Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty.

PROJECT ASSISTANT - ANBAR

Core Details

Iraq Context

Oxfam’s programme was established in 2014 in response to the ISIS conflict in Iraq. Oxfam implemented activities during the past few years that was built around the delivery of 3 main areas: A) Lifesaving humanitarian assistance, b) Recovery assistance, and C) Promotion of Women's Rights.

• Lifesaving humanitarian assistance: to newly displaced populations residing in camps or host communities. The bulk of this work was done around the Mosul Operation with activities implemented in the governorates of Erbil, Salah Al Din, Anbar, Diyala, and Ninewa. Activities included: Establishment/rehabilitation of safe water (boreholes, repair of infrastructure); Emergency water supply (distribution of water through trucking and bottled water); Setting up water tanks and networks in camps; Distribution of hygiene items; construction of latrines; Multi-purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA), Cash for Work opportunities inside the camps to allow construction work and solid waste management; and Distribution of emergency winterisation kits.

• Recovery assistance: to returnees, local host communities, and IDPs to recover from the post-conflict and to cope with protracted displacement. The main activities implemented under these areas of work include: Rehabilitation of water infrastructure; Supporting local authorities to rehabilitate essential public services (schools and hospitals); Grants to returnees to recover damaged businesses; Provision of livestock to support farmers; Cash for Work opportunities contributing to income for vulnerable families and supporting rehabilitation of infrastructure of public interest (irrigation canals, main roads).

• Promotion of Women's Rights: through contributing to the implementation of the National Plan for 1325 UN Resolution, and economic empowerment of women through the provision of training and grants to establish/rehabilitate businesses.

To serve these three objectives, Oxfam's work aimed to integrate the following key sectors for every intervention in a given location:

• Water, Sanitation,  and Hygiene
• Food Security and Vulnerable Livelihoods
• Non-food items and Shelter
• Protection of lives and rights of civilians
• Gender Justice
• Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning
• Advocacy and Media work

JOB PURPOSE

Project Assistant position is responsible for the implementation of project activities in the respective districts, technical assessments, coordination, and reporting of the GIZ-funded project in Anbar titled ‘Strengthening Community Engagement and Citizen–Government Relations in Local Development Planning.”. Under the supervision of the project officer, the project assistant will support in the field-level activities, such as the coordination with the local authorities and stakeholders, support in organizing events and workshops, document MoVs, etc.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Project Delivery and Coordination

Support to Project Implementation

• Assist the Project Officer in coordinating the implementation of the 13 citizen participation measures across Heet, Fallujah, and Ramadi.
• Support logistical and administrative arrangements for community dialogues, town halls, multi-stakeholder forums, and public conferences.
• Prepare invitations, participant lists, and meeting minutes for all project activities, ensuring proper documentation.
• Maintain accurate records of participant attendance, ensuring gender and age disaggregation as per project requirements (minimum 30% women).
• Support follow-up with local authorities, community committees, and CSOs to ensure commitments from participatory sessions are documented and tracked.

Monitoring, Reporting, and Documentation

• Collect activity data, photos, and supporting documentation for reporting and MEAL purposes.
• Assist in preparing activity reports, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timeliness.
• Maintain a filing system (both hard and soft copies) of all project-related documents, correspondence, and reports.
• Support the Project Officer in liaising with the MEAL team during baseline, midline, and endline assessments.

Community and Stakeholder Engagement

• Assist in mobilizing community members, particularly women, youth, and marginalized groups, to ensure inclusive participation.
• Coordinate with local government representatives and civil society partners for smooth activity delivery.
• Provide translation/interpretation support (Arabic–English) when needed during meetings or documentation.

Operational and Administrative Support

• Support procurement and logistical processes in line with Oxfam’s policies, including preparing purchase requests, payment documentation, and activity budgets.
• Assist in managing travel arrangements, venue booking, and logistics for workshops and field visits.
• Track and manage project supplies and ensure proper utilization during activities.

Cross-cutting Responsibilities

• Ensure safeguarding, gender sensitivity, and protection principles are observed during all project activities.
• Immediately report any incidents, risks, or complaints as per Oxfam’s safeguarding and accountability policies.
• Contribute to capturing lessons learned and success stories for project visibility and donor reporting.

General Responsibilities:

• Conduct community mobilization and sensitization activities in targeted location considering the strict adherence to DO NO HARM principle.
• Under the supervision of project officer/manager, draft weekly, monthly implementation plan/reports and ensure implementation of the plan accordingly.
• As delegated by project officer/manager to supervise the implementation of the 13 citizen’s engagement measures for the program ensuring achievement of the set objectives and milestones.
• Ensure community participation at each stage of project implementation and their input and feedback are incorporated in activities implementation.
• Ensure gender mainstreaming for all project activities with inclusion of women in all program support and facilitate the women group at different stages of program implementation.
• Work with youth groups and women groups to identify and address special needs of both for inclusion and support in to shape citizen participation processes and to support the resilience of their communities against the impacts of climate change.
• Participate in assessments, collation, and analysis of other primary and secondary information sources of relevance to contribute to agreed advocacy initiatives.
• Maintain good working relationships with relevant government departments, academia, and other key project stakeholders and ensure Oxfam's interest is presented at all levels.
• Ensure project deliverables are achieved as stipulated in the project design, maintaining the Oxfam’s program quality standards and expectations of relevant stakeholders.
• Work with the MEAL team for monitoring and evaluating the project regularly, ensuring community participation as appropriate, as well as accountability towards communities.
• Follow up on MEAL activities and findings, ensuring that learning from monitoring and evaluation is included and strategies and program implementation are adapted accordingly.

