ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
The American Red Cross has had a presence in the American Region since 2002. With funds from the United States Government, it began working in Colombia, hand in hand with the Colombian Red Cross, developing humanitarian actions in different departments of the country, through the Humanitarian Assistance Project, within a context of continuous humanitarian aid needs as a result of the armed conflict and natural disasters.
In Peru, the American Red Cross (AmCross) initiated actions after the earthquake of August 15, 2007, in the territory of the Department of Ica, 8.0° on the Richter Scale and with an epicenter 65 km from the southern coast of Peru. Due to the magnitude of the damage caused, both in terms of material and human losses, the CRA responded to this event with emergency humanitarian aid, and later expanded its intervention within the recovery and development phase. The lines of action were Community Health and Risk Reduction in 28 communities in the Province of Chincha, Department of Ica.
Likewise, in Chile, due to the earthquake and tsunami of February 2010, the American Red Cross was developing activities in Disaster Risk Reduction in the Bío Bío, Maule and O'Higgins Regions. Throughout these years, the interest of the American Red Cross in the region has been directed towards strengthening its partner National Societies and vulnerable communities, taking into account gender equity, and orienting activities towards the development of capacities and resources in the areas of risk reduction, disaster response and community health.
For the American Red Cross Department of International Services, a resilient community is one that has the physical, psychological, social and economic capacity to resist, adapt quickly and recover successfully from a disaster. AmCross partners, as well as National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, seek to help vulnerable communities that are at high risk from disasters, for example hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and other adverse situations such as epidemics, disease outbreaks, HIV, etc., to be better prepared to respond to and recover from the crisis.
Over the past two years, the American Red Cross Delegation for the Americas and the Caribbean, with a regional office in Panama, has been working on building strong and resilient communities, moving from a sectoral approach to risk reduction to a comprehensive risk management approach, which is the vision of the American Red Cross Strategic Plan 2020-2023 for the region. Through lessons learned and feedback work with stakeholders, AmCross recognizes that building resilient communities is a process and not just an outcome. In that sense, we seek to focus community work on designing integrated interventions that will enable changes in the attitudes and practices of our partners, who are all the communities and people for whom the Red Cross Movement channels its efforts, in the interest of providing better service and collectively building safer and more resilient environments.
The Regional Program Officer will be hired under the legal umbrella of the IFRC Americas Regional Office based in Panama, but will work under the direction of the American Red Cross Regional Office in Panama. The position will be based in Colombia.
JOB PURPOSE
The Regional Program Officer of the American Red Cross will work in coordination with the Subregional Offices and the National Societies, especially those included as part of the programs financed by the American Red Cross, through technical and programmatic support to ensure a design, planning and efficient /effective implementation, as well as supervision that allows the achievement of the goals and objectives of the American Red Cross programs in the region and ensure faithful compliance with the norms, procedures, and regulations agreed between the National Societies and the American Red Cross. In addition, the Regional Program Officer will work under the supervision of the Regional Director, supporting the Country Representatives in finding and obtaining resources for the development of the activities of the American Red Cross in each of the countries.
JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Supervise and control that the formulated projects be aligned with the NSD and National Society’s strategic plans.
- Promover estrategias de alineación de los Programas a los Planes Nacionales y Políticas Regionales. Promote strategies for aligning the programs to the National Plans and Regional Policies.
- Support the Regional Program Manager in the supervision, advice, and support of the Subregional Offices of the American Red Cross with control systems, communication, and results from the American Red Cross’s projects and programs in the region.
- Carry out weekly and monthly reports with relevant information on the development and operational and technical implementation of the actions of the American Red Cross in the Region.
- Support the M&E Coordinator in the quarterly review and development of the ITT.
- Support the coordination of migration projects in the development of the operational and financial aspects necessary for the response to migrants in the region.
- Define the technical and operational line of the American Red Cross in relation to actions to support migrants in Colombia based on the guidelines given by the regional office
- Supervise and control compliance with the deadlines of the Project Agreements and notify and keep the Regional Director and Regional Program Manager informed about compliance with said deadlines.
- Support the Regional Director and the Country Representative in the fundraising and resource mobilization processes.
- Promote the development of a project bank of the American Red Cross for both priority countries and other countries in the Region, as necessary.
- Support planning, strategy development and management of the Organizational Development (OD) and DRR component.
- Have disaster management capacity, availability and technical capacities developed to support emergency operations.
- Provide required support in the formulation of different proposals.
- Strengthen disaster response to support Response Lead.
EDUCATION
- University Degree in Business Administration, Industrial Engineering or equivalent experience
EXPERIENCE
- Proven experience in working with programs and projects related to at least one of the priorities of ISD (1. Crisis Management: Preparation, Response, and Recovery; and 2. Eradication of Measles).
- PMD Pro Certification or similar
- 2 years of experience with the analysis, planification, and management of programs and resources, and the mobilization and financing of the resources.
- Knowledge of Red Cross Doctrine and Protection, preferred
- Training under the Methodology "Integral Participatory Diagnosis (IPD)", preferred
- Experience working in humanitarian organizations, preferred
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
- Good interpersonal relations in the work environment
- Ability to work under pressure in emergency environments
- Oral and written communication skills
- Internal and external customer service orientation
- Vehicle driving license
- Handling of computer packages in Windows environment, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Internet
- Availability of hours and possibility of working at night.
- Ability to travel within and out of the country.
- Advanced knowledge of the Methodology "It is Better to Prevent", preferred.
LANGUAGES
- Fluent spoken and written English
How to apply:
Please submit your application up to December 31, 2020. It is necessary to indicate 3 job references, a coverage page and CV.
The information must be send to the following e-mail: hr.americas@ifrc.org indicating as subject: Regional Program Officer – American Red Cross LAC Delegation - Colombia