Emergency Response Officer (ERO) for CAFOD - Middle East Programme

This role is for CAFOD but hosted by CRS.

Emergency Response Officer (ERO) – Middle East Programme

Syria Crisis Response and Lebanon development programme

Job Profile

The overall vision for CAFOD’s Middle East Programme is people – especially women, young people and other marginalised groups such as refugees - are engaging in social change processes that promote participation, equality and inclusion in their societies, challenge injustice and lack of rights, improve wellbeing and the quality of life, promote care of the natural world and are anticipating and managing conflicts without violence.  CAFOD’s long term development programming in Lebanon (referred to here as the Lebanon development programme) and the Syria Crisis Response are integral parts of the Middle East Programme.

The Syria Crisis Response is a joint programme between CAFOD and SCIAF (CAFOD "Catholic Agency For Overseas Development" and SCIAF "Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund" are the official aid and development agencies of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and in Scotland. They are members of the Caritas Internationalis Confederation) aiming at providing affected and vulnerable refugees, IDPs and host communities appropriate access to essential services for their immediate and ongoing needs, to reduce the impact of the crisis and to increase their ability to build a longer-term resilience to future shocks.

CAFOD’s Lebanon development programme works with refugee and host communities to tackle the factors that promote or hinder peace including promoting social cohesion, strengthening the leadership of women and young people and supporting communities to claim their rights.

The purpose of the ERO role is to provide support to enable the effective delivery of CAFOD’s Middle East Programme, that is the emergency programme which is responding to the current Syrian crisis and the Lebanon development programme. The post holder will be line managed by CAFOD Emergency Programme Manager (EPM) based in Beirut, and will work closely with London-based colleagues including the Emergency Programme Officer, the Country Representative and Programme Officer, who will hold some task management responsibilities. The post holder will support and accompany our partners within the Syria crisis response and the Lebanon development programme to contribute to CAFOD’s partnership approach as well as the delivery of an effective and high-quality response. 

As part of CAFOD’s Syria Crisis Response Team, the ERO will provide both in-person and remote technical and operational support as well as supporting the implementation and maintenance of systems and procedures for ensuring good practice and meeting sectoral standards on accountability and programme quality. The ERO will provide additional capacity to CAFOD’s Lebanon development programme team, which accompanies partners from London. Working with partners is central to CAFOD’s programming and the ERO will play an important role in strengthening the capacity of partners to lead the emergency and development response and fostering and facilitating learning between partners. All roles undertaken by the ERO will work towards an integral ecology which benefits people, communities, and the environment, in accordance with CAFOD’s mission and values.

The postholder will be expected to undertake travel within the region, including to Syria, security permitting. 

Key components of the role:

• To provide support to partners to ensure they meet CAFOD’s administrative and compliance requirements;
• To provide support in the monitoring of projects;
• To work as required with partners to support and help strengthen capacities;
• To assess the humanitarian situation and needs of communities;
• Under guidance from the Middle East teams, engage in national and international fora with donors and the government and other humanitarian actors in the region as appropriate;
• To assist in development of proposals for institutional donors which bring together CAFOD partners in Lebanon
• To facilitate shared learning between the Syria response programme and the Lebanon development programme

Key Responsibilities

1. Provide Emergency response support to the Syria Crisis Response Team (40%)

• Provide a range of technical expertise to new and ongoing humanitarian crises in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria through remote or in-person support as needed such as needs assessment, project design and development
• Conduct visits to project sites to monitor project implementation and assess needs
• Support the planning and implementation of humanitarian programmes providing technical support and guidance to CAFOD/SCIAF programme staff and partner organisations to deliver high quality assistance in relief, rehabilitation and recovery phases of humanitarian response and preparedness
• Support technical aspects of proposal development and design and contribute to report writing
• Work with the Emergency Programme Manager and Emergency Programme Officer to monitor new and chronic humanitarian crises, support corporate decision making on responses to these crises through timely provision of assessment information and support the development and design of humanitarian responses
• Work with the programme team to increase the programme’s impact
• Support the Humanitarian Funding Officer in the development of proposals for institutional funding and reporting to donors

2. Ensure programme quality, systems and standards of the Syria Programme Response (25%)

• Monitor and support the evaluation of the humanitarian response, support corporate decision making and design of further programme responses
• Support the implementation and maintenance of systems and procedures for ensuring good practice and meeting sectoral standards on accountability, protection and programme quality, including the Red Cross/Crescent Code of Conduct and the SPHERE standards. Promote CAFOD partnership principles and compliance with Core Humanitarian Standards and standards on accountability to people and communities
• Work with CAFOD’s technical staff to ensure that key cross-cutting themes such as protection, accountability, gender, safeguarding and environmental stewardship are appropriately incorporated into our humanitarian responses and provide capacity strengthening support for these areas to partners
• Work with the Emergency Programme Officer to monitor the progress of projects and capture key lessons to inform future humanitarian programme
• Provide expertise and capacity to respond to new and ongoing humanitarian crises and responses in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.
• Engage with the Head of Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy to ensure CAFOD’s humanitarian policy and advocacy is coherent and effective, and informed by our experience and that of our partners

3. Provide support in the delivery of Lebanon development programme (25%)

• Support CAFOD’s peacebuilding objective as requested by programme staff.  This includes:

• Facilitating partners’ ongoing reflection and analysis;
• Assisting partners to undertake regular conflict analysis;
• Participating in relevant roundtable meetings and fora and identifying opportunities for innovation and learning

• Support partners as requested to meet CAFOD’s administrative and compliance needs, including Safeguarding requirements:

• Support the Programme Officer in the completion of documentation, following up on action plans supporting partners in the development of policies and procedures 

• Support partner financial reporting in order to comply with CAFOD standards:

• Support the Programme Officer to complete Mango Health Checks including physical review of documentation and following up on action plans.
• Support in the completion of due diligence processes and other compliance requirements.

