Coordinator, National Society Preparedness

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 192-member National Societies. The overall aim of IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies 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). IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services. IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. IFRC also has country cluster delegation and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.

The ROE is organized in units overseen by unit heads. In 2022, these unit were revised as part of a restructuring, including the creation of a Health, Disaster, Climate and Crisis (HDCC) unit. The HDCC unit leads the coordination and management, quality support of, and technical support to, all operations and programmes delivering towards beneficiaries as well as support delegations and National Societies in building of capacity across a range of thematic files. HDCC has three teams: Health and Care, Thematic Files and Operations Coordination.

The Coordinator, NSP works closely with other members of the Operations Coordination team as well as with other functions within the HDCC unit, the ROE and the region, particularly: NSD and branch development, technical functions such as Surge, DREF (including anticipatory action), CVA, Climate, Migration, Health as well as Corporate Services, to ensure a collaborative and integrated approach to National Societies Preparedness. A special focus will be on preparedness-related processes for the countries under the Ukraine and Impacted countries Emergency Appeal, as the Coordinator, National Societies Preparedness is an integrated resource for the operation. Most other technical resources will likewise be integrated into the HDCC and its teams and other units as relevant but will be utilized in close cooperation and coordination between the team managers and a leadership team for the Ukraine operations that is reporting to the Regional Director.

Reporting to the Manager, Operations Coordination, the Coordinator, NSP is responsible for ensuring National Societies (NSs) in the Europe and Central Asia Region are equipped to deal with emergencies through a risk-informed and holistic approach to NS disaster and crisis preparedness in close collaboration with Country Cluster Delegations and Country Delegations, with a particular focus on the countries involved in the Ukraine Crisis response. The position ensures a continuum approach to programmes and operations that supports and strengthens NS preparedness readiness, response, recovery and resilience. This includes:

• Provide thought leadership, coordination, and strategic direction in National Societies preparedness for response capacity in the ROE;
• Support of NS preparedness for response capacity, tools, and standards promoting the Preparedness for Effective Response (PER) approach;
• Representation and preparedness-related information management across the Region;
• Responsible and accountable for the management and administration of related projects;
• Active contribution to an effective, high quality IFRC team, including the availability to deploy to Country Clusters, Offices or operations to provide support as necessary.

Provide thought leadership, coordination and strategic direction in the area of National Societies preparedness for response capacity:

• Coordinate the implementation of the NS Preparedness Framework and its operationalization in the Region.
• Contribute towards the efforts to Strengthen Movement Coordination and Cooperation (SMCC) through the further alignment of preparedness for response capacity strategies.
• In close cooperation with the Red Cross EU office, engage with and analyse EU and other Civil Protection mechanisms and initiatives relevant to the region and NSs and give strategic guidance to and strengthen the understanding of how the wider Federation cooperates with and relates to particularly EU Civil Protection Mechanism (EUCPM) in both preparedness and response.
• Actively participate in the Preparedness for Effective Response (PER) core and technical working groups to represent the Europe Region related action and contribute to the global strategic direction and coordination mechanisms. 
• Promote and support the NS (PER) approach, ensuring innovation and knowledge management between member NS.
• Support NSs’ preparedness contributions to Strategic Priority 2 – evolving crisis and disasters – within the IFRC’s planning process and the Agenda for Renewal. 
• Ensure quality and accountability in the domain of National Society preparedness for response capacity.
• Develop and ensure a harmonized and coordinated approach to National Society preparedness for response capacity strategies and activities between relevant ROE units and staff including, but not limited to, Anticipatory Action through the DREF, Surge, Membership Services, National Society Development and Climate and Resilience.
• Support the mobilisation of programme resources in support of the National Societies Preparedness for response capacity actions.

