Position Information

·       Position title: Field Partnerships officer

·       Location: Beirut, Lebanon. - the position will be based primarily within the premises of Expertise France

·       Duration: 10-12 Months

·       Indicative starting date: September 2026

·       Employer: Expertise France

·       Projects covered: Building Alliances with Local Actors for Dignified Inclusive response – BALADI

Context

Expertise France is France’s public agency and interministerial actor in charge of international technical cooperation, the second largest in Europe. As a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), it designs and implements projects that sustainably strengthen public policies in developing and emerging countries. Expertise France (EF) works in key areas of development: governance, security, climate change, health, education, and more. Alongside its partners, it contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

EF’s Jordan–Lebanon Country Direction, effective since 1 January 2025, provides the framework for managing EF activities in both countries. Under the responsibility of a Country Director based in Beirut, the Lebanon office comprises a team of more than 30 staff members, including 3 expatriates and 5 International Technical Experts (ETI).

Expertise France in Lebanon manages and develops a portfolio of approximately EUR 40 million. Its activities are structured around three priority areas of intervention:

-        Governance and Sovereign Functions: support to public administration reform processes; border security and maritime security projects; provision of technical assistance to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice.

-        Social Sectors and Support to Vulnerable Populations: support to Lebanese civil society organizations; and implementation of projects promoting gender equality across all sectors of society.

-        Climate Adaptation and Green Economy: promotion of the circular economy through the regional ANMO Green Forward project; support to climate change adaptation strategies through the Adapt’Action facility; and assistance to the Lebanese Civil Defense.

The BALADI project aims to support six local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Lebanon, to implement post-conflict and gender sensitive recovery initiatives in three priority areas, in close collaboration with local authorities. Through its support to integrated and locally rooted emergency responses, the BALADI project will further strengthen coordination with local authorities and inclusive governance mechanisms to bolster local resilience and preparedness in target areas, responding both to immediate acute needs of vulnerable populations and strengthening local actors’ contingency planning and emergency response capacity to crisis.

The general objective of the project is to foster integrated post-crisis recovery through coordinated early relief and inclusive assistance to IDPs and vulnerable host communities in Lebanon through locally led delivery mechanisms through (i) strengthening local crisis responsiveness and resilience in priority areas across Lebanon and (ii) improve equitable access to essential, gender responsive and recovery services for crisis-affected populations, particularly women and girls in priority areas of Lebanon.

The project will require close coordination with different national and local public entities including but not limited to municipalities, Disaster Risk Management (DRM) units, and relevant ministries. 

Mission

The main role of the Field Partnerships Officer is to support the implementation of the BALADI project component related to CSO partner grants. Working under the direct management of the BALADI Partnerships Project Manager, s/he will work on regular basis both in the office and on the field.

S/he will be responsible for supporting, managing and strengthening strategic partnerships with six local civil society organizations (CSOs), and their respective collaboration with public entities.  S/he will ensure the operational, budgetary and technical oversight of the activities implemented by Expertise France’s partners in compliance with EF standards and donors’ requirements. 

Main Responsibilities

Operations

·       Oversee day-to-day implementation of partners CSO operations across the selected target areas in Lebanon ensuring operational consistency, compliance with grant agreements and timely delivery of planned outputs.

·       Update partners grant contract documents (Description of Action, Logframe, Budget), when needed, in line with EF requirements, as needed.

·       Follow-up on the implementation activities of all CSO partners in the field, ensuring that activities and expenditure are progressing according to their approved workplans, budget forecasts and contractual commitments, and proactively identify and address implementation bottlenecks, support work plan revision accordingly and the development of partner grants’ contingency plan as needed.

·       Ensure that any updates/information needed are shared in due time with partners (official letters, activity progress reports, minutes of the meetings etc.).

·       Provide first-line technical, administrative and financial support to partner organizations during proposal development, implementation and reporting, ensuring compliance with Expertise France procedures and donor requirements while strengthening partners capacities.

