Cash and Voucher Advisor – Humanitarian Surge Team (HST)

ROLE PURPOSE:

As part of our humanitarian ambition and 2030 global strategy, Save the Children is developing and implementing a new Surge Capacity Model to further improve the efficient deployment of high quality surge staff to support the delivery of our Humanitarian Responses directly and in collaboration with SCI partners.  The model will be a stimulus for other areas of the organisation, demonstrating more collaborative and cost effective ways of working to drive resources closer to children and honour our commitments to sector wide developments including the Grand Bargain and Core Humanitarian Standard.  

People surge is a vital component of our humanitarian responses, providing a much-needed expertise and capacity which can be called upon when it is needed most, helping to ensure high quality and timely humanitarian responses and ultimately saving the lives of children and their families.  The post holder will provide dedicated surge support for all categories of humanitarian response efforts, interim cover for critical roles and capacity building to country and regional office staff and SCI partners within humanitarian contexts around the globe.  When not on deployment the post holder will undertake work at the base location agreed with their subject matter line manager and deployment manager and contribute to the further development of the surge capacity model.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly. This new specialism sits outside of any specific technical sector and is intended to support the programmatic design and implementation of cash and voucher interventions C&V covering all stages of the programme cycle, from the initial assessment of the appropriateness, operational feasibility and risks, to the design of the intervention, the selection and implementation of a delivery mechanism and distribution process, and the monitoring. This role has both an operational and a programmatic/technical focus and is designed to support technical advisers to help meet programmatic objectives through cash transfers. Applicants with strong cash operational backgrounds and a reasonable understanding of all programmatic areas that are relevant to children’s survival, protection, and learning are therefore encouraged to apply to this position. 

The Cash and Voucher Advisor within the Humanitarian Surge Team (HST) will generally be deployed as a field or head office level manager, to support the design, set up, and/or implementation and monitoring of Cash Transfer programmes in an emergency response. Line management will be either within the operations or the programme quality department, depending on the focus of the assignment (design or operational implementation).

They will be expected to advise on all aspects of designing, setting up, and/or managing and monitoring all operational areas (including budget development and management, agency coordination and representation, security, logistics, compliance with internal policies and procedures and management of teams) of cash transfer programming. These deployments may be as part of a team in a small or medium size response or in a complex, large scale emergency. In all deployments, the post holder will play a key role in building capacity at field level, and in the effective scale up and management of Save the Children emergency programmes to increase impact and enable positive change for children. 

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

- Provide support to the Response Team Leader in finalizing and ensuring the uptake of C&VCash & Vouchers (C&V) Responsible, Accountable, Supporting, Consulted, informed (RACI) matrix based on SCI customisable template, in a way that responsibility and accountability lines for C&V are clearly defined across teams and staff.

- Provide support to the Response Team Leader in finalizing and ensuring the uptake of the C&VCash & Vouchers Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) based on SCI customizable template and policies plus procedures set forth in the new C&V Ops Manual.

- Provide support to the technical and operational design and implementation of C&VC&V interventions working closely with the Response Team Leader, Programme and Operations Deputy Team Leaders, operations department and technical sector advisors, and applying the highest quality standards and policies set by SCI centre and SC members. 

- Support the management of multiple grants across multiple sectors, where there is a predominately cash transfer or voucher component, ensuring that operational aspects of projects and reports are delivered according to SC and donor contractual requirements, within the agreed timescale and budget. 

- Support the Team Leader and technical advisors in developing response and sectoral strategies, full proposals and log frames for the field base or area by providing input and advice in relation to C&V intervention design (i.e. expected outcomes, child sensitivity, C&V modality, target criteria, amount, duration, frequency, output and outcome indicators) as well as its operational elements(i.e. around acceptance, feasibility, organisational capacities, risk management, delivery mechanisms, timeframes, compliance). 

- Provide advice to the Response Team Leader around advocacy messages concerning C&V, to be for internal and external use, in line with the latest available global evidence, lessons learned, guidance and global debate.

