CRS
Job Title: Technical Advisor I – Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), EMPOWER
Reports to: Technical Advisor II
Department: Humanitarian Response Department
Country/Location: HRD/International Telecommuter
Duration: 12-month position
About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
The Humanitarian Response Department (HRD) provides leadership and support to CRS emergency programming. The HRD strengthens CRS’ impact through high quality, innovative programs; improved technical and management capacity at the field level; and active engagement in global efforts to promote excellence and learning in humanitarian response. The HRD has technical staff that supports emergency program planning, rapid response, and capacity strengthening of staff and partners worldwide.
Country/Program Background
The EMPOWER (Empowering Partner Organizations Working on Emergency Responses) project is a joint initiative piloted in FY18 of the CRS Latin American and Caribbean Regional Office and the Humanitarian Response Department (HRD). In 2020, CRS expanded this program to Central America and Mexico and it continues to grow a team of LACRO-based emergency responders whose primary role is to support strengthening the emergency response capacity of local partners response in the Caribbean, South and Central America and Mexico and support them implementing high quality emergency responses.
Through EMPOWER, CRS staff accompany local organizations in institutional capacity self-assessments. Based on self-assessment results, as well as institutional mission, vision, and strategy, participating local organizations develop institutional strengthening plans. In response to expressed priorities and requests, CRS provides participating organizations with demand driven technical resources, support, training and accompaniment, and organizes zonal and regional workshops to facilitate shared learning and strengthening of peer networks among local and national humanitarian response organizations.
Job Summary
The EMPOWER DRR Technical Advisor I will provide technical advice and support to a range of program design and implementation issues in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (DRR/R) in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices to Country Program (CP) teams to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Your advice, knowledge, and support will contribute to determining how effective, adaptive and innovative CRS’ DRR/R programming is across the globe.
The EMPOWER program is currently working with 20 partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen institutional capacities and local leadership in emergency preparedness and response. The DRR TA I will lead in the advancement of activities that will strengthen LHA’s capacities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. The DRR TA I will also support the LHAs to facilitate community-led disaster risk reduction processes to reduce disaster risks at community and household levels.
Roles and Key Responsibilities
- Ensure timely and quality capacity strengthening and accompaniment – remote and on-site- to 20 national/local partner organizations in the EMPOWER project to strengthen, integrate and improve in DRR by supporting them to:
- Provide accompaniment and technical support to facilitate local humanitarian actors (LHAs) to carry out DRR self-assessments so that they may identify their DRR capacities and needs.
- Develop action plans based on self-assessments to address gaps and prioritized areas, in conjunction with EMPOWER team members.
- Take appropriate efforts to strengthen partner capacity, as per the action plans. This will include a combination of methods, such as formal trainings, exchange visits among partners, TA accompaniment, write-shops to develop policies/SOPs (or review of existing policies), on-the-job learning, simulation exercises, etc.;
- Regularly assess and monitor partners’ progress toward capacity strengthening goals and work with teams to adjust/improve approaches as needed to address identified shortfalls in DRR.
- Assist select LHAs to develop and manage sub-grants to support communities to develop community-led disaster risk reduction plans that include funds for small DRR grants so that they may implement DRR activities identified in their community DRR plans.
- Lead in the development of MEAL systems and reporting to BHA on DRR components of the EMPOWER project.
- Contribute to discussions and meetings on the EMPOWER project and in CRS DRR discussions as needed basis.
- Identify, document, and share best DRR practices and lessons learned from the EMPOWER project with regions and community of practice; contribute to agency knowledge databases and technical libraries.
- Contribute to increasing CRS’ leadership and recognized portfolio in DRR and resilience programs.
-
Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.
-
Establish and maintain regular communication channels with EMPOWER team members to share learning, challenges, successes, and tools among the team.
-
Ensure quality partnerships between CRS and target partners in line with CRS and Caritas Internationalis (CI) partnership principles.
