Shelter Technical Advisor

Starting date: ASAP

Contract duration: Ideally 12 months but shorter assignment can be discussed

Country Programme: Syria Response

Base: Kobane, Syria with travels within the region

Line Manager:LEARN Deputy Chief of Party

About the mission:

PIN has been working in Northern Syria since 2012, providing emergency relief and early recovery support to conflict-affected communities. Programmes for conflict-affected communities in Syria focus mainly on Emergency Food Assistance, WASH, Shelter and Education, in addition to Early Recovery and Livelihoods activities. PIN’s contribution to the Syria humanitarian response is amongst the largest, with an annual turnover of over $35 million, engaging over 400 full-time staff members across Northern Syria and cross-border response hubs in neighbouring countries. In Northeast Syria PIN operates from four offices.

About the role:

People in Need (PIN) is looking for Shelter Technical Advisor (STA) of the LEARN Consortium (Linking Emergency Assistance and Response in Northeast Syria). LEARN Consortium is a joint action of four partners led by Solidarites International (SI) and funded by OFDA, aiming to provide affected population with WASH, Shelter and Health assistance in Northeast Syria. PIN leads the Shelter sector in this joint action.

The Shelter Technical Advisor will have a key role in identification of sectoral needs and gaps; program follow-up and support; provision of technical shelter support to partners’ teams across all four partners; leading on development of LEARN technical guidance documents and sector policies, with a focus on harmonised tools and approaches; and, facilitating communication and coordination between LEARN partners. The Shelter Technical Advisor will also contribute to and support joint sectoral or multi-sectoral assessments and evaluations, identify and promote integrated programming, and contribute to potential Shelter components of LEARN’s Rapid Response Mechanism. The position requires a high mobility inside of the intervention areas and potentially also outside (e.g. meetings in Amman or Erbil).

Duties and responsibilities:

• Leads on the development of LEARN sector strategy
• Provides technical support to partners’ teams, develops their capacities and supports high technical quality of the Shelter outcomes and activities
• Supports identification of sectoral needs and gaps in target areas
• Leads on development of technical guidance documents and tools and sector policies
• Ensures that the Shelter intervention is in line with country specific Shelter guidance and global humanitarian standards
• Strengthens coordination between the LEARN partners and across programming sectors and leads cross-partner Shelter coordination meetings
• Together with the Shelter Programme Managers of PIN and SI, enhances coordination with other stakeholders in the target areas.
• Ensures appropriate monitoring mechanisms are in place and indicators for the project are relevant and followed up
• Draws best practices and lessons learned
• Consolidates activity reports of LEARN’s Shelter intervention and contributes to reporting
• Promotes key topics, such as protection mainstreaming
• Contributes to coordination and quality of Shelter intervention of LEARN’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM).
• Participates in the relevant meetings with partners, LEARN management and the donor

Suitable candidates for this position should possess:

• At least 5 years of professional experience within a humanitarian and/or development organization;
• Proven field experience in Shelter programming (at least 3 years);
• Experience working in a consortium setting would be an asset;
• Familiarity with Shelter technical guidelines of institutional donors, humanitarian standards and Global Shelter Cluster guidelines;
• Experience in building the capacity of national teams;
• Experience in representing an organisation in strategic meetings and coordination fora;
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills;
• Excellent command of English, knowledge of Arabic would be an advantage;
• Strong grasp of all stages of programme cycle management and quality standards in humanitarian programming, including safeguarding and accountability mechanisms;
• Strong organizational, critical analysis and problem solving skills;
• Experience of working in complex and volatile contexts, including familiarity with the humanitarian context of Syria or the Middle East, would be an advantage.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions:

• This position is an unaccompanied position. The position is based in Kobane and eligible for R&R. Kobane is main overnight duty station for all international staff based in North East Syria. The town is perceived as less conservative, offering opportunities for social life outside the work hours.
• The curfew is not imposed, international staff can freely move within its administrative boundaries either alone or with a PIN duty driver. Guesthouse building in Kobane has five independent apartments; each of them contains 2-3 bedrooms and a living room, separate kitchen, bathroom and internet.
• General security situation outside Kobane is less secure however considered stable, allowing international staff freely move between all our offices without major restrictions according to PIN security recommendations. Mobile phones and cellular service are widely available. Internet is available in all PIN’s offices and guesthouses. There are a number of health services available with medevac mechanism for INGO’s members. There is reasonable access to most of the consumer goods. Travel to field sites will be required.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and PIN's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

People in Need offers:

• Working environment in a well-established and growing humanitarian organization;
• Salary according to PIN’s salary scale and HR policies, expected salary 3,000-3,400 EUR (including the monthly per diems) based on experience;
• Accommodation in LEARN’s and PIN’s guesthouse in Northeast Syria on PIN’s expenses. In the main base, living conditions are comfortable with opportunities and places to socialize and spend free time, and without a curfew. Overnight stays in a field guesthouse to allow closer proximity to the implementation sites are also possible depending on current security situation. Security inside NES is volatile in general but has been relatively stable with direct access secured to all programme areas over the past year;
• 25 days of paid leave annually and R&R according to PIN’s policy;
• Reimbursement of travel expenses with travel to the country of residence (or other selected country) once per every 6 months of completed work, plus R&R benefits according to PIN’s policy;
• Pre-departure expenses - reimbursement of costs of visas and vaccinations; assistance with visa application procedure;
• Free medical helpdesk and psychological consultation available online;
• Travel health insurance.

How to apply:

Are you interested in this position? Send us your CV (no longer than 4 pages) and short cover letter via this link. Please note only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

People in Need staff are expected to perform job duties and responsibilities in accordance with People in Need Code of conduct and key policies (available at: www.peopleinneed.cz/policies).