Technical Advisor, Governance

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading agencies working in humanitarian, post-conflict and development contexts, supporting communities in over 40 fragile, failed and developing states. In this capacity, we work to restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted, struggling to endure and wishing to advance on a path of development.

The Governance & Rights Technical Unit (GRTU) provides intellectual leadership and vision around this programming area and provides quality technical support to IRC’s country offices, field staff and partner agencies. The Unit is further responsible for providing targeted support on program design and fundraising, developing innovative research and learning opportunities and public representation on governance and rights-related policy and programming issues. The IRC’s work on governance themes is focused on two primary areas: (1) Governance in service delivery and (2) Governance in local development.

It is in this context that the GRTU is looking for a skilled and dynamic professional to join the governance team and occupy the position of Technical Advisor - Governance in its New York headquarters.

Scope:

This position, as part of a team of four Technical Advisors supervised by the Senior Technical Advisor – Governance, provides technical support in the design and development of IRC programs in a portfolio of crisis-affected and post-crisis countries. The Technical Advisor develops tools and resources to support innovative governance programming that is informed by evidence, contributes to advancing learning in this field and advocates for and promotes IRC’s governance interventions internally and externally. The selected candidate will further have a solid track record in local governance, public administration and organizational development, and notably on topics including planning and budgeting, human resource management, procurement and other systems that support service delivery. The position will also be responsible for mainstreaming governance work in the field in collaboration with TAs from other technical units, country program management teams and field staff.

Major Responsibilities:

1. Country-specific technical support:

• Provide remote and on-site technical support and assistance in the design, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of high quality governance programming and project activities to 4-6 country program teams, including with the Pakistan and Afghanistan country offices.
• Maintain relationships with regional and country program coordinators and managers, ensure staff development and offer them support, as needed, on program implementation and monitoring.

2. Policies, strategies and tools:

• Contribute to the development of appropriate field-oriented briefing notes, strategy documents, guidelines, toolkits etc. on key governance themes and priorities. Provide particular expertise around the organizational development of local health and education service delivery structures as well as local governments and civil society organizations within the context of the IRC’s overall Program Framework and its Governance & Rights Framework;
• The work on organizational development will be especially focused on the systems that support service delivery and particularly sound planning and budgeting, effective financial, human resource and procurement management, etc.;
• Support the roll-out of the above-referenced documents, in conjunction with other technical units where appropriate, through the design and delivery of workshops, online and offline trainings, internal communications tools, field visits, etc.

3. Program design and new business development:

• Identify, in close collaboration with the STA and Director of the GRTU as well as regional, country and other technical unit-based colleagues, opportunities for innovative programming and the funding of such programs;
• Lead on the design of programs and the writing and/or review of technical components of proposals within the country portfolio, and, as needed, in other countries.

4. Research and learning:

• Share best practices and promote evidence-based programming in the development of IRC’s interventions with a focus on governance;
• Collaborate with the IRC’s Research, Evaluation and Learning unit to identify appropriate opportunities to generate new evidence around governance-related programming;
• Generate innovative proposals in collaboration with Health and Education Technical Units and country offices with strong learning components around the organizational development of local service delivery, local government structures and civil society organizations.
• Participate in ongoing training courses and share knowledge and skill sets within the unit.

5. Advocacy, representation and public information:

• Promote the policies, strategies and tools of the GRTU and influence policy debates by preparing advocacy documents and presentations targeting both internal IRC stakeholders as well as external actors;
• Support in the production of donor or public-facing information about the results and learning from IRC’s governance programming;
• Represent Governance and GRTU across the organization, serving as a resource to IRC staff seeking information about organizational development, including external relations and advocacy departments. Respond to field queries regarding program activities.
• Represent Governance, GRTU and the IRC in outside meetings and academic forums with donors, other non-governmental organizations, inter-agency working groups, foundations and other practitioners in the field.

Job Qualifications:

• Education: Master’s/post-graduate degree in development studies, social sciences, economics, public administration or other relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
• Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of field-based experience implementing or providing technical assistance on governance-related programs, preferably in post-conflict and fragile states and with a focus on organizational development of government and civil society organizations.
• Demonstrated Skills and Competencies: Demonstrated expertise in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating governance and organizational development interventions. Applied experience of governance work in health, education, justice or other basic services a strong advantage, and especially around planning, budgeting and finance, human resource management as well as procurement. Demonstrated proposal development experience and strong writing skills. Good advocacy skills and experience. Prior experience coordinating and undertaking independent field travel to conduct assessments, provide technical support and review programs. Experience designing, delivering and facilitating workshops, trainings, etc. Demonstrated commitment to renewing and maintaining knowledge of latest best practices. Must be a team player with a track record of collaborating across disciplines.
• Language Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English required. Professional proficiency in either French or Arabic highly desirable.
• Working Environment: Up to 40% travel may be required.