Humanitarian Response Officer - Sierra Leone

Description of the unit / department:

Trócaire is one of Ireland’s leading agencies working for global justice and promoting human development.The International Divisionis responsible for Trócaire’s development and humanitarian work worldwide.

Background to the Role:

Trócaire has a country office in Freetown and has been supporting development and humanitarian interventions in the country since 1990. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, has to date lead to the death of over 4,500 people with thousands more still infected. Trócaire Sierra Leone together with our local partners are launching a response to support communities mitigate current risks and deal with the ongoing impacts of the disease. This role will support the country team in the delivery of this response.

Reporting to:

Programme Manager/Country Director (CD)

Managing: (Individuals/Team)

N/A

Contract Type:

Fixed term

Contract Status:

Unaccompanied

Contract Duration:

1 year

Grade and Scale:

Overseas PO scale

Location of Position

Freetown, Sierra Leone with regular travel in country

Purpose of the Role

The Humanitarian Programme Officer will work closely with the Country Director, Programme Manager, programme team and partners to support the development and implementation of an effective humanitarian response

Trócaire works exclusively through local partners and will deliver the Humanitarian Response in SL in this way. Our partners need support and accompaniment to respond to what is a particularly complex Humanitarian crisis. This role will be key to providing this support.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

1. Proposal Development

• Support the design and development of a humanitarian response strategy for the short, medium and long term in country
• Ensure that all interventions meet organisational and sectoral standards and are guided bygood practice tools and guidelines such as the SphereHumanitarian Charter and standards, the NGO Code of Conduct,the Good Enough Guide to Impact and Accountability in Emergenices, and guidelines for mainstreaming Gender, HIV and Protection.
• Promote an approach that pays particular attention to accountability to communities and partners as well as to donors and other key stakeholders, and is informed by the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership Standard in Accountability and Quality Management (HAP) and Trócaire’s Stakeholder Accountability Framework
• Develop high quality proposals to access funding to support the delivery of the response
• Together with the Programme Manager and Programme accountant ensure effective management of grants and compliance with financial & narrative reporting requirements to set deadlines

2. Support to Partners

• Assess capacity needs of partners in order to deliver effective response
• Ensure capacity development is delivered to enhance quality of partners response
• Make recommendations with regard to additional personnel required to support partners
• Develop guidelines and templates for partners to support proposal development and reporting requirements
• Develop a mechanism for partners to provide clear information required for proposal development and reporting in a timely and effective manner

3. Co ordination and Communication

• Participate in INGO/Donor co-ordination and relevant UN cluster coordination meetings as required
• Ensure that outcomes of all meetings documented and shared at a country and HQ level
• Provide information for HQ communication needs as required by programme Manager and Country Director
• Ensure effective co ordination of all proposed response activities to avoid duplication with other interventions
• Where possible, support partners to work collectively through supporting their co ordination efforts
• Collaborate with the Humanitarian Unit in headquarters to ensure programme delivery against organisational policy and standards for response, protection, accountability and safe programming.

4. M&E

• Work with the Programme Manager to develop a comprehensive M&E system for the humanitarian response
• Provide training and support to partners to ensure they implement a robust M&E system and that their system links with Trócaire
• Ensure that  gender is adequately captured in the M&E system
• Develop reports, case studies and evaluations as necessary for the humanitarian programme

The ideal candidate will have:

Qualification

• Third level qualification in Humanitarian,Development or related field of study.
• Post-graduate qualification in a relevant area, or significant experience beyond that outlined below. 

Experience

• Significant experience (at least 3 years) in the development and implementation of a humanitarian response
• Demonstrated experience of working in partnership in a humanitarian context
• Experience in accessing and managing Institutional funding for humanitarian  programmes
• Sound and up to date knowledge of humanitarian concepts and principles, methodologies and approaches, including theSphereHumanitarian Charter and standards, the NGO Code of Conduct, the Good Enough Guide to Impact and Accountability in Emergencies, LEGSand guidelines for mainstreaming Gender, HIV and  Protection
• Demonstrable experience of promoting gender equity through programming.
• Programme cycle and budgetary management skills
• Ability to think strategically and programmatically
• Excellent communication skills
• Able to work effectively with colleagues and partners (secular, Church, other faith-based) in a team

Skills

• Highly organised, with excellent planning, prioritisation and problem-solving skills;
• Strong networking and donor engagement skills
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills and intercultural sensitivity and demonstrated ability in using these with internal stakeholders (Trócaire staff in different locations) and external stakeholders (partners, Church, donors, host government etc.);
• Competent in Microsoft packages (Word, Excel);
• Fluency (written and spoken) in English;

Qualities

• Understanding of, an empathy with , the role of the Catholic Church in development
• A strong commitment to the work of justice and an empathy with the ethos and work of Trócaire.

Other

• Ability and willingness to travel within country and internationally including travel to HQ in Ireland.