Job Title: Civil Society Specialist

Duty station: Erbil - Iraq (KRG)

Duration of assignment: 10 months (renewable)

Contract type: Services Contract

Starting date: 1 April 2021

1. Introduction

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1^st January 2015 and merging 6 French public agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programmes, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. Besides, EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programmes.

2. Context & Needs

In Iraq, the city of Mosul, ISIL’s occupation from June 2014 to July 2017 caused a humanitarian catastrophe with grave human suffering and physical destruction. Nearly one million people were forced to flee the conflict, with over 31,000 houses destroyed or severely damaged, major disruption in public service provision, and water treatment and power plants contaminated with unprecedented quantities of explosive hazards and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These damages and losses have resulted in increased levels of poverty and unemployment in Daesh - formally controlled areas. Drawing on comprehensive assessments conducted by the Ministry of Planning, the World Bank estimates that reconstruction will take at least 10 years, with a financial requirement of at least $80 billion for the entire country, including a large share needed to rebuild Ninewa province.

A large range of donors already contribute to the reconstruction of Ninewa area; infrastructures and house reconstruction, demining, soft reconstruction (economic recovery, capacity building) but there is still a lot of needs to address in the humanitarian field as well as in terms of stabilisation. The promotion of stabilisation, the initiation of an effective recovery and reconstruction process are crucial to prevent escalation to re-emerging and tackle some of the underlying social and economic drivers of instability in Iraq.

Iraq can only escape from unsteadiness if short-term solutions aimed at stabilisation are coupled with longer-term solutions that focus on governance. Short-term solutions include guaranteeing security and resuming essential services, particularly in recently liberated areas. Longer-term solutions include enhancing relations between the central government and its peripheries; tackling endemic corruption; supporting bottom-up, rather than top-down, processes in selecting leaders; taking power away from non-state actors; prioritising good governance as an essential part of the reconciliation process and providing opportunities for useful engagement of youth in local governance. State authority and jurisdiction-rebuilding efforts must address these challenges and achieve local buy-ins that can establish enduring confidence and legitimacy.

3. Project background

In line with the Iraq’s Reconstruction and Development Framework, the proposed Action will support the Iraqi authorities to tackle some of the underlying social and economic drivers, starting with youth unemployment, the top priority of populations and public authorities met during EF’s scoping missions. Aligned with the Commission Decision on the financing of the special measure in favour of Iraq for 2019, aiming at promoting socio-economic development in Iraq through job creation and income generation (CRIS number: 2019/41441), the project will contribute to the development of the urban areas of Mosul and of the rural area of Nineveh governorate. It will allow vulnerable and returnees youth and women to find income opportunities and services to respond to their essential needs.

In that sense, Expertise France designed the Yanhad project that promotes the stability and socio-economic development of Iraq by strengthening national and local institutional capacity to support essential public-services delivery and economic empowerment for local populations and IDPs. Yanhad is composed of 3 components:

1. Support to students of Mosul and Ninewa universities: to improve access to students of Mosul to more efficient career guidance services and to concrete opportunities for professional work experience, employment, and civic engagement.
2. Youth civic engagement: to engage youth through Iraqi CSO in community service projects and fostering dialogue with local authorities
3. Youth entrepreneurship: to encourage youth entrepreneurship through a network of accessible business incubators/accelerators programs for enterprises throughout the country

Job Description / Assignment

Position’s Overall Objective

Due to the increased volume of Yanhad project implementation in 2021, Expertise France is recruiting a Senior Coordination and Outreach Officer to significantly enhance Yanhad project’s interaction with other public institutions, non-governmental organisations, and private sector actors in Iraq and KRG. Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, working under the guidance of the Senior Project Officer, the Civil Society Specialist will be overseeing the technical aspects of the implementation of the civil society components and chapters within the overall YANHAD actions. The incumbent will be working across the multiple components of the YANHAD project.

Responsibilities

• Proactively identify and conceptualize potential civil society activities that advance program objectives, including civic activism, advocacy, social entrepreneurship, and capacity-building grants
• Play a key role in soliciting and awarding grants in close coordination with the program team
• Analyse and evaluate grant applications and proposals to ensure consistency with program objectives and relevance to local context
• Provide technical oversight of a portfolio of grants and ongoing mentorship, guidance, and support to grantees throughout the grant cycle
• Maitain continuous communications with grantees to remain up-to-date on their activities, progress, and plans
• Assist grantees in developing performance monitoring plans to assess the results and impact of their grant-funded activities
• Conduct capacity assessments of grantees and contribute to developing capacity-building approaches and activities to address identified gaps (prior to funding)
• Conduct regular site visits and attend grantee-sponsored events and activities
• Contribute and work effectively within a team environment including, actively contributing to team planning, development activities

Location

The duty station is Erbil, located in EF office.

2. Expert Profile and working experience

• Relevant Master Degree in political science, international development, socio-conomic and cultural cooperation; humanitarian and development aid
• 5 to 7 years of professional experience in socio-economic and cultural development, international organisations, inter-agency coordination, outreach development. An experience within multi-donor agencies is an asset;
• Excellent command of spoken Arabic and English, French is considered as an asset;
• Excellent writing skills in English;
• Excellent coordination and inter-personal relations skills;
• Excellent presentation and public speaking skills;
• Proven track-record of EU-funded projects, with a good command of EU rules;
• Good knowledge of Iraq and KRG youth-related policies and programmes;
• Good understanding of UE mandates in Iraq and project implementation strategies;

This position requires abilities to work in a highly political and volatile environment with tight deadlines and challenging traveling conditions.

Only applicants who apply as per the below details will be shortlisted.

• Deadline of submission: 23^rd March

• All applications must include the following (In English and in PDF format only) :

- Detailed CV

- Cover Letter (explaining suitability for the position)

•  Applications should be sent to erbil.recrutment@expertisefrance.fr , using the following subject:“YANHAD - Civil Society Expert”

• Expertise France reserves the right to close the announcement prior to the stated deadline as applications are screened on a rolling basis and only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews.
• Incomplete applications cannot be considered. Wrong title formats will not be considered.