Senior Coordinator, Women' Protection & Empowerment

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. Despite progress towards containing the initial phase of the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in August 2014. As the outbreak continues - now with over 4,000 deaths and 7,200 cases in Liberia - there is also a growing recognition of the impact of Ebola on all elements of Liberian life. For women and girls, there have been specific vulnerabilities and risks, including increased exposure to sexual exploitation and abuse and other forms of VAWG as education and economic opportunities have been devastated, and as women are responsible for the care of children. For many women, the loss of their husbands has further increased their vulnerabilities as they are more economically exposed and are without the social protection of marriage. 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 programming to assure women and children have access to necessary and life-saving assistance, and that EVD response policies include protection and gender mainstreaming considerations.

The IRC is recruiting a Sr. Women’s Protection and Empowerment Coordinator to oversee a comprehensive women and girls-focused programme that includes targeted, short-term emergency response actions, as well as longer-term interventions in line with IRC’s WPE strategy to support and empower women and girls.

As of 2008, the Women’s Protection and Empowerment Program has been shaped by the regional program framework Women and Girls Rebuilding Nations. This comprehensive, multi-pillared approach works at household, community, systems and institutional levels to improve responses to survivors of violence, and increase their access to relevant services, and to mitigate the situations that make such violence more likely. The intended outcomes under this framework include 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. As a comprehensive intervention in relation to violence against women and girls, WGRN is a multi-disciplinary program, including interventions in relation to health, legal issues, economic programming, community development, advocacy and research.

The Girl Empower program is a large scale intervention 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 adolescents girls in order to improve their future life chances. This program has a significant impact evaluation attached, and will be one of the most rigorous pieces of research into programming for adolescent girls.

SCOPE OF WORK:

With direct management support from the Deputy Director of Programs and technical support from the Women’s Protection and Empowerment technical unit, the (Senior) WPE Coordinator is key in leading project development and implementation, providing technical support and guidance to IRC’s staff and local partners, and technical representation and support in relevant coordination working groups, ensuring the delivery of quality programming in Liberia. The Senior WPE Coordinator is the Liberia Program leader on WPE programming strategic development, advocacy and representation and reports to the Deputy Director of Programs.

Responsibilities:

Program Support and Planning

• To provide strategic direction, leadership and overall technical and management assistance to the Women’s Protection and Empowerment, including Girl Empower.
• Provide strategic leadership to the WPE National Coordinator to identify and develop areas for improvement in program quality and foster synergies between program sectors to harmonize comprehensive protection interventions
• Support the WPE National Coordinator in the implementation of the WPE programming strategy and the start-up of adolescent girls programming.
• Lead and drive evaluation of the Women and Girls Rebuilding Nations program
• Develop Job Descriptions, Recruit Program management-level staff, in coordination with HR, the DDP, and the Technical Unit.
• Conduct regular field visits to assess progress toward objectives, discuss issues and assist in finding solutions to challenges identified.
• Coordinate closely and liaise regularly with the Grants Coordinator to ensure quality implementation and development of programs
• Work alongside the WPE National Coordinator to ensure funds are used as allocated in the awarded grants to ensure the attainment of all objectives 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 Technical Advisors 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 – including community leaders, NGOs, government ministries/authorities, UN agencies, to enhance cooperation and coordination between organizations.
• Ensure that project resources, including financial, are used effectively and transparently in order to further the objectives of the project.
• Monitor program developments and determine strategic opportunities,

• Play a key role with the DDP in the development of proposals and fundraising strategies to ensure continued programming.
• To assist a rapid scale-up of emergency focused EVD response programming for WPE, while maintaining the strategic long-term programming of both programs.
• Coordinate with IRC’s Health and EVD response programming to assure strong synergies between WPE activities and the goals of the overall response.
• Guide protection and gender mainstreaming actions within IRC’s and IRC supported EVD response activities.

Capacity Building

• Develop training materials and facilitate trainings for staff and local partners in case management, CCSAS, and psychosocial support.
• Develop quality assurance and feedback mechanisms for services provided by partners;
• Provide ongoing mentoring and technical support to partners on their case management services, ensuring case management forms/tools/processes, supervision systems for case workers and procedures for handling case information follow best practices and standards.
• Develop Infection prevention and control protocols and policies for WPE programming;
• Assist teams in developing psychosocial support for women, adolescent girls affected by EVD into existing and new programming;

Project Monitoring and Evaluation

• Ensure a safe and confidential mechanism for collecting information on project activities is implemented.
• Design monitoring and evaluation tools at effects/ outcomes levels, including semi-structured interviewing, Most Significant Change and impact grid evaluation tools. Assure M&E activities are carried out following the agreed workplan, and that reports are produced to a high quality.
• Support research projects associated with Adolescent Girls Programming.
• Assist National program staff in the full transfer of case management services to national partners.
• Ensure that all internal and external reporting requirements 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

• Represent the IRC at the Protection and GBV Clusters, and support/provide direction the cluster lead and co-lead on strategic activities;
• Support the National WPE Coordinator in policy development, including protection and gender mainstreaming of EVD crisis response;
• 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.
• Advocate for the prioritizing of VAWG response services as health systems are rebuilt and re-established
• In coordination with the DDP actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders in Liberia including donors, government actors, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, and other relevant actors.
• Develop strategic partnerships with local organizations, wherever possible. Play an active role in the planning and execution of the country sector strategies and advocacy strategies in relation to program areas; work with the IRC Advocacy and media team to ensure that the needs of refugees in general and women and children in particular are taken into account by donor governments, UN and other stakeholders
• Represent IRC for approved media interviews and engagements
• Uphold and champion the IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct

Required Qualifications

3 – 5 years of direct experience in Gender Based Violence related programming.3+ years of program management experience in other protection related fields (child protection, etc)

• 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.
• Demonstrated experience managing or supporting programming for adolescent girls is preferred.
• Previous experience working with coordination bodies such as Protection Cluster, GBV sub-cluster, and Child Protection sub-cluster.
• Experience in strategic planning and project development; Proposal writing and development skills
• 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.
• Experience working in a multi-cultural setting and in preference in Africa
• 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
• Experience of working with local stakeholders such as health clinics and NGOs.
• Fluency in English is required; Must have excellent English-language writing skills.
• Ability to live and work under pressure.

Other details:

The position is base in Monrovia, Liberia, with occasional travel to the field. 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. 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 .