Vacancies

1. Psychosocial (PS) Team Leader  Ref. Code: PS TL
2. PS Counselor Ref. Code: PS - C
3. Legal officer Ref. Code: Legal officer
4. IT Administrator Ref. Code: IT Admin

1.      Psychosocial (PS) Team Leader    Ref. Code: PS TL

DETAILS OF THE POST

APPLICATION DEADLINE: November15, 2008

Position Description

The job of Psychosocial Team Leader is full-time for 35 hours per week, and s/he works under the day-to-day supervision of the Country Director.  This job description is a general overview and is supplemented by the specific activities and tasks described in the current version of the AMERA-Egypt Strategic Plan.

Requirements

1.      English being the official language of the UNHCR RO Cairo as well as of the Office, the Psychosocial Team Leader must be fluent in both oral and written English.

2.      A background in social work, community work and experience working in human rights and/or with refugees and asylum seekers in a social work or community work capacity.

3.      At least a bachelor's degree in psychology or social work.

4.      A master’s degree in Social Work, Psychology, or the social sciences would be an asset.

5.      A documented track record of team building or similar management experience.

Responsibilities

1.      Supervise and Provide Strategic Leadership for the Psychosocial Team: Supervise the Psychosocial Services Team, monitor progress on the strategic plan, participate in recruitment and personnel management, and work under the supervision of the Country Director and the external supervisor (if relevant) as described in point 3 below. The team leader should provide general strategic direction for AMERA’s emerging work with psychosocial services for refugees.

2.      Policy Development and Planning: Develop detailed procedures and protocols for the work of the Psychosocial Team, including procedures for receiving clients, assigning cases, developing case plans, and maintaining caseloads, and update them as necessary.  Promote  the integration of the psychosocial team within the AMERA rights advocacy program. Develop the strategic plan and implementing timeline for the team.

3.      Supervision of Casework: the Team Leader will provide casework supervision for Psychosocial Workers by reviewing their assessments and treatment notes, communicating on their behalf with UNHCR, providing feedback on treatment strategies, assigning cases, and monitoring caseloads. If qualified the Team Leader will also supervise the clinical work of the counsellors on the team. If the team leader lacks masters or higher qualifications in psychology, then the team leader will arrange for external supervision of counseling and assessments with a qualified person.

4.      Staff Meetings: Attend weekly staff meetings, bi-weekly team meetings, monthly supervisors meetings, and monthly individual supervision sessions with the Country Director, and conduct monthly individual supervision sessions with members of the team.

5.      Community Networking: Participate in policy development of the office and liaise with the UNHCR, other NGO’s, and the community regarding refugee issues; participate in drafting position papers and statements for international and local advocacy efforts.  Liaise with community mental health and social service organizations providing services to asylum-seekers and refugees and develop a referral system with these organizations and institutions.  Participate in community and UNHCR projects and committees to address strengthening psychosocial services for refugees and asylum-seekers.

6.      Training and Education: Attend continuing education provided for all direct services staff; assist in coordination and provision of intensive 60-hour training for new volunteer lawyers and psychosocial workers three times per year; assist in training new staff members who are a part of the team; participate in external training opportunities; participate in providing continuing education to staff on psychosocial issues.

7.      Reporting: Provide monthly reports to the Country Director including team meeting minutes, decisions taken, problems and solutions, supervision issues, case summaries, statistics, and notes on progress towards implementation of strategic plan; participate in annual evaluation by writing self-performance evaluation.

8.      Assessments: If qualified, Provide mental health assessments and status examinations for the purpose of legal case preparation for asylum seekers and refugees in their legal and administrative processes.

9.      Referrals: Make appropriate referrals to social service organizations and follow-up with refugees to ensure they were able to access the services available; supervise maintenance of Access database of social service providers.

10.  Vulnerable Groups: Provide specialized psychosocial services and assist with testimony preparation for children and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.  Ensure that unaccompanied minors and SGBV survivors are connected with appropriate social services, medical care, secure living arrangements, and educational opportunities

11.  Access to Social and Economic Rights: Staff all requests for assistance with access to medical care or education.  Maintain relationships with local Egyptian doctors and schools willing to provide access for refugees and asylum-seekers.  Coordinate access to education projects with education coordinator.

12.  Communications with other teams: Liaise with other team leaders especially Community and Unaccompanied Minors in creating sustainable and organized community work projects.

13.  Undertake any other duties appropriate to the position.

2.      PS Counselor    Ref Code: PS – C

                                            DETAILS OF THE POST

   APPLICATION DEADLINE: Thursday, 27th of November 2008

Position Description

Counselors work hand in hand with legal advisors and social workers to help refugees adapt to their circumstances in Egypt, overcome trauma, and deal with discrimination in order to be better able to make decisions and advocate for themselves, their families, and their communities.  A counselor’s main responsibilities include counseling individual clients and conducting psychological assessments.  In addition to this, counselors will be expected to participate in community-based counseling at refugee schools and other organizations, support groups, information sessions for the refugee community about mental health issues, and trainings for AMERA staff and professionals at partner organizations.

