Global Duty Bearer Advisor

Are you passionate about the relevance of locally led responses to conflict and displacement and recognizant of the key role that duty bearers play in them? Do you want to contribute to DRC’s work with duty bearers in pursuit of the fulfilment of rights of people affected by conflict and displacement? If so, you might be the right candidate for the role as DRC’s first global Duty Bearer Engagement Advisor!

Who are we?

Danish Refugee Council (DRC), one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, is seeking a highly qualified, experienced and committed Duty Bearer Engagement Advisor to support operations in developing and applying relevant and effective approaches to engaging with DBs in pursuit of our mission to assist refugees and the displaced, protect their rights and empower them towards a better future.

This is an exciting time to join the Programme Division (PD) at DRC, as we embark on a new four-year strategic period to 2025. In pursuit of the strategic vision of “a dignified life for all displaced”, supporting the role and participation of local actors and structures in responding to the needs of people affected by conflict and displacement has become a central strategic ambition. With our work rooted in a rights-based approach and the pursuit of durable solutions to displacement, this includes a particular focus on how DRC can engage with relevant duty bearers at national and sub-national level, supporting them to uphold their responsibility to fulfil the rights of affected people.

About the job

The position will be part of the Civil Society Engagement Unit (that also is the internal lead on DRC’s broader strategic localization ambitions) within the Programme Division (PD). The PD’s role is to ensure the development of operational and programmatic policies and standards for DRC’s international work, based on the organization’s principles for quality and accountability; amongst others, it supports individual DRC operations in meeting external and internal standards, has overall responsibility for facilitating strategy and policy development processes, and provides program-related technical advisory and support to DRC country and regional operations.

The objective for the position is to support and strengthen DRC’s engagement with duty bearers (DB) at national and sub-national level (particularly government DBs) in our international operations, in humanitarian as well as early recovery and development settings. The role will undertake an operational review of current practices with a view to support identification of the most relevant strategic concepts for DB engagement. It will also develop strategic guidance and tools as well as provide direct technical support to country operations with a view to developing programmatic approaches and integrating DB engagement in funding proposals.

The role includes the following main duties and responsibilities:

Strategy and Policy

• Map, document and analyse existing approaches and practices for engagement with duty bearers at national and sub-national level across DRC with a view to inform practical measures for strengthening DB engagement at DRC
• Develop strategic guidance and tools that enable DB engagement across DRC

Technical advice and support to program development

• Strengthen DRC programming and operations through systematic mainstreaming of DB engagement
• Support country programmes in developing approaches to duty bearer engagement, including technical support for framing DB engagement in proposal writing
• Contribute to scoping for new opportunities to improve and increase DB engagement approaches

Resources, training and learning

• Build DRC staff capacity on engagement with duty-bearers
• Ensure institutional knowledge management and sharing of learning on duty-bearer engagement

About you

To be successful in this role, we expect you to have significant demonstrable experience in a relevant specialist position in an international organisation in a mix of field and HQ positions, and of development, management and evaluation of relevant programming. You should furthermore have at least 5 years’ experience of developing and applying concepts and tools for engaging with duty bearers at national and sub-national level (particularly government DBs), in contexts characterized by conflict, displacement, fragility and political instability, as well as in development and early recovery contexts. The candidate is also expected to have a demonstrable experience of leading and/or managing documentation review and organisational research exercises.

All employees should master DRC’s core competencies: Communicating, Taking the lead, Collaborating, Striving for excellence and Demonstrating integrity.

Moreover, we also expect the following:

Required

• Social science master’s degree in development or humanitarian studies, sociology, political science, human geography, or similar
• Excellent and updated knowledge of duty bearer (primarily national and sub-national government) engagement concepts, and ability to support the development of DB engagement programming
• Excellent and updated knowledge of participatory techniques and methodologies applied by projects in humanitarian and/or development contexts
• Excellent and updated knowledge of the humanitarian and development global policy environment
• Demonstrable skills with the design of programming concepts for fundraising
• Demonstrable skills with the design and facilitation of trainings and workshops
• Excellent communication skills for writing and presentation
• Demonstrable abilities in problem solving as well as taking a flexible and innovative approach to working
• Demonstrable ability to work independently as part of a small team and to form close working relationships with colleagues from a diverse range of backgrounds
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Able to travel for 30 to 45 days per year and operate in a physically demanding working environment

Desirable

• Ability to work in French is a strong advantage

We offer

Contract length: 1 year with possibility for extension subject to donor funding

Work place: DRC Regional Office Middle East based in Amman, Jordan

Start date: October 1, 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter

The position is temporary due to donor funding.

Employment band: F – non-management

Salary and conditions for the position will be on DRC terms.

Further information

For questions regarding the vacancy please contact Liselott Verduijn, [email protected] (July 18-22) and Vassiliki Lembesis, [email protected] (July 25-August 14)

For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website drc.ngo.