Health, Safety, Security and Access Manager Palestine Gaza (Open to Internals Only)

What we are looking for:

An experienced Health, Safety, Security and Access (HSSA) Manager to support the Area Office in enabling safe and principled humanitarian operations in Gaza. This must be achieved while ensuring compliance with NRC HSS and Access minimum standards and reducing the overall security risks to NRC operations at the Area level. This includes developing and updating HSSA strategies, plans, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and providing HSS mitigation measures for safe and secure programming. The HSSA Manager is also responsible for coordinating and conducting mandatory and other tailored training courses for the area offices. 

What you will do:

• Monitor and analyse the context (overall political, social, security and humanitarian situation, risks, and most likely scenarios) in Gaza, ensuring reliable information for informed decision-making. Work with management to ensure that the relevant mitigation measures are in place in the field and within our processes to reduce risks to an acceptable level.
• Work with management to ensure that all staff give informed consent based on briefing upon arrival and that updates are regularly shared on security situations.
• Ensure that Duty of Care (DoC) HSS standards are upheld and that corrective measures are implemented when weaknesses are identified in collaboration with HR.
• Develop area-based humanitarian access strategies to support the safe and principled delivery of emergency assistance, including area-based Red Lines and acceptable options for negotiations and operations, as well as engagement plans aimed at addressing access barriers while maintaining principled humanitarian action. 
• Under the supervision of the Palestine HSS Manager and the Gaza Area Manager, contribute to advocacy initiatives, with a particular focus on access barriers faced by people in need and humanitarian agencies.  
• Work with the Area Management Team on emergency preparedness as it pertains to programmes, providing oversight and technical support regarding security and emergency evacuations. 
• As a key Crisis Management Team member (CMT), support operational teams and management during an incident.
• Contribute to improving humanitarian access for NRC operations across Gaza by providing technical support on tools and strategies, ensuring capacity building for field staff and supporting Area Manager (AM) and programme/support staff in managing access-related incidents.
• In coordination with the Area Manager, contribute to NRC’s partners HSSA management system and conduct capacity-building activities when feasible and relevant.
• Coordinate the provision of information into national and regional contextual and access analysis briefings and dashboards. 
• Ensure regular mobility inside Gaza, with visits to NRC offices, activity sites and new areas to be assessed for programming. 
• Play a key role in operational continuity, ensuring coverage and accountability of HSS duties over time, including with adequate delegation over leave periods and during deployments to areas out of communication. 
• Lead contingency preparedness along with the Area Manager and Palestine HSS Manager, in order to meet duty of care obligations and operational continuity requirements, including by developing, implementing and testing adequate processes. 
• Work hand in hand with both support and program departments at the Gaza Area Office level, playing a key role in the Area Management Group (AMG) and supporting teams with innovative, solution-oriented contributions 
• Design internal and external humanitarian access briefings and accompanying data collection tools that contribute to raising awareness of humanitarian access barriers and potential solutions across NRC’s areas of operation.
• Ensure NRC has up-to-date and comprehensive actor mappings and analyses of the key national and international stakeholders relevant to humanitarian access.
• Support NRC teams and Partners on humanitarian access and hard-to-reach related issues (e.g., through development-drafting and roll-out of context-specific guidance, engagement, access and acceptance plans-strategies, and capacity building).

Please download the detailed job description to learn more about the position. 

What you will bring:

• Minimum 3 years of experience working as a senior Security Manager in a humanitarian/recovery context.
• Previous experience working in complex and volatile contexts. Experience in the Middle East is preferable. 
• Exposure and experience working in international contexts 
• Experience in working with civilian, governmental and military interlocutors.
• Previous experience negotiating humanitarian access with difficult military and civilian interlocutors in hostile environments.
• Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile with documented results related to the position’s responsibilities.
• Fluency in English both written and verbal. Knowledge of Arabic is desirable.

What we offer:

• Duty station: Gaza, Palestine
• Contract: 12 months (Renewal is subject to performance and funds availability)
• Salary/benefits: grade 9 on NRC’s salary scale, with accompanying terms and conditions
• NRC is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to diversity without distinction to age, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, and physical ability.
• We think outside the box, encourage ideas, and give responsibility to all employees at all levels. You will have many opportunities to be heard and take the initiative.

Find out more about the benefits of working for NRC

Important information about the application process

• Internal candidates: To apply as an internal candidate, log in with your official email or click on Opportunity MarketPlace.
• When creating your profile, include your full name as given on your national identification card. Complete all the system-required fields for experience, employment history and education.
• Submit your application and CV in English, taking care to attach your latest CV.
• Applications that do not meet the minimum standards in terms of experience or qualifications will generally not be considered. Unsolicited applications not related to this specific job advertisement will not be considered.
• We receive many applications for each vacant position and so only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Deployment to Gaza may be restricted for some nationalities and so this position is open to candidates who have the legal right to work in Gaza. 
• If you have any questions about this role, please email mero.recruitment@nrc.no with the job title as the subject line.

Why NRC?

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. Our 15,000 staff work in crises across 40 countries, providing life-saving and long-term assistance to millions of people every year.

NRC currently has over 3,000 staff across the Middle East dedicated to assisting people affected by conflict in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya and Palestine. Its humanitarian interventions are based upon its programming expertise in the Core Competencies of Shelter, Education, WASH, Livelihoods and Food Security, and Information Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) to vulnerable displaced people that were forced to flee.   

Watch this short video to see NRC in action.

We are looking for people who are passionate about helping refugees and people forced to flee. Are you one of those people? If you are, NRC offers you the opportunity to:

• do demanding and professional work, often in challenging contexts.
• join a work culture that empowers every employee to share ideas and take responsibility.
• be part of a welcoming and supportive community committed to human dignity.

Learn more about NRC's operations in Palestine here.