-
Develop contacts with other humanitarian organizations (local and international) working on DRR to facilitate new learning, sharing of practices, and collaboration.
-
As required, represent HRD in CRS Protection working groups, and other internal and external groups working on PSEA and protection mainstreaming.
-
Contribute to, and in some cases lead, the development of the technical design for proposals. Support the process of preparation, design, submission and approval of project concepts and full-fledged proposals. As needed, act as a technical writer on proposal development teams. Advise project teams on integrating donor strategies, priorities and technical requirements into CRS’ approach.
-
Collect and analyze program data, capture and share lessons learned and best practices for specific projects to facilitate improvements in decision-making and contribute to the DRR learning agenda.
-
Contribute to maintaining relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions, participate in forums in the area DRR to collect and share best practices and promote CRS’ work.
Required Languages – Oral and written language proficiency; capable of conducting trainings, writing reports and proposals, holding meetings, conducting interviews and communicate with partners in English and Spanish is a requirement.
Knowledge of Portuguese, French or Haitian Kreyol are a plus.
Travel:
- Willingness and ability to travel internationally 50% of time (i.e., 6 months out of the year)
- Willingness and ability to deploy as soon as possible when disasters strike, primarily within Latin American and the Caribbean; may include deployments to other regions, as needed. *
*Candidates should be based in North/Central/South America or the Caribbean to be able to easily travel to project sites.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Extremely flexible and able to cope with stressful situations in emergency environments.
- Excellent relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings
- Strong strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions with limited or incomplete information and offer innovative solutions.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to write reports and facilitate trainings or workshops.
- Proactive, resourceful, results and service-oriented
- Presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
- Strong relationship management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
- Capable of working long hours in a fast-paced environment and juggle multiple priorities.
- Strong cross-cultural communication skills.
Emergency Competencies
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff working in emergencies to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
- Communicates strategically under pressure.
- Manages stress and complexity.
- Actively promotes safety and security.
- Manages and implements high-quality emergency programs.
Preferred Qualifications
- Candidates from/presently based in the LAC region are highly preferred.
- Experienced trainer/teacher of adults and multi-cultural groups, in both in-person and virtual settings.
- Experienced in establishing and implementing community-based feedback, complaints and response mechanisms is an asset.
- Demonstrated knowledge of and ability to navigate the humanitarian coordination system.
Supervisory Responsibilities: None
Key Working Relationships
Internal
- LACRO Technical Advisor for Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change and Resilience
- EMPOWER TA II
- HRD EMPOWER Team Members
- HRD LACRO Focal Point
- Other HRD Team Members – Technical Advisors (Shelter, WASH, Protection Mainstreaming, Emergency Program Quality and Management, Operations and Cash and Markets)
- EMPOWER and DRR Regional and Country Program Teams to advance learning
External
- Local Humanitarian Actors
- Local Caritas Partner leadership, staff and volunteers
- Caritas International Member Organization representatives
- Representatives of other NGOs, UN and International Agencies operating in the region
Qualifications – External
Basic Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in International Relations, or field(s) related to DRR/R such as Disaster Management, Environmental Management, Climate Risk Management, Global Affairs, Humanitarian Aid, etc. required.
- Minimum of three years relevant work experience with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with minimum of two years relevant field-based experience in DRR/R.
- Knowledge of technical principles and concepts in DRR/R. General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
- Strong proposal development and writing skills preferred.
- Experience in capacity strengthening and applying best practices.
- Experience with program monitoring and evaluation and analysis.
- Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners.
- Understanding of partnership principles.
- Basic knowledge of design requirements and regulations of major donors including the United States Government, Caritas, the EU, and UN agencies.
- Experience working CRS Security Level III environments.
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
· Integrity
· Continuous Improvement & Innovation
· Builds Relationships
· Develops Talent
· Strategic Mindset
· Accountability & Stewardship
*Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.
*Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.*
Note: All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside their home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical examination.
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.
CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate or global telecommuter, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer