Coordinator, Regional Cash and Voucher Assistance

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). 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. 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 5 regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas.  IFRC Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) supports 38 National Societies in the region through eight country delegations – CD (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines) and five country cluster delegations’ teams – CCDs (Bangkok, Beijing, Jakarta, New Delhi, and Suva), each covering a cluster of countries. Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore each receive direct support from IFRC APRO.

IFRC/APRO region has developed the Operational plan for 2022-2025 in line with the IFRC Strategy 2030 and its 5 Strategic Priorities (1. Climate and Environmental crisis, 2. Evolving crisis and disasters, 3. Growing gaps in health and well-being, 4. Migration and Identity, 5. Values, power, and inclusion).

Over the past 5 years, a significant increase in the usage of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) has been reported. This can be attributed to the efforts of the NS and IFRC with the investments made in CVA preparedness. In 2022, over 60% of the NS in Asia-Pacific are implementing various forms of CVA or are supported with cash preparedness process. Implementing CVA to the benefit of people affected by disasters and crises is a growing and critical part of humanitarian action, with the potential to drive transformational change in the architecture and programming approaches of humanitarian organizations. CVA will enable people affected by disasters and crises to receive more appropriate and effective support, giving them greater choice, dignity, and control over their lives, and enabling communities through efficiency gains and better support to local markets and economies. In 2022, APRO revised and developed a new Asia-Pacific Roadmap 2022-2025 reflecting one of IFRC Global Flagship Programme – Global Cash Leadership – on an ambitious target of delivering 50 per cent of humanitarian assistance through cash and voucher by 2025.

Strong direction and support, including at the senior leadership level, is needed to enable greater use of cash transfer and voucher assistance, where appropriate, by IFRC Secretariat and NS to drive the transformation of how the RCRC delivers assistance to people affected by disasters and crises.

Under the supervision of the Thematic Lead, Evolving Crises and Disasters and technical supervision of the Global Manager for Cash Transfer Programming, the Regional CVA Coordinator is the leading regional specialist responsible for providing strategic advice, guidance and support on cash and vouchers assistance while ensuring synergetic collaboration of Red Cross Red Crescent CVA practitioners in the field. The role guides and supports the IFRC network to leverage the ability and likelihood that the Red Cross Red Crescent in Asia Pacific delivers appropriate cash or voucher assistance at scale, accountably and quickly.

The incumbent will manage overall regional-level coordination of cash assistance and preparedness measures, including being the technical supervisor of IFRC CVA practitioners in the field. The position holder will also coordinate the selection, training and mentoring of CVA surge personnel in the region as well as lead Secretariat support to Asia Pacific National Societies in monitoring progress against the ‘Cash Readiness’ targets as reflected in the AP Cash Roadmap 2022-2025.

The Regional CVA coordinator will contribute to enhancing the institutional capabilities of the IFRC Secretariat and National Societies in:

• Responding with speed and at scale using CVA to meet the needs of people affected by disasters and crises as well as to deliver longer-term support to vulnerable people, respecting their choice and promoting their
• Participating in the improvement of coordination of cash assistance across the region as well as advocacy and collaboration with donors, governments, and other humanitarian actors active in cash and voucher assistance.
• Mobilizing the IFRC network to share knowledge and best practices, promote peer-to-peer support, and foster initiatives for better utilization and optimization of Federation-wide technical capacities and resources in cash and voucher assistance.
• In collaboration with IFRC Secretariat and National Society counterparts, pursue opportunities to secure sustainable funding solutions for cash programming in the Asia Pacific as well as to expand the utilization of CVA in meeting the needs of people affected by disasters and crises as well as to deliver longer-term support to vulnerable people.

