Safeguarding Strategy Lead

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is among the world’s leading humanitarian relief and development organizations. For 80 years, the IRC has been at the forefront of every major humanitarian initiative to assist people uprooted by war, persecution, or civil conflict. IRC staff go to the toughest places, implement both immediate response and long lasting programs, and conduct the type of applied research and advocacy the aid community needs to continually push itself to find better solutions for people. In all its country programs and in the US, IRC partners with local governments and others to achieve outcomes related to people’s health, education, safety, power and economic well-being. The IRC currently works in 50+ countries at 300+ locations with 30,000+ employees.

Scope:

Safeguarding is at the core of IRC’s mission. Ensuring that IRC’s clients can survive, recover and gain control of their lives requires that they and our staff are protected from sexual violence, exploitation, and abuse by those working for or associated with the IRC.

This new, exciting role at the IRC, the Safeguarding Strategy Lead, is responsible for the IRC’s FY23-24 safeguarding strategy. This strategy builds on learning in operationalizing safeguarding over the past several years and moves the organization from reliance on a single team toward a more robust, shared accountability model. The cross-cutting model in the FY23-24 safeguarding strategy commits specialized technical and delivery areas to coordinated action on specific safeguarding commitments — staff training, program integration and risk mitigation, survivor-centered response to violations, and investigations. IRC’s central Safeguarding Unit will establish and lead on the governance of this new cross-cutting model at regional and global levels. The Safeguarding Unit will also partner closely with IRC’s Learning and Development team to lead a dynamic approach to staff orientation and ongoing learning, ensuring that all staff in all locations receive high quality, contextualized, learner-centered training on safeguarding at multiple points during the employee lifecycle.

As the Safeguarding Strategy Lead, you will deliver on the above remit through leadership of a team of Regional Safeguarding Advisors, effective use of a dedicated Program Manager, and the development of excellent collaborative partnerships with programmatic and administrative leaders throughout the organization.

Reporting to Robert Lindsley, Senior Director of Duty of Care, the Safeguarding Strategy Lead will work closely with: CRRD; RAI; Human Resources; Ethics and Compliance Unit; Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion; Violence Prevention and Response Unit, Governance Unit; Awards Management Unit; and other IRC functional units.

Major Responsibilities:

1. Lead all aspects of, socialize and build organizational consensus on IRC’s FY23-24 safeguarding strategy
2. In close collaboration with IRC’s Learning and Development team, lead on the development and oversight of the delivery of safeguarding learning materials
3. Lead creation and implementation of tools to guide cross-functional management and coordination of safeguarding activities at regional and global levels
4. Provide technical ownership and coordinate regular updating of IRC policies related to safeguarding of staff and clients in partnership with all related units
5. Ensure excellence in knowledge management for the IRC’s safeguarding policies, tools, guidance notes, and collateral materials
6. Maintain and update the organization’s survivor-centered safeguarding response SOP in collaboration with relevant units
7. Provide leadership for communications on safeguarding for internal and external audiences
8. Provide leadership and representation on safeguarding at internal and external events
9. In partnership with VPRU and in-country safeguarding and protection staff, ensure that site level service referral mapping and site level responder network is established and maintained
10. Ensure effective management of the Safeguarding Unit, including personnel, budget and operations management.
11. Ensure that IRC models remain aligned with or exceed sectoral standard processes for safeguarding in partnership with relevant units
12. Maintain close and trusting working relationships with global and regional leaders who jointly own IRC’s safeguarding strategy

Key Reporting Relationships:

Position Reports to: Robert Lindsley, Senior Director for Duty of Care

Position directly supervises: Safeguarding Project Manager, 8 Regional Safeguarding Advisors

Indirect Reporting: Safeguarding Steering Committee

Education: College degree required in relevant field. Masters in Social Work (MSW) or related field preferred.

Work Experience: A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience with international non-profit(s) in humanitarian and development settings, and program management skills preferred.

Proven Skills and Proficiencies:

• Broad knowledge of safeguarding policies, practices, and norms in the humanitarian sector
• Excellence in leading cross-cutting program designs with many co-equal collaborators
• Experience in learning development (online and instructor-led) and learning management
• Investigations experience with safeguarding is an asset
• Protection and social work experience is an asset
• Experience working in multi-cultural environments, often in very complicated circumstances
• Service orientation and capacity building abilities

Language Skills: Excellent spoken and written English. Proficiency in one other IRC relevant language (French, and Arabic) strongly preferred.

Working Environment: Travel up to 30% of time

The IRC and IRC workers must embody the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and implements policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other encouraging benefits and allowances.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.