AMERA will provide extensive training on methodologies of working with refugee communities, and make both individual and group based supervision available. We are looking for counselors with a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and one year working experience.  The position is full-time for 35 hours per week. Starting salary is 2400 LE, negotiable based on experience and education

Minimum Requirements

1.      English being the official language of the UNHCR-Cairo as well as of the AMERA Office, the counselor must be fluent in both oral and written English.

2.      Proficiency in written and spoken Arabic is an asset.

3.      A Bachelors degree in Psychology, and a Masters degree in Psychology is preferred.

4.      Ability to take initiative and handle responsibility under pressure, but in the context of a collegial environment and in cooperation with other team members.

5.      Willingness to work outside the office setting.

Additional Qualification

1.      Fluency in additional languages, especially those of East Africa (Amharic, Tigrinya, and Somali) and French.

2.      Experience working with refugees, immigrants, displaced people, or other marginalized communities.

3.      Legal officer    Ref. Code: Legal officer

DETAILS OF THE POST

                               APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 5, 2008

Position Description

The legal officer will work under the supervision of one of our senior lawyers. The legal officer will most likely begin his or her work focusing on refugee status determination, but depending on personal interests, skills and office needs, legal officers work in a range of service and advocacy areas, including assisting vulnerable refugees to file police reports, representing the interests of unaccompanied child refugees and/or survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, representing refugees before Egyptian administrative bodies and courts, and researching/analyzing Egyptian and international law relevant to refugee rights in Egypt.  Legal officers are also expected to support our outreach activities with refugee communities, and should be willing to visit and occasionally work in remote sections of Cairo where low income refugees congregate.

 AMERA provides basic training in refugee issues, and supports staff in obtaining more advanced knowledge about refugee and human rights law. A successful legal officer will be versatile and capable of learning new things, and will be able to combine theoretical knowledge with the sensitivity necessary to assist individuals who have survived human rights abuses.

Minimum Requirements

·    English being the official language of the UNHCR-Cairo as well as of the AMERA Office, the Legal Officer must be fluent in both oral and written English, and in Arabic.

·    A bachelors degree in law or a related field.

·    Ability to rapidly learn new fields of law, and to think analytically about practical legal problems

·    Strong writing skills in English and Arabic

·    Ability to take initiative and handle responsibility under pressure, but in the context of a collegial environment and in cooperation with other team members.

 Preferred Qualifications

• Egyptian bar certification and/or LLM or MA in a related field.
• Fluency in additional languages.
• Experience working with refugees, immigrants, displaced people, or other marginalized groups.
• Experience working in human rights and/or with refugees and asylum seekers.

4.      IT Administrator Ref. Code: IT Admin

Details for the post

APPLICATION DEADLINE : THURSDAY 4 DECEMBER 2008

Requirements

1.      English being the official language of the AMERA office, the IT Administrator must be fluent in both oral and written English.

2.      A graduate degree in computer engineering or systems engineering; a post-graduate qualification in information technology is preferred.

3.      Have a minimum of two years experience in the IT field as an IT Administrator.

4.      Technical knowledge of SQL, Stored procedures, Triggers, Jobs, Cursors, Database optimization, Database Administration, Backup, Disaster recovery procedures is a must.

5.      Having good programming skills in Java and JSP is a plus.

6.      Have good experience in TCP/IP, LAN/WAN, and in troubleshooting network connections.

7.      Being able to work under pressure.

8.      Very good working knowledge of various I.T. Systems and other associated applications

9.      Working knowledge on firewall server (ISA), routers, DHCP server, DNS server, domain controller and the RAID system. Holding MCSE certificate is a plus.

10.  Has general interest in the field of human rights or social services

Responsibilities

1.      Regularly deploy the backup strategy of the file server and the database server.

2.      Monitoring all the servers in the organization, ensure they are well protected and functioning properly at all times.

3.      Maintain the security of the data of the organization through the central firewall and the different access rights of the users.

4.      Installation & maintenance of the servers, laptops, computers and related equipments. Ttroubleshoot daily problems with computers, printers, scanners and servers to make sure they are all in working order.

5.      Maintain the whole network and all the connections to the internet (the LAN/ WAN and the wireless routers).

6.      Manage the contacts with the suppliers and service providers for any maintenance or upgrade needed.

7.      Regularly update the anti-virus programs on all computers, and regularly scan computers.

8.      Meet periodically with the different team leaders to discuss their needs of S/W systems. Develop these systems in a way that will ensure the consistency and the integration of the data with the main database system.

9.      Using SQL, promptly respond to the staff requests in getting reports from the database, or making changes in the data recorded.

10.  Continuously maintain the database applications used by the staff. Develop new applications as needed to facilitate the work load and tabulate statistical information.

11.  Provide technical training to the new staff on all the applications being used by the organization; configure their computers to access these applications.

12.  Responsible for providing the staff and the administration of the organization with monthly, quarterly, and annual basis statistical reports extracted from the database.

13.  Responsible for the ongoing updates of the website of the organization.

14.  Undertake any other duties appropriate to the position.