Project Manager – Greece

INTERSOS is an independent humanitarian organization that assists the victims of natural disasters, armed conflicts and exclusion. Its activities are based on the principles of solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, respect for diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable people.

Terms of reference
Job Title: Project Manager
Code: SR-50bis-2451
Duty station: Lesvos
Starting date: 11/04/2022
Contract duration: 8 months
Reporting to: Head of Mission
Supervision of: Project staff
Dependents: Non-family duty station

General context of the project
Greece has been a longstanding country of first arrival and transit for refugees and migrants. Since 2014, approximately 1.259.246 million refugees transited Greece via land and sea, and 2,051 died in the attempt.

Asylum-seekers at the Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) on the Greek Islands have to cope with hard living conditions. Having survived dangerous journeys in search of safety in Europe, they have been trapped on the Islands for years, exacerbating feelings of insecurity, loneliness and hopelessness.

On Lesvos, on the 9 September 2020, a fire broke down in the notorious Moria camp, burning it to the ground and leaving thirteen thousand people displaced.

With financial (250+ million) and technical support from the European Commission, Greek authorities are constructing fences and concrete walls around existing camps, building closed camps in remote locations on the Aegean islands, and introducing legislation to further restrict the freedom of movement in and access to camps.

Following the relocation of many recognized refugees to the mainland, the site hosts approximately 2119 people, 86% of the 2340 asylum seekers and refugees residing on Lesvos.

The majority of the population are from Afghanistan (68%), Somalia (11%) and Democratic Republic of Congo (5%) Women account for 19% of the population and children for 27%.

General purpose of the position
This position is aimed at ensuring the prompt and effective delivery of the assigned Project in Lesvos. By the end of the assignment, the post holder is expected to have:

Contributed to ensuring beneficiaries targeted by projects are accessing all the foreseen services;

• Ensured the technical quality of projects by paying particular attention to technical aspects of Protection and Mental Health sector required;

• Managed all project logistics to ensure the achievement of projects’ activities;

• Managed all financial resources available to projects – ensuring sound documentation is in place for all procurements and internal and donor procedures are applied as applicable.

• Ensured data is collected to respond to all projects’ indicators in a timely fashion for interim and final reporting;

• Ensured timely submission of all reports and contributed to country-level reporting;

Main responsibilities and tasks
Programme and representation:

• Ensures effective planning, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation of the project

• Under the supervision of the Head of Mission, he/she represents INTERSOS for all interaction and negotiation, notably donors, and other stakeholders, including local authorities

• Ensure participation of INTERSOS in all coordination meeting, relevant Working Groups

• Maintain strong relations with local authorities, other NGOs, UN agencies, and other local actors with support of the coordination team also to identify new fundraising opportunities and partnership

• Follow up on project implementation including revision of targets against achievements, identification of gaps in the response in order to define needed adjustments in the implementation
  Management and Programme Quality

• Ensures continuation of all the foreseen activities

• Develops and manages the implementation of/adherence to work plans

• Provides protection / MHPSS technical support to projects’ staff

• Ensures respect of and adherence to INTERSOS rules and regulations, code of conduct, and Charter of values.

• Ensures and proposes capacity-building opportunities for national staff

Procurement & Finance:

• Manages all the financial resources allocated to projects, producing financial plans and cash forecasts and verifying budgets vs. actual on a weekly and monthly basis
• Prepares and ensures the regular update of a financial plan
• Verifies and approves purchase, in line with the budget and the financial and procurement plan

• Verifies regularly the bookkeeping entries in the INTERSOS accounting spreadsheets (PN): verifying budget line allocations, budget expenditure status against actual delivery and the financial plan for the project implementation period

• Ensure purchases of goods, services, supplies are in line with the relevant INTERSOS procurement guidelines and procurement plan

• Manages all the logistical procedures, ensuring INTERSOS and donor requirements are met, and proper documentation is collected and maintained
  Monitoring, evaluation and reporting

• Delivers timely quality reporting on project activities, including findings in terms of impact on individuals and communities.

• Ensures a sound monitoring of the project by producing, regularly updating the project appraisal tool (PAT)

• Takes part to projects’ meetings called by donors and/or any relevant stakeholders, in close coordination and under the supervision of the Head of Mission

Program Development:

• Develops budgets and project proposals for sector, in close coordination and under the supervision of the Head of Mission

Human Resources and Personnel Management:

• Enhances quality of implementation by training projects’ staff

• Ensures regular performance evaluation of project staff (national and international, as needed) in line with an internal regulation.

• Ensures timely recruitment of national staff, in coordination with relevant support staff, as per INTERSOS policy for staff recruitment

• Ensures the creation and maintaining of respectful and positive working relationships, which allow for the effective implementation of all activities.

• Supports the team in development of their skills, knowledge and capacities through training opportunities and on-the-job mentoring.

• Ensures smooth communication within the team and with other supporting entities.

External Relations:

• Ensures coordination with the different actors in the area of intervention

• Ensure that referral pathways are in place and that INTERSOS receives quality referrals from different actors

• Maintain good relations with partners and establish MoUs when needed

Other:

Perform other tasks and duties as required in order to ensure correct implementation of project activities

Required profile and experience
Education
Advanced university degree in psychology, social sciences, political sciences, law or other relevant fields. A first-level university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted instead of an advanced university degree.

Professional Experience

• Minimum 3 years-long experience in project management in the humanitarian sector. Excellent professional competence in the Protection and MHPSS sector is required. Previous experience in Greece is considered an asset.
• Demonstrated experience in working in humanitarian emergency contexts.
• Demonstrated project management skills (financial management, human resources management, monitoring and evaluation techniques

Professional Requirements

• Management skills and leadership in humanitarian response interventions;
• Good project proposals and reports writing capacity in accordance with INTERSOS standards and donors requirements;
• Ability to work with a tight schedule, with little supervision and under pressure;
• Good knowledge of security management in humanitarian contexts;
• Computer skills: knowledge of MS Office and competence with data management and data inputs in IT platforms**Languages**
  Fluency in written and spoken English, good reporting and communication skills are required.
  Greek is considered an advantage

Personal Requirements

• Ability to work in a team and independently;
• Previous experiences in Greece (desirable);
• Strong team spirit, comfortable in a multicultural environment;
• Interpersonal skills, especially in managing relationships with the teams;
• Strong communication skills (written and oral) ;
• Strong negotiation and diplomatic skills;
• Problem-solving;
• Ability to deal with heavy work pressure;