- Introduce the necessary context-specific adaptations and deliver child-sensitive C&V training to operations department and technical sector advisors, based on existing training materials by CaLP and SC, and ensuring alignment with quality standards and policies that are set at the global level.

- Provide advice and leadership on the planning and implementation of all operational aspects of cash transfer programming, which will include finance, delivery mechanisms, risk management, security, logistics, award management and donor compliance, ensuring any relevant external and internal (i.e. Cash Transfer Authorization) approvals are requested and received in time according to activity workplans. 

- Lead or – where leadership is taken by designated technical advisors - support needs and market assessments for the relevant commodities and services, in line with standards set by Humanitarian Technical Working Groups and global cash advisors, and in collaboration with Technical Advisors, MEAL, and Supply Chain.

- Lead and oversee the assessment, selection and contracting of cash transfer service providers by working closely with supply chain teams at local, regional and Centre level to ensure SCI C&V operational requirements are met.

- Manage logistics processes and input to the cash transfer programming design and implementation to ensure that where necessary we can procure, store and distribute cash or vouchers for the timely delivery of project objectives within the field base or area. Lead on the development and update of tools and templates to support the management, implementation, and MEAL of C&V in line with donor contractual requirements and SCI Quality Framework. 

- Feed into multi agency C&V coordination at head office, field base or area, and lend support to clusters where appropriate. 

- Work with Operations and Safety and Security colleagues to develop and implement effective safety and security procedures for specific cash transfer programming activities, ensuring that these are updated and revised at regular intervals and that new programmes are built around security considerations. 

- Manage and motivate in-country or response staff to perform highly in their respective roles and responsibilities. This may include leading on staffing structure, recruitment, performance management and implementing staff welfare policy where appropriate. 

- Coach and mentor national staff counterparts and contribute to capacity building at field and national level by designing and delivering C&V trainings and other capacity building initiatives as needed, in line with SCI Quality Standards.

- Support country teams to build their operational preparedness to deliver and scale up C&V in a timely manner, according to SCI’s processes and procedures, inputting into preparedness plans and leading or supporting other preparedness activities (e.g. SOPs, RACI matrix, feasibility assessments, framework agreements with financial service providers, pre-crisis market assessments, etc.).

- Identify, document and proactively share learnings from the technical design as well as the implementation of the operational aspects of C&V with national, regional and Centre teams, taking part in the update of tools and guidance at a global level as and when needed.

- Comply with and promote SCUK and SCI's Global policies such as Child Safeguarding, Whistle blowing, Fraud, Health and Safety and other relevant policies 

- Represent the principles and work of Save the Children UK and SCI to donors, United Nations, NGOs and INGOs, government, media and other forum at national level as and when required. 

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

Essential

- Previous emergency experience  

- Significant and relevant overseas experience in designing, managing and implementing cash transfer programmes for a broad range of institutional donors

- Management experience of operational aspects of Cash Transfer Programming. 

- Experience in the introduction of internal controls systems to support C&V delivery in the areas of financial management, logistics, security and programme delivery. 

- Demonstrable understanding of M&E and beneficiary accountability 

- Education: MA / MSc level or equivalent field preferably in economics, and with finance or logistics experience 

- National team and/or small ex-pat team line management experience 

- Experience of working in insecure environments and adapting internal processes to mitigate security risks 

- C&VUnderstanding of field level representation with key stakeholders and co-ordination with other NGOs/UN 

- Good attention to detail 

- Cultural awareness and ability to build relationships quickly with a wide variety of people 

- Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure 

- Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities 

- Strong communication (written and spoken) skills in English 

- Good interpersonal skills with experience in managing multicultural teams 

- Fluent in English and another language: either French, Spanish, Portuguese or Arabic

Desirable

- Multi-site management experience 

- ECHO and/or USAID (OFDA or FFP) programme management experience 

- National level representation with key stakeholders and co-ordination with other NGOs/UN 

- Media trained