Head of Humanitarian (Interim)

Contract: Fixed Term 6-month contract with the possibility of extending to 9 months

Location: London

Salary: £52,688 – £57,691 (including London weighting)

We are happy to consider a consultant for this post however the person takes responsibility for their own tax/NI payments.

Job Profile

As a senior member of the International Programme Management Team, reporting to the Director of International Programmes, the post holder will provide clear leadership on delivering Our Common Home – CAFOD’s strategic framework for responding to the combined Cry of the Earth and Cry of the Poor.

Central to this is our commitment to support local people, communities, and organisation’s to be the ‘artisans’ of their own development and to channel resources, capacities, and opportunities in ways that facilitate this.

This work is underpinned by the organisation’s Humanitarian Mandate and Humanitarian Strategy.

A key element of this role will be engagement and leadership within the global Caritas network and the international humanitarian system, ensuring that CAFOD’s and our partners’ voices are proactive in developing and strengthening global humanitarian action on ‘localisation’, nexus approaches, interfaith working, accountability and focus on the environment.

With a strong understanding of our Catholic ethos and CAFOD’s role as a part of the global Catholic Church, the post-holder will support innovative approaches to programme and partnership development and provide strong leadership to fulfil CAFOD’s humanitarian mandate. The post holder will manage the Head of Humanitarian Policy and the Emergency Response and Support Team Leader

Key Responsibilities

Humanitarian Leadership

• In coordination and collaboration with Core Programme and Advocacy teams, develop and lead an Integral Ecology approach to CAFOD’s humanitarian assistance, protection, preparedness and capacity strengthening in line with CAFOD’s vision, mission and values.
• Contribute on all aspects of strategic planning and review of CAFOD’s capacity to deliver effective Disaster Risk Reduction, resilience strategies and Emergency Response.
• Lead on collaborative working and shared resource mobilisation with Caritas Internationalis and other sister agencies.
• Explore forms or partnership and new alliances that will help in the delivery of Our Common Home commitments, with a strong commitment to local leadership, agency and voice.

Delivery of emergency response and preparedness

• Provide internal and external leadership, and where required operational leadership, on Humanitarian issues, the oversight of emergencies and the regular monitoring of humanitarian needs inside and outside of existing core programme areas.
• Lead CAFOD’s International Emergency Committee, ensuring major emergencies are well managed, coordinated, supported and resourced, and that relevant managers and staff are accountable for adherence to response and preparedness systems, values, tools, processes, benchmarks and standards.
• Oversee CAFOD’s emergency response programmes and Emergency Response Team. Develop the emergency response capability and capacity of staff and partners, as needed.
• Ensure the maintenance of clear and effective polices, standards, systems, and capacity to respond to major emergencies.

Humanitarian policy, advocacy and representation

• Hold oversight of core humanitarian policy and advocacy in coordination with the Communication and Advocacy Group. Lead in key policy development with DEC, Caritas Internationalis and START Network.
• Maintain CAFOD’s lobbying and leadership role on humanitarian policy through representation and engagement with Church, secular and government bodies at all levels.
• Maintain oversight and coordination of CAFOD’s global representation in inter-agency humanitarian fora and strategic memberships.
• Develop and maintain relationships with the global Church, the Caritas network and other strategic interfaith partners to enhance global humanitarian coordination.

Leadership and Staff Management

• Provide leadership and support to those within direct line of responsibility; acting as a sounding board, coach and mentor, holding them to account in areas under their responsibility.
• Enable and empower managers to achieve the maximum possible with the available resources, ensuring CAFOD’s organisational outcomes and management standards are achieved.

This list of duties and responsibilities is by no means exhaustive and the postholder may be required to undertake other relevant and appropriate duties as required.

Safeguarding

All CAFOD staff share responsibility to promote and maintain a strong safeguarding culture, including identifying the key actions they should take given their role and responsibilities.

Person Specification

The successful candidate will bring practical experience of living and working with communities in crisis to their management of CAFOD’s Emergency Response work.

External representation and policy influencing are essential elements of this role.

In addition, the essential criteria for the role will include:

• Direct experience of working with communities in crisis to develop appropriate relief, recovery and rehabilitation responses including in depth knowledge of emergency preparedness and contingency planning.
• Excellent understanding of international humanitarian system, accountability frameworks and relevant quality standards including, CI Management Standards, CHS
• Knowledge and experience of the Humanitarian funding environment and sectoral bodies such as DEC, START, and others.
• Proactive networking, communication, and representation skills.
• Significant experience of humanitarian policy development, dissemination, and advocacy.
• Cooperative and collaborative approaches to achieving our mission and managing teams.

Reward & Benefits

At CAFOD we value our employees and are committed to offering a healthy work–life balance and promoting the well-being of our employees.

This is a hybrid working contract with a minimum of 40% of your time in the London Office

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer great benefits, some of which are below.

• 34 days holiday (20 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays and 6 closure days).
• Additional 10 days annual leave purchase scheme.
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan.
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity and adoption pay.
• Enhanced Sick pay.
• Employee Assistance Programme

We offer all our employees learning and development opportunities, we provide training, coaching and mentoring to support your development in various aspects of our work.

CAFOD is committed to being an anti-racist organisation and we are keen to increase the diversity of our teams. We are particularly keen to seek out applications from people of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

There’s room for everyone: Catholics and non-Catholics; people of all faiths and none. We employ people in all corners of the world, of all ages and ethnicities. The result? A friendly and open-minded organisation.

Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults

CAFOD recognises the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect. CAFOD, and all its staff and volunteers, undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse. CAFOD is committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount. Any candidate offered a job with CAFOD will be expected to adhere to CAFOD’s Safeguarding policy and sign CAFOD’s Code of Behavior as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references, and appropriate screening checks can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. CAFOD also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of, and consent to, these recruitment procedures.

Please click here for a full list of CAFOD’s Staff Benefits

CAFOD is an equal opportunities employer. Recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.