The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, was established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and other conflicts. After passing a century, which it celebrated in 2019, it is now a global movement made up of 29 national member organizations which work in 120 countries.

ROLE PURPOSE:  

The role holder will directly work with the head of humanitarian, and work closely with humanitarian focal persons in the areas offices, and functional departments in CO and PDQI focal persons, RO and SC members, and other departments to ensure timely and efficient response that is integrated with pre-existing programming in the 4 Area Offices.

As a member of the humanitarian team within Program Operations department, s/he will provide technical inputs and supports to head of humanitarian and director of program operations in matters of humanitarian preparedness, contingency plan, humanitarian response plan including micro plans or region/context specify plan. S/he will support head of humanitarian to ensure proper advocacy, representation, policy, member and donor engagement, UN and cluster engagement, proposal and budget development for humanitarian response, categorization of emergencies and support the field teams in expediting the implementation of humanitarian response projects.

The role holder will also support head of humanitarian to ensure immediate and appropriate response to children’s needs during humanitarian crises and cross sector collaboration among technical units. S/he will assist humanitarian head to ensure funding proposals are produced and donor reporting requirements are adhered to, and are of the highest standard and that Save the Children’s commitment to improving quality and accountability in humanitarian work is upheld, and complies with all relevant policies and procedures with respect to child protection, health and safety etc.

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

Reports to: Humanitarian head

Dimensions:  Save the Children operates across all zones in Ethiopia and currently has four area offices and additional field offices. Programmatically Ethiopia is a large Country Office with more than $80million annual budget and staff over 800 staff.

Staff directly reporting to this post: 

• This position works closely with humanitarian focal persons in each of Area offices/field offices, and functional department focal persons including MEAL, NBD, PDQI, Awards, and Ops functional units, SSA, compliance and risks, etc

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

As a member of the humanitarian team, contribute to:

• Upholding the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our Members and donors
• Support humanitarian head to ensure that all required support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with the rules and principles of the emergency humanitarian categorization framework.

Humanitarian preparedness plan and Quality programming  

• Act as a focal person in preparing and/ review of EPP and Humanitarian Contingency Planning and their accompanying tools periodically .
• Provide facilitation support to functional departments in crafting and ownership of the EPP and action plans there in and also in liaison of the SCI humanitarian team with the RO and Center
• Ensure  roll out the approved version of  the EPP and ensure  that all relevant CO and AO/FO staff are familiar with and adhere to and implement the EPP.
• Follow up on implementation of Preparedness Action Plan (PAP) to address the identified preparedness gaps, and collect and compile regular updates.
• Support in developing and ensuring of training, and activation of country Emergency Response Team as necessary – ERT is already active
• Integration of CHS across SC humanitarian programming including provision of CHS mainstreaming checklist, tracking progress, compiling progress and capacity building training/supports. In collaboration with the RO, undertaking Organizational self-assessment for the CO on Quality and accountability (CHS), develop Improvement Plan and follow up its implementation.
• Undertaking resource mapping exercise to identify existing awards with adaptive nature including Crisis Modifier, contingency stocks, early action activities and support in re-programming
• Support in coordination with the field team to identify key learning opportunities from our EPP (Crisis Modifier intervention, early actions), and share it with humanitarian team, RO and Center

Humanitarian response plan/strategy 

• Act as a focal person for  updating and tracking of SC Ethiopia CO Humanitarian Plan, to guide SC Ethiopia CO humanitarian response Assist the head of humanitarian to ensure revisions to humanitarian response strategy where deemed necessary
• Continually monitor the humanitarian situation of the affected population and gathering up-to-date and useful information for use for preparation of updates, response decision, planning, and  proposal preparation
• Work together with field team, PDQI, and head of humanitarian to prepare and share to RO  ALERT on humanitarian situation or shocks as part of advocacy and fund solicitation
• Support the humanitarian head to ensure rapid humanitarian multi-sectoral integrated assessments are undertaken as necessary to continue to inform the implementation of the humanitarian response strategy
• Provide technical back stopping on issues related to humanitarian response and humanitarian risk management in all operation areas and that all humanitarian programming in CO is well integrated with the SCI regional and global humanitarian response system.
• Assist humanitarian head in facilitation of principled humanitarian action (PHA) cross country pilot program where Ethiopia CO is one

Anticipatory humanitarian and early Action pilot and scale up 

• Be focal person for humanitarian anticipatory and early action framework and /he will contribute to strengthening of the anticipatory humanitarian and early action, and the resilience of the affected people, local partners, and early warning systems to multiple shocks
• Support humanitarian head in facilitating the setup of multiple Anticipatory Action frameworks that, upon being activated with active engagement and partnership with government ministerial offices including EDRMC, MoA, MoWE, national MET (EMI), local partners such as ERCS, EW committees, Ready Groups and local community in the country.
• Support the process of establishing information exchange platform on early warning and early action system in the SCI CO and field offices/area offices
• Support humanitarian head to generate useful information products and pathways through adequate humanitarian intelligence, including Anticipatory and early action, etc to develop an agile humanitarian portfolio.

Management of humanitarian response fund 

• Be focal person for the humanitarian fund and support in ensure solicitation of funds for priority humanitarian needs across the regions in the country
• Be budget holder, Manage the humanitarian fund and   coordinate with Field and Co office team, and prepare HF proposals and process SLT approval
• Compile HF proposal and upload applications together with Award team focal person (s); and ensure regular monthly updates, tracking and monitoring spending and activity progress, and  quarter reports
• Oversee and manage the implementation of the flexible funding for humanitarian preparedness programming

Monitoring and reporting

• Follow up timely submission of monthly Situation Reps on HART system;
• Work together with NBD and Track and update all Humanitarian Fund tracker
• Humanitarian Award monitoring and field level joint monitoring
• Support the humanitarian head to ensure production and timely dissemination of high quality, analytical reports, supply of regular situation reports, and collection, analysis and dissemination of relevant information and data relevant to the response.
• Assist head of humanitarian to be able to evaluate, monitor and review to ensure strict compliance of programme activities with SC national and global policies and procedures and with relevant donor regulations and agreements, SPHERE guidelines and the NGO code of conduct.

Capacity building of Staff and partners –

• Facilitate the conduct of SCI and partner staff self-assessment and identify training needs,
• Facilitate the support/training of the country Emergency Response Team in coordination with the SCI Humanitarian Team and EARO
• Assist head of humanitarian to ensure the recruitment, training, and ensure availability of appropriate humanitarian professional development opportunities for staff
• Participate on staff performance management including setting SMART objectives, self-assessment, and period evaluation including 360 feedbacks, using SCI human resources standard operating procedures, and ensure proper documentation and follow up of individual staff development plan

Representation, communication & relationship building

• Support head of humanitarian in internal coordination activities including calls with RO, Members, as well as external coordination activities including presentations at various forms
• Support establishment and maintenance of strong working relationships with local communities, community-based organizations and government authorities at both federal and regional state levels as appropriate.
• On behalf of SCI humanitarian head, represent SCI on national forums, workshops and meetings regarding humanitarian issues
• Support humanitarian head to establish and maintain strong relationships with key INGOs and other stakeholders with humanitarian capacity, including government and UN colleagues
• Ensure effective representation of SC’s humanitarian response to local authorities, donors, working groups, clusters, task forces, and other members of the humanitarian community

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)

Delivering Results

• Translates complex contextual information into planning and achieving results effectively
• Ability to take a range of potentially complex and conflicting information and make decisions
• Designs and reviews large and complex operations to ensure maximum impact
• Ensures measures and metrics are in place to track performance in large and complex programmes
• Establishes clear and compelling objectives with teamsand individuals and monitors progress and performance
• Holds others accountable for achieving results and challenges underperformance

Working effectively with others

• Puts mechanisms in place to ensure effective collaborative working across boundaries
• Enables people from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives to contribute to positive outcomes
• Breaks down silo working and challenges behaviours that are not collaborative
• Knows when to follow and lend leadership to strengthen other leaders

Problem Solving and decision making

• Identifies and addresses root causes of long-term problems facing the country programme
• Brings in external perspective to ensure strategic decision making remains relevant and future focused
• Provides a strategic framework to support decision making
• Explores and analyses external trends and their potential impact on strategic choices
• Takes calculated risks and has the courage to stand by decisions despite resistance

Leadership and Developing Others

• Delivers needs-based results in complex and fast-changing contexts
• Evaluates the opportunities and risks of each idea and solution to make informed strategic decisions
• Demonstrates managerial courage by willingness to confront difficult situations and take potentially unpopular decisions
• Actively encourages a team environment where team members feel able to contribute, champion or challenge decisions
• Conveys complex strategic issues with clarity, brevity and confidence
• Develops and implements processes to ensure that the workplace is inclusive and the talents of individuals are harnessed to achieve individual and organisational success.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field required, Master’s degree preferred
• Recommended minimum of 10 years’ experience in humanitarian programme management, preparedness and response in several fragile or complex contexts
• Significant experience of managing logistics, security and operations
• Understanding of international humanitarian aid systems and agencies
• Knowledge of some of the Save the Children’s thematic areas such as Child Survival, Education (EiE), H&N, WASH, CP (CPiE), CRG etc. is required
• Experience of working in insecure environments and willingness to work and travel in insecure environments
• Ample knowledge of humanitarian response and transitional program concepts, policies, frameworks, strategies and components, as well as development concepts and frameworks
• Extensive on the ground experience in multi-sectoral humanitarian response, including food aid programs
• Solid budgeting skills and knowledge of key donor regulations
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing and negotiation
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Commitment to Save the Children’s practices and procedures and ways of working with children
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written.
• Competency in Amharic and other regional languages is preferred, but not a requirement
• Commitment to Save the Children values