Area Manager
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Job Title : GAZA AREA MANAGER
Country & Base of posting : OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Reports to: COUNTRY DIRECTOR
Creation/Replacement : Replacement
Expected Date Of Arrival: 1st July 2016
Duration of Mission : 12 months
General Information on the Mission
Context
GVC – Gruppo di Volontariato Civile, is a non-governmental, secular, and independent organization, founded in Bologna in 1971. We are active in international development aid projects with complex action strategies: from humanitarian aid to populations suffering from conflicts and natural disasters to reconstruction, hygiene, and food security; from rural development to education, to the protection of women's and children's rights.
In over forty years of activity, GVC has operated in all parts of the world, carrying out thousands of projects. We collaborate with public institutions, cultural associations, cooperatives, and Italian and European NGOs, organizing seminars, conferences, exhibits and festivals, laboratories in school and training courses for teachers. We produce educational materials and carry out communication activities on sensitive issues such as differences, human rights, women's issues, sustainable trade, and biodiversity.
BACKGROUND: since 1967, occupation and political stagnation have directly affected the socio-economic situation of the Palestinian population in the West Bank. The movement restrictions policy are severely limiting Palestinians’ access to essential services and markets, and leading to serious and negative impact upon all aspects of their lives, and mainly their livelihoods.
Palestine is a sui generis case for aid delivery and cooperation, due notably to the occupation and the fragmentation of the territory. Efficiency and performance of development cooperation continue to be challenged by the Israeli occupation of Palestine, in all sectors NGOs are involved in. Palestine is divided into the Gaza Strip (under the control of de facto authorities not recognised by the international community), East Jerusalem (a de facto annexation by Israel also not recognised) and the West Bank (over which the Palestinian Authority (PA) has entire control only on Area A, i.e. 18% of the West Bank). The PA has therefore only a very limited authority, both in terms of territory and legal jurisdiction.
The situation of the PA remains challenging, with the persistence of a systemic fiscal crisis and crisis of political legitimacy following the suspension of the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2007 and the absence of national elections subsequently. In July 2013 direct talks were resumed between Israelis and Palestinians in the context of the Middle East Peace Process with the ambitious aim of achieving -agreement on all final status issues within nine months. The failure of the peace talking and the operation “Protective Edge” leaded to a more tense escalation, for which international NGOs are challenged to respond with innovative and sustainable cooperation strategies.
GVC’s development strategy in the country
The consolidation of the PA institutional infrastructure open to foster democratic participation of civil society, through the improvement of representative processes and the implementation of specific effective tools to promote dialogue. These criteria should lead any kind of intervention, preparing both decentralized institution and civil society to better advocate for a final recognition of Palestinian statehood.
GVC focuses strategically on 4 main sectors for its development program, namely:
-Food Security
-Local Development and Governance
-Integrate Water Resource Management
-LRRD: Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development
Job Description
Tasks and Responsibilities
Representation
-Representation vis--vis local authorities:
-Establish and update contact details of potential Donors active in the area of activity;
-Provides a quarterly accomplished work plan of fundraising and external communication activities with relevant stakeholders in his/her area of management
-Participate in Donor meetings at local and, if required, at national level and communicate relevant information to the Country Representative and Sector Coordinators;
-Representation amongst other international organizations:
-Participate in inter-NGO Coordination meetings, Clusters and those of UN Agencies (OCHA, UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, etc. ), and any other relevant inter-governmental institution at local and, if required, at national level;
-Ensure maximum visibility of the GVC amongst the NGO community at local level;
Office Management
-Direct line management of the staff based in Gaza, including recruitment, coaching, capacity building and ensuring co-ordination
-Ensure a positive working environment and good team dynamics (solve out potential conflicts)
-Supervise overall financial commitments and financial risk
-Provides directly support to Project Managers of the area of intervention in project implementation
-Lead the production of reports and ensure the timeliness and accuracy of information provided, as well ensuring confidentiality of sensitive information
-Authorise the requests of expenses of the office to be submitted to Sector Coordinators and Finance Manager
-Contribute to the recruitment of expatriate staff assigned to the relevant area
-Contribute to regular appraisals of directly supervised colleagues and pass appraisal forms to the Country Director with recommendations (new position, changes to contract or salary etc.)
-Supervise the preparation and provide final validation of tender documents and MoUs in cases where GVC is in charge of it. Otherwise the NTC will supervise the tender documents prepared by GVC partners;
-Supervision of technical procurement processes;
-Contracts execution: progressive stages’ quantity and quality monitoring control;
-Final validation of the technical supervision of contracted works;
-Ensuring final technical quality of all GVC technical interventions implemented through beneficiary participation;
-Authorisation of contracts instalments payment;
-Authorisation and clearing of hand over processes and documentation
Programme Development
-Responsible of the initial planning design of specific projects’ activities and directly in charge of the timeless and accuracy of the implementation of the activities and their budgets, agreed with Sector Coordinators and Country Representative;
-Guarantee the follow up of the methodology agreed with Sector Coordinators and Country Representative, under direct supervision of assigned Project Managers.
-Contribute to the development of a GVC intervention strategy and lead its implementation at local level
-Support identification and elaboration of new project proposals and budget development, by providing a bi-yearly to the Country Director in collaboration with Sector Coordinators.
-More generally, communicate systematically and provide a bimonthly reports to the Country Representative about the development of the GVC strategy and its implementation in the area
-Ensure a sound and consistent financial planning for the Programmes assigned to his/her area of intervention, and provide accurate timely information and data to the assigned Project Managers, and the Financial Manager.
-Responsible of the quality of any final output of every line of activities within the projects assigned in his/her area, under the supervision of the dedicated Project Manager and/or Sector Coordinators.
-In charge of the Protection Vulnerability Index development and monitoring.
Safety and Security
-In cooperation with the Country Representative, monitor the local security situation and inform Security Focal points of developments through regular verbal and, if required, written reports
-Support in updating the security guidelines in the area of intervention
-Ensure that security procedures are respected by the whole staff
Report to
-Country Director and Coordinators
Works in coordination with
-Emergency Coordinator
-Development Coordinator
-Project Managers
Duty Station
Gaza city
Core and Functional Competences
Required knowledge and skills
-An advanced university degree or equivalent in the field of Social or Political Science, Development Studies, International relations, Project Management.
-Minimum of 7 years of relevant working experience in related fields with a focus in the area of Local Economic Development and/or Governance.
-Project Development and proposal writing.
-Project Management Cycle.
-Knowledge of main donors’ policy and procedures (UN Agencies, Europeaid, Italian Cooperation).
-Previous work experience with international NGOs will be preferred.
-Valid and clean driving license.
Required Personal Characteristics
-Ability to think strategically and conceptually and to translate these into concrete results.
-Ability to identify, initiate and maintain good relationships with partner organisations, donors and national authorities including building professional relationships with senior decision-makers and influencers / leaders.
-Proven organisational skills and ability to effectively manage multiple tasks while fostering quality, team spirit and positive working relationships with colleagues.
-Strong interpersonal relationships and demonstrated ability to leverage business networks and partnerships for continued growth.
-Fluency in written and spoken English
-Ability to work under pressure.
-Demonstrates integrity by modelling the NGO values and ethical standards.
-Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
-Treats all people fairly without favouritism
-Computer skills, in particular MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Project.
Application process:
Please send a Curriculum Vitae and a Cover letter to
gvcpalestina@gvc-italia.org
/ Object: Gaza Area Manager.
Closure of application: Wednesday, June 15, 2016.