Technical Project Advisor, Professional

Job Title Technical Project Advisor, Professional

Reports to: Head of Project, Strengthening the Resilience of Dealing with Conflicts and Crisis in Ninewa project

Deputy: -

Duty Station: Erbil

Ninewa Governorate in Northwestern Iraq continues to be severely affected by the aftermath of the occupation by the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) and the subsequent liberation struggles. The public social and productive infrastructure is still partially or completely destroyed. Reconstruction has so far only taken place to a limited extent and only in certain areas. There is no strategic planning for physical and economic reconstruction at neither a local nor national level. The local administrative structures are largely incapable of action and cannot fulfil the states obligations to care for the population. As a result, access to public social services is very limited. Formerly existing economic structures, which provided the basis for livelihoods and income generation opportunities, have been destroyed by the harsh consequences of the conflict. The GIZ project “Strengthening resilience in dealing with crises and conflicts in Ninewa, Iraq (SRN)” aims to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations through the construction and rehabilitation of basic public social infrastructure, livelihood activities, as well as peacebuilding measures. Furthermore, the project adopts a context and conflict-sensitive approach in all fields of action. Thereby, the project aims at conceptualizing the relevant connection between so called “hard components” e.g., construction and “soft components” including programming in conflict transformation, promoting peaceful coexistence, and strengthening social cohesion in Ninewa, particularly on a local level.

A. Responsibilities - The Project Advisor will be responsible for:

1. Designing infrastructure measures. This includes the responsibility to:

• Ensure that infrastructure measures are aligned with the overall SRN project objectives and carried out in a participatory manner.
• Ensure that infrastructure measures are in line with local needs.
• Ensure that new infrastructure measures interlink with the project’s other intervention areas, such as livelihood/employment creation and peacebuilding/social cohesion.
• Conceptualizing new infrastructure measures, including the preparation and collection of needs assessments, facilitating community consultation sessions, developing maintenance concepts.
• Coordinate closely with the GIZ construction unit that will implement construction measures.

2. Monitoring of infrastructure measures. This involves to:

• Ensure that measures are designed, planned and implemented in an effective, time- bound manner.
• Ensure that project activities yield planned results and achieve intended impacts.
• Ensure that projects are conducted aligned with the project methodologies, such as conflict sensitivity, target group orientation and do-no-harm.
• Regularly conduct monitoring visits and prepare reports.

3. Connecting the SRN construction measures to local formal and informal stakeholders. This includes the responsibility to:

• Facilitate the coordination with relevant local political partners and relevant actors from civil society.
• Proactively build and strengthen networks and relationships with local stakeholders.
• Ensuring that maintenance concepts are in line with local needs and supportive of the SRN projects integrated approach.
• Foster active coordination with other organizations in Ninewa.

B. Tasks - The Project Advisor will perform the following tasks:

1. Conceptualize, advise and monitor project implementation of infrastructure measures:

• Support the SRN project team through advisory on infrastructure projects.
• Strengthen the synergies among project components by creating linkages between construction measures and other project activities
• Conceptualize new infrastructure projects in cooperation with the SRN project team and the GIZ construction unit.
• Maintain close collaboration with the GIZ construction unit that implements infrastructure measures.
• Facilitate consultation sessions with community members to identify suitable infrastructure projects to be built or rehabilitated.
• Development of maintenance concepts.
• Monitoring of ongoing construction measures.

2. Networking with relevant stakeholder in Ninewa

• Meet regularly with the most relevant local stakeholders, including mayors and employees of directorates.
• Facilitate introductory meetings or ad-hoc meetings together with the SRN project team, in order to discuss specific project interventions with relevant authorities.

3. Other tasks as per the needs of the project and specified by the line manager

C. Qualifications – Candidates shall have the following competencies and experience:

1. General work experience

• 10 years of work experience in the humanitarian, development, or construction sector in Iraq

2. Specific work experience

• 5 years of experience within the humanitarian or development sector in within the Ninewa province.
• Proven experience in having worked in both an advisory and technical position.
• Proven experience in the construction sector in Ninewa.

3. Language skills

• Excellent Arabic skills, with proven ability to adjust to different contexts from a local, rural level to higher-level political stakeholder discussions
• Very good English skills (B2)

4. Soft skills

• Impartial and objective approach towards working in a sensitive environment with many conflicts of interests between different identity groups and the capacity to intervene as an independent stakeholder.
• Team player, willingness to coordinate and collaborate with all members of the SRN project team and other units within GIZ Iraq, horizontally (between colleagues of the same level) as well as vertical (with head of project and head of components)
• High motivation to contribute to peacebuilding in Ninewa and to achieve high quality impacts under tight timelines
• Willingness to contribute to a fast-paced team and being flexible to ever-changing contextual implementation context and the associated challenges
• Being open to learn and to keep learning new skills, being able to innovate and conceptualize new project activities in a creative way.

D. Required documents

1. Cover letter
2. CV, max. 4 pages, no work certificates shall be provided
3. A letter, (max. 2 pages) answering the following questions:

• What would be your approach to ensure social infrastructure measures meet the demand of the targeted population in Ninewa?

Requirements for application:

• The reference number and position must be mentioned in the subject line of the email, Ref: (EBL-SRN21-161) Technical Project Advisor, Professional
• Subject line of the application should clearly indicate the vacancy applied for.
• CVs and motivations letters that are in the form of IMG, pictures, screen-shots and links will not be accepted.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Applications passed the expiration date of the advertisement will not be considered.