Response Team Leader/Senior Advisor

 Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala (on sight, remote work not possible)

Contract duration: 1 year, with possible extension of up to 3 years (depending on funding)

Eligibility:  Guatemalan citizens, or Internationals with valid residence and working permit                                       

Grade: I

Reports to: Country Director

Staff reporting to this post: 4

Starting date: ASAP

DRS is looking, on behalf of our client, and Global Humanitarian Organization, for a skilled Response Team Leader/Senior Advisor to support the organizations’ operations and programme goals in this area.

Role Purpose:

The Team Leader will be deployed to manage the prioritized Humanitarian Response in Guatemala and in collaboration with the Country Director, and Program Director. The Team Leader is responsible for identifying needs and resources and elaborating programmatic, operational, strategic and leadership recommendations for the emergency response in line with the Organization’s national and global priorities. The post-holder will help design and manage programmes or country support functions and negotiate and network at an international level. They will ensure that all relevant Organization’s policies and procedures with respect to child safeguarding, safety and security, code of conduct, equal opportunities, and other relevant policies are in place. The post holder will play a leading role in the management of the Organization’s emergency programmes and coordination with the government of Guatemala authorities, UN system, other international organizations, as well as civil society and the private sector to increase impact and enable positive change for children.

As Senior Advisor for Health/Nutrition/Food Security, the incumbent will be the Organization’s primary point of contact with all relevant stakeholders working in health matters. S/he will collaborate with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, and SESAN, and other critical partners to provide high-level support for effective capacity building at the local level and sustainability of the project interventions. S/he will act also as the primary Organization’s Guatemala advisor on health, nutrition, and food security issues for the country office, supervise and support activities related to health and nutrition and represent the Organization in the health and or food security thematic groups working at the national level.

Key Areas of Responsibility:

• Assume overall oversight of all the Humanitarian Responses in collaboration with the Country Director and other relevant CO SMT members.
• Advise senior policymakers, host country entities, including central and local governments, development partners, civil society, and community-based organizations on health, nutrition, and related policies
• Ensure high-quality technical leadership and oversight are in place to design and implement comprehensive public health interventions, and related capacity strengthening
• Ensuring strict compliance of programme activities with the Organization’s national and global policies and procedures and with relevant donor regulations and agreements, SPHERE guidelines, and the NGO code of conduct.
• In coordination with Country Director and other relevant CO SMT members, lead on the country and Central American level strategic planning for any given humanitarian response in the country, to ensure an effective emergency response in all of its phases of delivery
• Having oversight over the development of relevant master budgets, aligned with the Humanitarian Response Strategy objectives, for the duration of the response and for multiple sites and multiple sectors where appropriate. S/he will take overall leadership on the implementation of the Response relevant project level budgets while keeping relevant stakeholders informed and ensuring any corrective actions are taken where required.
• In coordination with relevant team members from both the Humanitarian Response and Health and nutrition activities, s/he will ensure the preparation of timely programme delivery and submit the donor reports on project activities in compliance with internal Organization requirements and any relevant external donor requirements.
• Ensuring that the relevant project monitoring plans and systems for identifying and tracking the indicators and developing processes/procedures and forms to support monitoring and inform learning are established and implemented.
• Ensure optimal safety and security management procedures and practices are in place for the emergency response programme and continually monitor the safety and security situation, adapting staff safety and security procedures accordingly in collaboration and cooperation with the Country Security & IT Coordinator.
• Ensure effective functioning of logistics systems to procure, store and distribute stock, supplies and services for the timely delivery of project objectives at national level
• Ensure strong accountability to beneficiaries
• Plan, identify and resource appropriate and effective structure & staffing needs for entire response; In liaison with the HR CO Director ensuring that personnel policies are in accordance with national laws).
• Define the assignment of tasks to the responsible persons under their direct control, evaluating the work through the "Performance Management Plan" of the Organization.
• Advise Country Director and SMT on health matters to support national response and the Organization’s internal procedures on health and labour policies.

Capacity Building:

• Ensure that capacity-building plans and performance management systems are in place to develop the requisite competencies in staff to ensure ongoing sustainability and quality of response in both humanitarian settings and health activities.
• Coach and mentor staff and national level counterparts and link into wider organizational talent development mechanisms.

Representation & Advocacy & Organisational Learning:

• Represent the Organization’s emergency response and health/nutrition and food security matters on a national, regional and international level to donors, the media and members of the humanitarian community.
• Help shape broader sector strategies through influence of and leadership within inter-agency coordination forums, ensuring the specific needs of children are being addressed
• Work with Advocacy Manager to represent and advocate with Government partners and officials as well as donor representatives. Establish systems for communication with local Government partners, relevant line departments and community representations in the project area(s).
• Lead on organisational level operational practice, innovation and learning in consultation with Humanitarian team.
• Support and coordinate active participation of CO cluster members in meetings and provide ongoing information so that they can best represent the Organization and of course beneficiaries needs in cluster meetings.
• Ensure the Organization’s response review framework is implemented, and lessons learned / recommendations followed up

General:

• Comply with the Organization policies and practice with respect to child safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Qualifications and competencies:

Essential:

• Master’s Degree in a related field, of study (Medicine, Public Health, Humanitarian Assistance, Epidemiology and/or nutrition and food security) and a minimum of 7 years of progressively increasing responsibility, working on large-scale, complex international development assistance and public health programs, food security and Humanitarian Response, OR a Bachelor’s degree in a related field of study and a minimum of 10 years of progressively increasing responsibility, working on large-scale, complex international Humanitarian Response.
• Extensive experience of working within a senior management role and within an emergency response; public health and/or extensive experience of setting up responses in out of area contexts (either where no the Organization’s presence or CO presence).
• Previous experience of managing programme teams in medium to large-scale, first phase emergency response and health is essential.
• Senior management experience of leading a diverse, multi-function and/or multi-sector team at a Country Director or other relevant SMT level.
• Experience of managing multi-donor, multi-site programmes (including BHA/USAID, ECHO, and OCHA) of $5m+ in a first phase response at regional or country level
• Experience of international level representation with key stakeholders, and co-ordination with other NGOs/UN
• Experience of international media representation and advocacy
• Experience of M&E and beneficiary accountability systems in large complex programmes
• Experience of developing and negotiating successful partnerships with institutional donors
• Proven ability to influence change at an operational and strategic level
• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
• A high level of written and spoken English and Spanish
• The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult working circumstances.
• Commitment to the aims and principles of the Organization. A good understanding of the Organization mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support

Desirable:

• Experience in Emergency Response in Guatemala, especially in hard-to-reach highland areas.

Child Safeguarding:

Our client needs to keep children safe so the selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects the commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Applications and updated CV should be submitted to m.gordeladze@developmentaid.org, under the title: DRS 11276 (ref. number). Due to the high number of applications received via DevelopmentAid website, we can reply to shortlisted candidates only. Please note that the above requirements can be modified during the recruitment process according to client's procedures.