Emergency Programming - Women’s Protection & Empowerment Coordinator

The IRC Violence Prevention and Response Unit (VPRU) seeks to reduce people’s vulnerability to and support their recovery from violence, and promote transformative work for a future free from violence. VPRU includes a team of Women’s Protection & Empowerment (WPE) technical experts that lead programming to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. WPE emergency experts work closely with the Emergency Unit, with VPRU technical experts in Child Protection and Protection/Rule of Law, with other IRC sectors, and in partnership with local communities to promote and protect women and girls’ human rights and to meet the safety, health and psychosocial needs of survivors of gender-based violence.

If selected for an emergency response, you will be contacted by a recruiter to review the TOR and set up an interview. We also encourage you to visit the IRC website career page, for non-emergency protection positions.

Application Deadline: November 30, 2018

Job Overview/Summary: The Coordinator will be deployed to support either existing country programs in their emergency response, or to initiate a new program in the crisis zone. The overall responsibility of the team is to rapidly and effectively design, develop and manage the IRC’s on-site humanitarian response to meet the immediate needs of the affected population. Response personnel are also responsible for supporting the transfer of responsibilities and knowledge to the long-term staff to ensure the continuity of IRC programming and operations.

The WPE Coordinator leads on the IRC’s efforts to respond to violence against women and girls during crises, and works with IRC field leadership and other IRC sectors to strengthen that response and to reduce risk of further harm for women and girls. During emergency deployments WPE Coordinator will work under the direction of IRC’s Emergency Field Director or designated country emergency lead.

Major Responsibilities: 

Emergency Response

• Ensure high quality and timely assessments of GBV and broader violence prevention and response needs in large scale/complex emergences and provide prioritized recommendations for WPE program interventions to the Field Director and/or Emergency Unit Deputy Director for Response.
• Design creative, context-responsive WPE program responses and strategy in line with the IRC’s WPE emergency response program model. (Depending on context, this should prioritize the provision of survivor-centered case management, clinical care for sexual assault survivors, individual and/or group-based psychosocial care, safe referral systems, and/or support to local women’s groups/networks.)
• Coordinate with internal and external actors, particularly linking as relevant to sexual and reproductive health services and cash programming targeting women.
• Work closely with the IRC Emergency Health team to ensure clinical care for sexual assault survivors and safe access to these services, both when delivered in static health centers and when delivered through mobile medical teams.
• Oversee the delivery of high quality technical proposals and reports, in line with donor requirements. This includes:

oWork in close collaboration with IRC grants and finance staff to finalize proposals and respond to any requests for additional information;

oManage grant/program implementation including staff recruitment and training, work plan development, procurement and inventory planning, and budget management; and

oEnsure consistent reporting and analysis of results to enhance program effectiveness and quality.

• Design and implement appropriate monitoring and evaluation systems ensuring consistent reporting and analysis of results to enhance program effectiveness and quality.
• Ensure regular trends analysis of broader protection context and highlight needs in other technical fields within VPRU – Child Protection and Protection/Rule of Law.
• Ensure – through program design and practice, team capacity and behavior – that women and girls are part of the design and implementation of IRC programs, and that their access to services and programs is meaningful and safe.
• Comply with and ensure that new WPE staff understand the IRC Code of Conduct and policies related to Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Child Safeguarding. This includes ensuring that staff and communities have knowledge of and safe, confidential access to reporting mechanisms and support services.
• Coordinate with other agencies, local government, donors and other stakeholders to promote delivery of best practice humanitarian assistance.
• Support media and communications activities as requested by the Field Director/CD/in-county emergency lead, and in line with VPRU guidance.
• Provide a comprehensive handover to successor, including ensuring transfer of all related documentation, program monitoring data and staff performance information.

Key Working Relationships:

Position reports to: Varies by deployment
Position directly supervises: Varies by deployment

Job Requirements:

• Ability to commit to deployment within 2-4 weeks of hire date for a minimum of up to 12 weeks, with potential to extend. Will vary per emergency.
• At least five years of experience developing and managing GBV programming in humanitarian contexts.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with agencies, local governments and community leaders and develop multi-stakeholder support for humanitarian priorities and advocacy initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to identify creative and appropriate solutions for the populations affected by crisis, considering factors including the context and an individual client's developmental stage, gender and status.
• Experience working directly or in partnership with other VPRU technical fields – Child Protection and Protection/Rule of Law – is an advantage.
• French, Spanish and/or Arabic language skills are a plus.