Finance, Logistics and Administrative support

­   Ensure that partners CSOs implement their activities in compliance with Expertise France’s administrative, financial, procurement and grant management procedures;

­   Follow up and ensure that all administrative documents related to partner project implementation are complete, up to date and stored for traceability;

­   Ensure that all partner financial documents are submitted, collected, and analysed for the validity of the expense;

­   Review partner CSO submissions, ensuring the accuracy of financial reports in accordance with their activity planning (financial supporting documents, revising Budget vs Actuals and forecast);

­   Review, organize, confirm the validity and consolidate partners financial spending, forecasts, BvAs, and implementation of all partner finance monitoring tools;

­   Monitor partners' financial performance and update grants management tools such as budget versus actuals (BvAs), cashflow and forecasting, activity, and procurement planning in collaboration with relevant units to identify implementation or expenditure risks and provide timely recommendations and follow-up actions.

Reporting

­   Support the Partnership and Project Manager in the preparation and consolidation of periodic (monthly, quarterly and ad hoc) internal project updates, summarizing implementation progress, key achievements, challenges and planned activities;

­   Contribute to the preparation of narrative reports, ad hoc reports related to field visits, attendance at workshops, conferences, seminars, etc. to ensure timely availability of accurate project information;

­   Ensure that partners CSOs submit complete, timely and qualitative reporting (both narrative and financial) in accordance with grant agreements;

­   Review, ensure the accuracy and consolidate data and reports from the CSOs prior to their submission to the Partnerships and Project Manager for validation.

Support CSO partners M&E capacities

­   Ensure the timely collection, quality control, archiving and consolidation of partners’ data and results to facilitate their use by the BALADI project;

­   Assess partners CSOs monitoring, data management and reporting capacities, and identify priority areas for technical support and capacity strengthening;

­   Provide day-to-day technical support to partner CSOs on monitoring methodologies, indicator tracking and reporting requirements, ensuring compliance with Expertise France and donor standards;

­   Support partners CSOs in collecting, consolidating and quality-checking of quantitative and qualitative project data, including beneficiary feedback and outcome-level evidence;

­   Develop and introduce monitoring/data collection/reporting tools and templates as needed, for the partner organizations, to facilitate harmonized monitoring and timely information flow across stakeholders.

­   Validate partner CSOs data collected to ensure that systematic flow of information according to the guidelines and standards set.

­   Provide day-to-day support, coordination and mentoring to partner M&E staff to facilitate the compilation, consolidation, and submission of data.

Qualifications and Skills

·       University degree in a relevant field such as Management, Political Science, Social Sciences, or a related discipline;

·       5 to 8 years of professional experience in grant management, working with local CSOs/CSOs;

·       Demonstrated knowledge of the project cycle,

·       Activity planning and budget monitoring skills;

·       At least 3 years of experience in a similar role with well-developed skills in project management Willingness and ability to travel regularly to all three project target locations (i.e., South, Bekaa and BML)

·       Excellent knowledge of the Lebanese civil society, and the Lebanese aid ecosystem in general;

·       Fluency in English and Arabic (written and spoken). Excellent command of French is a plus;

·       Previous experience managing donor-funded projects, preferably financed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and European Union (EU);

·       Local CSOs experience is an added advantage.

·       Good understanding of multiple donor reporting requirements;

·       Strong organizational, communication, and partnership skills;

·       Ethics and values: demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Reporting Line

The Field Partnership Officer will report to the Partnership Project manager and work with the relevant operational teams and the project support unit.

Application

Interested candidates are invited to submit a CV and cover letter in English detailing their qualifications, relevant experience, and motivation for the position no later than 05 August 2026 at 23h59 Beirut time / 22h59 Paris time.

Documents requested for the application are:

·       CV

·       Cover letter

·       Contract details of 3 relevant professional references

Applications must be sent via Expertise France's recruitment platform and must include a CV and a cover letter specifying the reference of the position.  The cover letter should include the Contract information of 3 relevant professional references

 Incomplete applications will not be evaluated.

Candidates interested in this opportunity are invited to submit their application as soon as possible.

Expertise France reserves the right to proceed with the candidates on a rolling basis.

The selection process consists of the following phases:

·       A shortlist of candidates will be created at the discretion of Expertise France.

·       Shortlisted candidates will be invited for a technical test

·       A technical interview will follow for the final phase of the selection.