Institutional Capacity Development Advisor

Job description

GIZ has been operating in Syria since 1976. It has thus established valuable contacts in civil society and garnered experience that is now crucial for supporting the country. From 2013 onwards, it worked without government involvement with the assistance of local non-governmental organizations. Despite the difficult conditions, GIZ has consistently contributed to improving people’s living conditions.

In view of the developments since December 2024, which have led Syria into a decisive phase of transformation, GIZ has reopened its Country Office in Damascus in September 2026. It is currently implementing 14 projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Foreign Office (FFO), with co-financing from the European Union and other donors. From 2026, the portfolio is planned to be expanded by several new projects.

The Return and Reintegration project aims to support national and local actors in Syria in ensuring that return and reintegration processes are coordinated, inclusive, and responsive to identified needs, thereby contributing to socio-economic development and increased social cohesion. Adopting a multi-level approach, the project seeks to facilitate the sustainable integration of returnees, internally displaced persons, and host communities through improved access to basic services, enhanced economic reintegration opportunities, and the promotion of social cohesion. In parallel, the project aims to strengthen the capacities of national and local stakeholders in the planning, coordination, and management of return and reintegration activities.

Your tasks

• Provide continuous technical and process-oriented advice to sub-national state structures at governorate, district, sub-district, and community level on improving the availability and quality of data on return and reintegration, including indicator definition, data-collection instruments, data-quality assurance, analysis, and reporting.

• Support partner structures in establishing and operationalising a digitalised data flow between the different sub-national governance levels, and advise on the use of return and reintegration data for planning, coordination, and evidence-based decision-making; continuously assess options for linking the data-management system to the national level.

• Advise local authorities and civil society structures in selected communities on participatory processes for identifying, prioritising, and implementing low-threshold, barrier-free, public-good-oriented measures together with the different population groups, including returnees, internally displaced persons, and host community members.

• Support partner structures in strengthening horizontal and vertical social cohesion through these measures, and advise on the design and implementation of social-cohesion monitoring, including perception surveys and qualitative approaches capturing relations between population groups and between citizens and their local representatives.

• Prepare, moderate, and follow up on peer-learning formats and exchange events for decentralised state structures, in order to make learning experiences usable for the wider transition process.

• Contribute to monitoring of activities and indicators, prepare technical inputs for reports, and document good practices and lessons learned, ensuring the consistent application of conflict-sensitive, do-no-harm, and gender-responsive approaches

Your profile (required qualifications, competencies and experience)

• Advanced university degree in a field relevant to monitoring and evaluation, data analysis, public administration, governance, or development cooperation.

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, data management, institutional capacity development, or governance-related advisory work, preferably within development cooperation or reform contexts.

• Substantial experience in designing and managing results-based monitoring systems, including qualitative and quantitative indicators, data-collection methods, data-quality assurance, analysis, and reporting.

• Proven ability to develop practical, preferably digital, data-management systems and to support public institutions in using data for planning, coordination, and decision-making across administrative levels.

• Strong experience in institutional capacity development, including translating capacity assessments into practical systems, procedures, training, and advisory support.

• Demonstrated experience advising and maintaining constructive working relationships with government institutions, particularly at governorate, district, sub-district, or municipal level.

• Experience in participatory local development and community-based measures, and in monitoring social-cohesion outcomes, including relations between population groups and between citizens and state institutions.

• Proven ability to work in politically sensitive, fragile, or conflict-affected contexts and to apply gender-responsive, conflict-sensitive, and do-no-harm approaches.

• Strong analytical, advisory, facilitation, and communication skills, with the ability to bring together government institutions, civil society, and different population groups.

• Knowledge of return and reintegration dynamics and of the Syrian context, including sub-national governance structures, is highly desirable.