues including analysis, surveys, assessments and support to the development of policy products as required. This includes ensuring linkages to relevant global campaigns;
• Provide feedback and support on the adherence to the human rights and economic justice components of the Lebanon Country Office Influencing Strategy;
• Support partners to take more of a leadership role in influencing and engaging in global advocacy through Oxfam’s global campaigns.

Representation & Relationship-Building

• Represent Oxfam externally in relevant UN/(I)NGO or government fora; develop alliances with organisations and other relevant stakeholders working on human rights and economic justice, with a view to enhancing coordination, and adopting complementary approaches including active participation in relevant coordination and planning mechanisms;
• Be the focal point to liaise with technical staff from other country programs in the region to identify opportunities for collaboration and joint learning;
• Build a network of partnerships (formal and informal) to engage with on programmes and for policy, advocacy and influencing.

Core Dimensions

• Provides specialist advice or specific skills to their team or programme unit.
• Their plans and objectives are developed to contribute to country, region and broader programme strategy and can involve collaboration with other programme units (e.g. other affiliates in-country or colleagues in different country programmes) or departments (e.g. head office).
• Management tasks are complex and non-routine within their specialist unit or function.
• Requires the ability to analyse and communicate complex information to a wide audience.
• Decision-making requires significant levels of judgement based on technical and management experience, generally actively supported by line management or the programme team.
• The focus of the role can vary but has well-defined targets and/or minimum standards, and is both proactive and reactive.

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

• Self-Awareness
• Mutual accountability
• Enabling

 In addition:

• At least 5 years of experience leading human rights programming, working on e.g. social justice issues, good governance, social accountability, with human rights defenders and civil society organizations, coalitions and alliances, engaging with local and national authorities and power holders to promote the rights and voice of Lebanese and refugee women and men;
• At least 5 years of experience leading economic justice and economic recovery programming (e.g. in local economic development, poverty reduction, agricultural value chains, urban/rural development, the solidarity economy, social entrepreneurship, etc);
• At least 5 years experience in project management including planning, budgeting, monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning;
• Strong experience in project design, proposal development and concept note development (including budgets);
• Experience in and understanding of protection and gender issues;
• Sound knowledge of Lebanon’s social, economic and political context, including human rights and economic development issues and priorities;
• Proven ability to analyse complex environments at the local and national level, monitor changes and translate into appropriate strategic planning;
• Experience in developing the capacity of staff and partners;
• Excellent written and spoken English and Arabic.

Desirable

• Master’s degree in relevant area (e.g. economics, development studies, political science)
• Skilled in an integrated approach to advocacy that includes research, lobbying, public campaigning;
• Strong knowledge of and engagement with Lebanese civil society, including NGOs, academic institutions, think tanks, coalitions and networks;
• Experience working in protracted crisis settings (experience working in Lebanon preferred);
• Proven ability to build relationships with a variety of stakeholders (local partners, municipalities, etc);
• Ability to work flexibly and under pressure on fast-changing priorities;

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.