The situation in Syria is resulting in large numbers of casualties among civilians, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and disruption of essential services, leading to large-scale internal displacement of people as well as increasing outflows of refugees. In early September the Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria estimated that five million Syrians have been displaced inside the country in addition to the more than two million Syrians that have fled to neighboring countries. The combination of violence and massive population movements has exposed civilians, children and women into various protection risks.
Due to limited access to northern governorates by the HCT in Damascus and to address the critical needs of the affected populations in Syria, a large number of agencies (international, Turkish, Syrian diaspora)[1] are providing humanitarian assistance from Southern Turkey across the border into Syria. This assistance is becoming more and more significant with more than 45 active organizations (only counting those that have contributed to the 3W collected by OCHA) and more than USD200 million worth of goods cleared through the Turkish border (this figure only represents the assistance that has been channeled through the Turkish Red Crescent Society [TRCS] at designated zero points. Some actors are reportedly crossing their goods through commercial channels indicating that the actual value of cross-border assistance is much higher).
The coordination mechanism in southeastern Turkey was established over the last months to foster partnership and thereby improve the overall capacity of humanitarian partners engaged in responding to humanitarian needs emanating from the crisis in Syria. The coordination mechanism is open to all humanitarian organizations that undertake humanitarian action from Turkey into Syria and that commit to participate in coordination arrangements that aim to ensure that assistance meets all people in need in Syria. Partners (NGOs, Donors, Turkish authorities) in Turkey have supported the establishment of sector coordination working groups with designated chairs and co-chairs that include all relevant operational partners and allow for standardized sector responses through designated capacity and linkages to global cluster resources. Eight dedicated sector working groups have been formed to coordinate the work of partners active in the sectors of:
- Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM)
- Child Protection
- Education
- Food Security and Livelihoods
- Health/Nutrition
- Logistics
- Shelter/NFI
- WASH
Similarly, an[R1] An inter-sector coordination group (ISCG) coordinated by OCHA was established to allow for the identification of cross-cutting issues and prioritization and reports to the Humanitarian Liaison Group, chaired by the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator in Gaziantep. The sectors are represented at the HLG by the Inter-sector coordinator.
While the presence of partners is spread along the Turkish border from Southern West to Southern East, the coordination pole is concentrated in Gaziantep, where all Turkish authorities regionally overseeing the Syria response, including the Coordinating Governor, TRCS, UN agencies and a number of NGOs and donors have their main base, including OCHA.
The Shelter/Non Food Item (NFI) Working Group in Turkey
The Shelter/NFI Working Group, along with other sectors was formalised under the humanitarian coordination architecture. Shelter/NFI is one of the most critical sectors in the whole response, with 24 organisations responding in either shelter and/or NFI to reach over 850,000 beneficiaries in both IDP camps and host population in both rural and urban context. The actual estimated people in need for Shelter/NFI is 3 million people, out of them over 85,000 are shared across 44 IDP camps along the Syrian Turkish border.
SCOPE OF WORK:
The Shelter/Non Food Item (NFI) coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination and management of all non-food item distribution. He/she will be in charge of ensuring the quality and timely delivery of core relief items to the beneficiary population using the most appropriate delivery mechanism. He/she will also be responsible for the overall management of all program staff, program budget and donor reporting. He/she will act as the focal point for program related inquiries and proposal development.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Shelter/NFI Working Group Coordinator (hereinafter referred to as “the Coordinator”) will work under direct supervision of the employing agency Country Representative in Turkey. The employing agency Country Representative is the chair of the Working Group and is responsible for the application of the IASC guidelines on sector/ cluster coordination.
The main objective of the Coordinator is to ensure that the working group fulfils its core functions
Supporting service delivery
- Provide a platform to ensure that service delivery is driven by agreed strategic priorities.
- Develop mechanisms to eliminate duplication of service delivery.
- Supporting strategy coordination, namely with the Logistics Working Group and the WASH Group.
2. Informing strategic decision-making
- Needs assessment and response gap analysis (across sectors and within the sector).
- Analysis to identify and address gaps, obstacles, duplication, and cross-cutting issues including age, gender, environment and HIV/AIDs.
- Prioritization, grounded in response analysis.
3. Planning and strategy development
- Support the formation of a sector wide strategy with agreed delivery standards for the immediate, medium and long term needs.
- Develop sectorial plans, objectives and indicators.
- Apply and adhere to existing standards and guidelines.
- Clarify funding requirements, prioritization and sector contributions for overall humanitarian funding considerations (CAP, CERF, and Emergency Response Fund/Common Humanitarian Fund or as appropriate defined by the HLG).
4. Advocacy
- Identify and undertake advocacy activities on behalf of sector participants and the affected population.
5. Monitoring and reporting the implementation of the sector strategy and results recommending corrective action where necessary.
6. Contingency planning/preparedness/capacity building.
To achieve these objectives, the Coordinator will perform the following key tasks:
- Maintain and expand the contact with key sector stakeholders, including national and provincial authorities, national and international organizations, and representatives of affected populations for the working group, respecting mandates and programme priorities of each of the stakeholders.
