Egypt: Psychosocial (PS) Groups and Activities Coordinator

Saint Andrew’s Refugee Services, Cairo

Vacancy: Psychosocial (PS) Groups and Activities Coordinator**

Founded in 1979, St Andrew’s Refugee Services (StARS) is a refugee service provider in central Cairo that works to enhance the quality of life for refugees and vulnerable migrants through four programs: adult and children’s education, legal, and psychosocial services. We provide high-quality services meeting the unaddressed needs of refugees, and we provide a safe and inclusive space for displaced people to come together as a community. We work for refugees, with refugees, to make rights recognition a reality.

StARS’ Vision is a safe, inclusive and supportive environment for refugees in which they can exercise their rights, pursue their aspirations, and live in dignity.

StARS’ Mission is to enhance the quality of life of refugees in Egypt and make their rights a reality through client-centered programs.

We serve people from many places, including Ethiopia, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Syria. To learn more please visit www.stars-egypt.org.

Project Description: Psychosocial Services
StARS’ Psychosocial Services (PS) assists refugees who are in need of support with medical, mental health or social needs, such as shelter, security, community support, education, and general well-being and integration in Cairo. StARS PS provides individual psychosocial support to adults and families; individual psychosocial support to unaccompanied children and youth (UCY); and runs an intensive education and psychosocial program for UCY. Alongside with individual support we develop group activities where people can find additional or specific support, activities include peer-support groups, information and awareness sessions, sports and other activities to promote socialization and the psychosocial well-being of refugee populations in Cairo.

Role

Under the supervision of the Psychosocial Services (PS) Director, the PS Groups and Activities Coordinator is responsible for managing the implementation of quality group activities in response to needs of StARS clients and refugee communities. This includes developing effective programming and providing training, guidance, and supervision to a team of two groups psychosocial workers (PSWs) so as to ensure effective delivery of comprehensive psychosocial groups and activities. The PS Groups and Activities Coordinator is involved in identifying needs together with Groups PSWs, the communities and StARS PS Programs, developing relevant psychosocial group and information sessions, facilitating sessions, identifying and providing support to volunteers and external facilitators and managing the logistics of group activities.

Primary Duties and responsibilities

Staff and supervision

• To recruit, train, supervise, and support two Groups PSWs in developing and delivering relevant quality psychosocial groups and activities to StARS’ clients, students and refugee communities in Cairo.
• To support and supervise other PS staff (across programs) in the development and delivery of any PS related groups or activities.
• To organize and facilitate weekly team meetings and regular supervision sessions with Groups PSWs.
• To appraise and provide feedback and guidance to PSWs, focusing on the development of their skills, and set up/access training to meet the identified needs of the team.
• To work on team building and cooperation between PSWs and with all PS staff in collaboration with the PS Director and PS Program Coordinators.
• To support PSWs in adopting and maintaining adequate self-care strategies.
• To ensure that all staff members carry out tasks in accordance with StARS policies and procedures.

Networking, Inter-agency and Advocacy

• To create and maintain cooperative relationships with refugee service providers, CBOs and religious groups that work with refugees to identify and respond to gaps, improve service provision and increase awareness and response to psychosocial issues of refugee populations.
• To maintain an in-depth understanding of local, regional, and global trends in refugee displacement and work to ensure that psychosocial services benefit from the best practices of other agencies engaged in similar programming.
• To promote awareness of refugee protection issues throughout StARS and with external audiences both at the local and international level in coordination with StARS management.

Programming

• To adjust programming in order to guarantee relevant activities are developed for StARS’ clients, students and refugee communities.
• To implement and revise a work plan for the PS Groups and Activities Program in coordination with the Director of PS.
• To develop and revise monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, working with the PS Director and StARS’ PM&E Officer.
• To support the PS Program Director in development and implementation of psychosocial policies and procedures.
• To contribute to continuing training for StARS staff and other partner organizations in cooperation with the PS Director and other StARS programs and partners as needed.

