Eastern DRC Representative INGO forum

Introduction

The INGO Forum in DRC (FONGI-RDC) is an independent body of over 124 international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). Forum members cover all the country’s provinces, and work in all humanitarian, development and peace-building sectors. The Forum is governed by its members – via an annual General Assembly – and a 10-member Executive Committee composed of INGO country directors elected on a yearly basis. It is supported by a Secretariat of seven staff, providing expert support and advice to the Forum members.

More specifically, the role of the Forum is to:

• Provide support to INGOs members and advocacy for solving common issues.
• Improve communication between INGOs and other stakeholders (government, UN, etc.)
• Strengthen the voices of INGOs in the humanitarian architecture and the development community in DRC.
• Act as a focal point for INGOs and for external stakeholders.
• Support cohesion between NGOs at national level.

Since 2021 Cordaid has been the administrative host of the INGO forum in DRC.

To support the activities of the Forum, we are looking for an Eastern DRC Representative with strong leadership skills and capacity in advocacy as well as a profound knowledge of the technical aspects of the job and excellent writing skills in French and English. The position will be based in Goma, North Kivu and cover the North Kivu, Ituri and South Kivu Provinces and potentially other provinces such as Tanganyika.

Position and responsibility

The position holder will report directly to the Kinshasa-based Director of the INGO Forum (FONGI RDC Secretariat Director) and will have to work in close relationship with other members of the Secretariat Team.

She/he will have close working relationships with INGO heads of mission and/or Area Coordinators; INGOs administrative and financial coordinators; advocacy officers of member INGOs; as well as with UN agencies including OCHA; donors; and political and administrative authorities.

General objective of the posting

• The purpose of the Eastern DRC Representative role is to provide field level support to the Forum and its member organisations, supporting humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts in the Eastern Provinces of the country (in particular North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri and Tanganyika) through high quality information analysis and exchange, coordination, multi-stakeholder engagement, facilitating effective INGO representation in decision-making mechanisms, and advocacy efforts.
• S/he will serve as the primary liaison linking Kinshasa coordination structure with up-to-date realities from the Eastern DRC response.

Description of Duties

General duties:

• Represent the INGO Forum in Eastern DRC, with the support of the Forum Director and members of the Executive Committee based in the East of DRC.
• Acts as the INGO point of contact for key stakeholders in Eastern DRC (donors, agencies of the United Nations system, political and administrative authorities).
• Ensures, under the authority of the Forum’s Director, the implementation and development of the Forum’s activities in the eastern provinces of the country.
• Ensure optimal use of resources within allocated project budget and compliance with and adherence with Cordaid policies, tools, handbooks, guidelines and procedures.
• Ensure that capacity building is provided to staff within defined line management responsibility.
• Prepare and develop status reports as required by management. Summarise key documents (reports, assessments, etc) and share with partners in easily read format.
• Provide in due time reporting to donors on the Forum activities and performance indicators, under his/her responsibility.

The position holder provides internal reporting on the activities carried out to inform the Forum Director, other members of the executive committee (COMEX) and /or other team members of the progress of coordination activities in DRC Eastern Provinces.

Specific duties

Management and Innovation – Leadership

• Participate in the leadership of the Forum, working closely with the Forum Director, building up on previous management and leadership experience and skills and the support of INGO leaders in the Eastern DRC.
• A key leadership objective of the role is to ensure, jointly with the Forum Director, an effective linkage between the operational and strategic priorities of the Forum at national level in Kinshasa and in the Eastern Provinces of the DRC, and, while keeping a focus on the specific context of Eastern DRC, support overall coherence and balance of the Forum’s priorities at country level.

Members Relations

• Be the first point of contact in Eastern DRC for existing and prospective INGO Forum members.
• Participate, alongside other staff of the Forum’s Secretariat to the updating of the Forum’s contact lists of members, observers and other stakeholders.
• Participate to the development of relevant agenda items, facilitate regular meetings of heads of mission (co-facilitated with members of the executive committee), produce reports and follow up on action points.
• Link-up members with the legal staff of the secretariat for any issue related to administrative obstacles. Support and advise the legal expert in the preparation, organisation and follow-up of working groups meetings on administrative obstacles devoted to the specific constraints faced by INGO in Eastern DRC.
• Coordinate the actions of the Forum within and between INGO members, at least in Goma, Bunia and Bukavu and ensure the sharing of information between members within the platforms and between these members; identify / collect the main issues (administrative obstacles, advocacy, humanitarian priorities) and share them with members as well as with other Secretariat Team members.
• Share, within and between members based in Eastern DRC, information received from key stakeholders, as well as minutes of Forum’s meetings and working groups.