• Support the integration of CAFOD’s emergency and development work as requested. This includes:

• Facilitating opportunities for joint learning and capacity strengthening;
• Liaising with partners and contributing to identifying opportunities for joint programming;
• Facilitating opportunities for joint communications and advocacy including assisting with Arabic translation of partner stories and blogs.

4. Facilitate CAFOD representation and support with supporter communications (10%)

• Participate in interagency fora and build and strengthen relationships with Caritas Internationalis sister agencies to promote and aid coordinated humanitarian response in the Syria crisis
• Support the preparation of supporter communications, by undertaking occasional content-gathering visits to partners and communities, as well as working with the media, writing and preparing interviews both on radio and TV if required.
• Promote the profile of the Middle East programme within CAFOD and externally to supporters.
• Work flexibly within the team environment of International Programmes, supporting other tasks by agreement with line management.

This list of duties and responsibilities is by no means exhaustive and the post holder may be required to undertake other relevant and appropriate duties as required. This job description is subject to regular review and appropriate modification.

Management

The ERO will report to CAFOD Syria Crisis Response Programme Manager (EPM) based in Beirut. 

Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults

CAFOD recognises the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect.  CAFOD, and all its staff and volunteers, undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse.  CAFOD is committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount.  Any candidate offered a job with CAFOD will be expected to adhere to CAFOD’s Safeguarding policy and sign CAFOD’s Code of Behaviour as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents. This post involves contact with children, young people and vulnerable adults, or has responsibility for people who will do, and applicants will be subject to specific checks related to safeguarding issues.  If based in the UK the post holder is required to present or obtain a Disclosure from the DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service).  If the post is based outside the UK the post holder will be subject to a different checking process.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references, and appropriate screening checks can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. CAFOD also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of, and consent to, these recruitment procedures.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

Understanding our context

A. Understanding CAFOD: actively supports CAFOD’s vision, mission and values and what we aim to achieve;

B. Understanding international development: commitment to and demonstrated experience of working with humanitarian standards and best practice (e.g. Humanitarian Charter, SPHERE, Red Cross and Red Crescent Code of Conduct, Core Humanitarian Standard); Ability to liaise with international bodies and consortia (e.g. Caritas, EU, UN, NGOs); understanding of gender and diversity in development and humanitarian work; knowledge of tools and ways of working to address gender through the project cycle; understanding of the impact of child and vulnerable adult abuse and the importance of  robust safeguarding policies and practices

Working together

C. Working with others: treats others with dignity and respect; proven successes in working with community-based organisations and local partners in the delivery of humanitarian and development programmes and capacity strengthening, particularly in preparedness and response;

D. Managing ourselves: able to make sound decisions in complex circumstances where information may be unclear;

E. Communicating: encourages others to reflect and contribute to discussion; ensures others fully understand what has been discussed and agreed; presents complex issues simply and clearly; ability to communicate in written and spoken English and operate day to day in Arabic;

F. Looking outwards: ability to build cooperative and professional relationships with partners, communities, donors and peers

Making change happen

G Achieving results: proven experience of successfully supporting delivery of programmes in different emergency and development contexts; will tackle conflicts or problems in a balanced way;

H Managing resources:  proactively monitors expenditure and is aware of current financial position; good budget management skills;

I Managing our performance:  able to feed into team plans and objectives and deliver against them in challenging circumstances;

J Taking the lead: motivates others to get things done               

Job-specific competencies

Technical skills and experience:

• Degree (or equivalent experience) in international development or a related field;
• Experience in the Middle East humanitarian and development sector or a similar context;
• Experience of successfully designing and facilitating emergency response and development interventions;
• Experience and understanding of partnership approach and working with both church and secular partners (large and small)
• Proven expertise and understanding of emergency preparedness and response, with understanding of peacebuilding and/or conflict sensitivity;
• Proven successes in working with community-based organisations and local partners in the delivery of humanitarian and development programmes and capacity strengthening;
• Ability to support staff and partners in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning;
• Proven ability in financial monitoring and due diligence processes;
• Demonstrated experience of working with humanitarian standards (e.g. Humanitarian Charter, SPHERE, Red Cross and Red Crescent Code of Conduct, HAP) and a commitment to best practice;
• Understanding and experience of approaches to ensure accountability in humanitarian work (e.g., Core Humanitarian Standards, SPHERE, the Humanitarian Charter and Red Cross and Red Crescent Code of Conduct, IHL instruments and Monitoring and Evaluation)
• Understanding and experience of approaches to support safeguarding in humanitarian and development work.

Humanitarian Leadership and Coordination:

• High-level interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to effectively influence and liaise with key stakeholders on behalf of and in line with CAFOD’s principles;
• Ability to work autonomously, take the initiative and proven ability to work creatively, innovatively and effectively to make decisions with limited direct supervision;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude

Operating safely in a pressured and changing environment:

• Ability to travel in insecure environments and to manage one’s own personal security and the security of our partners;
• Demonstrated ability at being flexible and adaptable to changing situations and to remain calm while dealing with conflicting priorities and working under pressure

Other:

• Fluent in written and spoken English;
• Ability to conduct day to day work in Arabic;
• Good analytical skills, skills in review of documents and report writing;
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple tasks and implementing systems and procedures

Desirable Criteria:

• Technical expertise / experience in one of the following: Protection, Cash programming, psychosocial support; DRR, livelihoods; gender; safeguarding