| Date Posted: | Jul 24, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Reference: | IFRC04265 |
| Closing Date: | Aug 1, 2020 |
| Work Type: | Full Time |
| Number of Vacancies: | 1 |
| Gender: | Any |
| Functional Area: | Project Management,Operation,Monitoring and Evaluation,Management |
| Nationality: | Afghan |
| Salary Range: | As per company salary scaleAF |
| Years of Experience: | 4 - 7 Years |
| Contract Duration: | Not specified |
| Extension Possibility: | No |
| Contract Type: | Fixed-term |
| Probation Period: | 3 months |
| Required Languages: | Dari,Pashto,English |
About IFRC:
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network established by and comprised of member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 192 countries. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises. The IFRC is served by a Secretariat based in Geneva, with regional, country cluster teams and country offices throughout the world. The Secretariat is led by the IFRC Secretary General and provides the central capacity to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The Secretariat’s focus includes providing support to the IFRC governance mechanisms; setting norms and standards; providing guidance; ensuring consistency, coordination, and accountability for performance; knowledge sharing; promoting collaboration within and respect for the Movement; and expanding engagement with partners.
On 31 December 2019, Wuhan city in China reported cases of pneumonia of unknown origin, which was later confirmed to be caused by a new coronavirus now known as COVID-19. Since then, COVID-19 has since then be declared by WHO as global pandemic on 11 March, affecting 206 countries and territories around the world. In response to the worrying humanitarian needs brought by the COVID-19 outbreak, on 11 February 2020 IFRC scaled up its Global Emergency Appeal to CHF 32 million from an initial CHF 3 million Preliminary Emergency Appeal launched on 31 January 2020. While COVID 19 pandemic has continued expanding across the world, the IFRC has launched a revised appeal for CHF 550 million to support National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in health care, prepositioning of goods, risk communication, cash grants for families. Out of the CHF 550 million, CHF 150 million is for IFRC to support National Societies in need, while the remaining 400 million Swiss francs are to be raised by National Societies domestically.
Due to poor health infrastructure and pre-existing multiple vulnerabilities after 40 years of conflict, Afghanistan is expected to be hardly hit by the pandemic with projections ranging between 30,000 to 80,000 hospitalisations needed by end of May, which largely exceed the current capacities of the countries. The relatively limited number of tests operated by mid-April (6,000) did not capture the full extent of the infection rate which was growing exponentially. Due to the lockdown measures in Afghanistan as well as in the neighbouring countries, the pandemic is also expected to worsen the socio-economic conditions of the most vulnerable communities, especially in urban areas, in a country where more than 60% of the population lives with 1 USD a month.
Under IFRC global emergency appeal, a Domestic Response Plan (FRP) for Afghanistan has been finalised, in support of Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS)’s response and operational priorities, with a focus on the duty of care, emergency health activities, livelihoods support as well as ARCS capacity and systems strengthening. IFRC FRP aims to reach at least 2.6 million people over 9 months for total funding requirements amounting CHF 16.8 million.
As surge support in IFRC CO senior management, the Operations Coordinator, together with the Head of CO, the disaster risk management coordinator, the health coordinator and the National Society Coordinator, is to take a lead role in ensuring effective and coordinated implementation of the Domestic Response Plan in support of ARCS. S/he reports to the Head of Country Office and represents IFRC within the mandate of the key tasks and responsibilities set in these Terms of Reference.
The Operations Coordinator (i) facilitates the international relief assistance for the COVID-19 response in Afghanistan, (ii) advises ARCS in managing the emergency response operation and in delivering the results derived from ARCS emergency response plans, (iii) mentors and coordinates the IFRC operation team and (iv) directly manage priority tasks related to the emergency response management as required by the Head of Country Office, in agreement with ARCS.
S/he liaises with counterparts from participating national societies and the ICRC, and take an active role in liaising with external partners, such as clusters, NGOs, donors, bilateral and multilateral organizations within the mandate of the key tasks and responsibilities set in these terms of reference.
Job Summary:
Reporting to the Head of Country Office in Afghanistan, the Operations Manager provides technical leadership to ensure the optimal coordination and direct management of resources required for the effective and efficient implementation of IFRC-supported emergency operations in support to Afghan Red Crescent.
Duties & Responsibilities:
- Negotiate, plan and mobilize IFRC resources in support of ARCS in the assessment, planning, and implementation of IFRC-supported emergency response operations.
- Interact with IFRC technical leads to ensure they work closely with the managers of relevant National Society departments in all related programming roles and responsibilities, providing advice and recommendations that carefully consider local capacity and context.
- Along ARCS, build alliances and partnerships with other emergency actors to enhance the implementation of IFRC-supported emergency operations.
- Support ARCS to enhance its position within national and international coordination mechanisms.
- Guide IFRC technical leads to develop programme approaches which strengthen and develop the structures, capacity and performance of National Societies; This entails analyzing and understanding their current strengths and weaknesses and ensuring provision of necessary technical and material support particularly in relation to the ongoing crisis.
- Promote and assist the integration of humanitarian priorities and interventions with relevant counterparts in ARCS.
- Ensure that emergency response operations are based on frameworks and approaches that are consistent with or have considered national and international standards and guidelines, as well as IFRC policies, procedures and tools.
- Assist ARCS, Movement and external partners in the achievement of planned outcomes and deliverables following quality standards, in a timely fashion, and within budgets.
- Ensure a robust and coherent monitoring of emergency situations and their potential evolution so that humanitarian interventions are responsive to current and emerging needs and threats.
- Work with technical units in the CO and the Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) to develop, implement and review contingency planning for identified threats in operational areas, as well as the development of capacities within ARCS for emergency response.
- Support ARCS in setting up the structures needed to ensure that all components of the response operations are identified, planned and carried out in a coordinated, collaborative and integrated manner with Movement and external partners.
- Support ARCS in developing and implementing operational standards, tools and procedures that ensure quality, consistency and sustainability of emergency response interventions.
- Together with ARCS counterparts and the Head of CO, represent IFRC in coordination meetings and forums, involving national authorities, national and international agencies, donors and other partners in the country.
- Support ARCS in establishing an effective information management system for the response, including statistics.
- Work with PMER focal points, APRO and ARCS to ensure that planning and reporting requirements are met in a timely and efficient manner.
- Advise on the need of additional human resources and support deployments in coordination with the Head of CO and the HR departments and/or surge desk of APRO.
- Ensure sound financial management is applied to all IFRC-supported operations within ARCS, including ensuring that budgets are monitored, problems are identified, and solutions implemented in timely and effective manner.
- Manage operational budgets to ensure that expenditure relating to IFRC-supported operations is within income and approved ceilings, in compliance with IFRC finance procedures and in line with donor earmarking requirements.
Duties Applicable to all Staff
- Actively work towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goals.
- Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles.
- Perform any other work related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager.
Job Requirement:
Education:
- University degree, or equivalent qualifying experience, in relevant area
- Basic Delegates Training Course or IMPACT. FACT, ERU, RDRT training (Preferred)
Experience:
- At least 5 years of disaster management experience, including managing staff
- Field experience in coordinating and managing disaster and crisis management projects and activities especially population movements
- Work experience with RC/RC (Preferred)
- Experience in project cycle management including proposal development, budgeting and reporting, monitoring and evaluation
Knowledge and Skills:
- Effective team and project management skills
- Good analytical skills and solution-oriented
- Good mentoring and capacity development skills
- Ability to work well in a multicultural team
- Excellent stress management skills
- Demonstrated accountability
- Fluently spoken and written English, Pashto and Dari
- Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic) (Preferred)
Competencies:
Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
Core Competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust
Functional Competencies: Strategic orientation; Building alliances; Leadership; Empowering others.