Strategic Direction, Leadership and Management:

• Advise the APRO management team, and contribute to the IFRC Cash Directors Task Force, in addressing cash institutionalization blockages, ensuring strategic coherence and promoting cash scale-up across all levels of IFRC.
• Provide quality advice and strategic guidance to the APRO management team and Partner National Societies supporting cash preparedness initiatives to inform decision-making around CVA strategies and resource allocation.
• Facilitate updating and reporting on the progress of the Regional Cash Roadmap and promote it across Movement entities in the Asia Pacific to foster alignment of approaches and to enhance synergetic actions in building up expertise in cash preparedness and delivery.
• Ensure coherence and alignment of cash preparedness initiatives driven by various Partner National Societies and IFRC offices in the region to the Regional Cash Roadmap.
• Facilitate joint mobilization of resources for ongoing and future cash preparedness activities supported by IFRC offices in the region, closely with the Strategic Engagement and Partnerships Unit.
• Ensure preparation of accurate and timely operational analyses and monthly operational highlights on cash and vouchers assistance as well as deliver inputs for monthly management highlights (MMH) and standard reports.

Coordination of Cash and Voucher Assistance:

• Position the IFRC network as a key actor, influencing regional and global CVA policies, advocacy and agenda, ensuring strong linkages to relevant alliances/ partnerships at the regional level.
• Lead IFRC advocacy initiatives in Asia Pacific, including by representing IFRC in the inter-agency Regional Cash Working Group (RCWG), shaping its objectives, agenda and meetings, and actively engaging with other networks such as the CaLP.
• Guide CVA practitioners of National Societies and IFRC offices to engage in local to national coordination forums – involving but not limited to public authorities, local civil society groups, UN agencies, INGOs, private sector and academe – to ensure coherence, harmonization and building synergies of its CVA with the wider cash assistance system in the country.
• Guide National Societies in their advocacy efforts and collaboration with the public authorities, leveraging their auxiliary role, and where appropriate complement linkages with existing social protection and safety nets.

Knowledge sharing and Networking: 

• Connect and support the IFRC network in Asia Pacific by brokering provision of required technical support required by National Societies to the best-placed CVA practitioner through peer-to-peer mechanisms and shared leadership approach to foster better utilization and optimization of Federation-wide technical capacities and resources. Includes promoting the engagement and utilization of Red Cross Red Crescent reference centres, the Cash hub and labs.
• Identify potential areas of knowledge sharing among National Societies in the region as well as with other organizations in their respective countries, and coordinate cross-sharing of key findings, recommendations, best practices, and lessons learned in CVA including via cash assistance newsletters, case studies and factsheets.
• Identify opportunities for documenting National Society experiences in cash and voucher assistance that may be of interest to the global IFRC network and refer them to Geneva and the Red Cross Red Crescent Cash Hub for follow-up,

• In collaboration with IFRC Secretariat and National Society counterparts, pursue opportunities to secure sustainable funding solutions for cash programming in the Asia Pacific as well as to expand the utilization of CVA in meeting the needs of people affected by disasters and crises as well as to deliver longer-term support to vulnerable people.

Coordination of National Society Cash Readiness efforts:

• Promote utilization of the IFRC Cash in Emergencies Toolkit by National Societies – and support them to adapt some of the tools to their context and procedures – and application of cash-related aspects of strategies, resolutions, policies, frameworks, and standards endorsed and adopted by member National Societies in global and regional statutory mechanisms, including Strategy 2030.
• Complement the provision of strategic guidance to the leadership of National Societies to institutionalize the use of cash in their respective organizations, considering the unique needs, challenges and opportunities of each National Society.
• Guide IFRC offices driving cash preparedness initiatives in undertaking assessments as an evidence-based approach to determining the level of cash preparedness to identify capacity gaps and to inform the design of appropriate cash preparedness measures by National Societies.
• Guide IFRC offices driving cash preparedness initiatives in supporting National Societies to develop Plans of Action for building up expertise in cash preparedness and delivery in an organization-wide approach that ensures the adoption and utilization of CVA as a methodology applicable across sectors.
• Guide IFRC offices driving cash preparedness initiatives to support National Societies in ensuring that market assessments and cash feasibility studies are undertaken as part of or follow-up to any emergency needs assessment so that, where deemed appropriate, CVA may be delivered with speed and at scale.
• Coordinate, complement and/or facilitate tailor-made initiatives aimed at building the cash assistance capacity of National Societies through face-to-face training or coaching, simulations and ‘learning by doing’ exercises, and shadowing missions that match National Society personnel with experienced CVA practitioners in the field for on-the-job mentoring.
• Guide IFRC offices driving cash prearedness initiatives to support National Societies in integrating cash assistance into their contingency plans, pre-disaster agreements, readiness plans, multisector simulation exercises and partnerships as measures that will enable them to mount scalable and rapid CVA to meet immediate needs.
• Guide and support Asia Pacific NS to document best practices & lessons learned in CVA through development of case studies and factsheets which will inform future cash assistance initiatives.

