JobsChild and Youth Protection & Development Coordinator

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

BACKGROUND:

In the aftermath of the earthquake, agencies have started to respond to the immediate needs of the affected and displaced population in and around Port-Au-Prince (PaP). It is estimated that 200,000 people lost their lives, 200,000 are injured and 1 million are displaced. An estimated 370,000 people are now (February 2010)  living on the streets or in makeshift camps throughout PaP and others continue to leave the city in search of safer places. Food, water and fuel are scarce and the vast majority of homes and buildings (including schools and hospitals) have been damaged or destroyed and are now in unsafe condition. 

Children and youth have been disproportionately affected by this crisis. Thousands of children have been separated from their families or orphaned in a country, Haiti that was already the poorest in the Western hemisphere with enormous child protection problems to start with. Schools, training institutions, youth centers and children’s organizations have been destroyed, leaving children with few safe spaces where they can access psychosocial support, recreational and educational activities and other social services. As many as 95% of schools in Port-au-Prince have been destroyed and those are not destroyed remained closed for a 15-day period post-earthquake by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education building has suffered major destruction and many of their personnel are still unaccounted for. Children and youth have little choice but to roam the streets, attempting to gain access to food, water, shelter and other basic supplies, exposing them to all kind of risks to abuse, exploitation, violence and neglect.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES:

Representation & Partnership

• Form strong relationships with relevant Ministry officials, continuing to establish IRC as a key actor in Education, Youth and Livelihoods and Child Protection.
• Develop, maintain and/or initiate partnerships with community based organizations (CBOs like Zammi Timoun), NGOs (like EDC-EDIJEN), UN Agencies (UNICEF) and Government Ministries to support IRC programming.
• Represent IRC at CYPD related coordination meetings, ensuring proper dissemination of information among relevant stakeholders.

Program Management and Development

• Support the development of a country wide CYPD strategy for IRC-Haiti that reflects needs, assets and programming direction that is in line with best practices in the fields of education, child protection and youth livelihoods; but also develop a CYPD Sector Strategy for Haiti (CSS).
• Play a leadership role in identifying new funding and developing new CYPD proposals in line with the strategy.
• Develop and maintain a monitoring & evaluation plan, including the systematic collection and analysis of data.
• Work closely with sector staff to develop and realize a ‘mainstreaming’ strategy to ensure that child and youth protection issues are sufficiently integrated into all aspects of programming.
• Develop synergies with other programming areas (GBV, Governance and Rights,  Environmental Health, ERD)

HR Management

• Participate in recruiting and training CYPD staff.
• Ensure that all CYPD staff have regular performance evaluations and receive  ongoing feedback.
• Provide ongoing support, mentoring and on the job training for direct supervisees.
• Actively seek out formal and informal training opportunities for CYPD staff.
• Oversee the creation of a ‘nationalization’ plan within the sector, assessing and highlighting the capacity building needs of national staff and the handing over of activities to Haitian actors, organizations and authorities.

Budget, Administrative and Grants Management

• Ensure that budgets are properly forecast and spent as per donor regulations.
• Review budget vs. actual reports, providing feedback as necessary.
• Ensure CYPD staff and partners understand and respect IRC Mandatory Reporting Policy- (MRP) - on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Harassment and Financial Misappropriation, gender policy, CYPD sector framework and other relevant documents and referential IRC policies and procedures.
• Ensure all grants are implemented according to donor regulations and guidelines.
• Ensure the timely submission of donor reports.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Experience in large emergencies, responding to post-earthquake and other disasters.
• Minimum of Masters Degree in a child or youth related field, (e.g. education, social work, community work).
• 10-years experience in the humanitarian world; at least two-years experience in implementing programs related to family tracing and reunification or child protection in natural disaster zones or complex integration or reintegration programs.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of international child protection, youth and education policy and practice issues.
• Understanding of how to support the transition from direct service delivery to working in partnership with local actors (government ministries, civil society organizations, etc.).
• Planning, monitoring and evaluation skills.
• Personnel management experience, including staff capacity development and team building experience.
• Ability to work well both within a team and independently, in a challenging, fast-paced multicultural environment.
• Good coping strategies in stressful and emergency situations, calmness is a requirement.
• Excellent English speaking and writing skills, including previous proposal writing experience.
• Proficiency in spoken and written French.
• Experience in Haiti a plus.
• Previous experience with IRC a plus or large international NGOs.

Please apply at: http://tbe.taleo.net/NA2/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=IRC&cws=1&rid=7816