Partnership Officer- Syria Aleppo, Damascus or Idleb

Established in 1977, GOAL is an international humanitarian and development agency, committed to working with communities to achieve sustainable and innovative early response in crises, and lasting solutions to poverty and vulnerability. GOAL has worked in over 60 countries and has responded to almost every major humanitarian disaster. We are currently operational in 18 countries.

GOAL began operations in Syria in 2013 responding to the acute needs of conflict-affected communities. GOAL's areas of operations include but not limited to Aleppo, Idleb and Damascus Programmes focus on Food and Nutrition Security, WASH, Shelter, Livelihoods/ERMS and Emergency Response with an emphasis on cash and voucher modalities. GOAL Syria implements its programmes directly, with staff based in Syria, and through Syrian NGO partners. GOAL's programme works at the household and community levels to improve community resilience and household coping strategies.

The Partnership Officer plays a pivotal role in supporting GOAL’s partner portfolio. With the overarching goal of fostering high-quality, equitable, and compliant partnerships, the incumbent manages sub-grants, drives partner due diligence, and systematically monitors and evaluates partner performance. This role serves as the contractual and programmatic link between GOAL and local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), NGOs, and the private sector. The position ensures local partner reporting aligns with institutional donor regulations while maintaining respectful, localized, and long-term working relationships.

• Maintain and update Local partner & NGO mapping databases to maintain a constant overview of local capacities and ensure it is updated monthly basis, or more when needed.
• Manage and maintain the SharePoint archive, and ensure all partners’ documents, reports, and other relevant documents are well organised and in place.
• Facilitate transparent partner selection mechanisms, ensuring all vetting and expression of interest (EoI) processes are compliant, fully documented, and aligned with GOAL’s Global Partnership Manual and SoPs.
• Coordinate with Grants Management and Program teams to secure partner inputs during the design phase of new proposals, concept notes, and donor-driven project modifications.
• Draft Partner Agreements and sub-grant documentation, routing them through internal legal and administrative review channels for approval, and accurately and meticulously ensure that all relevant annexes are compiles, up-to-date, and documented.
• Ensure effective coordination and collaboration with partners to finalize new proposals, concept notes, donor grant modification requests, , budgets, work plans and monitoring and evaluation plans.
• Organize, and coordinate Due Diligence operational and financial capacity assessments for new and potential partners with partners and relevant GOAL departments as per Due Diligence SoPs and timelines.
• Liaise across cross-functional internal units (Finance, GESI, Safeguarding, MEAL, and Systems) to diagnose partner capacity gaps and design customized, joint capacity-building action plans.
• Organize trainings and continuous mentorship to local actors, building up their understanding of GOAL required compliance standards, ethical behaviors, and procedural workflows (such as procurement, financial tracking, accountability, and safeguarding).
• Deploy mutual, two-way evaluation frameworks designed to assess performance indicators, protection considerations, data protection standards, and accountability loops.
• Schedule and moderate recurring project performance reviews, translating findings into cooperative joint action plans to proactively address obstacles.
• Formulate regular reports for Program Quality management, flagging critical bottlenecks, non-compliance concerns, or operating risks immediately.
• Organize and facilitate project kick-off/close meetings (partner grant opening sessions) with support functions and field teams to establish transparent baseline performance expectations.
• With the Partnership Coordinator, serve as the primary communications node between local partners and GOAL internal divisions, streamlining messages concerning implementation targets and indicator progress.
• Maintain structured communication matrices to clarify operational points-of-contact, technical channels, and escalations.
• Record, track, and disseminate formal meeting minutes and action registers for the Partner Management Team.
• Consolidate and review partner narratives and reports, synthesizing inputs with feedback from internal MEAL and technical lines before final package submission to international donors.
• Ensure that partners’ contractual reports are reviewed and internal feedback from program and MEAL teams is compiled and share with partners in a timely manner.
• Other tasks as requested by the line manager.

• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution in International Development, Humanitarian Action, Project Management, Business Administration, or a closely related social science field OR alternatively at least 4 years of progressive work in a role that requires multi-stakeholder engagement in corporates, institutions, NGOs, or private sector experience in partnerships, public relations, HR, or programmes. Volunteering experience does not count.

• Minimum 2 years of working experience in partnerships, public relations, HR, or programmes. Volunteering experience does not count.
• Fluent English is essential (writing, reading, speaking, and listening).
• Knowledge of Microsoft Package (PPT, Word, Excel, etc.) and SharePoint use and upkeeping is essential.
• Strong interpersonal, negotiation, and listening skills, with a proven ability to manage complex relationships with neutrality, equity, and cultural sensitivity.
• Proactive problem-solving capabilities paired with follow-up skills.

Children and vulnerable adults must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Alongside our safeguarding policy, GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and has a set of integrity policies. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with GOAL’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, Code of Conduct, health and safety, data protection and confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document. Any published closing dates are estimated.  Due to the nature of GOAL’s work we aim to fill vacancies as quickly as possible.  This means that we will close adverts as soon as we have found the right candidate and this may be before the published closing date.  We would therefore advise interested applicants to submit an application as early as possible.