The Senior Program Coordinator (SPC) is a member of UPA's Lebanon field team responsible for coordinating assigned projects under the Lebanon program portfolio through the standard project management cycle.
The SPC ensures effective implementation, coordination, monitoring, and reporting of assigned projects and contributes to effective coordination across UPA's Lebanon programming. The position works closely with project staff, implementing partners, and respective departments, under the oversight of senior management, to ensure activities are implemented effectively, on time, within approved budgets, and in accordance with donor requirements and UPA policies and standards.
The SPC is expected to work independently, exercise sound judgment, proactively identify risks and implementation gaps, and develop practical solutions. Project assignments and areas of responsibility may change over time based on the number, size, complexity, funding, and priorities of UPA's Lebanon portfolio.
Primary Responsibilities
1. Program and Project Management
- Coordinate implementation across UPA's Lebanon portfolio and ensure effective follow-up across projects, project staff, partners, and support functions.
- Directly manage assigned projects, with responsibility for day-to-day planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting, partner coordination, budget follow-up, risk management, and closeout.
- Develop and maintain project workplans, implementation trackers, and other project management tools to ensure timely and effective implementation.
- Monitor progress against approved objectives, activities, indicators, timelines, budgets, and deliverables and proactively identify gaps, delays, and risks.
- Coordinate solutions to implementation challenges and escalate matters requiring management-level decisions.
- Provide guidance and coordination to project staff working on assigned projects and facilitate effective communication and collaboration among relevant team members and functions, without formal line-management responsibility.
- Ensure assigned projects remain aligned with approved proposals, logical frameworks, workplans, donor requirements, and UPA policies.
- Support adaptive management by recommending adjustments to implementation approaches in response to changing needs, context, evidence, and available resources.
2. Partner Coordination and Management
- Serve as a day-to-day focal point for assigned implementing partners and facilitate effective communication and collaboration throughout the project cycle.
- Coordinate partner workplans, implementation follow-up, deliverables, reporting, documentation, and outstanding actions.
- Review partner progress and financial reports and identify gaps, risks, or issues requiring follow-up.
- Monitor partner performance against agreed deliverables, timelines, budgets, and quality standards.
- Work with partners to troubleshoot implementation challenges, facilitate solutions, and identify opportunities to strengthen program delivery and partner capacity.
3. Program Quality, MEAL and Reporting
- Monitor implementation and results against approved indicators, targets, and MEAL requirements.
- Review program and partner monitoring data and documentation for completeness, consistency, accuracy, and quality.
- Participate in field monitoring visits and ensure findings, recommendations, and corrective actions are documented and followed up.
- Ensure appropriate beneficiary, activity, attendance, feedback, and other program records are maintained for assigned projects.
- Prepare and/or lead assigned sections of donor, internal, partner, and project reports, including analysis of progress, results, challenges, and variances.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen program quality, effectiveness, relevance, and accountability and incorporate learning into ongoing and future programming.
- Document lessons learned, good practices, and program adaptations.
4. Budget, Procurement and Operational Coordination
- Monitor the financial performance of assigned projects including expenditure against approved budgets and implementation progress.
- Identify anticipated underspending, overspending, budget variances, and financial risks and recommend appropriate action.
- Support budget revisions, reallocations, forecasting, and other financial processes as required.
- Coordinate with Procurement, Finance, Operations, and other support functions to ensure timely delivery of project requirements.
- Follow up on procurement, logistics, payments, supplies, venues, transportation, and other operational requirements affecting implementation.
5. Program Development, Context and Community Engagement
- Contribute to needs assessments, concept notes, proposals, budgets, logframes, workplans, and other program development processes.
- Monitor relevant sector priorities, humanitarian developments, emerging needs, and changes in the operating environment and assess their implications for UPA programming.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen, expand, integrate, or innovate UPA programs in response to emerging needs and organizational priorities.
- Support community engagement, outreach, awareness, and other activities that strengthen UPA's understanding of community needs and program relevance.
- Identify and develop potential partnerships and program opportunities and provide recommendations to the Programs Manager.
- Contribute to strategic planning, portfolio reviews, and other organizational program development processes.
6. External Coordination, Risk and Compliance
- Maintain effective working relationships with relevant NGOs, INGOs, UN agencies, government entities, community organizations, and other stakeholders.
- Participate in relevant coordination meetings, technical forums, workshops, and external engagements and represent UPA when delegated.
- Monitor programmatic, operational, financial, security, safeguarding, compliance, and reputational risks affecting assigned projects and support appropriate mitigation measures.
- Ensure assigned projects comply with donor agreements, approved budgets, UPA policies and procedures, and relevant safeguarding and accountability requirements.
- Promote accountability to affected populations, conflict sensitivity, inclusion, and Do No Harm principles throughout implementation.
- Escalate significant risks, policy exceptions, or matters outside delegated authority through the appropriate management channels.
Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in International Development, Social Sciences, Public Administration, Project Management, Business Administration, or another relevant field.
- Master's degree in a relevant field is an asset.
- Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian, development, nonprofit, or related program management.
- Demonstrated experience coordinating and/or directly managing donor-funded projects through the project cycle.
- Experience in project planning, implementation, partner management, budgeting, monitoring, reporting, and closeout.
- Experience working with implementing partners and external stakeholders.
- Experience with budget monitoring, procurement coordination, and financial reporting.
- Strong understanding of program quality, MEAL, data management, and accountability principles.
- Experience working with international NGOs, humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, or other development organizations.
- Experience working with Palestinian refugee communities in Lebanon.
- Fluency in Arabic and strong written and spoken English.
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word and Excel.
Core Competencies
- Program and project management: Ability to independently manage assigned projects while maintaining awareness of the broader portfolio.
- Portfolio coordination: Ability to coordinate across multiple projects, teams, partners, and organizational functions.
- Strategic and contextual thinking: Ability to understand changing needs and sector developments and translate them into relevant program recommendations.
- Problem-solving and judgment: Ability to identify issues, assess options, develop practical solutions, and determine when escalation is required.
- Planning and organization: Ability to manage multiple projects, competing priorities, and deadlines.
- Financial and operational awareness: Ability to understand project budgets and coordinate financial, procurement, and operational requirements.
- Partner management and facilitation: Ability to establish constructive relationships, facilitate collaboration, negotiate effectively, and maintain accountability for agreed deliverables.
- Communication: Strong written and verbal communication and ability to synthesize complex information clearly.
- Adaptability: Ability to respond effectively to changing priorities, needs, and operating conditions.
- Initiative and independence: Demonstrated ability to take ownership, work independently, and drive follow-through.
- Collaboration: Ability to work effectively across departments and with diverse stakeholders.
- Commitment to UPA's mission: Demonstrated commitment to UPA's mandate and to serving vulnerable and crisis-affected communities.
