Senior Officer, Volunteering Hub

Vacancy No.S18578Category of ContractNationalPosition TypeNationalApplication Deadline18/09/2026Job Posted On04/09/2026Duty StationSan Jose, Costa RicaCountryCOSTA RICAGradeNational StaffDuty Station StatusN/AAccompanied StatusN/ADuration12 Months

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 191 member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. IFRC uses the Triple R – response, resilience and respect – to deliver on Strategy 2030. IFRC responds to disasters and crises, ensuring timely, coordinated and locally led humanitarian action. IFRC supports its members in building community resilience in the areas of climate and environment, health and wellbeing, and migration and displacement. IFRC promotes respect for our fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality, including in our work on values, power and inclusion. The IFRC focuses throughout on our core mandate – our raison d’être – of strategic and operational coordination, humanitarian diplomacy, National Society development, and accountability.

IFRC is led by its Secretary General and has its Headquarters in Geneva and five regional offices in Africa (Nairobi); the Americas (Panama); Asia Pacific (Kuala Lumpur); Europe (Budapest); and MENA (Beirut) as well as representation offices, service centres and delegations across the globe.

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 National Society Development and Coordination Division consists of three departments: the National Society Development Department; the Disasters, Climate and Crises Department; the Health and Care Department and DREF, Information Management and Quality. It also includes the Operational Movement and Membership Coordination Team, and hosted projects of the IFRC, namely: the Global Road Safety Partnership, the Risk-Informed Early Action Partnership, and the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response.

The position is located in the NS Development Department in Geneva that provides technical guidance and assistance to National Societies.

Job Purpose

Provide leadership and quality standards in IFRC Secretariat’s technical assistance to NS on volunteering with the aim to

•    Safeguard the RC/RC Movement principle of “Voluntary Service”

•    Increase the number of RC/RC volunteers including youth volunteers and members

•    Strengthen the volume and quality of services delivered by NS volunteers

•    Promote NS self-reliance through regular services run by volunteers mobilised by their local units and branches.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

1.Technical expertise

1. Oversee IFRC global guidance and tools on volunteering development and adapt/develop new ones in line with general direction towards a wholistic approach to strengthening NS. This includes identifying opportunities and developing new initiatives to assist NS in strengthening services provided by volunteers in local units/branches;
2. Maintain and ensure the accuracy of the IFRC global database on NS volunteers and members; This includes further developing the data-base to include data on volunteer service hours and making this available through IFRC tools such as FDRS as well as overseeing data management tools such as VDMS.
3. Provide leadership in promoting NS membership and/or volunteer drives including in setting national targets based on their context and needs and facilitate support through regional offices, country and country cluster delegations.
4. Develop and identify good practices for promoting and safeguarding the principle of Voluntary Service and through disaster response, health, social services and other thematic learning and knowledge sharing.
5. Provide technical guidance and assistance to IFRC staff responsible for volunteering development in all regional offices and develop a pool of highly specialized experts. This includes forming multi-disciplinary team(s) for specific tasks as required with temporary assignments/deployments engaging technical teams across regions.
6. Take proactive approaches and develop guidance to facilitate the selection of best proposals assisted by IFRC funds such as CBF

2. Global initiatives and programming

1. Design, fundraise and run IFRC global programming on volunteering including on safety, security and well-being of volunteers;
2. Manage IFRC’s Red Family Fund to assist families of volunteers and staff who lost lives while on duty;
3. Ensure that IFRC advocacy work on volunteering including public campaigns and events such as on the celebration of the International Volunteer Day are managed efficiently and effectively in collaboration with communications and humanitarian diplomacy teams at the Secretariat;
4. Develop and facilitate partnerships with civil society organisations, governments, donors, private sector and international organizations in support of NS initiatives on volunteer management including protection

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

3. Alignment and coordination

1. Ensure that Secretariat assistance to NS for response to crises and disasters as well as preparedness for response are aligned with broader direction and plans on volunteering development and contribute to strengthening NS capacity for grass-root level regular service delivery.
2. Provide substantive leadership and coordination of support by partner NS (PNS) on volunteering and conduct periodic stock taking and reviews for collective reflection to ensure greater alignment and consistency.
3. Provide substantive coordination through facilitating knowledge and experience sharing among NS practitioners through existing tools such as “Community of Practice” on volunteering and develop new mechanisms.

4. Accountability and agility

1. Prepare IFRC Secretariat plans, budgets and reports on volunteering as per IFRC requirements.
2. Provide support to Regional Offices, country and country cluster delegations on their plans, budgets and key reports on volunteering and provide for regular advice and feedback for continuous improvement and consistency in approaches. This includes analysis on Unified Plans.
3. Ensure agility in work and develop joint initiatives with other departments/units across the Secretariat to promote Voluntary Service.

Education

Required

Postgraduate degrees in social work or related areas; Extensive practical experience can be considered in lieu of academic qualification.

Preferred

Training in non-profit management

Experience

Required

8-10  years of work experience at a NS or other non-profit organisations;  Management roles/experience is an advantage.

Proven experience in facilitating an organisational change process

Experience in social mobilisation for grass root services/initiatives including resource mobilization and fundraising

Team building and engagement for multidisciplinary interventions

Preferred

Proven experience in volunteer management

Experience in working internationally

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Required

Analytical skills and ability to think strategically

Excellent communication skills: written and oral

Data analysis and management

Basic knowledge and skills for coaching and mentoring

Excellent negotiation and persuasion skills

Financial management and reporting

Languages

Advanced English and Spanish

Competencies, Values and Comments

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; Empowering others