Job Description

TITLE: Technical Specialist – Anticipatory Actions, DRR Preparedness, and Emergency

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Programme Development and Quality

LOCATION:  Somalia country office with 60% travel to field

GRADE:  2

CONTRACT TYPE: Somalia National

CONTRACT LENGTH: 24 months with a possibility of extension depending on funding

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3:  the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; ore because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Technical Specialist – Anticipatory Actions, DRR Preparedness, and Emergency will provide quality and technical guidance in design, development and implementation of emergency, disaster risk preparedness and anticipatory action. The specialist will apply in-depth contextual understanding, technical expertise, experience in project life cycle, experience in disaster risk management cycles, vulnerability assessment, early warning and forecasting, capacity building and relationship building skills to define and deliver our strategic ambition for Child Centred disaster risk anticipation and mitigation in Somalia.

The Technical Specialist will lead the Country Office’s DRR and Anticipatory action innovative approach to humanitarian crisis in Somalia/Somaliland. The Technical Specialist will support the development of systemic approaches to Anticipatory Action,  DRR preparedness and emergency to transform the Country Office Quality Programme Design, Development, Implementation, and Impacts across themes and portfolio.

SCOPE OF ROLE: The role will cover national program with focus on technical leadership in Quality Programming and Impacts.

Reports to: Head of Child Poverty for technical support, dotted line to Humanitarian Director

Dimensions: The Technical Specialist will regularly communicate with stakeholders across the organisation, including Member offices, SCI Centre, Regional level AA and New Business Development focal points.

Staff directly reporting to this post: None at present.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Programme Quality

• Provide technical oversight of Save the Children’s emergency, DRR preparedness, and Anticipatory Actions programming in anticipation of risk of, during and post disaster.
• Provide technical leadership in establishing systems and tools that support the institutional preparedness and readiness to initiate and scale up DRR/AA interventions across programmes.
• Provide technical leadership in prioritisation of investments focus for the Country Office in child centred DRR/AA to maximise impact for children.
• Provide technical advisory to the Country Office on linking DRR/AA  to long-term resilience, development and climate adaptation. 

Resource mobilization

• Lead the technical design and development of a quality proposal that captures innovation, inclusion, gender, child focused, and impact.
• Lead the collection and use of evidence in designing and development of competitive donor funded proposal.
• Lead the identification, mapping, and engagement with relevant stakeholders to deliver impactful programme at scale.
• Contribute the development of innovative financing mechanisms for Disaster Risk Reduction and Anticipatory Actions including blended financing options and private sector financing.
• Develop an up to date best selling point for the Country Office based on the capacity in the implementation of Emergency, DRR preparedness and Anticipatory Action in Somalia.      

Research, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning, Monitoring and Reporting

• Lead the identification of learning gender and evidence gap to inform the Country Office or SC movement work on how to create impact for the child in protracted crisis.
• Provide the technical leadership in formulating indicators setting of milestones that can be used to standardize the Country Office work on DRR/AA and Emergency.
• Support the establishment of a comprehensive Feedback and Reporting Mechanism in all the Disaster Risk Reduction and Anticipatory Action.
• Facilitate the tracking and outcomes reporting of programme reach on regular basis through field and interactions with programme implementation team.
• Ensure quality of research and evaluation works conducted by consultants or internal REALM teams are upheld all through our works,

Advocacy and Policy Development

• Ensure communication packages including policy briefs and position papers tailored towards influencing actions or mobilizing others are developed from evidence generated from the country’s office work.
• Facilitate the tracking of annual events and prioritize topmost important events where the Country Office must participate with impacts and visibility.
• Facilitate the identification of success stories of impacts to be communicated on media nationally and internationally.
• Actively participate in effective representation of Save the Children in clusters, working groups and technical meetings/conferences at the subnational, national level, regional and global stage.
• Advise field teams to ensure adequate field visibility through attendance at technical meetings at state, county and pay am level.
• Ensure active dissemination of programme findings and lessons learned through the production of high-quality impact documents to key stakeholders.

