Senior Officer, Climate Smart Livelihood

Job Purpose

Under the joint supervision of the Coordinator, Climate, Environmental Action, Sustainability and Resilience and the Senior Officer Food Security, Livelihoods and Social Protection in Geneva, the Global Climate-smart livelihoods Senior Officerwill lead and coordinate the global efforts to advance climate-smart livelihoods in programmes and operations. This will focus on developing a strategy, approaches and tools to operationalise climate-smart livelihoods and build operational capacity to mainstream this theme; as well as supporting IFRC Regional Office, CCST and CO teams to integrate climate-smart livelihoods initiatives into National Society programming as part of the ECHO Pilot Programmatic Partnership (PPP).

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Ensure quality and accountability in IFRC humanitarian operations and long-term programmes

• Provide thought leadership, innovation and strategic direction as the global focal point for IFRC in climate-smart livelihoods programming.
• Lead planning and implementation of the global component for climate-smart livelihoods programming within the global ECHO PPP.
• Technically support ECHO PPP regional and country-level activities on climate-smart livelihoods programming.
• Promote uptake of climate-smart livelihoods programming within PPP country plans for future years of the PPP implementation phase.
• Lead and coordinate the development of operational procedures, training materials, tools and standards to mainstream climate-smart livelihoods programming in close coordination with the LRC and CCC.
• Lead and coordinate the development of information and communications materials to help disseminate climate-smart livelihoods programming concepts and practices to National Societies.
• Ensure timely and high-quality climate-smart livelihoods programming-related technical advice for Emergency Appeals and to disaster operational teams.
• Conduct briefings and awareness activities to ensure mainstreaming of climate-smart livelihoods programming in IFRCs disaster responses and programming.
• Closely coordinate and collaborate with other IFRC components, sectors and teams (migration, health, WASH, Community Resilience, disaster preparedness, PER, climate, anticipation, etc.) to seek synergies and collaborations between climate-smart livelihoods and other IFRCs sectors.
• Coordinate operational reviews and case studies with a particular focus on identifying good climate-smart livelihoods programming practices for the development of guidance materials and the dissemination of knowledge.
• Propose innovative pilots and feasibility studies that can promote climate-smart livelihoods programming and/or access new funding streams.
• Close coordination with LRC in regular basis, as LRC will be a direct technical support actor in ECHO PPP.

Representation and enhancement of global network on climate-smart livelihoods

• Actively participate in the Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) Peer Working Group, proposing themes to enhance climate-smart livelihoods programming.
• Closely coordinate with Livelihoods and Climate Reference Centers playing the coordination role on ECHO PPP.
• Network and coordinate with RC/RC Movement partners, Reference Centres, NGOs, UN and other international organizations, to ensure the IFRC is kept informed and up to date on best practices and emerging trends related to climate-smart livelihoods programming.
• Contribute to briefing notes, speaking points etc. as required for key external advocacy efforts of IFRC; often working closely with the Climate and Resilience team.

Contribute to an effective, high quality IFRC team

• Develop regular progress reports on results against objectives and risk analyses as required.
• Accommodate flexible working practices including working as part of time-limited, task-oriented teams to enable the IFRC to respond to new scenarios, operational needs or requests from Governance or the wider Membership.
• Contribute to a client-oriented approach that values proactivity, continuous improvement, innovation, high performance and cost effectiveness.
• Foster a collaborative working environment with colleagues in the Secretariat, Regions, National Societies and external partners.
• Be available to deploy to Regions, Country Offices, or Operations to provide support as necessary.

Education

• University degree in relevant area; or equivalent experience
• Technical training in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery
• Technical training, or equivalent experience in livelihoods
• Technical training in environment, climate change, sustainability or related topic, preferred

Experience

• 7+ years of experience in humanitarian response/recovery and/or community resilience programming, focused in FSL (food security & livelihoods)
• Direct experience in climate-smart livelihoods
• Experience working within the RC/RC Movement
• Experience in strategy development, developing tools and guidance, providing technical assistance Experience in external coordination, in establishing and maintaining networks, and in leading and administering a coordination forum
• Experience of the IFRC humanitarian operations system, surge, assessment process, funding tools etc, preferred
• Direct experience promoting the theme of environmental sustainability in the humanitarian sector, preferred

Knowledge, Skills and Language

• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills with the ability to represent the International Federation and to negotiate and influence people’s opinions
• Knowledge of emerging standards and best practices in the area of greener humanitarian response (environment in humanitarian action)
• Knowledge of cross-cutting environmental topics for the humanitarian sector, such as waste management, household energy, nature-based solutions etc.
• Flexible and adaptable to work effectively in a multicultural environment and ability to travel at short notice
• Computer knowledge as a user: self-supporting in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Knowledge of technical aspects of disaster preparedness, response and recovery, and of key donor and partner organisations, preferred
• Knowledge of minimum standards for disaster response, and performance and accountability frameworks, preferred

Languages

• Fluent spoken and written English, Spanish
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, ¡ or Arabic), preferred

Competencies and Values

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability

Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust