WOMEN’S PROTECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR – UKRAINE RESPONSE

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in more than 90 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis. These solutions have a broad range, from clean water to access to education; from microfinance to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because they have proven to be the best hope for creating lasting change in the world. Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for over 70 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe. Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us, and fight with CARE

CARE is seeking a talented individual to assume the role of Women’s Protection Emergency Response Coordinator who will be responsible for providing technical advice, leadership, and coordination for CARE’s emergency programming in Poland in relation to the Ukraine refugee crisis.

They will be the lead on CARE’s response for women and girls, with a focus on – addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG), including prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), and psychosocial support, well-being, safety, and access to support and services for women and girls. They will work in collaboration and partnership with local and national humanitarian and women’s organizations, groups, and activists to support their vital responses to the crisis in ways that make sense to them and their work and teams, grounded in their experiences, expertise and aims.

The Womens’ Protection Emergency Coordinator will take a proactive, participatory role in the humanitarian coordination mechanisms and overall response, advising on, and advocating for, a humanitarian response that is accountable to women and girls, and reflects their lived experiences and voices, priorities, and needs. They will also provide technical advice and support to CARE’s emergency assessments, program design, development, and implementation, alongside communications and advocacy, where needed, and will provide oversight for the quality and effectiveness of CARE’s work and use of resources.

The person in this role will report to the Team Lead/Director of Humanitarian Response while remaining in close contact with technical leads who support globally, particularly CARE’s Gender in Emergencies Director. It is essential for the Coordinator to also work closely with other sectors to mainstream risk mitigation, and ensure aligned and comprehensive approaches to life-saving assistance are being provided.

Responsibilities:

Partnerships

• Establish, develop and build working partnerships with local and national humanitarian and women’s organizations, groups, and activists to support their vital responses to the crisis for refugee women and girls in areas that are mutually identified and prioritized
• Support partners to adjust, shift, grow, holdfast their work as the crisis evolves and changes, where needed, and on areas and issues partners identify as part of the ongoing partnership work with them
• In collaboration with partners, provide learning and joint strategizing opportunities, practice development, and other technical support to partners such as on (but not limited to): humanitarian/emergency response and the humanitarian system, risk assessing and risk mitigation, do no harm, PSEA, VAWG and psycho-social support in emergencies, operations, or areas as identified and prioritized together
• Where relevant and mutually agreed on with partners, support and contribute to the networks and movements partners are a part of in-country and regionally to further the support for women and girls, and their communities, groups, organizations
• Support partners on well-being, burnout prevention, self/peer/collective care, and integrated/holistic security for those doing the work, collectively strategies on these issues, and work with them on what they need
• Work with the CARE team lead, other technical leads, and CARE decision-makers to support implementing partners (particularly around cash distribution) to ensure technical capacity and high-quality design, planning, delivery, and monitoring of emergency activities and interventions.

Coordination and Advocacy

• Represent CARE in relevant coordination, policy, and advocacy discussions from a technical perspective, working with UN agendas, donors, NGOs, and other stakeholders on issues affecting women and girls
• Take a proactive, participatory role in the humanitarian coordination mechanisms (including sector meetings and technical working groups) and overall response, advising on, and advocating for
  • a humanitarian response that is accountable to women and girls, and reflects their lived experiences, voices, priorities, and needs; and
  • a humanitarian response that is also accountable to civil society (in Poland and those in the wider region affected by the crisis), specifically national, local, and community-based women’s groups, organizations, and activists, and their expertise, knowledge, and visions
• Provide timely and safe information to communications and advocacy colleagues in collaboration with team lead and other technical leads, while maintaining the integrity of ideas from participants, and upholding the dignity and voiced needs, priorities, and wishes of those affected.

Oversight and Program Quality

• Act as a senior member of CARE’s emergency response team, providing leadership and technical expertise on all things related to gender, GBV, and women and girls protection, security and well-being
• Support the development of and provide input into high-level strategy and conversations around approach, implementation, priorities, resources needed, etc
• Recruit and train local staff, as needed and appropriate
• Ensure a focus on and advocate for an intentional emphasis on/consideration of PSEA in all CARE work on the response, in conversations, collaborations, partnerships and approaches
• Identify GBV and PSEA risks and gaps, and ways to close the gaps and provide more safety, security and protection for the most vulnerable women and girls
• Ensure adherence to international GBV standards, including the IASC GBV Guidelines, and other do no harm, safeguarding, protection principles, a feminist, women- and girl-centered approach, and anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice
• Contribute to program design and response plans in an integrated and holistic way to support medium to long-term efforts to assist women and girls, and their groups, organizations and networks, in collaboration with team lead and other technical experts within CARE.

Assessment and Consultation

• In-line with safe and ethical approaches and practices, and ensuring diverse populations of women and girls are represented in data collection
• Build off of RGA and other ongoing assessments to develop regular sit reps/analysis of the situation from a gender and GBV perspective for internal use.
• Produce and share out ongoing assessments/assessment information, findings, and recommendations based on interviews, conversations, and focus group discussions for internal audiences.
• Listen and advise on the best ways to hear the stories, experiences, and needs of women and girls as well as other vulnerable populations and community members to understand risks as well as current support systems and plans. This includes as part of ongoing monitoring efforts.
• Undertake a CARE-specific mapping in line with wider GBV/protection mapping ongoing to understand services available/operational, local responses, pathways in place, capacities on the ground, and how best to get women and girls to immediate, life-saving care where possible.
• Ensure assessments and consultations inform and drive program development and design and accountability to women and girls in the affected populations
• Ensure women’s voices are heard, considered, and centered in all of CARE’s responses.

Qualifications:

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, health, humanities, or related field—or equivalent hands-on practical experience;
• Considerable professional work experience at national and international levels, preferably 5-7 years’ experience, with a focus on violence against women and girls prevention and response
• Excellent English- both written and oral communication skills, including proposal writing, presentation/ facilitation, advocacy, and editorial (i.e. comms) skills
• Operational and emergency response experience at the country/regional level in the implementation of programming related to violence against women and children in humanitarian settings with a locally-led centered approach
• Previous experience in European humanitarian response and in various humanitarian settings outside of traditional responses, especially in diverse and highly-political contexts, is a plus.
• Working knowledge of Polish, Ukrainian, and/or Russian languages is desired, but not essential
• Informed and aligned to the current discourse on promoting humanitarian assistance with the lens to decolonizing aid and addressing systematic inequities
• Understanding and experience working in partnership-based approaches with numerous diverse stakeholders, in particular feminist, grassroots, and community-based groups, organizations, and networks, in line with feminist principles and practice, with decolonizing aid and promoting anti-racist/anti-oppressive solutions, and solutions that center their legacies, expertise, knowledge, and visions
• Capacity to work independently as well as share information, receive feedback, problem-solve with staff, and engage in dialogue with colleagues and partners in a highly sensitive and stressful environment.
• Strong listening skills and desire to learn from others – curious approach and positioning to interviews.
• Experience in providing high-level strategic and operational advice and technical support to a variety of stakeholders on existing evidence of what works to prevent and mitigate violence.
• Able to handle pressure effectively and productively, with organizational skills and a commitment to meeting agreed-upon deadlines, in a highly pressured environment
• Additional experience in gender equality programming, women’s rights, women’s sexual and reproductive health, economic security, child protection, psycho-social support, and economic programming, a plus