WPE Technical Coordinator

Job Description

IRC Northern Central America has operations in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, 220 staff members across the three countries and responds to the humanitarian crisis of violence, displacement and the most vulnerable populations including returnees, LGBTQI+, survivors of GBV, children, adolescents and indigenous persons. The IRC has active Women’s Protection Empowerment (WPE), Child Protection (CP), Economic Development and Recovery, Protection Rule of Law and Education programming in the three countries.

The Women’s Protection and Empowerment Technical Coordinator will serve as the overall technical lead for the WPE programs and will be responsible for providing strategic direction and vision to the IRC’s women response in Northern Central America. The WPE Technical Coordinator will be responsible for the implementation of all aspects of a quality, WPE response combining gender-based violence prevention and response programming, those impacted by violence including especially impacted groups such as women and the LGTBQ community. The WPE Coordinator will oversee the WPE team staff anticipated to include 40 people with two direct reports, who will focus on technical support and training, consolidating the WPE programming, representation in coordination spaces, business development and capacity building and partnerships with civil society organizations and governmental institutions serving populations affected by violence within the country.

The WPE Technical Coordinator will scale up programming in the three countries including GBV case management, risk mitigation, safe spaces, prevention programming, community mobilization and parenting programming particularly for populations that are displaced or in movement, building on the initial programmatic strategy in NCA, interfacing with technical colleagues in HQ and ensuring technical quality, monitoring and evaluation, adequate supervision, quality assurance, partner identification, scale-up and implementation that corresponds to the current Strategic Action Plan. The WPE Technical Coordinator will be integral to fundraising efforts and business development as well as donor engagement for the areas, participate in protection actor coordination meetings, and work closely with the IRC NCA Deputy Director of Programs (DDP), Operations, Finance and other program area leads to ensure proper programmatic planning, budgeting and continuously review the implementation strategy for effectiveness and fit for purpose, as well as to support the adaptation of the model for further expansion throughout the region, as needed.

The WPE Technical Coordinator will report directly to the IRC NCA Deputy Director of Programs.

Responsibilities

Technical Quality

• Provide technical and management leadership to the implementation of the WPE programs in accordance with best practices and IRC policy and reflects the local and contextual needs

• Contributes to the development of any revision of the NCA WPE Program Strategy planning and documentation, in consultation with the technical unit and in collaboration with the IRC NCA DDP

• Provides technical guidance on confidential and safe data collection, case identification, safe information sharing and referral mechanisms in line with internationally recognised best practices.

• Lead the identification of key partners working with in WPE areas

• Support to improve quality of specialized services available in country in addition to contributing to the standardization of WPE protocols, referral pathways and SOP’s.

• Liaise with Violence Prevention and Response Unit technical experts at HQ to ensure program quality.

Coordination and Advocacy

• Participate in coordination mechanisms at the national, and, as appropriate, at the NCA regional level.

• Participate in GBV coordination mechanisms and position the IRC as a leader in coordination spaces

• Participate in national and NCA region advocacy, coordination and policy brief inputs in relevant areas as well as Humanitarian Response Plan development

• Internally coordinate with other areas to ensure operational and financial management of projects

Staff Supervision and Development

• Directly supervises the WPE Manager and provides training, quality oversight to and mentoring of the WPE teams and support in remote management of teams.

• Ensure a focus on providing adequate capacity building and training, as well as professional development opportunities, based in best practices and IRC methodologies for IRC staff and partners.

• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.

• Ensure timely completion and submission of monthly timesheets, probation reviews and performance reviews.

• Overall responsible for staff work plans, calendars, work and vacation schedules, and staff training/development

• If/as required identify staff performance issues and work with direct supervisors and Human Resources to document and address these in accordance with the National Staff Employment Policies.

Business Development, Grant Management and Monitoring and Evaluation

• Lead proposal development inputs, including technical design, writing and partner coordination for WPE area and support positioning, networking to pursue new funding opportunities to deliver on the program strategy and scale up different implementation modalities that are cost-efficient and sustainable.

• Lead the overall implementation of the WPE programming grant management activities in conjunction with the Grants team and managers including provide guidance to the staff to ensure that stated goals and objectives are met, that projects are appropriately monitored and evaluated, and that project reports are well written and submitted in a timely manner.

• In conjunction with the teams prepare program work plans, spending plans, tracking and monitoring tools that meet the program objectives and prepare appropriate operational guidelines for project staff;

• Ensure that project activities are implemented within the assigned budget parameters, manage all financial aspects of the WPE protection programs, approve relevant expenses and review expenditures, in consultation with the Finance and Operations teams when necessary.

• Analyse protection concerns for women, girls and survivors of GBV, as well as the LGBTQI+ population in NCA and throughout the country, propose new areas of work to IRC, and participate/lead in proposal development.

• Development/ maintenance of effective and efficient oversight, support, quality control and reporting systems and processes.

• Ensure consistent and regular field monitoring and implement quality assurance modifications as required.

• Ensure IRC and donor reports as per set schedules on grant activities, indicators and achievements are produced in quality.

• Support adaptation of the program strategy, staffing structure, etc. as needed.

Other Reporting and Duties

• Provide support to other reporting as requested by the M&E area, NCA DDP, Country Director, or Technical Unit.

• Participate actively as a leader in the Senior Management Team of NCA, strategic initiatives, donor and HQ visits, and any other activities as assigned.

• Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of the team; promptly reporting concerns or incidents to the executive leadership team and liaising with external parties as needed in line with IRC security protocols to maintain/enhance the security environment for IRC programs.

• As needed, support DDP for occasional tasks that may arise that are not detailed above.

Requirements

• Advanced degree strongly preferred; in women’s studies, humanitarian response, social work, psychology, human rights, international law, social science or related field.

• At least six years of experience implementing, technical assistance, women’s protection and/or protection programming in an emergency or complex security contexts, with demonstrable understanding of the relevance of humanitarian action; professional experience in NCA is strongly preferred.

• Solid knowledge and understanding of international and women’s protection standards and best practices in humanitarian response and development contexts.

• Applied experience in mental health and psychosocial support programming.

• Demonstrated experience in technical training, capacity building and mentoring of staff, as well as identified partner organizations.

• Must be capable of applying skills and knowledge in a range of capacities, including direct implementation, advisory functions, training, and the transfer of technical knowledge and management skills to others.

• Demonstrated experience and success working in partnership models and with remote management.

• Demonstrated experience working with new program start up preferred.

• Demonstrated capacity to work with innovative systems and creative approaches to programming.

• Experience working with new technologies and/or hotlines is an asset.

• Strong program, people and budget management skills including planning and reporting across multiple grants and countries

• Strong written and oral communication skills, effective in representation and liaison with internal and external parties

• Strong program/technical and budget management skills, planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation skills

• Fluency in Spanish and English is required

• INGO experience required

• Self-starters, good sense of humour, creative thinkers and feminists are welcome

•Applicants that reflect our target beneficiaries’ identities including the LGBTQI+ community, indigenous and Afro-Caribbean populations are encouraged to apply.

CVS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN ENGLISH

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

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