Senior Women's Protection and Empowerment Manager

Job posted by: International Rescue Committee (IRC)-USA - Thu, 14 May 2015

Job Details:

Organisation: International Rescue Committee (IRC)-USA

Deadline Mon, 13 Jul 2015

Job type: Permanent

Location: Liberia

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BACKGROUND:  

 

Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee is one of the most prominent international organizations working in relief, rehabilitation, protection, post-conflict development, resettlement services and advocacy for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. 

 

IRC has worked in Liberia since 1996 and is one of the largest humanitarian actors in the country and has worked with women and girls since the beginning. Since the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in March 2014, the IRC has been a key international partner for the Government of Liberia, able to quickly divert existing and raise new funds for critical EVD prevention and response activities in target areas.  The impact of the EVD crisis has meant that new emergency responses taking into account the needs of women and girls must be implemented and current programming needs to evolve to meet the needs of women and girls greatly affected by the disease and also take into account disease prevention mechanisms. Current programming must also complement current and upcoming emergency response and recovery programming to assure women and children have access to necessary and life-saving assistance, and that EVD response and transition policies include protection and gender mainstreaming considerations.

 

The IRC’s WPE EVD response fits within its overall program framework, Women and Girls Rebuilding Nations. This 8-year strategy focuses on strengthening women’s social and economic assets and capital, opening up spaces for women and adolescent girls to represent their interests at community, systems and policy levels, improved quality of response services, and changes in community norms and practices in relation to violence. In addition to this, the IRC is implementing an adolescent girls-focused program, Girl Empower, intended to reduce the vulnerability of adolescent girls to sexual exploitation and abuse; working with communities, mentors and directly with girls, it is intended to increase the social, human, and physical assets of adolescent girls in order to improve their future life chances.

 

The IRC is recruiting a Senior Emergency WPE Manager to oversee the implementation of a 7-month emergency response program focused on assuring access for women and girls to life-saving services, and support the EVD response in gender and protection mainstreaming and include comprehensive psychosocial services. The position is based in Lofa with some travel to Monrovia and Nimba County.

 

 

SCOPE OF WORK:

Reporting to the Sr. WPE Coordinator, the Sr. WPE Manager will be responsible for rolling out Emergency, EVD-focused response and recovery programming for the WPE program. They will be responsible for providing technical support to the National WPE Coordinator and Psychosocial Coordination bodies in Montserrado, assist and provide technical support to EVD response and recovery services to improve gender and protection mainstreaming, and provide technical support to the Deputy Coordinator in awareness-raising activities and assisting GBV medical services restart. The Sr. WPE Manager will be responsible for ensuring emergency projects meet their objectives and that activities and progress is reported.

 

 

 

Responsibilities: 

 

Program Support and Planning

  • To ensure the timely implementation of the IRC’s WPE emergency activities following best practices.  
  • Coordinate with IRC’s Health and EVD response and recovery programming to assure strong synergies between WPE activities and the goals of the overall response and recovery.
  • Support the National WPE Coordinator and her work with the psychosocial coordination body for Montserrado County in rolling out their strategy, capacity building plan, and referral pathways.
  • Work with the national and county-level EVD, gender and protection coordination bodies to improve gender and protection mainstreaming in the EVD response, recovery, policies, and practices.
  • Guide protection and gender mainstreaming actions within IRC’s and IRC supported EVD response and recovery activities. 
  • Support the Lofa WPE Manager to ensure that a space is provided in one of the health facilities for examination and treatment for sexual and physical assault survivors in that County.
  • In collaboration with the Lofa WPE Manager, support the CHT in making available essential drugs and supplies to provide appropriate medical services to survivors accessing  services in the one stop facility.
  • Conduct regular field visits to assess progress toward objectives, discuss issues and assist in finding solutions to challenges identified. 
  • Track budget expenditure to ensure funds are used as allocated in the awarded grants and objectives are attained within the authorized budgets.
  • Work with team to ensure projects are implemented in conformity with the IRC program framework promoting and protecting rights, participation, capacity building, partnership, and holistic planning.
  • Liaise regularly with the Sr. WPE Coordinator, and other technical advisors as necessary on a regular basis to ensure that information from the field is accurately represented
  • Develop and maintain effective working relationships with all stakeholders in Liberia especially Lofa County – including community leaders, NGOs, government ministries/authorities, UN agencies, to enhance cooperation and coordination between organizations. 

