About Heartland Alliance International: Heartland Alliance International’s (HAI) mission is to secure the rights and well-being of marginalized people and communities. HAI envisions a world in which those whose rights have been violated are safe and empowered to actively engage in their communities and be at the forefront of social change. HAI has significant expertise in the fields of trauma-informed mental health and psychosocial support and access to justice for survivors of rights abuses. It is also an industry leader in access to high quality and stigma-free health care. Across all of its programs, HAI promotes progressive, innovative approaches to human rights protections and gender equality.
In Iraq, HAI MHPSS programming supports the needs of the most vulnerable groups, including women, children, religious and ethnic minorities, internally displaced people and refugees, and survivors of torture, human trafficking, gender-based violence, and other forms of trauma. HAI provides direct services and works with local non-governmental partners and helps build the capacity of health and mental health professionals, legal service providers and judicial officials, government organizations, and the media. Current projects include establishment of trauma rehabilitation and treatment centers (TRTC), specifically targeting survivors of torture and trauma, people with war-related disabilities, and highly vulnerable children affected by war, including children in detention and in shelters.
Role of the MHPSS Director:
The MHPSS Director will report to the Iraq Country Director and will receive technical guidance from HAI’s Chicago-based MHPSS Technical Advisor. As the leader of HAI’s MHPSS Technical Unit in Iraq, the MHPSS Director will provide technical oversight and leadership to support HAI’s MHPSS and comprehensive case management services for participants throughout the country. The MHPSS Director will lead MHPSS strategic planning in Iraq, develop interventions, guidance and protocols, contribute to proposal development, and provide training and supervision to ensure high standards of service delivery. The MHPSS Director will provide ongoing training and supervision (both in-person and remotely) to project-specific MHPSS Coordinators who will in turn supervise service providers including psychologists, social workers, and peer support group facilitators. Although the MHPSS Coordinator will be based in Sulaymaniyah or Erbil, he/she will be expected to travel frequently to other project sites throughout Iraqi Kurdistan and Federal Iraq (Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk).
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
The responsibilities of the position include 4 main areas of focus:
1- Strategic planning, program development and implementation
- Guide the development and implementation of MHPSS strategy and programming tailored to the context in Iraq, including the development of interventions, technical protocols, tools, and guidelines.
- Ensure high-quality implementation and harmonization of training and technical tools across different MHPSS programs in Iraq.
- Contribute to proposal development for MHPSS programs in Iraq in line with MHPSS strategy.
- In collaboration with program managers, ensure that MHPSS program components are implemented according to approved work plan to achieve program deliverables.
Through strong planning and monitoring, identify potential obstacles to programmatic success in a timely fashion, and implements corrective actions as needed.
Staff management, training, supervision, and support
Oversee the recruitment of MHPSS staff as well as ongoing performance management.
Assess training needs and provide on-site training to project-level staff (MHPSS Coordinators, psychologists and social workers) and partner institutions on MHPSS (e.g., Psychological First Aid, Gender-Based Violence, trauma informed care, group facilitation techniques, crisis intervention techniques, etc.).
Provide regular remote and in-person supervision to project-specific MHPSS Coordinators; conduct field visits with project coordinators to ensure consistent clinical supervision and capacity-building objectives are met
In coordination with MHPSS coordinators, provide technical oversight and field monitoring to ensure high-quality implementation of MHPSS interventions and tools.
Lead development and implementation of staff support programming to ensure wellbeing of MHPSS staff and other HAI team members.
Contribute to the MHPSS capacity building of key partners and other stakeholders at the regional and national level.
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting
In collaboration with Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and other staff, contribute project deliverables and monitoring and evaluation indicators and targets for grant and service delivery partners as required.
Collaborate closely with project team to continuously assess status of MHPSS services/components’ implementation against project work plan and implement appropriate steps to ensure project is on track in meeting deliverables.
Contribute to set-up and implementation of the technical monitoring and evaluation tools for MHPSS components of the project’s activities.
Contribute to finalizing program monthly, quarterly, and annual project reports in English.
Provide regular comprehensive program updates to Country Director as to program status, current and emerging issues.
External representation and coordination
Attend relevant coordination groups and liaise with key stakeholders and donors as necessary.
As needed, contribute to the development of case studies of successes and lessons learned, and other publications to highlight HAI’s specific areas of expertise and value added.
Represent HAI and its MHPSS projects in professional and public settings, including with government entities. Make presentations at professional meetings and conferences.
Other duties: this Job Description is flexible to respond to additional tasks or changes as identified by the direct line manager.
Essential Criteria:
- Master’s degree in clinical or counseling psychology, social work, or similar field.
- 5+ years of professional experience implementing and/or overseeing MHPSS Programming in development and/or humanitarian settings, preferably in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
- Demonstrated experience providing training, clinical supervision, and oversight to MHPSS service providers.
- Experience/knowledge of MHPSS global guidelines, including best practices related to the treatment for individuals impacted by displacement, conflict, torture and human rights violations.
- Experience providing MHPSS services to survivors of torture and war violence strongly preferred.
- Experience in MHPSS with children and adolescents and Child Protection strongly preferred.
- Experience in programming for survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) strongly preferred.
- Experience in proposal development and donor reporting strongly preferred.
- Excellent interpersonal skills including ability to gain trust and build relationships; strong diplomatic, negotiation, and persuasion skills; ability to proactively problem-solve.
- Commitment to human rights and gender equality; high professional ethical standards and humanitarian values.
- Knowledge and understanding of Monitoring and Evaluation concepts.
- Experience with Windows platform, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.
- Proven ability to calmly, professionally, and successfully manage multiple priorities; Ability to work in a stressful setting and adapt quickly to changing environments.
- Ability and willingness to travel within the IKR and Federal Iraq, and the region.
Languages
- Excellent oral and written English language skills required.
- Fluency in Arabic required.
- Basic reading and speaking in Kurdish preferred.
- Demonstrated competency in public speaking preferred
Personal Competencies: Collaborative spirit and ability to work independently as well as in a team; commitment to knowledge sharing and teamwork; positive attitude and ability to see through challenges to find solutions; and strong interpersonal skills and an ability to clearly communicate, including complex concepts into layperson language.
Resilience: This project will address sensitive issues. Interested applicants should have a strong commitment to addressing the issues with cultural sensitivity, respect, and confidentiality. Candidates should be flexible, have a sense of humor and patience
Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions without regard to race, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, sexual identity, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief, ex-offender status (depending on the offense and position to be filled), unfavorable military discharge, membership in an organization whose primary purpose is the protection of civil rights or improvement of living conditions and human relations, or HIV infection, in accordance with the Organization's AIDS Policy Statement of September, 1987. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodation should contact the Human Resources and Administration Office at (312) 660-1431.