Design, Implementation and Coordination of Psychosocial (PS) Group Activities

• To work in co-operation with the Adults and Families Program (AFP) and Unaccompanied Children and Youth (UCY) PS teams and other St. Andrew’s departments to create activities that creatively respond to the psychosocial needs identified in different refugee groups and communities, and that contribute to build self-reliance and develop coping skills among refugee participants.
• To coordinate, design and facilitate workshops, information sessions, support groups and recreational activities for adults, families and children from different refugee communities; activities tailored to the needs of unaccompanied refugee children and youth; activities for staff; other activities as necessary.
• To design thorough session outlines and workshop curricula as necessary, and develop documentation of groups and activities, to be used by PSWs across programs and/or volunteers.
• To plan, overview and supervise the implementation of all psychosocial groups and activities at St. Andrew’s.

Administration

• To attend staff meetings, management meetings, and other internal meetings as appropriate.
• To produce monthly and quarterly statistics and reports relating to the activity of the program.
• To make sure that accurate record of groups and workshops attendance is kept.
• To manage budgets for the PS Groups and Activities team expenses, reporting to the PS Director.
• To assist StARS’ management team in writing project proposals and fundraising applications.
• To coordinate clothes donations, including pick-up service, distribution to clients, and the mobilization of donations in collaboration with StARS Volunteer Coordinator and other relevant staff

Coordination with communities

• In close coordination with Groups PSWs, outreach staff and other relevant StARS staff, to maintain communication with refugee community groups for the purpose of implementing psychosocial group activities that are relevant for the communities.
• To follow-up on activities related requests made by refugee communities.
• To develop activities in response to new trends and community needs, including support groups, information sessions and other community meetings.

Qualifications & Experience

• The ideal candidate will be energetic, with knowledge and understanding of refugee populations. She or he will have demonstrated a firm commitment to human rights and refugee issues, and to gender equality.
• English being the official language of StARS’ office, the Groups and Activities Coordinator must be fluent in both oral and written English. Arabic or a relevant language spoken by refugee populations in Cairo (e.g. Somali, Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya) is an advantage.
• A Bachelor’s degree in psychology or social work, or other related field. Extensive work experience in a related field may also be considered. A Master’s degree or demonstrated equivalence in Social Work, Psychology, or social sciences is an asset.
• A minimum of two years experience working in human rights and/or with refugees or migrants.
• Program management experience including recruitment, training, supervision, staff evaluation and feedback, results tracking, and reporting.
• Experience in case management and the provision of psychosocial services to vulnerable groups of society or refugees.
• A proven ability to lead and motivate team members and to cooperate with peers and supervisors.
• A proven ability to communicate effectively, diplomacy and assertiveness; the ability to confront and discuss sensitive issues with respect and care.
• Ability to think creatively, solve problems and work well independently as well as in groups.
• An understanding of the impact of different cultural factors on professional work and an ability to workin a multi-cultural team.
• Able to prioritize work, multi-task, and meet deadlines.
• Maturity and discretion, able to work with, and maintain confidential information.

Working hours: The PS Groups and Activities Coordinator is expected to be at work for 40 hours per week, between the hours of 9am and 5pm (or 10am to 6pm with the agreement of PS Director, in accordance with the needs of the office) from Sunday to Thursday. Working hours per week are 35 hours, with one additional hour available for lunch / breaks per day. Longer hours, evening and weekend work are sometimes necessary. Work will be conducted both in StARS premises and also in refugee communities and centers.

Salary: Starting salary for this position is 4000 EGP / month (plus 100 EGP monthly medical allowance; 50 EGP/month pension contribution).

To apply: Send Motivation Letter and CV to pgroder@stars-egypt.org using the subject line “PS Groups and Activities Coordinator Application”, by 5 December 2015.

Closing date for applications: 5 December 2015

Anticipated starting date: 13 December 2015