TERMS OF REFERENCE

 

Title:  MHPSS Coordinator

Department:    Technical department

Location: Gaziantep with frequent travels to program locations  

Reporting to:   Technical and MEAL Director.  

Direct reports: MHPSS Officer

Budget responsibility: Not applicable.

 

ABOUT Relief International.

 

Relief International (RI) is a leading nonprofit organization working in 16 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

 

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

 

RI includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe.  Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.

 

RI is active in 16 countries around the world, including some of the most fragile: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Türkiye, and Yemen.  Often, RI is the only organization providing assistance to highly vulnerable communities. 

 

RI employs 7,000+ staff and auxiliary workers

97% of staff are local nationals

We only have some 90 ex-pat staff out of 7,000+

RI spent $150 million in 2019 on our programs

Often, RI is the only organization providing assistance to highly vulnerable communities. 

RI invests in four broad program sectors:  Economic Opportunity, Education, Health, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.  We design our programs to incorporate The RI Way:  local participation, integrated programming, the development of civic skills, and complementary partnerships including with local NGOs, governments, and the private sector.  RI supports solutions that reinforce and improve upon existing in-country systems. Where such systems do not exist or are chronically underperforming, RI’s crisis response lays the foundation for long-term, sustainable change. 

 

About our Country Program/ Regional Programs:

 

(Depends on the scope of the role provide further information about the country program or regional programs)

 

Middle East Region

RI in the Middle East has programs in six countries - Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Türkiye and Yemen, with a focus on the 4 main RI sectors: Health, WASH, Education and Economic Opportunity.

 

Relief International currently employs 3900 staff (direct and indirect) in the region and has a range of emergency response and development programs valued at 70 million USD on an annual basis

 

Africa/ Asia Region

RI operates in nine countries in the Africa/Asia region: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, with a focus on the four RI sector pillars: Health, WASH, Education and Economic Opportunity.

 

RI currently employs more than 3,000 staff (direct and indirect) in the Africa/Asia region and implements a range of emergency response and development programs valued at approximately $50 million USD on an annual basis.

Position Summary.

The MHPSS coordinator will provide technical leadership and support to the RI Technical Team and partners for in Türkiye based programs.

The coordinator will ensure that programs adhere to international guidelines and standards.  He/she will promote strong beneficiary and donor accountability and meet the reporting needs of internal and external stakeholders. The coordinator will provide technical support and coordination to partners in Türkiye. A capacity building plan including trainings, regular mentoring and supervision will be developed and implemented in all relevant RI Türkiye programs. He/she will contribute to developing RI Türkiye’s MHPSS strategic framework. He/she will support and integrate MHPSS into RI Türkiye’s MHPSS programs and will contribute to proposal development and needs assessments, as required. The Coordinator will supervise the RI MHPSS specialist and oversee relevant partner staff.

 

Key Responsibilities and Duties.

 

RI MHPSS strategy and scope of work:

·     Under supervision of Technical and MEAL Director develop RI MHPSS strategy and position paper in consultation with MHPSS specialists, and ensure that the strategy is in line with RI strategy and core values.

·     Develop/update MHPSS policies and standard operating procedures for RI, and help RI partners to develop their policies and SOPs in terms of MHPSS.

·     Ensure the tools and guidelines that used by RI MHPSS team and RI partners are consistent with international standards (IASC, UNHCR MHPSS guidelines etc.) and RI MHPSS strategy.

·     Define specific activities for MHPSS and identify key personnel implementing the activities in consultation with the Technical and MEAL Director.

·     Work with RI Technical and MEAL Director and other members to integrate MHPSS activities into wider systems.

·     Develop/identify minimum standards (quality benchmarks) on MHPSS within the integrated programs and develop tools to measure progress.

·     Synthesize new research and provide feedback to all stakeholders on the emerging trends;

·     Participate actively in any comprehensive needs assessment and stakeholder mapping across all relevant areas in Türkiye.

·     Write a comprehensive report on the needs-assessment exercise which will then be used to develop tools and PSS programming.

·     Conduct an in-depth assessment of the existing MHPSS project activities and practices at RI supported MHPSS centre to identify strengths, gaps and provide recommendations for improvements.

