World Vision is an international Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation working in almost 100 countries world-wide to create lasting change in the lives of children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.
Purpose Of The Position:
The role of the Humanitarian Response Director (HRD) is to provide leadership to World Vision’s large-scale disaster response operations, strengthen its disaster management capacities, strategies and polices, and contributes to the effectiveness of global humanitarian system through networking and collaboration with key stakeholders.
The HRD is a member of the Humanitarian Response Operations and Global Rapid Response Teams (GRRT), a group of disaster response specialists whose purpose is to provide high-quality humanitarian assistance and protection to people impacted by natural calamity and conflict. In the event of a large-scale disaster, the HRD and other members of this team deploy to the affected country in order to provide leadership to World Vision’s disaster response operations.
Deployments are often triggered within 24 to 72 hours of a disaster and usually last up to 3 months duration. GRRT members can be deployed up to a maximum of 6 months in a year.
As overall leader of World Vision’s response to a particular disaster, the Humanitarian Response Director (HRD) is responsible for ensuring that operations are well-planned, properly implemented and accountable to key stakeholders (impacted communities, donors, host governments). The HRD must also build relationships with humanitarian organizations and other key stakeholders. The HRD will achieve these results by building a cohesive and effective team, while ensuring staff are properly cared for, protected and supported.
During non-deployment periods, the HRD supports World Vision’s disaster preparedness and mitigation activities through capacity building, leadership of thematic issues, strategic planning, provision of technical expertise, networking and collaboration with other humanitarian organizations, governments, academic institutions and the media. The HRD will also supervise members of the GRRT when on deployment and will at times be called upon to provide strategic coaching to smaller-scale disaster responses implemented by World Vision’s national offices.
Key Responsibilities:
Disaster Response:
The HRD’s primary role is to lead WV’s humanitarian operations in response to large-scale disasters. Such responses are frequently larger and more complex than existing WV operations in the affected country. Key aspects of the HRD role include:
- Ensuring that the response is planned and implemented in accordance with the assessed humanitarian need, WV’s capacity to respond, humanitarian principles and standards, WV policies and public commitments.
- Building an effective and cohesive response team that has the proper capacity, structure and culture to implement the response plan, while ensuring staff are properly cared for, protected and supported.
- Ensuring that the response is well coordinated with other humanitarian actors, collaborating with them as appropriate to improve efficiency, effectiveness and innovation in response operations.
- Mobilizing the financial and in-kind resources needed to implement the response plan.
- Ensuring accountability to key stakeholders (impacted communities, donors, host governments, WV entities).
- Engaging with key WV and external stakeholders to ensure that they are appropriately informed of the humanitarian needs, contextual realities and WV’s response to the disaster. This entails systematic information management, contributing to media engagement and advocacy efforts, and engaging strategically with senior level officials within governments, UN agencies, peer NGOs, and WV entities.
- Building a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within the response, building on known best practice, the analysis of evaluation and learning exercises, and leading-edge research.
- Managing key staff safety, fiduciary and reputational risks, so as to ensure that the response meets its obligations, remains effective and well-respected by key stakeholders.
When not leading responses, the RD continues to support response planning and operations through the following activities:
Providing advice, coaching and capacity building to the leadership of National Office-led responses
Providing pre-response analysis of emerging crises that determines the nature of World Vision’s response to a disaster. This includes leading pre-response assessment teams to affected countries as well as leading desk reviews of emerging
crises or disasters where WV currently is not responding.
Represent GC-DM in Declaration Decision Groups, and Partnership Executive Teams which provide strategic guidance to ongoing responses.
Preparedness:
While not deployed, the HRD has a variety of activities focusing on strengthening WV’s preparedness to respond to future disasters. These include:
- Building a global network of high-capacity deployable staff for large-scale disaster responses by providing subject matter expertise (SME) to Disaster Management (DM) capacity building activities within Regional Offices (ROs), National Offices (NOs) and Support Offices (SOs).
- Strengthening disaster management systems, processes and tools in WV.
- Leading GC-DM’s work on thematic issues related to disaster management (e.g. Faith in DM).
- Providing SME to NO planning processes related to disaster management.
- Serving in acting capacity for strategic RO/NO positions.
- Developing and maintaining relationships with key WV entities that enable effective “whole of Partnership” responses.
- Supporting initiatives that strengthen the evidence base related to programme impact and best practice.
External Engagement:
While not deployed, the RD contributes to efforts to ensure WV is positioned as an operational and thought leader on disaster management. Responsibilities include:
- Supporting efforts to position WV as an organization of choice for strategic partnerships.
- Maintaining key relationships with UN and private sector entities that facilitate operational effectiveness.
- Participating in humanitarian forums and institutions, often serving as the WV representative.
- Serving as subject matter experts in humanitarian learning events (trainings, webinars), as well as in the development of reports, case studies and other material.
- Undertaking media interviews, presentations, lectures to various audiences.
- Serving as subject matter experts for WV’s humanitarian advocacy efforts.
Knowledge, Skills And Abilities:
- University degree in social sciences, management or related field.
- Strong knowledge of the humanitarian sector including humanitarian principles, standards, sectors and key stakeholders.
- Proficient in English language (written and verbal).
- 5-10 years humanitarian and development programming experience.
- 3 years of senior management experience, preferably in international humanitarian assistance operations.
- Proven ability to manage large, diverse teams in high-stress environments.
Preferred Skills, Knowledge and Experience:
- Post-graduate degree in humanitarian assistance, development, or management.
- Ability to effectively communicate in a major foreign language (French, Spanish, Arabic).
- Demonstrated ability to work in a flexible/adaptable manner in dynamic environments.
- Demonstrated ability to properly assess risk and take appropriate risks to solve problems.
- Ability to maintain personal resilience and foster resilience within teams.
- Ability to manage virtual (geographically dispersed) teams.
Work Environment/Travel:
- The position requires ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally up to 50% of the time. In the case of large scale disasters this may require deployment within 24-72 hours. This percentage will vary in response to the prevalence and scale of humanitarian disasters and events. Deployments are usually undertaken to insecure or otherwise difficult environments, often in rudimentary office and living conditions, particularly in the initial stages of a response.
- When not deployed, the RD may be based in a Regional Office, Support Office or working from home.
- This requires an ability to manage and participate both in virtual and geographically based teams as necessary.
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