Regional Senior Officer Climate & Disaster Risk Reduction

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191-member National Societies (NSs). The overall aim of IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by NSs with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Next to that, the IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Within these regions, the IFRC has country cluster delegations and country delegations.

The work of IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. All our work contributes towards the Strategy 2030, the Agenda for Renewal and the Plan and Budget 2021-2025. The Strategy 2030 represents the collective ambitions of our 191 National Societies, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and lays out our vision for the organization of the future. The Agenda for Renewal provides a vision for how the IFRC sees its role in the implementation this strategy. Furthermore, the IFRC’s Plan and Budget 2021–2025 sets out specific objectives for the IFRC in support of the implementation of the 10 year Strategy 2030 and the Agenda for Renewal.

IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.

Regional Office for Europe (ROE)
The Regional Office for Europe (ROE) in Budapest leads the support to National Societies of 53 countries - through Country and Country Cluster Delegations and directly from Budapest - spread across Western and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia. The regional Senior Officer Climate & DRR is part of the Health, Disasters, Climate and Crises (HDCC) unit. In its support to NS’s as the client, the HDCC unit provides coordination, quality control and technical guidance on various thematic and operational aspects. The unit is made up of four (4) thematic areas: Health & Care; Migration, Protection & accountability; Operations Coordination; and Climate & preparedness.

Job Purpose

The Climate Action Roadmap is a key tool to frame and guide how our network in the Europe Region plans to collectively scale-up climate action by 2025 and beyond. It was jointly created by building on the National Societies’experiences, knowledge and initiatives. It aligns with our global and regional climate and environmental commitments, including Strategy 2030, Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations, Tbilisi Commitments (Regional Conference 2022), Global Climate Resilience Platform and Programme, as well as contributes towards the Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development Goals. The regional Senior Officer Climate & DRR will work in close collaboration with the regional Senior Officer Climate and Environment and contributes to the unit’s overall operationalisation and implementation of the Climate Action Roadmap. Among other activities, the ROE facilitates peer to peer exchanges between National Societies, facilitates financial support, provides technical support and capacity building for advocacy, planning and implementation.

Incumbents foreseen role and contributions
In the past two years a lot of momentum has been gained in the Europe region to work on climate informed approaches. There is a large Climate network and Community of Practice in the region that works together to further the climate agenda for NSs and the IFRC secretariat. The incumbent will jump in on this climate & resilience work and continue to grow and move forward the agenda. The position holder will work in a multi-sectoral team of technical experts and will use expertise to support the diverse group of National Societies in the Europe Region through IFRC colleagues in the cluster offices. As a part of the regional team, the position holder will work in a diverse workplace, with colleagues from all over the world, with different cultural background, fields of expertise and diverse perceptions. As the climate work is still very much under development there will be a need and opportunities for personal development, networking and training in specific expertise fields. The incumbent will be expected to work from either the regional office in Budapest or be based in either the cluster offices in Sarajevo or Warsaw.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Job purpose

Reporting to the Manager thematic portfolio, HDCC unit (Health, Disasters, Climate and Crises), the regional Senior Officer Climate & DRR is responsible for facilitating the IFRC’s work on scaling-up climate action and climate-smart risk reduction, focusing on disaster risk reduction (DRR), (urban) resilience, and early warning/early action (otherwise known as anticipatory action (AA)), thereby linking closely with various preparedness experts. This includes providing technical support of the IFRC network, aligned with relevant global and regional priorities, frameworks, approaches and tools. S/he will work in a cross-functional manner with other technical teams and thematic experts, such as Community Engagement and Accountability, Preparedness and Protection, as well as operational colleagues in the cluster- and country delegations. The regional Senior Officer Climate & DRR will ensure close cooperation with the Anticipation Hub, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, other relevant reference centres, groups and teams, and facilitates close collaboration with AA and DRR related networks and agencies.

