Humanitarian Effectiveness

The Technical Lead: Humanitarian Effectiveness reports to the Director of Programme Strategy, and has no direct reports in line with the current structure.  Depending on the grant funded portfolio of humanitarian projects, they may supervise technical specialist staff under Education/ Child Protection/ Sexual reproductive health and Rights/ Gender in Emergencies etc.  They may also have matrix relationships with project staff on resilience, disaster risk reduction, and climate change projects.  The incumbent works closely with Programme Area Managers (PAM), Director of Programme Implementation, Technical Programme Leads, and Humanitarian Project Managers or Coordinators to implement the programme at Area level and within projects.  Interaction occurs regularly and monthly.  They may have financial authority delegated to them by the Country Director to manage specific emergencies as the case may be.
Accountabilities:
Strategic Design:

• Translate the Global Strategy and Country Strategy for humanitarian programming and influencing in Malawi into simple strategic manuals to increase staff understanding and facilitate its implementation
• Develop a long-term vision and strategic planning to scale up the quality, pace, size and reach of our humanitarian action
• Develop quality project concept papers and proposals, and leverage flexible income to respond early and quickly in a new emergency while engaging donors
• Work with the Director of Programme Strategy to manage the formulation, organisation and delivery of high-level influencing
• Plan and manage people, logistic and financial resources in consultation and cooperation with relevant functional support teams
• Ensure compliance with relevant policies, guidelines and agreements of Government, multilateral and bilateral agencies and donors

Programming & Influencing:

• Oversee the collection of evidence and best practices to support advocacy and influencing efforts
• Influence the strengthening or development of national level policies, procedures, and governance frameworks with particular focus on girls’ rights
• Work with the Malawi government on preparedness initiatives that influence their social protection framework (such as safety nets) to benefit girls and young women, who are often the most at risk in crises
• Design emergency response and recovery plans for Malawi area of operations and update regularly
• Deploy as Emergency Response Manager for rapid onset emergencies and lead Emergency Response Teams as needed for initial stage of assessment and response
• Monitor risk maps in-country and update/inform the country leadership team (CLT) of new trends.
• Advise CLT on phase-in in new areas, where child rights are violated and girls are increasingly vulnerable.
• Support leadership to develop Ready to Respond plans, and mainstream disaster risk management (DRM) into various procedures
• Guide integration of relevant aspects of disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery in thematic country programmes to promote coherence
• Build relations with all departments, ensure coordination with national DRM systems, and participate actively in inter-agency coordination spaces
• Conduct rapid needs & gender assessments and provide technical information on emergencies

Networking and Resource Development:

• Document disaster preparedness, response and outcomes
• Represent Plan International at international platforms, and with national and district representatives, highlighting key issues of concern impacting on children, youth, and in particular on girls
• Engage with relevant humanitarian fora and clusters, ensuring appropriate information is provided on a timely basis
• Maintain and develop in-country relations with institutional donors
• Identify opportunities to establish strategic partnerships with other humanitarian agencies
• Establish and maintain emergency/ disasters technical support contacts and networks including communications
• Establish and implement standards of accountability and learning
• Ensure high standards of effectiveness and efficiency are established and monitored
• Ensure that budgets are spent according to approved plans
• Ensure quality and transparent accountability towards affected populations, and support implementation and scaling up of Plan’s child-friendly feedback and complaints mechanism
• Manage humanitarian intervention compliance with government, donors, and to Plan International Inc
• Promote knowledge management activities
• Ensure quarterly analysis of PMERL dashboards for the humanitarian portfolio to support leadership with timely decision making
• Implement Data Quality Verification for the reports under the project portfolio
• Support learning and research agenda under the humanitarian portfolio
• Ensure that evaluations of projects are done regularly to improve programme plannin

Coordinate capacity building:

• Conduct capacity building needs assessments for staff, partners, and volunteers
• Facilitate capacity building interventions at programme area and community levels (e.g. gathering rapid gender assessment information, development and managing information systems)
• Raise awareness of children’s rights/ protection within Plan and amongst partners and community members
• Ensure that Plan staff and associates understand Plan’ Global and Country Strategy, policies and procedures in emergency in the context of Malawi
• Ensure that Plan staff and associates understand the place and role of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in our programme work in assisting vulnerable children especially girls
• Ensure effective plans to build the capacity of youths, CBO, CSOs, and government partners on DRR

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge:
Educational Qualification and Experience:

• Advanced University degree humanitarian action, disaster risk reduction, management or other social sciences related areas
• Over 6 years proven record of achievement in the humanitarian sector
• Increasing responsibility in planning and managing programmes in disaster reduction, emergency response and post-disaster recovery
• Extensive field experience in disaster environments and an in-depth knowledge of issues
• Application of theoretical knowledge in the design, management and evaluation of complex, multi-disciplinary capacity building programmes involving national governments, civil society and international organisations
• Demonstrated abilities and contributions to policy and guideline formulation, resource mobilisation, team building, and team leadership and management
• Experience in establishing inter-organisational networks and partnerships at the operational level

Source: https://jobs.plan-international.org/job/Lilongwe-Technical-Lead-Humanitarian-Effectiveness/1023822801/