SENIOR PARTNERSHIPS OFFICER - LEBANON

Senior Partnerships Officer - Lebanon

Senior Partnerships Officer - Lebanon

Blog Article

Background:

Tenders Information - Lebanon’s economic, political, and social contexts have been significantly impacted by multiple, concurrent crises since 2019. Already experiencing a financial crisis, a massive explosion in the Port of Beirut (POB) in August 2020 caused considerable loss of life and injury, displacement, physical damage to infrastructure, and further affected the country’s economic standings. The COVID-19 pandemic and political deadlock worked to further deepen this crisis. Consequently, Lebanon's overall socio-economic welfare has significantly deteriorated, impacting various segments of the population including, but not limited to, the host community, internally displaced persons, forcibly displaced individuals, and migrant workers. Within this context, the NGO sector has been an essential lifeline for vulnerable groups, providing them with critical social services and supporting their immediate- and longer-range social recovery needs while national systems remain unable to fill these gaps.

Project Description:

Supporting Lebanon’s Social Recovery Services. - 

Online Tenders

The project will focus on reducing vulnerabilities of groups who are identified to be significantly impacted by Lebanon’s enduring social, economic, and political fragility: (i) survivors of Gender-Based Violence (SGBV); (ii) those suffering from deteriorated psycho-social wellbeing; (iii) and/or those facing limitations related to being a person with disabilities and older persons. The project’s scope will entail providing grant financing directly to a selected number of NGOs, to enable them to provide social services to reduce vulnerabilities in these groups while strengthening their capacity to participate in the broader social recovery and reconstruction process.

The World Bank has selected the IRC to act as the Project Implementing Agency to implement the Supporting Lebanon’s Immediate Social Recovery Services project. The IRC will take on project management, grant provision and/or procurement of services from NGOs and will be responsible for the fiduciary supervision of the selected NGO partners, in addition to improving their environmental & social safeguards capabilities.

Job Purpose:

Based in Beirut with occasional travel to Field Offices, the Senior Partnerships Officer (SPO) will work within the partnership team as part of the project management team implementing a World Bank project, which aligns with the Lebanon Country Program's strategic objective of working with partners. The SPO will oversee the management, coordination, and key risk control elements of IRC's sub-awards portfolio, ensuring high standards of risk management and compliance within strong, high-quality partnerships that deliver timely and effective assistance. The Partnership team will manage all steps in the sub-award management lifecycle and plays a key role in overall project cycle management.

The SPO will also play a critical role in supporting partners as they develop their projects and in ensuring clear and efficient communication among the various stakeholders involved in the partnership.

Summary of Responsibilities:

Partnership Agreement and Lifecycle Management:


  • Contribute to the development of the Request for Applications (RFA) with the Project Lead and Partnership Manager, in drafting the proposal, eligibility criteria, and requirements along with the scoring criteria. Coordinate the dissemination of the RFA and maintain proper follow-up on received applications. As needed, organize information sessions with the technical lead.

  • Review applicants’ submitted proposals and budgets and coordinate the selection committee meeting, with the Partnership Manager and relevant technical leads.

  • Facilitate and coordinate all aspects of the sub-award lifecycle, from partner identification and vetting to project and agreement development, amendments, monitoring, and close-out, in collaboration with relevant IRC departments.

  • Lead the pre-award due diligence process for all new sub-awards, including thorough vetting, Partnership Capacity Analysis (PCA), and collaborative risk analysis. Identify and implement appropriate risk management measures in coordination with technical and operational focal points to manage those risks.

  • Incorporate inputs after internal review of the partner’s proposal and agreement to ensure compliance under the guidance of the Partnership Manager.

  • Draft Partnership Agreements, amendments, and all relevant annexes in line with IRC’s systems and donor compliance. Coordinate with all relevant internal units and the compliance unit at HQ to finalize and follow up on partner agreements, including completing the OTIS flow.

  • Facilitate and lead the partnership process in alignment with IRC's project cycle management. This includes scheduling and conducting opening meetings, implementation meetings, monitoring and reflection sessions, and closure meetings, as well as ensuring timely follow-up on partner reporting.

  • Maintain and coordinate partners’ program, finance and compliance monitoring schedules and coordinate support for partners to address any concerns or issues that may arise.

  • Ensure that monitoring plans, visits and tools are in place for donor compliance and progress against objectives, and that key monitoring information and reflection session and learning, are documented.

  • Regularly update the World Bank Partnership Tracker and ensure the Contracts section of STEP is kept up to date.


Partner Support and Capacity Sharing:

  • Collaborate with other IRC departments (Supply Chain, Finance, HR, grants, Communications and Programs to support the partners) and identify opportunities for IRC to support partner capacity strengthening efforts.

  • Support IRC’s role in the delivery of capacity strengthening plans for partners in close coordination with the partnerships manager.

  • Support the partners in the development of the narrative proposals and budget.

  • In coordination with relevant units and Partnership Manager, support the partners in finding proper solutions and mitigation measures to challenges faced throughout the project period.


Promote Effective Partnerships:

  • Implement best practices with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for:



  • Systematic collection of partner feedback on IRC's management of partnership relationships, as well as taking appropriate action in response to this feedback.

  • Actively engaging and supporting partners in their daily activities to ensure compliance with donor and IRC regulations.

  • Ensuring partner engagement in program development

  • Promoting a culture of partnerships adhering to the principles of equality, transparency, responsibility, result oriented and complementarity.


Documentation and Reporting:

  • Ensure that comprehensive electronic and physical files for partnerships are maintained.

  • Oversee and work with project lead and other partnership staff to review monthly internal reports and support the drafting and compilation of partner reports into overall donor reports.


Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Partnership Manager

Position directly supervises: N/A

Indirect Reporting: N/A
Other Internal and/or external contacts:

  • Internal: IRC Lebanon Finance, Human Resources and Supply Chain Departments, Headquarters and Regional Grants and Compliance teams, Partnerships team, Programs teams and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning teams.

  • External: Partner organizations.


Job Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Social Sciences, International Relations, Development Studies, Business Administration, Project Management, or a related field. (Master’s degree is a plus.)

  • A minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience.

  • Demonstrated successful experience working with local partners and/or grants management.

  • Demonstrable understanding of project planning and management cycles, and strong program design skills.

  • Highly organized, close attention to detail, and ability to effectively prioritize tasks in a fluid environment.

  • Professional fluency in spoken and written English; able to communicate concisely and with impact.

  • Very strong English writing and editing skills; strong computer skills.


Working Hours

• Monday to Friday 8.00 am to 5.00 pm (with flexibility of timing)

Working Environment: The position will be based in the Beirut office

Candidates agree to disclose to IRC any situation of actual potential conflict of interest that impacts the capacity to serve the best interest of IRC and understand that any misstatement or misrepresentation described during the recruitment process and/or after hiring may lead to his/her disqualification or dismissal by IRC, and/or sanctions by the Donor (World Bank).

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Government Tenders

Please submit your application by 31 January 2025 on: https://rescue.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/56990?c=rescue

Report this page