Accountability to Affected Persons Manager

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IRC - The International Rescue Committee

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Job Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

As part of the larger FCDO-funded ULEARN Project, the IRC conducts efforts to identify, suggest, and enact improvements to existing accountability mechanisms and referral systems for collecting and addressing client feedback used by FCDO BRAER Downstream Partners (hereafter, ‘Partners’). In particular, this project strengthens existing AAP mechanisms’ ability to ‘hold account’ by focusing on 1) engaging women and children, 2) ensuring that two-way communication mechanisms exist and are operating effectively, and 3) ensuring there is adequate and survivor-centred reporting, referral, and response to allegations of all forms of fraud, abuse, misconduct, corruption, or any other breaches of organisation Codes of Conduct in line with best practice (e.g. the IRC Guidelines for a Survivor-Centred Approach to Reporting Safeguarding Misconduct). To support ‘taking account’, the Consortium created a Beneficiary Perception and Preferences Assessment (using both quantitative and qualitative data) that is specifically developed to take account on topics that are not well captured in existing AAP mechanisms and suggests and supports 1) the creation of other new mechanisms, and 2) technological improvements to existing mechanisms. From past experiences, the IRC knows that it it is not enough to simply provide stakeholders with findings or suggestions about holding, giving, or taking account, but that true uptake of findings and suggestions will require a dedicated change management team. Therefore, the IRC has developed three Regional AAP (RAAP) teams (based in Arua, Fort Portal, and Gulu), each consisting of one AAP Manager all led by one AAP Deputy Coordinator based in Kampala.

Scope Of Work: With support from the AAP Deputy Coordinator, the AAP Manager will be charged with challenging Partners within the West Nile region to demonstrate an organizational culture of feedback, while also providing support to taking account (e.g. by supporting question development, data collection methods, and interpretation of data), giving account (e.g. by packaging data, identifying preferred channels for outreach, supporting visibility, directly engaging with relevant stakeholders and community representatives), and holding account (e.g. by strengthening networks of accountability, independently tracking uptake of results). He/she will assess gaps and weaknesses within Partners’ existing AAP approaches, support Partners to develop work plans for addressing these weaknesses and will conduct or facilitate trainings to support these work plans. To further support taking, giving, and holding account, he/she will facilitate meetings and discussions between Partners, local governments, community representatives, and other stakeholders to aid in a more community-driven interpretation, triangulation, and packaging of data from feedback and independent verification efforts, and will also support giving account by disseminating relevant results at the regional, district, national, and settlement-levels.

The Manager will support the Deputy Coordinator’s efforts to engage with various Partners. In particular, the Manager will focus on the day-to-day implementation of this project, including by conducting trainings, setting up meetings between stakeholders, packaging information for presentation and analysis, tracking work plan progress, and other duties as required.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Build capacity within Partners’ existing AAP approaches. •Support informal and formal assessments of Partner’s approaches to giving, holding, and taking account, with a special consideration for improving the participation of women, children, and marginalized groups. •Support various solutions for addressing gaps and weaknesses within AAP approaches. •Conduct trainings to build capacity around Partners’ ability to give, hold, and take account. •Analyse and package for presentation regular and systematic insight into the views and needs of refugee and host communities at the district level. •Support questionnaires, surveys, and FGD guides related to AAP, both for use in large-scale assessments and for more moderate district-level use.

Challenging partners to demonstrate an organizational culture of feedback. •Support the Deputy Coordinator’s efforts to track and report on district-level work plans for improving AAP mechanisms. •Actively participate in district-level coordination mechanisms related to AAP. •Champion an organizational culture shift among partner organizations to increase respect for and adherence to principles of and best practices for AAP, with a specific consideration for ensuring that feedback is used in decision-making. •Support Partners to evidence how they have improved their ability to actively seek affected populations input to programming and consistently respond to participant feedback.

Facilitate meaningful and accountable discussions between Partners and representatives of affected populations (e.g., Refugee Welfare Committee members) •Implement efforts to ‘give account’ to affected persons, by ensuring that updates on the refugee response are communicated to refugee and host communities and community leaders (e.g., via printed materials, community meetings, or through community representatives). •Identify district-level stakeholders (across communities, partners, government, RWCs, etc.) who are relevant to holding, taking, and giving account by using a Social Network Analysis. •Build relationships with the most relevant actors identified by the Social Network Analysis, with the explicit aim of strengthening this network of actors to ensure that relevant stakeholders are empowered to support AAP after ULEARN ends. •Support representatives of affected populations in interpreting and presenting key findings from data collected by various AAP mechanisms and independent verification exercises. •Moderate and facilitate discussions of various sizes between Partners and representatives of affected populations, and support efforts to track and hold partners accountable to any commitments made during these meetings.

Qualifications

•Self-driven with a strong ability to meet objectives without close supervision. Experience with remote management strongly preferred. •Bachelor’s Degree in humanitarian assistance, social work, human rights, international law, social science, or related field. Postgraduate degree preferred. •Minimum of four years of experience in refugee response or related humanitarian contexts, with a preference for experience in engaging across organizations, in community services and AAP, or in change management and organizational change. •Extensive expertise in delivering accountability mechanisms, as well as capacity to support effective communication with refugee communities (with a specific focus on empowering women, children, and marginalized groups). Understanding of community structures and community engagement. •Ability to package and communicate complex topics through written reports and presentations. •Proven understanding of adult learning theory and organizational development change management, and/or how organizations function in community or multinational settings. •Excellent facilitation skills, and strong understanding of how to collect feedback safely and accurately from all members of a community regardless of their age, gender, or other diversity factors. •Ability to handle multiple tasks, proven self-initiative and problem-solving abilities. •Ability to speak additional languages used by refugees preferred, but not required. •Proven track record of quality performance in highly pressured environments. •Computer skills, including Word, Excel, Power-Point, and Access.

National or Refugee Candidates: We strongly encourage national or refugee candidates to apply for this position and may give preference to refugee candidates. IRC strives to attract, motivate, and retain qualified national and refugee staff in our programs. This position is not open to international candidates.

Standards of Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons, and several others.

Gender Equality & Equal Opportunity: We are committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer generous benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances. We welcome and strongly encourage qualified female professionals to apply.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Added 1 year ago - Updated 11 months ago - Source: rescue.org