Emergency Response Support:

• Complement the Surge Focal Person in coordinating the selection, training, mentoring and deployment of cash assistance surge personnel to support emergency responses as well as formulate terms of references (TOR). 
• Complement the Surge Focal Person in ensuring that cash assistance training modules are included in induction sessions, field school training, operations manager training, webinars and trainings of Asia Pacific surge tools.
• Be involved in drafting job descriptions, shortlisting, interviewing and selecting cash personnel to better fill operational positions and decrease the lag between surge and longer-term placements.
• Provide technical advice to National Societies’ emergency response by technically reviewing DREF applications, Emergency Appeals, Operational Strategies, Operation Updates and Final Reports and engaging with other thematic leads to mainstream CVA usage across different sectors as appropriate 

Required

• University education or an equivalent of qualifying experience within a specialist technical or professional field relevant to response or recovery programming including cash and markets 
• CVA trained with Practical Cash in emergencies Training (PECT) and other CVA standard and relevant cash and markets training
• Relevant training in disaster preparedness, response and/or recovery

Preferred

• Basic Delegates Training Course (BTC), WORC, IMPACT or equivalent knowledge

Required

• At least 5-year experience of successfully implementing and coordinating humanitarian response operations or development programmes that include CVA in at least one context
• Demonstrated experience in emergency assessments which included needs, market and cash feasibility considerations, and resulted in the design of programmes with cash components
• Solid experience in the international humanitarian sector with a focus on integrated programming, participatory planning, and local institutional capacity building
• Prior work in a membership organization in roles that include member capacity development
• Management and supervisory experience in a multicultural environment 
  Experience in coordinating with and advocating external stakeholders including government, INGOs, UN and donor organizations
• Experience in successful institutional fundraising and managing donor relations, including delivering quality proposals and adequate narrative and financial reporting

Preferred

• Experience working in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement 
• Experience in the Asia Pacific region  

Required

• Valid international driving license (manual gear)
• Self-supporting in computers (Email, Internet, spreadsheets, word-processing, etc.)
• Strong knowledge of cash and markets matters, including the use of technology and digital payment systems in emergency response and awareness of the latest humanitarian trends
• Proven skills in managing and coaching teams in multi-faceted projects, including mentoring, coaching, training and building the capacity of national and local staff and volunteers
• Knowledge of designing training and outreach strategies and materials
• Demonstrated management skills, including the ability to lead within a matrix management structure and utilize the talent and experience of team members effectively
• Highly developed communication skills and ability to analyze and process information for wide-ranging audiences
• Understanding of cash payment delivery mechanisms, ecosystem and key players, particularly a strong familiarity with private sector actors and financial service providers
• Proven skills in strategic and operational planning, budgeting and reporting emergency responses that included cash assistance components 
• A high degree of discretion, tact and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels with complete integrity and confidentiality
• Ability to live and work in challenging disaster or crisis environments and to think strategically while under pressure 
  Ability to coordinate multicultural, multilingual, and multidisciplinary teams
• Fluent spoken and written English 

Preferred

• Knowledge of developing and maintaining a risk management control framework and/or performing internal control reviews 
• Knowledge of appropriate protection, gender and inclusion (PGI) as well as community engagement and accountability (CEA) approaches in programming
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic)

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.