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Physical Rehabilitation Technical Advisor - Beirut - LEBANON

7:15:00 PM
NGO PRESENTATION
Handicap International is an independent and impartial international aid organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our action and testimony are focused on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions and promoting respect for their dignity and their fundamental rights.
Handicap International is a not-for-profit organisation with no religious or political affiliation. It operates as a federation made up of a network of associations that provide it with human and financial resources, manage its projects and implement its actions and social mission.
Through its Emergency Response Department (ERD), created in 2006 after the merge with Atlas Logistique, the organization is committed to:
  • Emergency livelihoods : Essential Household Items (EHI)/Non-food items (NFI) kits distribution and/or cash transfer programs
  • Management and distribution of humanitarian assistance (logistics platform) : land transportation, storage, post-shipment of essential items or food supplies;
  • Camp management (provision of aid to refugees and internally displaced persons – IDPs, setting up of transitional shelters) and arrangement of the voluntary repatriation of these people;
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) : access to drinking water (catchment – treatment – storage – distribution), to sanitation (latrine construction, waste management …) and hygiene promotion (disease vector control, awareness-raising on good WASH practice, hygiene kits distribution);
  • Shelter and community construction: emergency shelter and settlement, accessible community infrastructure and individual transitional shelters construction/rehabilitation;
  • Functional and physical rehabilitation (rehabilitation, provision of technical aids, of Prosthetics & Orthotics devices …);
  • Psychosocial support (one-on-one sessions, support/focus groups, therapeutic mediation groups …);
  • Inclusion and accessibility (advocacy and direct actions) to ensure the needs of persons excluded from services, and in particular the needs of persons with disabilities (PwDs) or persons with injuries (PwIs), are better addressed in the provision of humanitarian assistance.
Directly linked to the Emergency Response Department of Handicap International France, the expatriate will be mandated for the following mission:
JOB CONTEXT AND PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES
As of April 2014, the total count of registered refugees in the region stood at more than 2,500,000. According to OCHA, the IDP count is closer to 6.0 million.. Escalations in fighting have brought the death toll above 150,000 and increased fragmentation amongst opposition forces, most notably the derivation of the Islamic Alliance on 24 September, suggests that tensions are on the rise. The recent UNSC Presidential Statement broke ground on the staging of a few awaited changes and the humanitarian community is keen to see how these ideals will be put into practice.
REGIONAL RESPONSE OVERVIEW:
Handicap International’s Emergency Response Division is present in Syria since January 2013, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon since May 2012, and is supported by ECHO, CIDA, DFID and Swiss cooperation agencies and other private donors. With over 350 emergency team members in the region, Handicap International has reached over 56,000 beneficiaries to date.
Handicap International’s initial intervention aimed at supporting persons with injuries and other extremely vulnerable groups (including persons with disabilities, elders, among others). Handicap International continues to be one of the few organizations explicitly addressing the specific needs of these groups through community outreach, and by collaborating with community representatives, local stakeholders, authorities, and other implementing organizations in the field.
Handicap International is working in Northern Syria with a tactful focus on acute emergency health activities (post operatory care, psychological first aid).
Simultaneously, after a first round of risk education activities in Jordan, the organization started projects en Syria.
HI regional strategy
HI decided to develop and strengthen a regional strategy along 5 central points:
1.Disability and Vulnerability Focal Point
2.Physical rehabilitation
3.Basic Needs/ Livelihood
4.Inclusion
5.Risk Education Activities
Activitiesin Lebanon
The violence in Syria has caused the death of more than 100,000 people and more than 6 million Syrians fled their homes. Syria has become "a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history”. Up to April 2014, more than 1,000,000 refugees have fled into Lebanon seeking shelter and security.
  1. The needs
Post-surgery follow-up is almost non-existent. Persons with injuries, together with persons with disabilities, are presenting complications that, without appropriate rehabilitation care, can lead to permanent impairments and long-term disability.
Psychosocial distress: MHPSS is not appropriately addressed until now.
Basic needs coverage: Limited resources coupled with the challenging operational context jeopardize the adequate coverage of basic needs of conflict-affected populations in Lebanon.
Shelter and coping with winter season: The severe conditions in Lebanon during winter can brutally affect Syrian refugees living in ITS and poorly equipped houses.
  1. HI response
Disability and Vulnerability Focal Point:
· Identification and assessment of vulnerable persons including persons with injuries and/or disabilities.
· Provision of out-patient rehabilitation sessions
· Provision of psychosocial support
· Provision of P/O and mobility devices for injured and disabled people.
· Provision of specific health services and supplies at hospital and community levels.
· Referral and follow-up
Non-food items coverage
· Distribution of NFI kits for new comers (persons arrived in Lebanon for less than 1 month) completed per cash assistance of 150 USD for the winter season.
Unconditional cash assistance
· Support to the basic need situation of the most vulnerable refugees through unconditional cash assistance for a period of 6 months.
Protection
· Coverage of the basic and specific needs for vulnerable people among through community outreach and community focal points.
· Referral to external organizations that have specific services that tackle their needs.
  1. Set-up of the mission
The Emergency Response Division in Lebanon was created in April 2012 to implement the above mention activities. Almost 2 years after the beginning of the mission, HI-Lebanon team has expanded significantly with 14 expatriates and 191 local staff.