 Support NS preparedness for response capacity, tools and standards:

• Support Country Cluster and Country Delegations to strengthen NS capacities in assessing, planning, implementing, and monitoring their preparedness for response actions, ensuring a more cohesive and harmonized approach regionally, especially through the PER approach, and with a particular focus on countries affected by the Ukraine crisis.
• Translate relevant global standards on NS preparedness for response for the Europe Region, in line with the Principles and Rules for Humanitarian assistance, Disaster Risk Management Policy and the NS Preparedness framework and support the dissemination of these standards.
• Identify preparedness for response learning and training needs, including through analysis of Country Plans, and work closely with relevant teams in developing appropriate solutions in strengthening NS capacities. 
• Link risk profiling and climate assessments with contingency and preparedness for response planning and NS operational capacity.
• Map practices, capacities and needs of NS in preparedness, with a particular focus on the countries affected by the Ukraine crisis and support them to update or develop the required tools, working modalities or capacity strengthening strategies including through Peer-to-Peer modalities as appropriate.
• Identify NS’s needs to develop and/ or update relevant NSs’ preparedness for response guidance and tools.
• Provide technical support to Country Cluster Delegations, Country Delegations and National Societies on the preparedness for response initiatives.
• Work closely with relevant IFRC reference centres on common disaster preparedness plans and initiatives.

• Promote and engage in monitoring and evaluation of preparedness for response programmes and operations to ensure the integration of cross-cutting issues prioritized by the Movement.
• Guide and coordinate knowledge exchange and learning on National Societies Preparedness practices and approaches across the region through documentation, analysis, validation and dissemination of results and lessons.

Ensure representation and information management across the region:

• Network and coordinate with RC/RC Movement partners, NGOs, UN and other International Organizations, and Provide regular information updates on preparedness for response to ensure the International Federation is kept informed and up to date on best practices and emerging trends related to disaster and crisis preparedness.
• Represent IFRC on Institutional Preparedness issues in the RC/RC Movement and external fora and establish effective working relationships with key humanitarian organizations, donors, academic and research organizations including UN agencies (OCHA, UNESCO, UNICEF, WMO, UNDP etc..) CADRI, IASC and international NGOs.
• Provide briefings on NS Preparedness for response initiatives to visitors and representatives, including Missions, corporate donors, UN, media and visiting National Societies.
• Collaborate with Operations and IM colleagues to establish, strengthen and maintain a regional risk overview and understanding of trends and projections, related to climate, fragile context, complex emergencies and otherwise.
• Collaborate with IM colleagues facilitate and strengthen NS Preparedness information management systems.

Be responsible and accountable for the management and administration of related projects:

• Provide financial management, monitoring and coordination of project activities, and the delivery to timely, budget and agreed quality standards of project outputs with related reporting and representation.
• Ensure the integrity of financial and administrative procedures and the consistent application of IFRC rules and procedures related to project activities.
• Provide progress reports on results against objectives and risk analyses as required.
• Contribute to the overall planning, budgeting, and reporting of the team and the department, ensuring NS Preparedness for response is well represented and integrated.

Contribute to an effective, high quality IFRC team:

• Accommodate flexible working practices including working as part of time-limited, task-oriented teams to enable IFRC to respond to new scenarios, operational needs or requests from Governance or the wider membership.
• Contribute to a client-oriented approach that values proactivity, continuous improvement, innovation, high performance and cost effectiveness.
• Foster a collaborative working environment with colleagues in the Region, NSs, and external partners
• Be available to deploy to Country Cluster Delegations, Country Offices, or Operations to provide support as necessary.

• University degree in relevant area or equivalent experience is required
• Technical training and/or experience in disaster preparedness; disaster Risk management or relevant areas of expertise is required

• Minimum of 5- years of professional experience in disaster preparedness and/or Disaster Risk Management is required
• Field experience in coordinating and managing disaster operations, disaster preparedness programs / projects is required
• Experience in project cycle management including proposal development, budgeting and reporting, monitoring and evaluation is required
• Experience in working within the RC/RC Movement is preferred
• Experience in strategy development, developing tools and guidance, providing technical assistance and in establishing and maintaining networks is preferred

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and independent decision-making capacity is required
• Results oriented and demand driven individual, entrepreneurial, ability to lead in unprecedented and/or ambiguous situations is required
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills with the ability to represent the International Federation and to negotiate and influence people’s opinions is required
• Knowledge of technical aspects of disaster preparedness, relief and recovery and of key donor and partner organisations is required
• Knowledge of minimum standards for disaster relief and performance and accountability frameworks is preferred
• Flexible and adaptable to work effectively in a multicultural environment and ability to travel at short notice is required
• Computer knowledge as a user – self-supporting in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint is required
• Fluent spoken and written English is required
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic) is preferred

• 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