The Area Manager (AM) is strategic role for CARE Turkey’s Cross Border Program. Reporting to the Assistant Country Director (ACD) – Humanitarian, the Area Manager leads CARE Turkey’s effort to implement strategic programming, and strengthen geographical presence in Northern Syria.

The AM is part of CARE Turkey’s Cross Border Program but works closely with CARE’s Country Management Team and key internal functions e.g. External Relations, the Security Unit, Logistics/Supply Chain and other support functions to deliver on humanitarian programing. Tasked with delivering on a complex organizational priority, the AM will be engaging with stakeholders in both Turkey and Northern Syria as well as a range of internal stakeholders throughout CARE to enable principled humanitarian access in a highly complex operating environment.

The role combines operational and programmatic workstreams and the right candidate has experience in both areas as well as very strong experience with establishing formal and informal networks to inform analysis and decision making within CARE.

To be successful in the role, the right candidate must have excellent command of the context in Northern Syria, have demonstrated experience with program delivery in the Syria context and have very strong relational skills. It is expected that the post holder will be able to work equally well at high-level meetings and directly at field level and will be expected to work in extremely complex security environments.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Job Responsibility #1 Operational Management  %40 of time

• Under the supervision of ACD – Humanitarian, and in close cooperation with Program Sectoral Team, Area Office Team, Program Support departments and the Security Unit, manage all operational aspects of CARE’s area office. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Support and coordinate closely with the Security Unit to ensure relevant risk management and security management plans are in place and approved within CARE
• Manage and support operation and program teams based in Area Office
• Work closely with CARE’s External Relations Team to secure the approval of all relevant government stakeholder for CARE’s entry into North Western Syria
• Plan and manage travel of CARE assessment teams into operational areas
• Provide rationale, and work with senior leadership to justify and secure internal approvals for new area office
• Strengthen internal SOP’s for CARE’s work in Northern Syria and lead on expansion of operational capacity and functional operational platform for future programming in the area office in close coordination with Program, Procurement/Logistics, HR, Finance, Compliance and Security
• In close coordination with relevant internal stakeholders, ensure that strong safeguarding and PSEA mechanisms are in place

Job Responsibility #2 Networking and external relations    %20 of time

• Work closely with CARE’s External Relations team to strengthen existing relations with key stakeholders in Turkey relating to CARE’s direct implementation
• Establish and maintain formal and informal networks that can support CARE’s analysis and decision making as well as further enable a geographic expansion
• Coordinate closely with other NGO’s and UN agencies operational in Northern Syria and develop best practice approaches building to support and improve CARE presence
• Lead on building strong relationships with key stakeholders on behalf of CARE in Northern Syria

Job Responsibility #3 Stakeholder mapping and context analysis   %20 of time

• Monitor the operating environment in the operational area, wider North Western Syria and identify context developments impacting CARE’s geographic expansion and recommend possible responses.
• Lead on local-level conflict sensitivity analysis in conjunction with internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead on mapping out key stakeholders in the operational area and develop a stakeholder engagement strategy in close relations with the Security Unit, External Relations and Program teams
• Engage with CARE’s implementing partner, other agencies operational in the area and the UN to assist

Job Responsibility #4 Program Development    %20 of time

• Develop and implement needs assessment plans in close coordination with the Program Quality Department and the Cross Border Program department
• Work closely with ACD – Humanitarian and Sectoral Programs Managers to develop and strengthen programming plan for the operational area. This include leading on identifying critical needs, identifying potential target locations and program areas where CARE adds specific value
• Support program implementation and provide leadership in further fundraising for new programming in operational area
• Support directly implemented programs
• Identify and work with ACD-Humanitarian to manager to mitigate/manage possible compliance risks to CARE.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education/Training

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (Social Science, Public Administration, Business Administration, Developmental Studies)

Desired

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Development studies or other related fields or combination of relevant education and experience relevant to the job.
• Certification/training in PSEA, psycho-social support
• HEAT Training

Experience

Required

• 5+ years of experience in program management and/or program support in the Syria Context
• Strong experience working in insecure and complex environments
• Demonstrated experience in donor and stakeholder engagement
• Experience with both assessments, program design and operational planning
• Experience managing at least two of the following sectors: Protection, WASH, Shelter, Livelihoods, emergency response or cash programming in general.

Desired

• Experience in do-no-harm approaches in a humanitarian context, preferably in Syrian context
• Experience in donor and stakeholder coordination

Technical Skills

Required

• Excellent understanding of the Syria crisis and the context in Northern Syria.
• Strong ability to develop and foster external relationships and strong representation skills.
• Experience leading assessments and preparing high quality assessment reports.
• Experience engaging with official stakeholders and ability to represent organization in a professional manner.
• Strong understanding of humanitarian coordination systems
• Experience writing proposals and reports
• Advanced written and spoken English Language skills.
• Strong facilitation skills, including the design and management of effective trainings, workshops and meetings with diverse participants.
• Strong skills in written communication, including effective report writing
• Strong skills in inter-personal communications, able to work effectively with multiple stakeholders in a complex, multi-actor environment.
• Sensitivity to cultural differences and the ability to work effectively across a wide variety of cultural contexts.
• Strong team player, able to develop and maintain effective working relationships within a distributed and dynamic team.
• Competence with MS Office applications, including Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Fluent in Arabic

Desired

• Turkish language skills highly desired.

Living Conditions

Location: Gaziantep, Turkey

Expected percentage of time traveling:  40%

Child Protection Policy

Child abuse in all forms is unacceptable to CARE Turkey, which recognizes its responsibility to protect children from harm in all areas of its work. CARE Turkey is committed to ensuring a child-safe environment and is applying a zero-tolerance approach towards any kind of child abuse and exploitation.

Discrimination, Abuse and Harassment Policy

CARE Turkey expressly prohibits and will not tolerate any form of discrimination, abuse, harassment (sexual or otherwise), based upon race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship status, disability, or military status. CARE employees and related personnel must under no circumstances take part in any form of discrimination, harassment, or abuse (physical, sexual or verbal), intimidation or exploitation, or in any other way infringe the rights of others inside or outside CARE.

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested candidates, please attach a Curriculum Vitae in English and a Cover letter (in a separate file of no more than one A4 page) describing how your skills and experience match the requirements of this post, following to provided link when you click on the apply button.

Applications in languages other than English will not be reviewed.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted

** CARE International is an Equal Opportunity Employer **

** Female candidates are encouraged to apply! **