Regional Humanitarian Advisor – Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe (MENAEE)

Regional Humanitarian Advisor – Middle East, North America and Eastern Europe (MENAEE)

ROLE PURPOSE:

This role is responsible for providing support (program, management and operational) to a designated portfolio of countries & humanitarian responses in the MENAEE.

As a key member of the regional office operations team, the Operations Advisor is the regional office coordinating focal point for humanitarian issues in designated countries (between key stakeholders within the country, the region, with Save the Children Members and with Save the Children centre). Key responsibilities include providing support to enable Country Offices (CO) to effectively deliver programmes, ensuring effective information flows between relevant parts of the organization, monitoring key performance indicators and supporting countries in adhering to established program quality and management standards and procedures, in addition to support in relation to broader risk management at the Country Office (CO) and RO level.

The post-holder will work closely with relevant countries and support them in planning, resourcing, staffing and funding humanitarian response and development programmes and strategies, as well as support in the design and implementation of operations systems, processes and activities so that programmes are delivered on time according to organisational and donor requirements and within allocated budgets. S/he will play a key role in advising and supporting countries in the effective scale up and management of Save the Children response programmes to increase impact and enable positive change for children in the MEEE region and will support in the strengthening of the operational capability of the region to respond effectively to both immediate acute and medium to longer term chronic needs. In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

In order to be successful you will bring/have:

• Substantial senior-level field experience in the humanitarian aid and development sector working in a senior humanitarian operations role in at least 2 different contexts
• Strong understanding of humanitarian context and application of humanitarian principles
• Thorough understating of emergency response sector and processes to achieve the result effectively
• Strong interpersonal skills to develop and maintain collaborative relations at all levels of management / leadership, must be capable of summarising and communicating complex information and data
• Effective leadership skills to support the Country and Regional senior management teams.
• In depth understanding of how to operate safely and securely in humanitarian response
• Skills to manage and operate in a pressured and changing environment
• Excellent English language skills, and Arabic language preferred (but not essential)
• Ability to be flexible and to travel around the region, as and when necessary/possible
• Commitment to Save the Children’s vision, mission and values

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Supporting strong operations management and strengthening of the operational capability of the region to respond effectively to both immediate acute and medium to longer term chronic needs.

• Country level strategic planning is supported, helping to integrate humanitarian emergency efforts with longer-term recovery and development.
• Provide strategic input and advice to country offices as needed on humanitarian and operational issues, including advisory and support with Save the Children approaches, quality standards, tools and best practice;
• Provide support to COs in terms of integrated efforts to ensure consistent high performance on all corporate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs);
• Maintain effective relationships with in-country counterparts, monitoring and reviewing progress against work plans and strategies, identifying gaps, suggesting viable solutions and corrective actions and escalating issues as required.
• Identifying and coordinating funding requirements for strategic humanitarian priorities and ensure regional funding opportunities are communicated appropriately.
• Be a linchpin for cross functional collaboration and coordination in the RO as pertains to key CO deliverables
• Support country offices to develop and implement operational improvement plans and operations platform strengthening initiatives.
• Support induction of key leadership staff.

Supporting emergency preparedness and response for a set portfolio of countries

• Provide effective guidance and support to country offices to develop and update early warning systems, emergency preparedness plans and scenario based contingency plans in line with Save the Children standards.
• Monitor context developments and trends in the region in close collaboration with the Regional Humanitarian Analyst at the RO;
• Provide support and leadership in emergencies (new and “spikes” in existing) by
  • Ensuring appropriate categorization of humanitarian needs in the country office, with re-categorization on an annual basis or when the situation significantly changes.
  • Coordinate with the Global Humanitarian Surge Platform (GHSP) for CO surge requests as needed
  • Supporting with response strategy development and Real Time Reviews and evaluations
  • Deploying in leadership positions for assessment and response as required.
  • Provide support to COs for their broader COVID – 19 responses as required
  • Coordination of any multi-country responses.

Coordinating between key stakeholders

• Act as a focal point between Country Offices, Centre, RO, Members, Save the Children and selected external stakeholders.
• Disseminate information between stakeholders e.g. through coordination and preparation of content and talking points for regional update calls, Member calls and calls between Regional Office and Country Offices SMT.
• Ensure timely and solution orientated support to problems and challenges encountered in the delivery of programmes at CO level.
• Explore ways to improve coordination and integration of the RO knowledge of and support for the regional programmes between departments in the RO, and with Members and Save the Children.

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.