Regional Emergency Preparedness Coordinator

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC is supporting people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. 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.

The IRCs EPRU

The IRCs Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit (EPRU) leads or oversees IRCs global emergency preparedness and response activities. The mission of the EPRU is to help meet the immediate survival needs and reduce suffering in conflict or disaster affected populations during the acute phase of an emergency. The EPRU also works in protracted emergencies, where the risk to life may be reduced but the population is still subjected to rights abuses and a lack of basic services.

The EPRU is also charged with enhancing the IRCs global and country level emergency preparedness capacity.  We  do this by supporting the development and training of Country Emergency Teams, assisting in the development of emergency focused partnerships with local civil society organizations, maintaining regional and global capacity to rapidly identify and deploy qualified emergency response personnel and supporting country-level contingency planning.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Regional Emergency Preparedness Coordinator will lead the EPRU’s work of enhancing the organization’s preparedness to respond to emergencies on country level.  S/he will support IRC country teams in the Region to respond better to small and medium sized crises through the development and training of Country Emergency Teams (CET). S/he will also support the development of partnerships for emergencies with national Civil Society Organizations (CSO) in the countries of the Region. The Regional Emergency Preparedness Coordinator has a key role in the planning and delivery of capacity and competency development activities for IRC CET staff and staff of CSO partner organizations that will also promote common approaches and standards across emergency responses. And finally s/he will  supporting the process of increasing IRC country program emergency readiness and the formulation of emergency preparedness planning for the annual Strategy Action Plan.

The Regional Emergency Preparedness Coordinator will collaborate closely with the Regional Unit and Country Teams as well as other IRC departments, including Human Resources and Technical Units and will work closely with the Senior Emergency Preparedness Coordinator (HQ based) and other REPCs to assure a highly integrated unit.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Organization Emergency Capacity Building
• Advise and support IRC country teams in the process and procedure to identify and select appropriate and motivated staff for the Country Emergency Team (CET).
• Support the continuous assessment of emergency response capacity and competency needs of CET staff and assist in the corresponding development of capacity and competency building tools and training resources necessary for setting up effective and efficient emergency response teams
• Manage the delivery of emergency response competency and capacity building training to CET staff within their Region and assist IRC country teams in the development of efficient and effective CETs.
• Support the Senior Emergency Preparedness Coordinator in the further development and improvement of capacity and competency development tools and resources.
• In collaboration with the country teams within their Region and the EPRU Deployment Coordinator, assist in the selection of staff e.g. from the CETs to the Internal Emergency Roster (IER) and manage the further preparation, training and development of these staff for international emergency response deployment.

Partnership Development

The IRC’s new strategy places emphasis on the establishing and development of partnerships with Civil Society Organizations (CSO). In this, the IRC will clearly move away from its previous partnership model of primarily sub-contracting out elements of program implementation to a partnership model that centers on actually investing in CSO partners to help them strengthen their own emergency response capacities.  The successful candidate for this position will be instrumental in building relationships around shared objectives and vision - rather than around a project and partners’ performance.

• Support the IRC country teams in the process of evaluating and selecting potential CSO partners in high risk countries and support the establishing, developing and maintaining of these partnerships with a particular focus on partnering / collaboration in emergencies.
• When needed, provide coordination and co-operation support to country teams and CSO partners during an emergency response.
• Assist in the development of emergency response training tools and resources and manage the delivery of such trainings to IRC partner organizations in collaboration with the country team.
• In collaboration with the IRC country teams and Partnership Unit, support established CSO partners with on-going, tailored, targeted support to help ensure effective application of emergency response skills.
• Manage and support the process in the Region to establish, develop and maintain partnerships in high-risk countries where the IRC has no presence.

Emergency Preparedness planning on Country Level

• Support the Senior Emergency Preparedness Coordinator in the development and improvement of tools and resources that assist the country programs in risk assessment, contingency planning and emergency preparedness
• Assist the IRC country teams in high-risk countries in the Region to assess their and their CSO partner’s readiness to respond to emergencies and to develop and implement preparedness and contingency plans.
• Assist the country teams in updating their preparedness and contingency plans on an annual basis to be included in the county action plan.

REQUIREMENTS

• Prior hands-on field experience and proven track record in:
  • humanitarian staff competency and capacity development
  • emergency preparedness planning and programs
  • establishing and developing partnerships with local civil society organizations based on shared objectives and visions and through investing into CSO partners’ capacity strengthening
  • organizing and facilitating training / capacity building workshops.
• University degree in human resources, international development or related field, Masters degree preferred, equivalent work experience will be considered
• Proven abilities in developing and implementing new structures and processes including building support and consensus across departments and delivering on timelines
• Excellent oral and written communications skills (English) , bilingual (French or Arabic) advantageous
• Previous experience in international humanitarian aid or development required
• Able and willing to undertake significant travel within the Region to potentially insecure environments.