General management

• As a member of the PDQI team, demonstrate behaviours that are consistent with Save the Children’s Mission, Vision and Values and ensure their broader application by staff across the programme.
• Contribute to a conducive and productive work environment typified by teamwork and collaboration.
• Contribute to the wider country programme agenda and the humanitarian response.
• Support the effective implementation of the SCI Programme Quality Framework
• Participate in any donor visit to project(s) within the country office portfolio, as required.
• Support the PDQI Team in the Country Annual Planning process for technical programme inputs and quality measures, including child participation, child safeguarding, partnership, and evidence-based programming, as per the Save the Children International guidelines.
• Carry out the responsibilities of the role in a way which reflects Save the Children’s commitment to safeguarding children, in accordance with our Code of Conduct and Child Safeguarding Policy.
• Comply with and promote Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.

COMPETENCIES AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)

Applying Technical and Professional Expertise

• Makes decisions based on professional expertise and experience without deferring unnecessarily to others.
• Shares knowledge and best practice on technical solutions so that others can make best use of that expertise.
• Actively seeks new ways to develop the application of technical and professional standards within the team.

Delivering Results

• Delivers timely and appropriate results using available resources.
• Takes responsibility for their work and its impact on others.
• Plans, prioritizes and performs tasks well without needing direct supervision.
• Understands the link between their work and the organization’s objectives.

Innovating and Adapting

• Suggests creative improvements and better ways of working.
• Seeks out and applies successful ideas from others to overcome challenges.
• Shifts tasks, roles and priorities to perform effectively under changing or unclear conditions.
• Applies lessons learned to enhance future ways of working.

Communicating with Impact

• Conveys complex issues with clarity, brevity, and confidence.
• Promotes dialogue with key stakeholders through active listening and effective questioning.
• Adapts communication style to maximize support and engagement.
• Advises others on different approaches to influence key stakeholders.
• Seeks out new methodologies for communication to engage new audiences.

Networking

• Actively participates in networks to access and contribute to good practice.
• Gathers and distributes organizational intelligence Maintains and develops a range of contacts and keeps them informed.
• Knows what is needed from contacts and what they need to benefit from the relationship too.

Experiences and Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate degree in development studies, social sciences, agricultural science; economics; natural resource management or a related field with additional training in food security and livelihoods and project planning and management techniques or relevant experience instead of post graduate studies.
• Excellent writing/editing, budget development and presentation/communication skills. Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
• Must have experience in similar roles in DRR an AA or Emergency with an international organisation of at least 6 years
• Experience in leading the development of large-scale and complex proposals, including the development of project budgets greater than $5 million.
• Prior demonstrable experience in vulnerability and risk mapping in disaster prone areas including the use household level economic analysis (HEA), Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM), and Integrated Food Security and Humanitarian Phase Classification (IPC).
• Experience in coordinating and preparing successful concept notes and proposals for major institutional donors (i.e. USAID, ECHO/INTPA, FCDO, SIDA, Norad, Danida, etc.).
• Knowledge of the requirements of major institutional donors including budgeting, eligibility issues, compliance management, and reporting.

• Experience working on anticipatory action, emergency preparedness, DRR, etc. and solid practical and conceptual understanding of this field of work, including complexities in funding and policy direction.

• Experience in coordinating workplans/initiatives across multiple stakeholders at different levels.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming emergency surge teams. Proven ability in working in insecure or hardship environments and to work under tight deadlines.

Highly Desirable

• Experience in Household Economy Approach (HEA), Cost of Diet (CoD), Integrated Food Security Phased Classification, cash transfer programming (CTP), and Emergency Markets Mapping and Assessment (EMMA)

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Adult Safeguarding.

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy, all employees are also expected to carry out their duties in accordance with SCI protection from sexual exploitation abuse.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At SCI, we uphold the principle of equal rights and opportunities for all our employees. In our commitment to fostering a more inclusive workplace and addressing gender gaps, we have implemented additional efforts aimed at supporting female qualified candidates: -

• Maternity leave (6 months)
• Annual Leave 30 working days
• 10% *gross salary. (female allowance)
• 1.5 flexible working hours for lactating mothers

Qualified persons with disabilities and qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Skills Required

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