فرص عمل لدى لجنة الإنقاذ الدولية: مطلوب مدير تمويل للشراكات (Partnerships Finance Manager)

Background IRC summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life- changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

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 Immediate Social Recovery Services

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:

1. 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 adopts a holistic approach with a cross-cutting focus on various vulnerable groups, including women, girls, youth, migrants, refugees, internally displaced people, and host communities. This comprehensive strategy reflects a commitment to addressing multiple and intersecting vulnerabilities within the target populations. Supporting Lebanon ’s Immediate Social Recovery Services interventions 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.

This will be achieved by supporting non-government stakeholders that are engaged and have a track record in delivering social recovery services and working with target groups to strengthen 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:

As the Partnership Finance Manager, you play a pivotal role in the heart of our project's success. Your responsibilities extend beyond finance; you become a crucial link in supporting key project objectives. This role offers a unique opportunity to collaborate closely with a dynamic, passionate, and highly motivated team, contributing to initiatives that directly impact vulnerable groups in Lebanon. Your critical involvement will not only shape the financial landscape but also foster meaningful partnerships, ensuring that the project's impact reaches those who need it most.

Main Responsibilities

Program Delivery

• • Contribute to the development of the Request for Applications (RFA) and the scoring criteria for the selection of partners.
  • Participate in the Partner's Project Capacity Review (PPCR) of potential partners as appropriate and contribute to efforts to collaboratively analyze and manage material risks identified.
  • Work collaboratively and supportively with partners to develop and finalize budgets and budget amendments, and (in the case of milestone-based partnership agreements) in determining the costing of milestones.
  • Review partnership agreement terms relating to advances, reporting and any special conditions relating to finance before sharing with finance and HQ for final sign off.
  • For cost-reimbursable partnership agreements, agree with partners the specific documentation required to support each type of cost, adjusting standard requirements to the operating context and the partner.
  • Participate in Partnership Project Opening, Review and Closure Meetings, including to review successes, challenges, and lessons learned with the partner, and capture effective finance practices for future partnerships.
  • Collaborate with partners to ensure timely disbursement of funding as per the partnership agreement, facilitating clear communication and swift resolution in cases where challenges arise preventing timely provision of funds.
  • Prepare cash requests and process partners' payments, ensuring all necessary supporting documentation and journal vouchers are provided as required.
  • Review partner financial reports (and narrative reports for consistency) and supporting documents to ensure compliance with the partnership agreement, donor regulations and IRC policy, and provide feedback to the partner as appropriate.
  • Monitor partner budgets and actual spending in collaboration with project lead, identifying issues and working proactively and collaboratively with partners to resolve them.
  • Lead timely and effective finance review, checking and reflection with the partners (monitoring), identifying appropriate follow up actions, and providing completed reports to Project Lead.
  • Assist in the close-out phase of partnership agreements,
  • Participate in the review of the performance of the partner, of the IRC, and of the partnership, including successes, challenges and lessons learned.
  • Assist during the audit process for the partnership portfolio.
  • Ensure the availability of all necessary financial documentation and records for audit purposes.

Program Support & Capacity Sharing

• Provide finance and accounting training and mentoring support to partners, in accordance with financial management best practices, donor compliance and partner project support plans.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Project Lead

Position directly supervises: NA

Technical dotted line management: Senior Finance Manager

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Partnership Unit Staff, Finance, HR and Supply chain departments, HQ and Regional grants/compliance teams, Program Coordinators, Regional partnership team, Senior Coordinator

External: Partner organizations

Job Requirements:

• • Bachelor’s degree in relevant discipline. Master’s degree a plus.
  • Demonstrated successful experience working with partners and/or grants management.
  • Demonstrated experience in finance and accounting.
  • Demonstrable understanding of project planning and management cycles, and strong program design skills.
  • Highly organized, diplomatic, 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 & Arabic writing and editing skills; strong computer skills.

Working Environment: Staff will be based in Beirut with possible travel to field locations, upon business needs.

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, Equality, 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.