In Jordan, mental wellbeing remains a highly stigmatized and under-resourced topic. The ‘invisibility’ of the topic makes it difficult to quantify the impact it has on health, economic productivity and the quality of life. In Jordan’s garment sector, where migrant workers comprise over 75 per cent of the labour force, understanding the role of mental wellbeing in the workplace, with a specific focus on women migrant workers within the garment factories becomes key.

Barriers to accessing effective mental wellbeing services at the factory level, but also the national level remain more severe among migrant workers. Firstly, the behavioural aspects of migrant workers linked to mental health are inextricably linked to the social, religious, and cultural stigma attached to mental health in the region. Secondly, resource and capacity constraints remain prevailing and exacerbate the gap in mental health service provision for migrant workers; there are no existing services that directly target migrant worker population in Jordan, despite its substantial proportion of Jordan’s total population, including in the garment sector workforce. Existing service providers, both public and private, lack the capacity to deal with the challenges faced by migrant workers where ideally a medical professional from the country of origin, or at minimum a translator is necessary.

Over the past 10 years, Better Work Jordan has been working with the national tripartite constituents to improve working conditions and promote decent work in the garment sector. The mandatory status of the programme for all garment factories exporting to the US has helped BWJ create industry-wide impact. Since then, factories have made significant improvements in terms of working conditions and compliance with labour standards. Therefore, this project works towards improving workers’ mental wellbeing, especially among women and migrant workers, in the garment sector in Jordan through a comprehensive intervention strategy at the individual, organizational and national levels. The project does so first through supporting workers to become more resilient and willing to seek psychological support when necessary, including by raising awareness on mental wellbeing and providing training on topics affecting workers’ mental wellbeing. The project also aims to improve access to necessary psychological support inside factories and through the referral system through developing a holistic understanding of workers’ wellbeing among key stakeholders, including factory management, the union, the government institutions and support providing organizations.

Reporting lines:

The National Project Coordinator will report to the Better Work Jordan Programme Manager. The National Project Coordinator will also receive technical guidance from BWJ Programme Officer, and will work closely with all members of the Better Work Jordan team and Better Work Global. The overall technical backstopping is done by Better Work Global and the ILO Regional Officer for Arab States (ROAS).

Description of Duties:

• Coordinate the project timely implementation, monitoring and evaluation in cooperation with Programme Manager and Programme Officer, including provision of technical and administrative supervision to the project team and consultants in line with the ILO policy, rules and regulations and according to the final project document and workplan.

• Review and analyze Jordan’s development plans and priorities in relation to migration, mental health and wellbeing and other relevant information: identify potential technical cooperation project areas and provide written analysis on the findings.

• Identify problems, propose solutions and action and follow-up with relevant departments at headquarters and regional office, executing agencies, government offices, constituents and other organizations to identify synergies, expedite implementation and meet targets.

• Maintain close cooperation and coordination with Government, employers’ and workers’ organizations as well as relevant stakeholder including other UN organizations and NGOs in the planning and implementation of activities under the project;

• Establish and develop knowledge management system covering technical activities under the project including other economic and social issues of relevance to the project.

• Represent the project in various fora, under the Guidance of the Programme Manager.

• Develop and maintain strong links with ILO specialists within Better Work Global, other colleagues in the field and ROAS on specific technical areas requiring comprehensive and collaborative interventions.

• Periodically report to donors, monitor and facilitate the evaluation of all project’s components according to the project’s document and work plan. Prepare required technical progress reports and ad hoc reports on the status of project planning and implementation for submission to the ILO and the donor.

• Finalise communications to increase project’s visibility at the national and international levels. This includes the responsibility to liaise with the UN country team, and other key stakeholders to ensure effective coordination with relevant national strategies and related technical projects. Under direct guidance of BWG and ROAS communication specialist, maintain relations with mass media and concerned media groups in order to increase the impact of the project in society as a whole.

• Coordinate and participate in the organization of conferences, seminars, workshops, training sessions and meetings. Serve as a resource person to the project’s partners and during conferences, seminars and workshops, training sessions and meetings. Support training activities and identify or adapt training materials to the national context for capacity building and knowledge sharing

• Contribute information (news, project updates) to the various ILO knowledge sharing platforms (ILO website, ILO ROAS website, BWJ website). Participate in the development of project research and publications.

• Perform other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor.

Required qualifications:

Education:

• University degree in psychology, social sciences, or related field. Knowledge of development issues particularly in Jordan.

Experience:

• At least three years of experience in project management, supervision, administration and implementation of grant/cooperative agreement requirements (including meeting deadlines, achieving targets, managing project staff or consultants, and overseeing the preparation and submission of required reports to the project donor). Experience in leading a project related to mental wellbeing is an asset.

Languages:

• Excellent command of English and Arabic. Command of language(s) spoken by migrant workers (e.g. Bangla, Indian and Sri Lankan) is an asset.

Source: https://jobs.ilo.org/job/Amman-National-Project-Coordinator-Mental-Health/915511901

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