Other

• Required to adhere to Oxfam’s principles and values as well as the promotion of gender justice and women's rights
• Understanding of and commitment to adhere to equity, diversity, gender, child safety and staff health and wellbeing principles

SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential

• A minimum bachelor’s degree in business management, sustainable

development, economics, development studies, peace and conflict studies, or related field;

• 2-3 years of experience in the similar position, including experience working with implementing partners in the field of climate change and sustainable development.
• Good Knowledge of the issues, challenges, and opportunities around climate change adaptation and policy dialogue, and citizen engagement for climate advocacy.
• Experience and skills in playing a supportive role, demonstrating the ability to support field team members to deliver results for operational work.
• Ensure proper community engagement and clear communication with the community.
• A good understanding of the Iraqi context and local cultures.
• Strong ability to work with diverse groups/individuals –ranging from local partners, local authorities, local community groups, the humanitarian community, and Academia.
• Proficiency in the Arabic language (written and spoken) is required.
• Ability to travel and to work in difficult circumstances.
• MS Office operating skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Technical

Administrative Support:

• Provide administrative support for various project activities.
• Assist in organizing events and workshops.

Documentation Assistance:

• Assist in documenting local knowledge and practices.
• Support qualitative exploration processes.

Campaign Support:

• Assist in planning and implementing awareness campaigns.
• Provide administrative support for campaign activities.

Youth Engagement Support:

• Support coordination of youth-led initiatives.
• Assist in disseminating youth-produced content.

Capacity Building Assistance:

• Assist in the delivery of capacity-building packages.
• Provide logistical support for training sessions.

Networking Support:

• Provide administrative support for learning networking activities.
• Assist in identifying engagement opportunities for stakeholders.

Desirable

• Experience in building the capacity of the team internally and of external stakeholders;
• Experience in working and jointly implementing projects involving local authorities and/or organizations as implementing partners.
• Proficiency in English language will be an asset (both spoken and writing)

Key Attributes

1. Good interpersonal, influencing and communication skills.
2. Sensitivity to cultural differences, and the ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts.
3. Commitment to humanitarian principles and action.

Organizational Values

• Accountability – Our purpose-driven, results-focused approach means we take responsibility for our actions and hold ourselves accountable. We believe that others should also be held accountable for their actions.
• Empowerment – Our approach means that everyone involved with Oxfam, from our staff and supporters to people living in poverty, should feel they can make change happen.
• Inclusiveness – We are open to everyone and embrace diversity. We believe everyone has a contribution to make, regardless of visible and invisible differences.

At Oxfam, our job descriptions provide a guide to what might be expected in the role. Along with our strategy, the job profile is used to help to shape specific objectives for employees. Employees are supported to deliver these objectives and they are annually assessed against them as part of the Oxfam performance review process. This job profile is not incorporated into the employment contract.

Behavioral competencies (based on Oxfam’s Leadership Model)

We’re looking for a candidate who cares about Oxfam's mission to end poverty and is personally aligned to our feminist principles and values of empowerment, accountability, and inclusion in all you do.

An ideal candidate for the role will also be/have:

We offer:

We offer a competitive salary and a range of additional benefits to staff, including flexible working options, a generous pension scheme, annual leave, additional leave allowances, company sick pay, life assurance and a range of other benefits. 

From the day you join Oxfam we invite you to stretch and learn in your role. Our wide range of Learning & Development opportunities includes in-house courses, e-learning modules, on-the job learning opportunities, coaching and mentoring, and much more. 

You can read more about all Oxfam has to offer here.

Flexfam:

We believe flexible working is key to building the Oxfam of the future, so we’re open to talking through the type of flexible arrangements that might work for you.

How to apply:

As part of your online application, please upload your up-to-date CV and Cover Letter explaining your suitability against the essential criteria in the job profile.  

Our values and commitment to safeguarding

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom Oxfam GB engages. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. Oxfam GB also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.  In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.

About us

Oxfam is a global community who believe poverty isn’t inevitable. It’s an injustice that can be overcome. We are shop volunteers, women’s right activists, marathon runners, aid workers, coffee farmers, street fundraisers, goat herders, policy experts, campaigners, water engineers and more. And we won’t stop until everyone can live life without poverty for good.

Oxfam GB is a member of international confederation of 21 organisations working together with partners and local communities in the areas of humanitarian, development and campaigning, in more than 90 countries. 

A thriving diverse Oxfam:

It’s people power that brings about change. To play our part as a global organisation working to overcome poverty and inequality, we need equality, diversity and inclusion across our community of staff, partners and volunteers. Together, we’re committed to becoming a more diverse workforce, better able to tackle the global challenges that face our world today.

To do that:

• We need to dismantle the unequal power structures that exist everywhere, this including Oxfam and the wider development and charity sectors.
• We need an inclusive Oxfam where everyone can bring who they are to our work and feels celebrated for the differences they bring.
• We want and need everyone, and that means we need you.