 

Capacity Building

  • Develop training materials and facilitate trainings for staff and partners in case management, Clinical Care for Sexual Assault Survivors (CCSAS), and psychosocial support.
  • Work along side the Psychosocial Coordinator to develop case management and psychosocial modules with EVD focus for GBV and non-GBV service providers.
  • Develop and carry out gender and protection mainstreaming audits for EVD focused response and recovery services.
  • Provide ongoing mentoring and technical support to WPE and partners Organizations on clinical management of rape and psychosocial support to ensure programming meets best practice standards.  
  • Develop Infection prevention and control protocols and policies for WPE programming;
  • Maintain open and professional relationship with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions

 

Project Monitoring and Evaluation

  • Ensure a safe and confidential mechanism for collecting information on project activities is implemented.
  • Assure M&E activities are carried out following the agreed workplan, and that reports are produced to a high quality.
  • Ensure that all internal and external reporting requirements for emergency project activities are met and that reports are of a high quality and submitted on time.
  • Ensure staff practice with clients / beneficiaries adheres to best-practice principles particularly when working with survivors and that all staff use participatory approaches to working with the community in addressing beliefs and practices that condone or perpetuate violence in general and against women and children in particular;

 

Representation and Advocacy

  • Support the National WPE Coordinator in policy development, including protection and gender mainstreaming of EVD crisis response and recovery;
  • Support the National WPE Coordinator and the Gender Task Force on policy development, changes and promotion of national laws;
  • Assure that coordination bodies maintain updated referral pathways based on actual services available during the EVD response and recovery.  
  • Advocate for the prioritizing of VAWG response services as health systems are rebuilt and re-established
  • Uphold and champion the IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct

 

Required Qualifications

  • 3 years minimum of direct experience in Gender Based Violence related programming; Some experience in implementing emergency GBV programming.
  • MA/S or equivalent in social work, social sciences, public health, community health, or related field.
  • Good understanding and ability to build capacity in areas including minimum standards for GBV in emergencies, Clinical Management of Rape, and case management/GBVIMS.
  • Previous experience working with coordination bodies such as Protection Cluster, GBV sub-cluster, and Child Protection sub-cluster.
  • Demonstrated experience with policy and protocol development and implementation;
  • Solid understanding of budget management, and project reporting.
  • Solid expertise in designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation tools and processes
  • Experience conducting program assessments and producing assessment reports.
  • Excellent relationship-building, interpersonal skills and the ability to liaise diplomatically
  • Solid ability to provide leadership, management, team-building, coaching, and development for staff
  • Successful track-record in presenting complex issues to various stakeholders effectively, sensitively and with professional poise
  • Flexible, motivation, creativity and problem solving skills
  • Fluency in English is required; Must have excellent English-language writing skills.  
  • Ability to live and work under pressure.

 

Other details:

The position is in Lofa, Liberia, with regular travel to the Monrovia and Nimba. This position is unaccompanied. International staff are provided with staff housing, close to the office, and access to transportation. 

 

All international Staff must comply with all IRC Liberia security policies and procedures. While there is a great deal of media coverage about the risks of working in an Ebola affected country, both the CDC and WHO have stated that the highest risks remain for those directly treating Ebola patients which this position would not be involved in. Furthermore, you will be working with a team of fellow international staff who continue to work confidently in the country, following robust IRC hygiene protocols to minimize any risk. While Liberia has been declared EVD-free, at any point the position holder has the option to end the assignment should you feel unsafe in any way, with no repercussions in terms of employment in other IRC programs.

 

Standards for Professional Conduct:

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct.  These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability.  In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation .

 

 

 


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