Danish Refugee Council, one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, is currently looking for a highly qualified Liaison and Partnership officer.
About the job
The Liaison and Partnership Officer supports DRC's access, operations, and partnerships across East (and South Libya when needed), under the line management of the Country Director and the technical supervision of the Partnerships Coordinator. This includes helping to build and maintain relationships with local authorities, civil society actors, humanitarian partners, and community leaders to support current and future programming.
The role requires a strong communicator who can navigate administrative systems and foster collaboration to support humanitarian goals, and who supports partner mapping, contract/sub-grant agreement (SGA) tracking, documentation and field follow-up in close coordination with the Partnerships Coordinator.
Your main duties and responsibilities will be:
1. Liaison and Representation
- Serve as a focal point with local authorities including ministries and municipalities, and relevant entities in East and South Libya.
- Facilitate approvals, permits, and coordination required for operations, staff movement, and program implementation.
- Represent DRC in relevant coordination meetings and stakeholder forums to promote organizational interests and ensure alignment with local frameworks.
- Monitor and interpret local administrative and context developments that may impact operations.
- Jointly with DRC's partnership unit, liaise with sub-grant partners to ensure the process is clear and all documents are received and updated on the system.
- Demonstrate competencies in drafting official letters in both languages (Arabic and English).
2. Operational and Program Support
- Support field teams in obtaining timely approvals for program activities, site access, and logistical facilitation.
- Assist in resolving access challenges, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and operational impediments.
- Coordinate with logistics, security, and program teams to ensure smooth field operations and staff deployments.
3. Engagement and Entry Point Analysis
- Identify and assess opportunities for expanding or initiating programming in under-served or priority areas.
- Provide contextual analysis, local dynamics, and potential partners or entry points.
- Support needs assessments, field visits, and donor missions by organizing meetings and access arrangements with local actors.
4. Partner Mapping, Contract and SGA Tracking
- Support the mapping and regular updating of information on current and potential partner organizations (national/local NGOs and CSOs) operating in the area of coverage.
- Maintain and update the partnership database/tracker, ensuring partner profiles, capacity information and contact details are accurate and up to date.
- Ensure proper filing and archiving of partnership-related documents (MoUs, agreements, amendments, assessments, correspondence) in line with DRC's document management procedures.
- Maintain an up-to-date tracker of partner agreements/SGAs, including start and end dates, budget lines, deliverables and reporting deadlines.
- Follow up with partners and relevant internal teams on the status of agreement modifications, amendments, no-cost extensions and renewals, flagging any delays to the Partnerships Coordinator.
- Support the collection and compilation of documentation required for partner selection, due diligence and capacity assessment processes.
5. Field Monitoring and Partner Follow-up
- Support field visits to partner-implemented activities to follow up on progress against agreed targets and identify implementation challenges.
- Follow up on partners' compliance with agreement commitments and action points arising from monitoring visits, review meetings and audits.
- Document field visit findings and share reports/updates with the Country Director, relevant teams and the Partnerships Coordinator.
6. Reporting and Documentation
- Maintain records of key meetings, communications, and agreements with stakeholders.
- Support drafting of MoUs with partners, routing them for review and validation, and following up until finalization.
- Provide regular updates and analysis on access, coordination, and liaison matters to senior management.
- Contribute to reporting requirements for donors, clusters, and internal management as needed.
- Support the collection and follow-up of partner and community feedback related to partnership activities.
- Contribute inputs to internal partnership reports, trackers and dashboards for the Country Director and the Partnerships Coordinator.
- Flag any irregularities, compliance concerns or incidents identified during field visits or partner engagement to the line and technical manager.
Note: this job description must remain flexible, to respond to additional tasks or changes as identified by the line and/or technical manager.
About you
To be successful in this role we expect you to have At least 2-3 years of relevant experience in humanitarian or development sectors, with exposure to liaison, coordination, external relations or partnership/grants support functions.
Moreover, we also expect the following:
Required
- Strong understanding of the context and humanitarian landscape in East and South Libya.
- Experience engaging with local authorities, community leaders, and civil society actors.
- Experience maintaining trackers/databases and working with Excel or similar tools for data and document tracking.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, cultural sensitivity, and interpersonal skills.
- Willingness to travel frequently and work in dynamic field environments.
Desirable:
- Experience working with both government and INGOs and/or UN agencies in a liaison role.
- Prior experience in access negotiation, humanitarian coordination, or partnership/grant support.
- Knowledge of humanitarian principles and operational standards; knowledge of donor compliance basics is an asset.
In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies:
- Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
- Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
- Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
- Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
- Demonstrating integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to our values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.
We offer
- Contract length: Open Ended Contract
- Band: NMH2
- Designation of Duty Station: Benghazi Based (with regular travel to South and West of Libya plus Tunis when needed)
- Suggested Start date: 01 Nov 2026
Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for national employees; please refer to our website. For questions regarding the vacancy please contact Us.
Application process
All applicants must upload a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages) in English. Applications sent by email will not be considered.
Closing date for applications: 27 October 2026
For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website drc.ngo.