The provision of support to health structure is provided directly by Handicap International physiotherapist and technical advisor. The identification, assessment of the needs, referral and direct provision of services is done trough 18 outreach teams (composed of one social worker as case manager and one physiotherapist supported by 4 psychologists and/or psychosocial workers) and trough 4 fixed points in the communities (in community centers to allow more efficiency reducing the time to reach the beneficiaries). An additional team in Bekaa and North Lebanon will be focusing on the community sensitization, training to humanitarian workers and the identification of potential local partners.
In Lebanon, the provision of household essential items including food, NFI and unconditional cash assistance to cover essential winter basic needs of the most vulnerable refugee newcomers will be done in HI area of intervention (54 villages in Central and West Bekaa) through current dedicated outreach teams and distribution teams.
The current donors are: ECHO, DFID, CIDA, ERF.
Challenges: The situation in Lebanon is quite unstable since the beginning of the crisis and deteriorated drastically in the last months. Security instability is not anymore limited geographically and in the last months, Tripoli, Akkar, North Bekaa and South Lebanon witnessed different kind of security incidents:
HI operations may be impacted negatively and movement restrictions and punctual activity closure may occur in almost all areas of intervention especially Tripoli, Northern Bekaa and border areas.
MAIN RESPONSABILITIES OF THE EXPATRIATE
Based in Beirut, under the direct responsibility of Technical Coordinator, and with the support of the HQ Technical Referents, you will be responsible for:
  • Providing technical support to the programme staff in your field of expertise;
  • Supporting the Project Managers in the recruitment of physiotherapists;
  • Ensuring the provision of training to the physiotherapists, both through supervision of the Physical Therapy Trainer and the Rehabilitation Officer, and through direct provision of both formal and on the job trainings;
  • Coordinating and managing your team (PT Trainer and Rehabilitation Officer) including regular meeting and guidance, development of individual action plans;
  • Ensure the quality of physical rehabilitation related intervention through technical evaluation and support of physiotherapist teams including technical individual action plan to be included by their manager in their global individual action plan.
  • Providing technical support to the Logistic Department in your field of expertise, ensuring technical validation of rehabilitation related devices, items and equipment (participate in the technical selection of P&O devices/suppliers, mobility aids and other related items, etc....)
  • Monitoring and maintaining compliance with standard HI guidelines related to your field of expertise;
  • Providing technical support on physical rehabilitation to your HI Emergency teams in designing the HI ERD strategy in the country;
  • Regularly reporting on the above activities (statistic, review monthly objectives, etc.) as per requested by your line manager and the HQ Specific needs and Emergency Advisor.
MAIN TASKS OF THE EXPATRIATE
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
  • You participate in the recruitment of physical rehabilitation technical staff such as physiotherapists;
  • You support and train the rehabilitation staff in your field of expertise;
  • You ensure the technical relevance and quality of the HI ERD intervention related to your field of expertise;
  • You ensure delimitation of the emergency rehabilitation intervention
  • You design technical tools, trainings, leaflets and other relevant documents and disseminate them among the mission upon prior validation by HQ Technical Advisors;
  • You participate with the Logistic department in the technical quality assessment of the national market regarding technical items -such as P&O devices, mobility aids, assistive devices, etc - to be purchased;
  • You supervise both the rehabilitation staff in his/her duties, and directly provide training to the teams in your field of expertise, following a training calendar upon validation by the Technical Coordinator;
  • You ensure coherence of the physical rehabilitation Jordan intervention with the regional physical rehabilitation response through coordination with your peers working in other and under technical coordination of HQ TA;
  • You participate in potential physical rehabilitation needs assessments for new projects to be developed;
  • You may be asked to participate in external coordination meetings such as the Health Working Group.
REPORTING
  • You support the teams to produce regular reports on HI activities (newsletters, case studies, etc);
§ You participate to the monthly situation report (SITREP) by providing relevant data related to your position;
  • You provide regular reporting on your activities to your line manager upon his/her solicitation (coordination meeting, workshop meeting, etc.);
  • You support donor reporting and you participate in proposal writing under the supervision of your line manager;
  • You provide the desk officer with a mission report and/or handover document at the end of your contract;
  • Debriefing at HQ at the end of your mission (and during Home-Break).
REQUIRED PROFILE
  • At least 7years of professional experience in Physical Therapy
  • Previous experience with war injuries
  • At least 3 years of professional experience in humanitarian context, preferably in emergency
  • Proven managerial experience
  • Proven training experience
  • Strong communication and reporting skills
  • Strong organisational skills
  • Project management skills would be an asset
  • Experience in the Middle East would be a strong asset
  • Strong interpersonal and intercultural skills
  • Ability to work under high pressure
  • English mandatory (oral and written)
JOB ENVIRONMENT
  • Working conditions: excellent
  • No couple or family departure
  • Advantages provided: social cover, repatriation insurance, housing, transport, R&R
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
  • Status: salaried contract according to experience
  • Remuneration: according to HI salary grid
  • Start: 15 of August 2014
  • Duration: 7months (renewable if funding)
  • Living conditions: guesthouse shared with other expatriates (no charges)
  • Security conditions: high level of insecurity
  • Social insurance: 100% covered
How to apply:
Contact : WOLNA Agata
Please apply by following this link :

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