Officer, Livelihoods and Resilience

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. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies 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.” The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The 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). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.

The IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The headquarters are organised into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services.

The IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The IFRC also has country cluster delegation and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.

The Livelihoods and Resilience Officer (LRO) works in the Port of Spain Country Cluster Delegation (POS CCD) as part of the Partnerships and Planning team, reporting to the Technical Officer Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability.

Job Purpose

The Livelihoods and Resilience Officer will support the development and implementation of livelihoods and resilience programme for the 13 National Societies under the purview of the POS CCD. The Livelihoods and Resilience Officer will support the Delegation in ensuring that livelihoods and resilience initiatives are mainstreamed across both programmes and operations. 

Job Duties and Responsibilities

The Livelihoods and Resilience Officer (LRO) will be responsible for supporting National Societies to use, develop and implement livelihoods and resilience building interventions that contribute to sustainable growth and development of communities and other vulnerable groups.

Ensure quality technical advice and resources to support effective programming

• Support resilience in projects and programmes undertaken by National Societies (e.g., supporting Grenada to implement the activities under the ECCR project)
• Support the drafting and finalisation of a revised resilience plan for the Dutch- and English-speaking Caribbean
• Support the activities under the resilience plan for the Dutch- and English- speaking Caribbean
• Training Red Cross Societies in methods that support building community resilience (e.g., R2R with eVCA)
• Support identification of livelihoods opportunities with the National Societies
• Provide technical advice on how to mainstream and scale up livelihoods and resilience in country operational plans, programmes and emergency appeals.
• Provide technical advice to Country Plan Managers and other colleagues as well as local stakeholders to support capacity-building activities for National Societies related to livelihoods and resilience, ensuring a coherent and comprehensive approach aligned with related technical areas (e.g. climate change).
• Contribute to the design and implementation of timely livelihoods situation assessments and analysis, including assessment of household needs and priorities. To the extent possible, the Household Economic Security (HES) approach should be applied.
• Design livelihoods interventions and develop clear, costed and time-bound plans of action based on assessment findings.
• Responsible for the revision of livelihoods plans of action (where needed) and the implementation of said plans through the utilisation of appropriate methodologies. This includes by is not limited to multi-purpose cash and vouchers.
• Coordinate and collaborate with local stakeholders to ensure that all planned livelihoods interventions are in line with those of local authorities and other humanitarian actors.

Support resource mobilization and proposal development related to livelihoods and resilience.

The LRO will also contribute to:

• The development of proposals related to resilience and livelihoods in the IFRC POS CCD
• The implementation of projects and activities related to livelihoods and resilience
• The work of the Partnerships and Planning to enhance livelihoods and resilience in the Caribbean (including review documents, provide input on plans and policies, etc.)

Contribute to an effective, high quality IFRC team

• Provide progress reports on results against objectives and risk analyses as required
• Contribute to a client-oriented approach that values accountability for results, proactivity, continuous improvement, innovation, high performance and cost effectiveness.
• Foster a collaborative working environment with colleagues in the IFRC Secretariat, Regions, Reference Centres, National Societies and external partners.
• Be available to travel as needed.

Support effective coordination between the IFRC Secretariat and the reference centres related to livelihoods and resilience

• Support communication and dialogue between IFRC and the reference centres (IFRC CADRIM, Climate Centre, Livelihoods Centre) through information sharing, establishing connections between teams, and drawing from and linking expertise to IFRC work wherever relevant.

Education

REQUIRED:

• University degree in a related discipline

PREFERRED:

• Post-graduate degree in a related discipline

Experience

REQUIRED:

• Experience in data collection and data analysis
• Experience in writing reports
• Excellent knowledge and skill with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

PREFERRED:

• Knowledge of websites content update would be an asset

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

REQUIRED:

• Understanding of community resilience and livelihood.

• Fluently spoken and written English

PREFERRED:

• Understanding and practice of the Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and/or the humanitarian world

• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish 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

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: Strategic Orientation, Building Alliances; Empowering others