Background
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with 192 member National Societies. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, our work is guided by seven fundamental principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.
Organizational Context
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC or “the Federation”) is the World’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network. The Federation is a membership organization established by and comprised of its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federation is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The overall aim of the IFRC is” to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises. The Federation is served by a Secretariat based in Geneva, with regional and country offices throughout the world. The Secretariat is led by the IFRC Secretary General and provides the central capacity of the International Federation to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The Secretariat’s headquarters is organized in three main business groups: (i) Partnerships, including Movement and Membership; (ii) Programs and Operations; and (iii) Management. The Secretariat has five regional office, as follows: Americas (Panama City); Africa (Nairobi); Asia/Pacific (Kuala Lumpur); Europe (Budapest); Middle East and North Africa (Beirut). In Africa, the Regional Office (RO) based in Nairobi provides support and operational oversights to IFRC’s country offices (COs) and multi-Country Cluster Support Teams (CCSTs).The IFRC’s Country Office in Mozambique is responsible for providing robust support to the Mozambique Red Cross (CVM) in implementing humanitarian and recovery programmes that address the needs of vulnerable people. Since 20 March 2019, the IFRC has been supporting the CVM in responding to the needs of communities affected by Tropical Cyclones Idai and Kenneth. The Emergency Appeal has been revised in January 2020 in order to expand recovery programming to new geographical areas and to scale up IFRC’s support to CVM for enhancing its Disaster Risk Management (DRM) capabilities including Preparedness for Effective Response (PER) approach. The IFRC is shifting its focus towards strengthening CVM’s capacity for implementing climate smart recovery programming and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in close coordination and collaboration with RC/RC Movement partners, governmental agencies and other key stakeholders in Mozambique.
Job Purpose
Reporting to the Head of Country Office, the role of the Senior Executive Officer is supporting the executive, representation and coordination functions, promoting an effective relationship and communication with the internal and external partners.
The Executive Officer will handle a wide range of contacts with stake holders including national societies, ICRC, Government departments and the international donor community.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
- Managing the day-to-day operational and representation activities of the HoCO, including research, drafting, editing and of the full range of external and internal statements, including speeches, presentations, reports, interventions and speaking points, media interviews and social media statements and other similar communications.
- Review all outgoing correspondence prepared for the Head of Country Office, edit as appropriate to ensure correct spelling, grammar and formatting style in addition draft standard administrative correspondence.
- Accompanies/Supports the HoCO, upon request to meetings, events and provides the necessary strategic advice, briefing notes, records and ensures effective dissemination and follow-up of actions/recommendations.Schedule meetings, briefings and debriefing of secretariat, NS, PNSs and ICRC representative, drafting minutes and follow up on action points, ensuring there is a great coordination between the all levels of the movement, and provide the needed support for information sharing as well as promoting the matrix approach.
- Identify and handle confidential / sensitive material professionally while protecting the interest of the International Federation and the Africa Region.
- Maintaining an in-depth knowledge of the country operations, responding, and / or re-routing general requests for information, screening correspondence, issuing acknowledgements, replying to enquiries as appropriate and drafting correspondence on behalf of the HoCO when necessary.
- Liaise with internal and external contacts/stakeholders to promote a good and positive image of the International Federation through information exchange and professional feedback.
- Consolidate the monthly reports (MMRs) for the Regional Director in consultation with the Head of Operations, and Heads of Departments.
- Organize and maintain efficient information storage and retrieval systems that guarantee the correctness and integrity of records as well as ease of cross referencing with well-defined levels of access.
- Translate documents and correspondence to Portuguese and provide interpretations in various meetings, as necessary.
Education
- University degree in International Relations, Law, or associated field
Experience
Required:
- 5-8 years of relevant experience
- Experience in planning and organization.
- Experience in representation and coordination role.
- Experience in managing workflows, processing minutes, defining actions
- Knowledge, skills and languages
- Excellent computer skills. (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Adobe Acrobat).
- Experience in office management principles and procedures
- Experience in problem identification and solution.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Portuguese
- Discrete and diplomatic behaviour.
- Knowledge and commitment to Red Cross Red Crescent Fundamental Principles, and ability to model those Principles in relationships with colleagues and partners and translate them to development practice
- Fluency in written and spoken English and Portuguese (required)
Competencies and values
- Communication; Collaboration and Teamwork; Judgement and Decision Making; National Society and Customer Relations; Creativity and Innovation; Building Trust
Comments
- The Federation is an equal opportunity employer.