HUMANITARIAN SUPPPORT PERSONNEL – HUMAN RESOURCES

JOB PURPOSE

• To strengthen Oxfam’s response to humanitarian emergencies through setting up systems and procedures for humanitarian HR preparedness measures, and capacity building prior to and during an emergency. This includes providing skills and experience to help staff and partners develop their technical HR capacity.
• To enable Oxfam to respond quickly to the human resource requirements of an emergency
• Be accountable for ensuring community participation shapes programme decisions, actively seek a partnership approach and worked following feminist principles including strong awareness of power dynamics
• To, along with other technical staff, advisors and managers, promote safe-programming in all humanitarian responses.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The HR HSP will be deployed as part of a surge capacity to humanitarian programmes to provide HR advice and support at Country or Regional level on the full range of employment issues in emergencies and resilience work; with a particular focus on resourcing for scale-up of humanitarian programmes.

The post holder will undertake a series of deployments normally up to 6 months in duration for which specific Terms of Reference will be negotiated and agreed with relevant parties, prior to deployment and/or revised in the early stages of the deployment. Often these deployments will be to support fast moving emergency situations, and/or complex and difficult operating environments, where Oxfam has had to rapidly scale-up its programme HR HSP fixed term September 2023 and capacity. Assignments will often include intractable and sensitive HR problems requiring rapid and innovative solutions. Each deployment is likely to include a combination of the responsibilities listed below.

Management

people, budgets, assets, projects and decision making

• Ensure that HR aspects of programme design and implementation is consistent with Oxfam’s quality and accountability standards, emergency guidelines and protocols, the Core Humanitarian Standard and that work meets Sphere Standards and other external quality commitments.
• Programme design and set up – support the programme management team with workforce planning and staffing structures, budgeting and defining country specific policies such as Rest and Recuperation.
• Coordination of large scale recruitment – lead on the design and implementation of the recruitment process for international and local staff during times of emergency scale up.
• Management – to lead a country/project level HR team including day to day management; support and coaching; sometimes having to train HR staff who have little previous knowledge or experience

Analysis and Problem Solving

information, complexity, creativity and forward planning

• Staff Welfare – support and implement policies, processes and practical solutions to ensure the welfare of staff in an emergency response.
• Employment law/legal knowledge – analyse local law in different contexts and translate its implications into agency-relevant guidelines.
• HR systems and management information – embed HR database ways of working within an HR team, and analyse and report on people management issues.

Impact

contacts, communication, advice, and consequences

• Promote collaborative working relationships with key stakeholders in regions (Humanitarian Coordinators, Country Directors, country programme and partner HR staff) and GHT colleagues in the Humanitarian Support, Quality and Evidence and Business Support teams to support the delivery of effective, high quality humanitarian programmes in line with Oxfam’s vision for humanitarian preparedness and response. HR HSP fixed term September 2023
• HR Coordination Meetings – Represent Oxfam at Country/Regional level HR Meetings (internal and external) and play a leading role in improving HR practice in the sector for Humanitarian Responses.
• Share learning with the wider GHT HR Team and Humanitarian HR Network ensuring HR field realities from the Humanitarian Programme are understood and support HR project work to enable continuous improvement.

When not on assignment the post holder may undertake:

• Research and development – document experience and build up institutional learning on the HR aspects of humanitarian response.
• Other suitable tasks as assigned either in GHT core locations or from the post-holder’s home base

For complete details, please view the attached Job Profile in the link