Role:
Under the supervision of the Psychosocial Services Director, the Groups and Activities Psychosocial Program 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 refugee psychosocial workers and four youth assistants, so as to ensure effective delivery of comprehensive psychosocial groups and activities. The Groups and Activities Coordinator is involved in identifying needs together with Groups psychosocial workers, 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.
Responsibilities Staff and Supervision
To recruit, train, supervise, and support Groups psychosocial workers and youth assistants, ensuring that the program operates effectively and efficiently and provides comprehensive and fair assistance to clients.
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 psychosocial workers.
To appraise and provide feedback and guidance to psychosocial workers, 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 psychosocial workers and with all PS staff in collaboration with the PS Director and other PS program coordinators.
To support psychosocial workers in adopting and maintaining adequate self-care strategies.
To ensure that all staff members carry out tasks in accordance with StARS policies and procedures.
Design, Implementation and Coordination of Psychosocial Group Activities
To work in co-operation with the Adults and Families Psychosocial Program and Unaccompanied Children and Youth Psychosocial Program 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 building self-reliance and developing 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 and facilitate groups and activities that meet the needs of staff and teams at StARS.
To design thorough session outlines and workshop curriculums as necessary, and develop documentation of groups and activities, to be used by psychosocial workers across programs and/or volunteers.
To plan, overview and supervise the implementation of all psychosocial groups and activities at StARS.
Networking and Advocacy
To create and maintain cooperative relationships with refugee service providers, community-based organisations 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.
Coordination with Communities
In close coordination with Groups psychosocial workers, the 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.
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 Groups and Activities Psychosocial 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.
Administration
To attend staff meetings, management meetings, and other internal meetings as appropriate.
To provide monthly and quarterly statistics and reports relating to the activity of the program.
To make sure that accurate records of groups and workshops attendance are 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.
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 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 will also be considered.
A minimum of two years experience working with vulnerable groups and/or with refugees or migrants. Experience in the provision of psychosocial services, and the delivery of groups / workshops.
Program management experience including recruitment, training, supervision, staff evaluation and feedback, results tracking, and reporting.
An ability to lead and motivate team members and to cooperate with peers and supervisors. An ability to communicate effectively, using 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 work in a multi-cultural team.
Ability to prioritize work, multi-task, and meet deadlines.
Maturity and discretion, able to work with and maintain confidential information.
Working hours: The Groups and Activities Coordinator is expected to be at work for 40 hours per week, between the hours of 9am and 5pm from Sunday to Thursday. Longer hours, evening and weekend work are sometimes necessary. Work will be conducted both in StARS premises and also in refugee communities and centers.
HOW TO APPLY:
To apply: Send Motivation Letter and CV to rwatt@stars-egypt.org using the subject line “PS Groups and Activities Coordinator Application”, by the end of the day on 24 November 2015.
Please note, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