Technical Support

• Together with the programme, operations and preparedness focal points, support early warning/early action, AA and DRR within the Europe Region and provide technical support and guidance to NS and IFRC offices in Europe Region, in line with their own strategies, the IFRC Operational Frameworks, Roadmap to Community Resilience via Enhanced Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (EVCA), Strategy 2030, IFRC’s policies and IFRC Plans.
• Provide technical support and knowledge sharing for assessing community risk and resilience and for developing risk-informed community action plans and support the strengthening/development of Community Early Warning Systems.
• Contribute to the mainstreaming of AA and DRR across all areas of work, with a focus on integrating AA and DRR more effectively in Preparedness for Effective Response (PER), Early Action Protocols (EAP), response and recovery programmes and operations.
• Facilitate support (e.g. through training) to strengthen the capacity of National Societies and IFRC delegations related to DRR and resilience, ensuring that National Societies are well supported in implementing and managing programmes and operations to meet the needs of vulnerable communities.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

Knowledge management, advocacy and resource mobilization:

• Promote increased understanding of key climate and DRR related terminologies/concepts, relevant programming approaches, tools and quality criteria.
• Identify, document and regularly share innovative AA, DRR, climate risk management and resilience strenghtening and lessons learnt from NS programmes and operations, to share them within the IFRC network and externally, including peer-to-peer exchange activities to share innovative approaches and good practices.
• Promote linkages to other cross-cutting themes such as Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA), and Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI).
• In close collaboration with the units for Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization (SPRM), Humanitarian Diplomacy and Communications, and Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting (PMER), actively support resource mobilization, HD/Comms, PMER activities. Support fundraising efforts by identifying areas of potential interest with relevant donors in close coordination with SPRM.
• Support coordination and effective implementation of various externally funded programs (such as ECHO PPP), notably related to the climate-smart programming and anticipatory action cross-cutting areas.

Coordination, Cooperation, Networking and Partnership:

• Together with the Senior Officer Climate and Environment, facilitate the operationalisation and implementation of the Climate Action Roadmap in the Europe region.
• Support effective coordination, collaboration and networking within the Movement and externally on resilience, AA and DRR, with a specific focus on climate hazards and multi-hazard approaches.
• Contribute to building stronger partnerships with communities, governments, organizations and the private sector, share information and coordinate activities, support better positioning of IFRC and resource mobilization for National Society AA and DRR.
• When requested, represent the IFRC and develop, facilitate, and manage external partnerships related to DRR and resilience at regional/international levels, for instance, coordinate at regional level with the UNDRR Office for Europe and Central Asia on Sendai Framework related regional implementation processes, forums and dialogues.
• Through networking and effective cooperation, support National Societies in leveraging their auxiliary role and influencing policy, planning and legal frameworks with their respective governments and subregional governmental entities, promoting integrated approaches to AA and DRR programming.
• When requested, ensure representation of the IFRC in relevant technical meetings, conferences, seminars, trainings and forums in the Europe Region.

Duties applicable to all staff
1. Work actively towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goals.
2. Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles.
3. Perform any other work-related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager.

Education

Required:

• Relevant university degree (e.g. related to climate change, disaster risk management, other relevant degree).

Preferred:

• Basic Delegates Training Course (BTC), WORC, IMPACT or equivalent knowledge or willingness to undertake.

Experience

Required:

• Minimum 3-5 years of professional experience in climate change and disaster risk management issues; with a good understanding of climate related disasters and crises in the Europe Region.
• Demonstrated experience in using climate information planning, activity design and implementation related to climate risk management and climate change adaptation.
• Good understanding of the humanitarian, climate and development nexus and experience of working in the development context.

Preferred:

• Demonstrated experience in early warning, anticipatory action and community based DRR initiatives at the local level.
• Experience in capacity development (training, coaching, peer support) and participatory approaches and methodologies.
• Good understanding of the IFRC and experience in working for a humanitarian organization related to climate change issues, AA, DRR and early warning systems.
• Experience in planning, monitoring and evaluation, narrative and financial reporting.

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Required:

• Strong knowledge of and commitment to a holistic approach to AA and DRR, with an understanding of a multi-hazard, climate-smart, and resilience approaches.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to think strategically.
• Creative, results and solution-orientated.
• Ability to build effective partnerships and maintain working relationships within the organization and with external partners.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, organization and facilitation skills.
• Fluent spoken and written English.

Preferred: 

• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish, Russian or Arabic).

Competencies, Values and Comments

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability.
Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust.

This is a national position. The incumbent will be expected to work from either the regional office in Budapest or be based in either the cluster offices in Sarajevo or Warsaw.