Manager, Social Safeguards

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191-member National Societies (NSs). The overall aim of IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by NSs with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.

IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. IFRC also has country cluster delegations and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.

IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.

The Ethical Practices Department (EPD) acts as a strong, cohesive, effective and visible second-line vector for IFRC at global, regional and national levels. It provides oversight and expertise to IFRC first-line activities and operations and ensures that the organization operates in accordance with highest standards across the five following pillars:

• Ethics and Integrity to promote a culture of transparency, integrity and accountability in line with industry standards and IFRC policies.
• Risk Management to create a culture of positive risk taking within IFRC operations and activities, supported by appropriate tools and capacity.
• Social Safeguards including Prevention against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH) and Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI) to ensure safety, dignity, access and inclusion are part of humanitarian programs and operations and that the principle of ‘do not harm’ is mainstreamed in all IFRC activities.
• Environmental Safeguards to ensure that all IFRC operations and activities are environmentally sustainable and accountable.
• Compliance to implement systemic, harmonized and coordinated internal control mechanisms across the organization and align with internal policies and international standards.

(...Continued from Organizational Context)

The newly established Social Safeguards function is a key support to IFRC in meeting the three goals and overall aim of Strategy 2030 of “devoting particular attention to people who are vulnerable, excluded or marginalized”. It is also a core element of IFRC’s priority of promoting Values, Power and Inclusion, and the enablers of Engagement, Accountability and Trust as articulated through the IFRC secretariat’s Renewal. The function aims to establish policies, procedures, and measures designed to protect people from potential harm, prevent negative social impacts, protect human rights and well-being, and ensure equitable benefits for communities, especially vulnerable populations.

Job Purpose

Under the supervision and direction of the Director, Ethical Practices Department, the Manager, Social Safeguards, will provide guidance, leadership and strategic direction on planning, organization, coordination and effective execution of social safeguards activities in line with internal PGI, PSEAH and Child Safeguarding policies and industry and international standards. The purpose of this position is to manage and lead a team of professionals specialized in PGI, PSEAH and Child Social Safeguards, to advance IFRC’s commitment to social safeguards across all operations, activities and programmes.

The incumbent will direct and oversee the work of the social safeguards function, set the overall objectives, develop work programs, oversee their execution and ensure that deadlines are met and that Department’s output reaches the highest quality standards related to PSEAH, PGI and Child Social Safeguards. The role holder will collaborate and manage teams, ensuring a smooth coordination of tasks, understanding of goals, and execution of projects.

The incumbent will serve as deputy to the Director, Ethical Practices Department, on matters related to social safeguards.

Please see here for the detailed job duties and responsibilities.

Required

• Advanced university degree (master's or equivalent) in any relevant area (e.g. disaster risk management, social work, gender and diversity, international development, social psychology, anthropology, behavioural science, social protection).

Required

• At least 10 years of professional experience in the field of social safeguards such as PSEAH, Gender and Inclusion, at both local-, national-, regional and global levels, and in humanitarian/emergency/development contexts.
• At least 5 years of experience in leading and managing a team with service delivery responsibilities in a humanitarian/development context.
• Demonstrated professional experience in directly handling responses to individuals in distress and appropriately address highly sensitive issues such as SEAH and gender-based violence in an international or cross-cultural environment.
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex multi-stakeholder processes, including advocacy and relationship building, ideally in a Movement context.
• Hands-on experience in management of staff and resources at regional or global level.
• Sensitivity in and prior exposure to cross-cultural situations.
• Proven experience in developing and growing a multi-themed technical portfolio to higher quality standards, greater impact and broader ownership within an international organisation.

Preferred

• Red Cross/Red Crescent experience or other humanitarian/non-for-profit experience would be an asset.

Required

• Fluent spoken and written English.
• Advanced expertise in PSEAH and Protection, Gender, Inclusion practice and problems in humanitarian, development, service delivery and institutional capacity building.
• Comprehensive knowledge of social safeguard policies, standards and best practices in complex humanitarian contexts.
• Strong proficiency in developing global procedures, tools, and systems related to social safeguards.
• Strong systems-thinking skills, with the ability to design and integrate safeguards approaches across programmes, operations, risk management and accountability systems.
• Leadership and strategic advisory skills, including managing teams working on PSEAH and/or Protection, Gender, Inclusion, advising senior management and supporting local communities.
• Strong team management and collaboration abilities, fostering a supportive and high- performing environment across geographically and culturally diverse teams. Training and coaching skills.
• Outcome oriented and demand driven individual, entrepreneurial, ability to lead in unprecedented and/or ambiguous situations.
• Outstanding interpersonal, networking, representational, communication and negotiation skills. Ability to be proactive and persuasive.
• Capacity to build credibility and trust and work effectively at all levels across the organisation.
• Experience communicating complex technical concepts to a variety of audiences.
• Strong ethics, proven good judgment, strong listening, analytical and decision-making skills; ability to work with complete integrity and confidentiality.
• High degree of discretion, tact and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to work, communicate and lead inclusively within a multi-cultural, multilingual and multidisciplinary environment, while maintaining strong inter-personal qualities and communication skills.
• Excellent report writing skills.
• Capacity to focus on the concrete needs of clients with a service mindset.

Preferred

• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic).
• Proven ability to lead organizational change, influence culture, and drive adoption of new standards and practices.
• Working knowledge of international legal and regulatory frameworks related to safeguarding, child protection, gender-based violence, and humanitarian accountability.
• Solid understanding and knowledge of IFRC and Movement processes, systems, values and culture.

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability.

Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust.

Functional competencies: Strategic orientation; Building alliances; Leadership; Empowering others.

Managerial competencies: Managing staff performance; Managing staff development.

Application Instruction

Please submit your application in English only.