Finnish Refugee Council (FRC) / Suomen Pakolaisapu (www.refugeecouncil.fi) is an International non-governmental organisation with Head Office in Helsinki; FRC advocates for the rights of refugees, displaced populations and migrants, and supports their new beginning. By reinforcing equality and creating opportunities for everyone to lead a good life, FRC promotes the establishment of stable and peaceful societies.

Education forms the foundations of an equal society, and FRC´s activities place emphasis on capacity building for the most vulnerable members of societies as well as for community-based organisations, thus strengthening basic democratic structures.

FRC has been registered and accorded legal personality with Registry Number 4184 on 11th of June 2019 as a Foreign Organisation and, as per the plans revised due to COVID-19 outbreak, FRC will start its operations in Ethiopia as from September 2020, implementing the 1 year long humanitarian project funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The project is titled “Functional Adult Literacy for enhanced refugees´ resilience in Gambela Region” and aims at increasing the access to Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) for vulnerable South Sudanese refugees and host community members in Gambela Region.

FRC is looking for a dynamic and pro-active professional to be appointed as Field Office Coordinator (Gambela Field Office) /FAL Team Leader to provide overall leadership and coordination for ensuring the proper implementation of the project and smooth running of FRC Field Office in Gambela.

His/her main tasks will be:

• Plan, organize, and implement project activities in line with the organization's Strategic Plan, goals, and approaches and with the project rationale and work plan;
• Lead and coordinate the team of FAL field officers and ensure that the adopted monitoring system is in place to track project progress and performance;
• Ensure that field level staffs are provided with appropriate support and timely information about security situation in the region;
• Attend coordination meetings at regional and camp levels as appropriate;
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with UNHCR,  ARRA and key regional government partners and NGOs working in the Gambela Region and refugee camps;
• Report to the Programme Manager/Country Representative for the overall field office management and project implementation and work in close cooperation and under the supervision of the Senior Education Officer for the specific provision of FAL courses and for the collection of data relevant for the project M&E.

50% of his/her work time is meant for coordination, HR, finance and logistics matters, and 50% for implementation supervision and technical matters. His/her specific duties and responsibilities are:

• coordinate, facilitate and monitor the budget and project activities implemented under the field office;
• In consultation with Programme Manager/Country Representative and with the program staff, allocate appropriate resources to accomplish the plans, and secure required qualified staff;
• Provide direct technical support to FAL field officers for the  implementation of project activities;
• In consultation with Programme Manager/Country Representative and Senior Education Officer contribute to monthly and quarterly work plans, and report writing.
• Ensure the optimum use of human, financial and material resources of the project;
• Responsible for the bookkeeping of the field office operations and logistics in Gambela;
• Decide on field office management issues within the authority limit;
• Performs other related activities as required

Duration

• 10 months (from 1st of October 2020 to 31st of August 2021) with possible extension subject to available funding.

Education:

• Bachelor degree in education, adult education or related fields;

Work experience and competencies:

• at least 3 years work experience in coordinating, facilitating, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of education related projects for NGOs in humanitarian and refugee settings, preferably in Gambela Region;
• Familiarity with humanitarian principles;
• Previous experience for International NGOs;
• Knowledge and experience working in different tiers of the education sector;
• Take initiative and is goal oriented, demonstrates abilities to supervise staff;
• Good communication and writing skills, is adaptable, flexible and resourceful, able to adopt an organized and methodological approach, sense of confidentiality;
• Proficient written and spoken English language skills;
• Strong interpersonal and advocacy skills;
• Good team spirit and respect for diversity;
• Proficiency is Microsoft Office package.

Desirable competencies:

• Training on Project Cycle Management;
• Master’s in development studies or equivalent;
• Familiarity with at least one of the most widely spoken languages in Gambela (e.g. Anuak, Nuer);
• Previous experiences in functional adult literacy and disability inclusive education programmes.