Representation, Coordination, Information and Access

• Represent, by delegation or alongside Forum members, the perspective of INGOs in meetings with donors, United Nations, government, provincial / local authorities and administrations. Ensure participation, consultation and feedback to members.
• Actively participate in reflection and consultation meetings with the authorities on the perspectives / issues of INGOs, in particular on access and administrative constraints.
• Participate in evaluation and planning processes in the Eastern DRC such as the humanitarian programming cycle, and advocate for the same processes in development and peacebuilding programming.
• Facilitate INGO coordination supporting INGO Forum member organisations in the Eastern provinces to plan monthly action-oriented coordination meetings and identify gaps, duplication and opportunities for enhancing coordination be it information exchange, inter-agency assessments or analysis, problem solving, joined up responses and common messaging.
• Support the identification and liaison with INGO focal points in coordination mechanisms where the secretariat is absent.
• Ensure regular high-level representation in key humanitarian, developmental and peacebuilding decision-making platforms and other mechanisms that impact humanitarian operations and the protection and needs of affected populations.
• Support advocacy on critical topics including: humanitarian, development and peacebuilding in complex conflict settings, regulatory environment, humanitarian access, protection of civilians, accountability to affected populations, and effective delivery of assistance.
• Regular travel within the Eastern Provinces to engage with members. Identify strategies to support INGOs to work collaboratively and in a principled manner that places the needs and interests of affected populations at the centre.
• Stay informed on political, humanitarian and security contexts, while providing structured updates to the INGO Forum, as a technical support on critical topic.
• Draft humanitarian updates, policy briefs, and talking points on the humanitarian situation, with a focus on Eastern DRC. Facilitate structured and effective information exchange both between internal INGO partners/members and with external partners (NNGOs, UN, Government, etc).
• Facilitate effective information flow between field-level realities in Eastern DRC and capital-level coordination in Kinshasa.
• Identify coordination and advocacy gaps.

Stakeholder Relationships and Engagement

• Facilitate along with the Forum Director representation of the INGO Forum through direct bilateral engagement with key actors (UN, Government and other national actors).
• Ensure INGO Forum takes lead or strong involvement in key task forces and working groups thematically dedicated to access and protection.
• Maintain and develop induction and guidance materials for new humanitarian actors, with an expert focus on the Eastern DRC context, leading on briefings and support as required.
• Facilitate trips to Eastern DRC for key external and international stakeholders to raise attention to the extent of the humanitarian situation and response.
• Assure national NGOs interests are taken into account and represented within INGO Forum key messages, and actively seek advocacy allies/partnerships with them and their representation platforms. Provide linkages between INGO and N-NGO community / identify opportunities for collaboration.
• Facilitate structured and effective information exchange both between internal INGO partners/members, and with external partners (NNGOs, UN, Government, private sector etc.)
• Maintain updated stakeholder mappings to inform strategic engagement.

Requirements

Context/ Specific skills, knowledge and experience:

• Demonstrated experience of 10 years in managing humanitarian emergency responses in conflict contexts, in the DRC or comparable, complex and volatile contexts.
• Experience as INGO Head of Mission, Country Director or senior leadership role preferred.
• Prior experience in managing Consortia/ NGO forums desirable.
• Demonstrated experience of inter-agency coordination in complex emergencies and/or active engagement in high level humanitarian coordination structures (e.g. as member of a Humanitarian Country Team (HCT)).
• Demonstrated experience in lobbying and engaging with high-level actors with strong evidence from the field.
• Knowledge and understanding of key thematic priority areas including access, including administrative obstacles, protection, humanitarian aid architecture in conflict settings, and responses to acute and protracted crises.
• Work experiences in several sectors of intervention in emergency and recovery contexts including protection, nutrition, health, conflict transformation in a humanitarian/ recovery context desirable.
• Excellent level of French, and a good level of written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of and contacts in DRC humanitarian space desirable.

Generic professional competencies/Core competency expertise:

• Demonstrated experience in facilitating meetings in a high-pressure professional setting.
• Strong data analytical and interpretation skills.
• Excellent writing, editing and analytical skills and ability to formulate well-targeted strategic documents.
• Grant management experience with institutional donors.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced and often demanding environment. Proven experience in influencing policy change and practice is desirable.
• Proven relationship-building skills and ability to facilitate common space between disparate views and agendas.
• Ability to represent collective views diplomatically to various stakeholders. Public speaking skills.
• Strong interpersonal and intercultural skills, a track record of effective collaboration within diverse teams, and working effectively with stakeholders of diverse backgrounds.
• Integrity and empathy required.
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities.

Specifics of station

Duty station is Goma, DRC. This is a single (unaccompanied) posting.

Contract information

The contract is for one-year, starting as soon as possible, with the intention to extend for a longer period. We offer a competitive, fair and comprehensive salary and benefits package that is justifiable to our donors. A Cordaid contract which includes R&R, a comprehensive insurance cover, social security and pension contribution, a holiday allowance, 13th month, hardship allowance and cost of living allowance (if applicable).