- Prepare and maintain up-to-date the core documents as defined by global guidance: Strategy, Technical Standards and Factsheet.
- Be the focal point for the Shelter/NFI section of the CAP or any other funding mechanism as define by the HLG, the mid-year review and the end of year report. Act as focal point for all CAP or other funding mechanism queries.
- Act as focal point for CERF/ ERF/ CHF or other funding mechanism queries allocations and advocate for funding from these funds to the shelter/NFI sector. If prioritised, manage the process of writing the strategy, assisting partners in preparing their proposals and allocate the funding in a transparent and inclusive way through a Strategic Advisory Group or working groups.
- Act as focal point for the working group with the donors and, when requested, provide information on the working group’s strategy, gaps and current resourcing. Advocate to donors for funding to meet the needs of the sector.
- Ensure that the website of the shelter working group is up-to-date and useful for shelter actors at the provincial, national and global level.
- Promote and adopt standardized methods, tools and formats for common use in shelter needs assessments by ensuring predictable actions within the framework of an agreed common shelter strategy. These methods, tools and formats will, when possible, be in line with those promoted at the global level.
- Ensure an appropriate distribution of responsibilities amongst sector partners by ensuring their commitments in responding to needs and filling gaps with clearly defined focal points for specific issues where necessary. In the event of the establishment of a co-chair, ensure appropriate sharing of responsibilities with him/her as the co-chair of the working group.
- Chair the Shelter/NFI Working Group coordination meetings in Gaziantep and if necessary in Hatay or other locality (e.g. Sanliurfa). Ensure that the meetings are effective and action-oriented with smaller technical working groups and/or a Strategic Advisory Group. Ensure the same at sub-regional level. Ensure utilization of participatory and community based approaches in the planning and implementation of projects in order to ensure that humanitarian responses build on local capacities.
- Ensure effective links with other sector working groups; represent the sector working group in inter-sector coordination mechanisms (ISCG); and ensure that the working group is adequately represented in other relevant meetings.
- Ensure the integration of agreed priority cross-cutting issues in sectorial needs assessment, analysis, planning, monitoring and response, and protection (e.g. age, gender, environment, HIV/AIDS, and diversity).
- Ensure that partners are aware of relevant policy guidelines (e.g. IASC), technical standards and relevant commitments that the authorities have undertaken; promote adherence to agreed standards and best practice by all partners, taking into consideration the need for local adaptation; request guidance where necessary. Ensure exchange of good practices and lessons learnt amongst partners by organizing presentations, joint visits, sharing documents and other activities. These include promoting common beneficiary selection criteria and mechanisms.
- Develop an information management strategy for the effective integration and sharing of planning and reporting data within the working group, as well as with OCHA and other sectors.
- Ensure common monitoring mechanisms are in place to review impact of the working group and progress against implementation plans by ensuring partners’ active contribution to and involvement in joint monitoring activities
- Use the Coordination Performance Monitoring System periodically and at least every six months in order to assess how the sector is achieving its objectives.
- Activate global shelter sector responsibilities at the national level and coordinate the reports on national interventions
- Support coordination and harmonisation of relevant capacity building and trainings to maximise effectiveness across INGOs, NGOs and partners.
REQUIREMENTS:
Academic:
- Advanced University Degree in Architecture, Civil Engineering or related technical field
Experience and skills:
- At least ten years relevant experience in different international organizations (e.g. UN agencies, INGOs, IOs, Donors, Red Cross Red Crescent Movement). Work experience in the region would be an advantage.
- Experience of emergency programme management and coordination.
- Excellent leadership, coordination and information management skills.
- Familiarity with the humanitarian reform process, including the Transformative Agenda, the IASC guideline and the role of the UN System, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, and the NGO humanitarian community.
- Extensive knowledge of current humanitarian issues.
- Good knowledge of shelter-related technical guidelines and standards, including Sphere.
- Demonstrated empathy and experience in understanding the position and needs of national partners, as well as building their capacity.
- Capacity to travel to field locations throughout Turkey and liaise with local authorities.
- Good skills in using Microsoft Office software and other commonly used software.
- Cluster coordinator training
Core Competencies:
- Leadership and coordination
- Empowering and building trust
- Negotiation and conflict resolution
- Strategic planning and vision, including development of shelter strategic frameworks with special focus to cultural and social aspects, gender related issues and environmental considerations
- Planning and organization
- Judgment and decision making
- Analytical thinking
- Innovation and creativity
- Providing technical support and advice
- Management of resources and teams
- Coaching and developing staff
- Managing performance, monitoring and evaluating
- Mobilizing external support
- Political awareness
Languages: Fluency in English. Desirable working knowledge of Arabic and Turkish.
DESIRABLE
- Training on Shelter Cluster Coordination training or Coordination and Leadership training.
- Applied knowledge in programme management, project formulation, programme cycles and reporting standards.
- Previous exposure to cluster approach, preferably both at the global policy level and with a field implementation approach.
- Expertise in planning, formulation, implementation, monitoring and reporting on humanitarian operations.
- Proficiency in the languages spoken in the region.
OTHER
The position will be based in Gaziantep, Turkey with travels to field offices as required.
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