Women's Protection and Empowerment Coordinator

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is recognized globally as a leader in preventing and responding to violence against women. Our comprehensive approach supports the pursuit of the IRC’s broader vision: a world where women and girls live free from violence as valued and respected members of their community.

Program Summary

The IRC’s Women’s Protection and Empowerment (WPE) program in Chechnya, Russia, began in 2010 and continues to work towards enhancing the protection and empowerment of women and girls through supporting local organizations to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.  The IRC is supporting an emerging network of women’s organisations by providing technical support and guidance on network, partnership and coordination building, developing a common voice, vision, mission, and strengthening solidarity between them. The IRC has also been supporting these local services providers through strategic, needs-based, practical capacity building initiatives on a range of areas, including holistic models for supporting GBV survivors, women’s protection and empowerment, and administrative, organizational and financial development and sustainability.

Scope of Work

The IRC is aiming to a) continue strengthening its partnership, mobilisation and movement building work with the emerging network of Chechen women’s NGOs, b) extend this work to support inter- and intra-regional networks and coalitions addressing women’s protection and empowerment across five republics in the North Caucasus, including Chechnya. As part of this process, the IRC is seeking a WPE Coordinator with experience in rights-based initiatives, civil society, gender, and women’s mobilisation, organising or network building to provide technical support, guidance and oversight to the IRC WPE program and its NGO partner organisations. The WPE Coordinator will ideally have experience working in the post-Soviet and post-conflict context, especially on issues affecting women, girls and civil society, or in similar contexts to Chechnya, North Caucasus.

The WPE Coordinator is key in leading programs implementation, providing technical support and guidance to IRC’s WPE staff, local women’s NGO partners, and ensuring the delivery of quality programming and activities. The WPE Coordinator reports to the Head of Office.

Areas of Responsibility

Capacity Development and Network Building

• Develop and maintain effective and positive working relationships with all partner women’s NGOs and other stakeholders, including the communities worked in
• Provide women’s NGOs across five North Caucasus republics (Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and North Ossetia) technical support, guidance and mentoring through individual and group consultations, meetings, regular communication (in-person, email, telephone, Skype, etc.) on the following five areas:
  • Strengthening the roots of solidarity and cohesion between the NGOs and their network(s)
  • Working through internal and external challenges and barriers to women’s network/movement building addressing GBV/WPE and NGO development
  • Promoting and developing safe spaces, peer support, well-being, self-care and integrated safety components within the NGOs and their network(s)
  • Strengthen the quality and reach of the NGO’s GBV/WPE work from service provision for survivors, to women’s human rights, to community-based violence prevention and behaviour change initiatives, to joint advocacy
  • Self-sustainability and independence from external support
• Develop and facilitate practical, participatory “learning by doing” workshops and capacity development initiatives for women’s NGO and their actors designed around the five areas
• Ensure best practices and international standards on GBV, WPE and human rights are integrated and upheld across all program activities

Program Management

• Provide technical guidance, oversight and support to the IRC’s WPE programs to ensure timely, effective and quality activity set-up, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation
• Oversee and work with the WPE team to ensure programs are implemented in conformity with their objectives, promoting and protecting women human rights, participation, empowerment, and capacity, partnership and movement building
• Ensure programs and activities maintain a focus on being locally-led and owned by the NGOs, their actors, and the communities worked in; promote partnerships based on equality
• Provide technical performance management (setting of objectives, appraisals and professional development action plans and follow up) for the WPE program staff
• When required, lead on the recruitment of new WPE program staff, consultants or other external support
• Conduct regular field visits to assess program quality and strengths, progress toward objectives, discuss issues and assist in finding solutions to challenges identified
• Liaise with the IRC WPE Technical Unit on a regular basis to ensure all programming aspects meet GBV/WPE best practices and international standards
• Ensure high-quality and timeliness of IRC and donor reports on activities, indicators and achievements
• Overall responsibility for WPE budgets; Monitor budget spending in-line with the spending plans; work with the finance team to ensure WPE grants are in compliance with donor guidelines and contracts/agreements including budget flexibility and reporting requirements
• Provide leadership on program development, sourcing funding and strategic planning

Requirements

• Advanced University degree in social sciences, humanities, human rights, gender, or other relevant field or the equivalent in professional work
• 2 + years work experience with civil society, specifically women-focused groups or organisations, participatory methods of community mobilisation or network/coalition/movement building
• Strong experience and skills in facilitating practical workshops, providing guidance, and educating others on rights, network building, GBV, specific issues affecting women
• Demonstrated experience of facilitating and promoting activities on well-being, self-care, safety or integrated safety for women/girls, women’s NGOs/groups
• Clear understanding of  how power, inequality, violence, and oppression impact upon the lives of women and girls and those working with them
• Strong ability to respect differences of culture, opinion and lived experiences while upholding rights-based principles and women’s protection and empowerment
• Excellent interpersonal skills, positive and professional attitude, ability to lead and work well in a team setting and with multiple partners
• Strengths in listening, empathy, flexibility, and creativity
• Experience of working in the post-Soviet space - strongly preferred
• Fluency in English Language - essential. Russian language skills – desired