HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE ADVISOR

CARE is seeking a dynamic and experienced Humanitarian Response Advisor to build, develop and lead CARE’s Humanitarian Response in the country.

The people in Afghanistan continue to face extreme hardship and uncertainty. Close to 19 million people are facing acute levels of food insecurity and hunger crisis is the reality. More than half of the population – some 24 million people – need humanitarian assistance. This has to be seen alongside the severity and complexity of the other ongoing crisis in Afghanistan – earthquake, flood, sever winter, In June, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake affected over 360,000 people living in high-intensity impact areas. And since July, heavy rains have led to massive flash floods across the country, and indeed the region, killing and injuring hundreds of people, and destroying hundreds of homes as well as thousands of acres of crops. Afghanistan has also witnessed unprecedented levels of internal displacement and population movement. Some 5.8 million people remain in protracted internal displacement requiring long-term solutions.

Within this context, there is a need to re-vitalize, stimulate, and further inject Humanitarian Response capacity in country within CARE Afghanistan and beyond. This position holder is a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and will contribute in major organizational decisions. The position is based in Kabul, Afghanistan with maximum 50% travel to the field (subject to the prevailing context). This is an unaccompanied position, and the operating context in Afghanistan requires at all times the staff to comply with the Safety and Security Principles of CARE. The current security rating for Afghanistan is Extreme, requiring the Humanitarian Response Advisor to be strong in analysis and able to work closely with field based national staff

The overall purpose of this role is to ensure that CARE Afghanistan Humanitarian Response program and team is of high quality in all aspects, including humanitarian standards, efficiency, effectiveness, compliance and impact. The current strategy is to substantially expand the scale, reach and quality of the Humanitarian Response Programming with particular focus on achieving CARE’s gender in emergency targets, along with establishing and strengthening in-country humanitarian system and team.

The major functions of this role will include:

• Strategy and Leadership: Leading on setting the strategy for serving those affected by the Humanitarian Crisis
• Position CARE Afghanistan as a top 5 responder amongst peer organizations in terms of size, and ever higher for quality/ accountability, and focus on women and girls.
• Management: Overall responsible for management and oversight of the humanitarian strategy, programming and team
• External Relations, Communication, Coordination, Policy and Advocacy: management of complex donor portfolio and sensitive government relations, as well as positioning of CARE in Inter-agency coordination system as leading on quality, accountability, humanitarian access and gender equity. Strengthen all levels of communication work to support program and policy objectives.
• Establish and lead a strong policy position on protection of displaced affected people IDPs and refugee returnees
• Program Support and Compliance: Work closely with Programme, Program Support Units and Provincial Team, with special focus on building strong compliance systems to meet all required standards and regulations, of donors, CARE and government of Afghanistan.
• Provide oversight and direction to build a humanitarian response program portfolio along with strong in-country humanitarian team that is impactful and accountable
• Fundraising, partnerships and innovation: grow the portfolio of Humanitarian Response.

Qualifications:

• Post Graduate Degree in development, Social Sciences or any related field diploma, certificate course related to Humanitarian programming, humanitarian architecture and best practices, international humanitarian law, Disaster Preparedness, SPHERE standards, CASH and voucher
• 10 years of development/ humanitarian management experience in complex environments.
• Experience in leading a multi-disciplinary team; strong understanding of the humanitarian emergency operating context, including Sphere, the humanitarian system, donors, security, civil military liaison and program management
• High level of expertise in representation and negotiation with high level governments, donors and UN, Cluster, OCHA and IASC networks.
• Experienced in Contingency planning and Disaster Preparedness; Media and PR experience to position CARE strongly in various fora.