Entrepreneurship Project Officer – YANHAD (R)

Job Title: Entrepreneurship Project Officer – YANHAD (R)

Duty station: Erbil – Iraq (KRG)

Duration of assignment: 6 months (renewable)

Contract type: Services Contract

Starting date: 15 February 2021

1. Introduction

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1^st January 2015 and merging 6 French public agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programmes, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. Besides, EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programmes.

1. Context & Needs

In Iraq, the city of Mosul, ISIL’s occupation from June 2014 to July 2017 caused a humanitarian catastrophe with grave human suffering and physical destruction. Nearly one million people were forced to flee the conflict, with over 31,000 houses destroyed or severely damaged, major disruption in public service provision, and water treatment and power plants contaminated with unprecedented quantities of explosive hazards and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These damages and losses have resulted in increased levels of poverty and unemployment in Daesh – formally controlled areas. Drawing on comprehensive assessments conducted by the Ministry of Planning, the World Bank estimates that reconstruction will take at least 10 years, with a financial requirement of at least $80 billion for the entire country, including a large share needed to rebuild Ninewa province.

A large range of donors already contribute to the reconstruction of Ninewa area; infrastructures and house reconstruction, demining, soft reconstruction (economic recovery, capacity building) but there is still a lot of needs to address in the humanitarian field as well as in terms of stabilisation. The promotion of stabilisation, the initiation of an effective recovery and reconstruction process are crucial to prevent escalation to re-emerging and tackle some of the underlying social and economic drivers of instability in Iraq.

Iraq can only escape from unsteadiness if short-term solutions aimed at stabilisation are coupled with longer-term solutions that focus on governance. Short-term solutions include guaranteeing security and resuming essential services, particularly in recently liberated areas. Longer-term solutions include enhancing relations between the central government and its peripheries; tackling endemic corruption; supporting bottom-up, rather than top-down, processes in selecting leaders; taking power away from non-state actors; prioritising good governance as an essential part of the reconciliation process and providing opportunities for useful engagement of youth in local governance. State authority and jurisdiction-rebuilding efforts must address these challenges and achieve local buy-ins that can establish enduring confidence and legitimacy.

1. Programme background

In line with the Iraq’s Reconstruction and Development Framework, the proposed Action will support the Iraqi authorities to tackle some of the underlying social and economic drivers, starting with youth unemployment, the top priority of populations and public authorities met during EF’s scoping missions. Aligned with the Commission Decision on the financing of the special measure in favour of Iraq for 2019, aiming at promoting socio-economic development in Iraq through job creation and income generation (CRIS number: 2019/41441), the project will contribute to the development of the urban areas of Mosul and of the rural area of Nineveh governorate. It will allow vulnerable and returnees youth and women to find income opportunities and services to respond to their essential needs.

In that sense, Expertise France designed the Yanhad project that promotes the stability and socio-economic development of Iraq by strengthening national and local institutional capacity to support essential public-services delivery and economic empowerment for local populations and IDPs. Yanhad is composed of 3 components:

1. Support to students of Mosul and Ninewa universities: to improve access to students of Mosul to more efficient career guidance services and to concrete opportunities for professional work experience, employment, and civic engagement.
2. Youth civic engagement: to engage youth through Iraqi CSO in community service projects and fostering dialogue with local authorities
3. Youth entrepreneurship: to encourage youth entrepreneurship through a network of accessible business incubators/accelerators programs for enterprises throughout the country

Focus on component 3: The project is supporting two local partners to support youth in creating and developing private businesses: The Station and the AEI.

