Political Advisor IRTEQA – Enhancing the Political Transition

GIZ has been operating in Syria since 1976. It has thus established valuable contacts in civil society and garnered experience that is now crucial for supporting the country. From 2013 onwards, it worked without government involvement with the assistance of local non-governmental organisations. Despite the difficult conditions, GIZ has consistently contributed to improving people’s living conditions.

In view of the developments since December 2024, which have led Syria into a decisive phase of transformation, GIZ plans to reopen its Country Office in Damascus in 2026. It is currently implementing several projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Foreign Office, with co-financing from the European Union and other donors. Throughout this year, the portfolio is planned to be expanded by additional new projects.

The project “IRTEQA – Enhancing the Political Transition in Syria”, commissioned by the Federal Foreign Office with co-financing from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA DK), aims to support a peaceful, inclusive and legitimate political transition in Syria. The initiative strengthens the capacity of Syrian national institutions to steer key transition processes and improves the conditions for trust and structured engagement between transitional institutions and relevant stakeholders. IRTEQA combines institutional capacity development, coordination support and dialogue facilitation. The project provides demand-driven expertise in areas such as civil peace, transitional justice and public policy, while fostering inclusive stakeholder engagement and strengthening access to reliable information to support fact-based public discourse. Through these measures, IRTEQA contributes to advancing core transition processes in an inclusive and accountable manner and strengthening the legitimacy and stability of Syria’s political transition.

Your tasks

• Ensuring strategic and operational oversight for managing relations with Syrian national bodies, incl. senior-level engagement with government representatives
• Developing coherent strategies and practical approaches at the project level
• Providing hands-on political advice and support to project implementation, including advisory services to partners and support to project management
• Providing expertise in politically sensitive positioning, structured dialogue and the careful calibration of engagement in line with the project’s objective and mandate.
• Ensuring strategic planning, coordination and sequencing of activities, quality assurance and proactive partner management in the domains of civil peace, transitional justice, and public policy for peace and social cohesion
• Supporting the integration of relevant technical approaches into project strategies and activities, ensuring they are applied effectively in complex contexts
• Supporting the design and facilitation of project activities related to the project’s thematic areas
• Contributing to monitoring, documentation and reporting, ensuring that results, lessons learned and evidence from implementation are documented
• Ensuring that learning from project implementation is systematically fed back into adaptive project management and continuous improvement of approaches
• Where appropriate and reasonable, performing additional tasks upon request of the management

Your profile (required qualifications, competencies and experience)

• University degree (Master’s level or equivalent) in political science, international relations, public administration, development studies, economics, or a related field
• Minimum 5 years practical experience in the areas of diplomacy, mediation, peacebuilding, dialogue promotion and facilitation, civil peace or transitional justice
• Experience in politically sensitive relation management and advisory in complex contexts, incl senior-level engagement with governmental representatives
• Strong ability to collaborate and build networks with various stakeholders on different national and international levels
• Political and analytical thinking, political sensitivity and intercultural competence
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written
• Commitment, team spirit, reliability, diplomatic skills and gender competence
• Professional fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic, knowledge of German is an asset

Additional information

The following minimum requirements for applications need to be fulfilled:

1. Only application documents in English will be accepted. Documents in Arabic cannot be considered during the selection process.
2. Mandatory documents are CV and application letter in English stating your qualifications and previous professional experiences.

GIZ is committed to diversity and gender balance. It is encouraging persons with disabilities to apply for the position.

كيفية التقديم

Please submit your application to [email protected] indicating in the subject line the respective title of the position.