Senior Project Officer (Assistant to the Chief of Party)

About ACTED

“ We go the last mile. Founded in Afghanistan, against the backdrop of a forgotten crisis, Acted’s mission is to save lives and support people in meeting their needs in hard-to-reach areas. Millions of vulnerable people around the world need humanitarian assistance today, and hundreds of millions will need it tomorrow, in the face of the growing threat of climate change. We believe that our assistance must be conceptualised and delivered within the framework of people’s natural environments, and the territories on which they depend. Therefore, Acted pursues a triple mandate as a humanitarian, environmental and development aid actor, contributing to the relief, stabilisation, and recovery of crisis-affected people in fragile areas. This vision is guided by the motto “Think Local – Act Global” - reflecting the need to rely on a deep understanding of local territories and contexts to develop and implement actions based on local knowledge, structures and capacities. This local thinking contributes to a global response - running through all Acted programming and operations - as we work together towards the building of a 3ZERO world: a world with Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, and Zero Poverty”.

Greening strategy:

Acted’s greening strategy aims to tackle environmental degradation and climate change while meeting the needs of the most vulnerable who are often those most affected by the deepening environmental crisis. Each Acted employee will adhere to these principles through key green programming responsibilities:

• Contribute towards the adherence and development of the greening strategy plan.

• Explore innovative green programming opportunities and/or solutions within your realm of responsibilities and roles

• Encouraging and promoting environmental safeguarding processes and environmental programming standards in accordance with SOPs and technical guideline notes

Acted PSEAH Policy:

The Senior Project Officer (Assistant to the Chief of Party) has the responsibility to adhere to the PSEAH Policy (Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment). And has the obligation to complete all mandatory trainings related to the Code of Conduct and the PSEA policy and report any safeguarding concern such as breaches of organisational policies or codes of conduct according to Acted’s procedures. The Senior Project Officer (Assistant to the Chief of Party) carries out work duties in a way that does not harm children, vulnerable adults or other staff or volunteers.

Location: Damascus & Rural Damascus – Syria

Start Date: ASAP

Duration of the Contract: 6 Months.

Job Purpose

The Senior Project Officer works closely with the Chief of Party (CoP) to keep the WATER-RES project well coordinated, well documented and on track. The post holder prepares meetings, drafts minutes and correspondence, translates key documents between English and Arabic, and follows up on decisions and action points with project teams, acted departments, MoLAE and partners.

The role suits a motivated professional with solid experience in project coordination, programme development, grants or communications, strong bilingual writing skills, and an interest in climate change, environment and water. Specialist climate knowledge is an asset and will be further developed on the job.

Objective

• Provide coordination, drafting, translation and organisational support to the Chief of Party.

• Ensure decisions and commitments are accurately documented and turned into clear, tracked actions.

• Strengthen information flow between project leadership, technical teams, acted departments, government and partners.

• Support quality project documents, governance records, translations and communication products.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Coordination and Meeting Management

• Manage the CoP’s project calendar, meetings and deadlines, and accompany the CoP to key meetings, visits and events.

• Prepare agendas, briefing notes, talking points and presentations.

• Draft clear minutes in English and/or Arabic, separating decisions, action points, responsible persons and deadlines.

• Maintain the project action tracker and follow up with teams and departments; flag delays and issues requiring escalation.

2. Programme Development and Project Cycle

• Act as the main focal point between the CoP and the Programme Development department.

• Support drafting and review of concept notes, workplans, internal memos, donor reports, amendments and budget narratives.

• Track commitments under the Funding Activity Agreement, Subsidiary Agreement, Operations Manual and annual workplans.

3. Governance and Institutional Coordination

• Support the functioning of the PSC, PMU and TWG: membership lists, ToRs, schedules, decision logs and records.

• Draft official letters, invitations and follow-up correspondence to MoLAE and other entities; track approvals and requests.

4.Translation and Language Support

• Translate project documents, correspondence, minutes and presentations between English and Arabic, faithfully and consistently.

• Provide consecutive interpretation in meetings when required.

• Maintain a bilingual project glossary and an archive of validated English/Arabic versions; coordinate specialist translators for major documents when approved.

5. Communications and Knowledge Products

• Coordinate and quality-review briefs, fact sheets, success stories, presentations and event materials in line with acted and GCF visibility requirements.

• Maintain a publications calendar and support implementation of the communication and visibility plan.

6. Information Management

• Maintain filing systems, document registers, decision logs and version control on SharePoint/Teams.

• Ensure records are complete and accessible for reporting, audit and evaluation.

7. Other Responsibilities

• Represent the CoP or the project when specifically delegated, within approved messaging.

• Uphold acted’s Code of Conduct, safeguarding, confidentiality and conflict-of-interest standards.

Perform other duties reasonably requested by the Chief of Party or acted Coordinatio

Key Performance Indicators

• Meeting agendas and materials prepared within agreed timelines.

• Draft minutes shared within two working days, unless otherwise agreed.

• At least 90% of agreed actions followed up by their deadlines.

• CoP receives timely briefing packages ahead of key engagements.

• Translations are timely, accurate and consistent with the approved glossary; no material discrepancies between approved English and Arabic versions.

• Documents and communication products meet quality standards with limited substantive revision.

• No confidentiality, safeguarding or information-management breaches.

Professional Experience and Education

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in climate change, environment, water resources, agriculture, international development, project management, communications, languages/translation, or a related field.

• Minimum 4 years of professional experience in project coordination, programme development, grants, partnerships or communications with NGOs, UN agencies, donors or government.

• Demonstrated experience drafting reports, minutes, correspondence or proposals in English and Arabic.

Assets

• Experience or studies related to climate change, water security, environment or agriculture.

• Experience working with government institutions, UN agencies or donors.

• Experience supporting senior management or coordinating multi-stakeholder projects.

• Master’s degree or relevant certification (e.g., project management, translation, climate finance)

Required Skills and Competencies

• Professional working proficiency in written and spoken English and fluent Arabic, including drafting and translation.

• Strong organisation, communication and follow-up skills; able to manage multiple priorities under pressure.

• Ability to produce clear minutes, briefing notes and presentations.

• Good command of Microsoft Office, Teams and SharePoint.

• Sound judgement, discretion, attention to detail and commitment to acted’s values and safeguarding standards.