The Station for entrepreneurship (https://the-station.iq/ ) was established in Bagdad in 2018 to offer not only the physical space that entrepreneurs in Iraq sorely need to build their businesses, but also offers a supportive community and an inclusive entrepreneurial climate. It aims at establishing a healthy ecosystem in Iraq where entrepreneurs can flourish. It provides empowerment to youth and aspiring entrepreneurs by providing them with the space and resources to build, develop and sustain their start-ups. The Station already has a co-working space in Baghdad that is becoming an incubator including a business development programme. The Station is also creating a new business incubator in Mosul to promote the culture of entrepreneurship and support young entrepreneurs. The incubators’ activities is including entrepreneurship promotion, training, mentorship, and other business advisory support. Young entrepreneurs will have increased managerial capacity, greater business knowledge and more expansive ties to various supporting networks including suppliers, customers, and investors. Both incubators are designed to support the most promising entrepreneurs to launch scalable start-ups that will provide future employment opportunities for other Iraqi youth.

The second local partner supported is the American University of Iraq Sulymanieh, and the AUIS Entrepreneurship Initiative (AEI), launched in 2017 with an understanding of the close link between private sector growth and economic progress. Since then, AEI continued working with private and public sector leaders to advance the political, economic, and social changes necessary to create a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in Iraq. The AEI accelerator, Takween, is targeting high-growth, scalable business ventures throughout Iraq that need external assistance in reaching their potential. This assistance is provided through mentorship and coaching, hard business skills, locating talent, and/or capital, all things that the accelerator is providing directly, or potentially indirectly in the case of talent and capital.

Qualifications & Preferred Skills

1. Job Description / Assignment

Position’s Overall Objective

Expertise France is recruiting an Entrepreneurship Project Officer to support partners mentioned above and ensure the smooth implementation of the component 3 of Yanhad Project. Under the supervision of the Programme Manager, the Entrepreneurship Project Officer will play a key role in ensuring the component coherence and achievement of objectives.

Reporting Lines

The Entrepreneurship Project Officer will be reporting to the Yanhad Project Manager and will work in close collaboration with EF HQ department of “Economic and Financial Governance” who ensure the quality control of this component.

Responsibilities

Project management and M&E

• Support both partners in the implementation of their activities according to work plan and budget monitoring;
• Ensure the achievement of objectives, targets and indicators, and provide data to M&E officer to fill in the logframe;
• In close collaboration with Support Services Unit, ensure that procurement is made according to EF regulations;
• Assess capacities of partners and identify technical expertise to improve their capacities;
• Provide strategic support to the management of the project and partners regarding the content of the services delivered by The Station and AUIS;
• Identify risk throughout the project on the component 3 and inform constantly the PM Yanhad on risk and mitigation;

Reporting

• Ensure compliance with donor rules
• Under the supervision of the PM Yanhad, prepare regular periodic and ad-hoc reports, and operational updates for sharing with internal and external counterparts, including, donors, partners, headquarter.
• Supporting the Programme Manager in programme reporting requirements and prepare periodic and annual financial and narrative reports to be submitted to donors.

Partnership and visibility

• Support the management of the project in liaising and maintaining close relationships with existing Iraqi main actors of the start-up scene;
• Support the communication officer, to implement the communication strategy particularly on the component 3, and organize and run visibility campaign;
• Map and liaise sustainable partnerships with international and regional incubators and accelerators to offer opportunities to Yanhad beneficiaries.
• Manage short term and long term experts mobilized under the Component 3
• Consolidate and analyze context information, research and learning into the strategy

Location

The mission is to be performed in Erbil, in EF office. Frequent missions in Baghdad, Mosul and Sulymaniah and possibility in the region.

1. Expert Profile and working experience

2. Bachelor Degree in communication, business administration, entrepreneurship;

3. 5 to 7 years of professional experience in Economic Development and Institutional Capacity Building on donor-funded projects. An experience within multi-donor agencies is an asset;

4. Good knowledge of entrepreneurship and incubators ecosystem;

5. Good understanding of UE mandates in Iraq and project implementation strategies;

6. Proven track-record of EU-funded projects, with a good command of EU rules;

7. Proficiency with social medias and innovative communication tools;
8. Strong diplomatic skills with proven experience working with high level officials from Ministries;
9. Excellent command of Arabic and English, French is considered as an asset;
10. Proven reporting skills.

This position requires abilities to work in a highly political environment with tight deadlines and challenging traveling conditions.