Country: United States of America
Closing date: 01 Apr 2018
Requisition ID: req969
Job Title: Signpost Protection Specialist
Sector: Protection and rule of law
Employment Category: Regular
Employment Type: Full-Time
Location: USA-New York, NY - HQ
Job Description
Background/IRC Summary:
Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global leader in providing emergency relief, rehabilitation, post conflict development, human rights protection, resettlement services and advocacy for refugees and other uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. The IRC is committed to restoring hope, freedom, dignity and self-reliance.
The IRC's Emergency Unit oversees IRC's global emergency response activities. The mission of the Emergency Unit is to help crisis affected communities meet immediate survival needs and reduce suffering in during the acute phase of an emergency. The Emergency Unit is additionally charged with enhancing the IRC's global and country level emergency preparedness capacity.
Signpost Project:
Situations of forced or voluntary displacement are often characterized by the lack of, or contradictory, information, which can expose vulnerable people to further harm. However, if people receive timely, relevant and trustworthy information about their rights, laws, safe movement and the availability of appropriate services, they regain the power to make choices that protect themselves, their families and one another.
Signpost harnesses digital tools, including social media, to gather, share and exchange information that helps refugees and other members of vulnerable groups make critical decisions. These tools were designed to complement traditional human rights protection programming with the overarching outcome of increasing the safety of displaced men, women and children - be they on the move, in camps, or in urban settings. With the explicit focus of reaching crisis-affected populations directly, Signpost instances use technology tools well known by our beneficiaries - such as mobile apps, social media and instant messaging tools - to provide trustworthy information to users in a way that best meets their needs.
Signpost is an inter-agency collaboration between the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps and PeaceGeeks, and its implementations are lead by the best-suited agency depending on the context on which we work.
The original instance of a Signpost is called Refugee.Info and it was Initially deployed in the Greek islands of Lesvos and Kos in 2015. At the end of 2017, the project has grown with two new instances: Khabrona.info - tailored towards displaced Syrians in Jordan - and CuentaNos.org - tailored for victims the forced displacement due to violence in El Salvador.
Job Overview/Summary:
The Signpost Protection Specialist will be responsible for ensuring that all Signpost instances are designed and implemented according to sound protection principles through the development of global tools and best practice guidance, design and delivery of protection trainings, establishment of effective monitoring and the creation of robust links to on the ground protection programming and/or partners. They will be responsible for providing overall technical quality support and supervision; development of all protection-related tools and guidance; developing and implementing protection strategies for Signpost instances; developing relationships with new protection partners interested in supporting content development in a Signpost instance; representing the Signpost team externally in protection-oriented meetings, working groups and other publicly-facing engagements; and support the development of sound data collection, reporting, analysis and advocacy on relevant protection concerns to be shared internally and with the broader humanitarian community.
This position will be based in New York and report to the Project Director, Signpost, with an indirect reporting line to the Senior Technical Advisor, Protection and Rule of Law. The Signpost Protection Specialist will also be included as a member of the PRoL Technical team and will work closely with the Protection and Rule of Law Technical Advisors, Signpost teams in country, internationally-based content teams, partner organizations and other technical units as relevant. This is an exciting, varied role that affords the opportunity to apply strategic thinking and protection expertise to an innovative programmatic model.
Specific Responsibilities:
The Signpost Protection Specialist will spend at least 60% of his/her time delivering technical assistance in-person and remotely to Signpost implementation teams globally. The remaining time is spent on influence, advocacy, research and internal initiatives, as required by the team's overall strategy. The Signpost Protection Specialist's specific responsibilities are as follows:
Guiding program design and implementation:
Work in conjunction with PRoL TAs to support country program staff to design programs and projects, ensuring that they are:
Support Signpost Implementation Team to design their interventions, ensuring that they:
Help define approach to teaming / partnering with other organizations
Support selection of indicators for country programs
Start up Signpost instances in IRC's country programs and provide support to partners starting up Signpost instances
Specialist Technical Support:
- Conduct technical review of literature, mapping of Communicating with Communities, information service delivery and ICT-driven programming and vetting of content
- Contribute to development of program models and TOCs
- Identify and liaise with academics and peers practitioners working in information service delivery and ICT-driven programming
- Design tools and provide technical support aligned with Signpost global best practice
- Technical support to field testing (tool development, assessment, training, troubleshooting)
- Edit/adapt content and training materials for the resource package
Engaging in business development:
- Write technical narrative of proposals - including global or TU-led as well as country-led, where support is needed
- Provide input on budgets required for project delivery for both global or TU-led proposals as well as country-led
Building technical capacity of country program staff to ensure ongoing program quality and innovation:
- Share cross-context learning with program staff in countries where Signpost is being implemented
- Conduct technical training and ongoing technical coaching for field staff, including on IRC outcomes, theories of change, evidence and indicators
- Develop project-specific tools / resources / curricula, including but not limited to protection trainings, reporting and analysis approaches, and referral pathways and processes as appropriate (for review and approval by PRoL Technical Team)
- Support Signpost country teams in the contextualization and adaptation of global and country-specific materials.
Influence the IRC, peer agencies and donors to use proven interventions and generate new evidence:
- Participate in working groups, inter-agency task forces and academic conferences that focus on protection, rule of law, and/or advocacy on relevant issues.
Contribute to Strategy and Tool Development:
- In conjunction with Signpost Implementation Teams, develop tools to standardize and simplify the start up of new Signpost implementations
- Work with members from IRC's Violence Prevention and Response Unit (VPRU) to develop tools and approaches that ensure adequate standards in the protection and access of women and children in Signpost instances
- Work with VPRU teams to develop approaches to mainstream Signpost platforms into overall protection programming
Key Working Relationships:
Position Reports to: Signpost Project Director
Other Internal and/or external contacts:
Internal:
Indirect reporting to PRoL Senior Technical Advisor for coordination with PRoL country TAs and review/sign off of protection related tools. Regular communication with VPRU technical teams and other technical units as appropriate; communication with Gender Equality team on the development of gender analysis and Research, Evaluation and Learning team on potential research opportunities.
Close relationships with regional and country program teams. Interacts with IRC internal departments, including business development, external relations and advocacy departments, to keep them informed of program activities.
External: Serve as IRC program representative in outside regional meetings and global meetings focused on protection and information management/dissemination and academic forums with donors, other non-governmental organizations, inter-agency groups and foundations.
Job Qualifications:
Education: Master's/post-graduate degree in international law, human rights law, international development or relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
Work Experience:
- A minimum of 4-6 years in implementing and/or managing Protection/Rule of Law programs is required, preferably within a humanitarian, international development setting.
- Experience in technical tools and materials development, proposal development monitoring and evaluation, and research in relation to education is highly desired.
- Experience in strategy development and working across sectors or disciplines is highly desired.
- Experience with ICT driven tools and social media initiatives a plus.
- Experience in journalism, new media and social media is also a plus.
Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:
- Demonstrated expertise in program design, monitoring and evaluation, with the ability to turn concepts and strategy into measurable action.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Demonstrated commitment to renewing and maintaining currency with best practices.
Language Skills: Fluency in English required; proficiency in Arabic, Spanish, and/or French is desired/an advantage.
Working Environment: Up to 40% travel may be required. This position will be based in New York (preferred), but remote work can be arranged.
How to apply:
Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=YXN0cmlkLm1hdGhldy44MTQzNi4zODMwQGlyY2NkLmFwbGl0cmFrLmNvbQ