Legal Manager with ref. Q-IRQ-VA-19103

Location	Erbil	Job Type	Contract
Salary		Sector	NGO

Employment Type: Fulltime (Sunday to Thursday 8:00 - 16:00)
Contract Duration: Till 31 Dec 2019 (with possibility of extension for next year)
Closing Date: 24 Nov 2019

QANDIL is a Swedish non-profit, non-political, non-religious humanitarian aid organization that was founded in 1991 in Stockholm, Sweden. Having continuously operated in the Kurdistan Region ever since, QANDIL’s main priorities of work are construction and infrastructure activities, refugee and IDP initiatives, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, and capacity building.

Summary:
The Legal Manager will play an integral role in the smooth implementation of QANDIL’s ‘PARC Project’ for IDPs and Refugees. S/he will supervise and coach IDP and refugee legal teams while reporting to the Head of Office. S/he will be responsible to ensure the quality of the work of their teams, by providing them with adequate capacity building and on-the-ground coaching, in close cooperation with the Head of Office. The Legal Manager will support and guide the teams through providing timely and effective legal assistance to the needs of populations of concern while employing a community-based, age, gender and diversity-sensitive approach. The Legal Manager will ensure that Persons of Concern are involved in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain relations with different QANDIL departments, communities of concern, authorities, protection and partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection. The Legal Manager will act as a shining example to other team members in upholding QANDIL and UNHCR’s code of conduct and ensure that all Persons of Concern are treated with dignity and respect in accordance with humanitarian principles and human rights standards. The PARC Legal Manger will also need to hold regular meetings with the various IDP and Refugee project team leaders and staff to ensure that service gaps in are identified, and solutions are found in close consultation with the UNHCR staff. S/he will be responsible sending accurate and professional bi-weekly and monthly reports, providing constructive feedback to current team leaders and orienting newly hired ones. S/he will enhance QANDIL’s interventions throughout Erbil Governorate to meet refugees’ and IDPs’ protection needs. In consultation with the Head of Office, the Country Director, and the UNHCR; the PARC Legal Manager will attend meetings with the humanitarian and donor community regularly to increase QANDIL’s visibility and to identify future opportunities of intervention for the organization.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Oversee the project budget and work plan to ensure timely and successful implementation.
Maintain up-to-date numbers of staff, and respond promptly to anticipated shortages and gaps.
Stay well-informed about the employees’ tasks, data on IDPs, refugees, and activities.
Participate in the recruitment of new staff, in drafting TORs, interviews, shortlisting, etc.
Review employees’ various types of leave requests, ensuring that the necessary targets are met.
Streamline protection into all activities carried out by QANDIL.
Build the protection capacity of key QANDIL staff in different departments and projects.
Supervise and mentor the IDP and refugee legal teams.
Enhance the reporting and IT skills of legal teams.
Maintain effective linkages and coordinate efforts with internal and external departmental staff
(including Protection Teams, Data Team, Helpline Team, Finance, Outreach, etc.), local authorities,
other partners and UNHCR on activity implementation, quality control, and planning.
Advocate with local authorities to ensure that the rights of IDPs and refugees are upheld and
protected.
Assist in formulating a strategic and well-structured plan in collaboration with supervisor and work in
close coordination with legal teams to ensure all activities are performed in line with the plan, and
that targets for legal activities are met promptly.
Meet regularly with the legal teams, individually with each legal team leaders to identify
any challenges or staff issues, to respond promptly and ensure both smooth
implementation and the welfare of staff.
Meet regularly with the legal team to monitor their work, collect information, analyze and report
on identified legal incidents, trends, gaps and interventions in various locations across the Erbil
governorate. Meeting minutes should be taken in each meeting to document the work and ensure
transparency.
Keep Head of Office regularly informed of gaps and problems in legal activities and issues for
internal improvement, recommendations, advocacy or take-up with other agencies.
Support in the organization of focus group discussions and other activities/events as requested,
Attend and actively participate in coordination meetings and training when required by supervisors.
Provide team members with constant feedback to improve their performance, and conduct formal
performance appraisals every quarter.
Perform other duties as assigned by supervisors.

Qualifications and experience:

Master or Bachelor Degree in refugee studies, protection, human rights law, international relations,
humanitarian response or any other relevant field;
At least five years’ experience in managing protection projects in refugee/IDP situations, camp as
well as urban context, including emergency operations.
Fluency in English, Arabic and Kurdish Languages;
General knowledge of issues about Persons of Concern to UNHCR and UNHCR’s protection
mandate.
Excellent understanding of legal issues faced by refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs and host communities
within the Erbil Governorate.
Excellent reporting skills.
Computer literate - Microsoft Office, Outlook, etc.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a teamwork attitude.
Excellent analytical skills and strategic planning.
Confidentiality - Ability to handle sensitive matters appropriately.
Willingness to work in all areas of Erbil Governorate and to work overtime if required by supervisors.

Oversee the project budget and work plan to ensure timely and successful implementation.

Maintain up-to-date numbers of staff, and respond promptly to anticipated shortages and gaps.

Stay well-informed about the employees’ tasks, data on IDPs, refugees, and activities.

Participate in the recruitment of new staff, in drafting TORs, interviews, shortlisting, etc.

Review employees’ various types of leave requests, ensuring that the necessary targets are met.

Streamline protection into all activities carried out by QANDIL.

Build the protection capacity of key QANDIL staff in different departments and projects.

Supervise and mentor the IDP and refugee legal teams.

Enhance the reporting and IT skills of legal teams.

Maintain effective linkages and coordinate efforts with internal and external departmental staff

(including Protection Teams, Data Team, Helpline Team, Finance, Outreach, etc.), local authorities,

other partners and UNHCR on activity implementation, quality control, and planning.

Advocate with local authorities to ensure that the rights of IDPs and refugees are upheld and

protected.

Assist in formulating a strategic and well-structured plan in collaboration with supervisor and work in

close coordination with legal teams to ensure all activities are performed in line with the plan, and

that targets for legal activities are met promptly.

Meet regularly with the legal teams, individually with each legal team leaders to identify

any challenges or staff issues, to respond promptly and ensure both smooth

implementation and the welfare of staff.

Meet regularly with the legal team to monitor their work, collect information, analyze and report

on identified legal incidents, trends, gaps and interventions in various locations across the Erbil

governorate. Meeting minutes should be taken in each meeting to document the work and ensure

transparency.

Keep Head of Office regularly informed of gaps and problems in legal activities and issues for

internal improvement, recommendations, advocacy or take-up with other agencies.

Support in the organization of focus group discussions and other activities/events as requested,

Attend and actively participate in coordination meetings and training when required by supervisors.

Provide team members with constant feedback to improve their performance, and conduct formal

performance appraisals every quarter.

Perform other duties as assigned by supervisors.

Qualifications and experience:

Master or Bachelor Degree in refugee studies, protection, human rights law, international relations,

humanitarian response or any other relevant field;

At least five years’ experience in managing protection projects in refugee/IDP situations, camp as

well as urban context, including emergency operations.

Fluency in English, Arabic and Kurdish Languages;

General knowledge of issues about Persons of Concern to UNHCR and UNHCR’s protection

mandate.

Excellent understanding of legal issues faced by refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs and host communities

within the Erbil Governorate.

Excellent reporting skills.

Computer literate - Microsoft Office, Outlook, etc.

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a teamwork attitude.

Excellent analytical skills and strategic planning.

Confidentiality - Ability to handle sensitive matters appropriately.

Willingness to work in all areas of Erbil Governorate and to work overtime if required by supervisors.

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Qandil Swedish Humanitarian Aid