·     Review communication materials (press releases, blogs, human interest stories) related to MHPSS.

·     Other related tasks that may from time to time

 

Program:

• Provide technical MHPSS support throughout all stages of the project cycle management including needs assessment, technical strategy, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation.
• Develop a program supervision and feedback mechanism ensuring stakeholder feedback is used to improve program quality.
• Conduct regular visit (with RI MHPSS specialist) to MHPSS centre and community outreach, to observe the activities of program and provide direct technical support and advice to center staff when needed, and then share findings with the technical team and program.
• Help develop IEC material for MHPSS activities and awareness of services.
• Develop curriculum for PSS sessions and training the partners on them.
• Conduct a desk review of best practices and lessons learned on delivering MHPSS in crisis settings and present findings to RI Turkey SMT and Program staff.
• Review M&E systems for MHPSS programming, in collaboration with MEAL team and implementing partners; including, the development of M&E tools and methodology, management of reporting mechanisms and information flow, and analysis of program data and impact.
• Ensure a proper referral pathway for MHPSS services is existing with support from the team.
• Support MHPSS team members to monitor progress and provide feedback.

 

Capacity building:

·     Develop tools to conduct capacity need assessment for RI partners in MHPSS programming and skills and measure progress/impact throughout the implementation period.

·     Develop a detailed work plan and capacity building plan to ensure successful implementation of the program from the technical perspective, in line with program strategy and international guidelines

·     Review the plan for organizational capacity building on MPHSS with induction, on-going training, and day to day mentoring. This will include developing the methodology, training materials and training plan (in person, online, appropriate training venues etc.);

·     Identify training needs and gaps for current and future staff;

·     Review the report on the capacity assessment for each partner, with a detailed plan for further improvement.

 

Coordination:

·     Coordinate with academic institutions to access latest research and materials to tap into the latest research to identify how to implement the mental health assessment and support component of the program.

·     Represent RI in routine donor monitoring meetings and other technical forum.

·     Present MHPSS component to stakeholders, donors and others, as requested.

·     Strengthened coordination mechanisms for the delivery of MHPSS services with relevant stakeholders.

·     Participate in coordination meetings (particularly mental health SWG) when needed, to introduce and update RI’s MHPSS programs among partners.

·     Ensure internal coordination and collaboration of interventions through review meetings and provision of regular updates.

·     Identify MHPSS global workshops/meetings to present program results;

·     Written monthly updates on MHPSS services, shared with relevant sectors and management.

Experience and skills required for the role.

·     A qualified psychologist or a professional with equivalent proven experience.

·     5-10 years’ experience in mental health and psycho-social programming to refugees and IDPs.

·     Experience working in the Humanitarian context and emergencies.

·     Experience in capacity building and in strengthening various duty bearers’ understanding of and response to Psychosocial Support.

·     Experience working on the inclusion of hard-to-reach groups.

·     Good knowledge of and experience in using established inter-agency and Donor standards and guidelines in MHPSS.

·     Good understanding of the Türkiye context.

·     Good understanding with donors requirements.

·     Cultural awareness and sensitivity, prior experience in the Middle East is a plus.

·     Ability to communicate clearly and sensitively in written and spoken English.

·     Strong skills in using Microsoft office programs such as world, excel, and PowerPoint.

RI Values.

Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

 

We value:

• Integrity
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Inclusivity
• Sustainability

 

How to apply. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button in the job advert page You will be asked to upload a CV and Cover Letter.  The cover letter should be no more than 2 pages long and explain why you are interested in this post with Relief International and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.   Closing date. Please apply immediately we will be reviewing applicants on a rolling basis, therefore may withdraw the position for the job board closing date.   Please apply by uploading your cover letter and up-to-date CV on our website .   Due to limited resources, only short-listed candidates will be contacted   Relief International is committed to protecting our staff and the communities we work with from abuse and harm including sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and sexual harassment.   All staff are expected to abide by our Code of Conduct.   Recruitment to all roles in Relief International include a criminal records self-declaration, references and other pre-employment checks, which may include police and qualifications checks.