Job Title:  Head, Humanitarian Preparedness and Response

Organisation: Plan International

Duty Station: Arua, Uganda

About the Company:

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And its girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 80 years, and are now active in more than 75 countries.

Job Summary:   The Head of Humanitarian Preparedness & Response is responsible for Leading the country in disaster response and disaster risk reduction in line with Plan strategy, local and international policies, guidelines, and standards.  As a a member of the Extended Country Leadership Team (eCLT) and the Emergency Response Management Team (ERMT), the role holder will be responsible for humanitarian preparedness and oversees a portfolio of humanitarian response projects in West Nile and western regions. the incumbent will also provide strategic direction for humanitarian preparedness and response including resource mobilisation.

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The Head of Humanitarian Preparedness & Response is responsible for Leading the country in disaster response and disaster risk reduction in line with Plan strategy, local and international policies, guidelines, and standards.

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE:

The Head of Humanitarian Preparedness and Response (HHPR) is a member of the Extended Country Leadership Team (eCLT) and the Emergency Response Management Team (ERMT) with a role to support Plan International Uganda’s goal on emergency response and resilience building. S/he is responsible for humanitarian preparedness and oversees a portfolio of humanitarian response projects in West Nile and western regions. The HHPR provides strategic direction for humanitarian preparedness and response including resource mobilisation. S/he will work closely with the Emergency Response Team (ERT) at national and field level.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Emergency and Resilience program design, planning and implementation – 35%.

• Contribute to the design of the country strategy.
• Continuous assessment and analysis of disaster risks for contingency planning and response.
• Overall accountability for humanitarian preparedness and response, resilience programs, including oversight on CPiE, EiE, SRHRiE, SOYEE in emergencies,
• With support from the Director of Programs, design, provide implementation oversight, monitor and evaluate humanitarian preparedness and response and Resilience
• Work with different Plan departments to develop Emergency Response Plans, as needed, and establish disasters information database covering all possible technical, supply, human resource, communications, logistics and other needs for immediate response.
• Lead the emergency response and resilience initiatives in the country, including providing advice to the Country Director and the Country Leadership Team on Plan International’s emergency response processes.
• Work with program teams to provide evidence of emergency and resilience building interventions and best practices through documentation and dissemination of lessons learnt.
• Generate/review emergency response reports, including situation reports (sitreps).
• Represent Plan International Uganda in relevant national humanitarian preparedness and response technical working groups and thematic clusters.
• Lead rapid needs assessments and emergency responses in the country working closely with the Regional Hub in Nairobi.

Program Quality in Humanitarian Preparedness and Response – 10%.

• Work with programme teams to design and oversee implementation of disaster response programs in line with Plan global humanitarian preparedness and response policy, country strategy, national and international emergency standards and guidelines.
• Responsible for the design and implementation of high quality and effective resilience programmes.
• Continuously analyse, compile and share reports from the different agencies and government institutions charged with early warning monitoring and reporting.
• Provide technical support and guidance to country humanitarian preparedness and response team during emergency assessments, related surveys and studies.

Capacity Development – 20%.

• Assess and strengthen staff and partners’ capacity in disaster preparedness and response and resilience building.
• Ensure all staff in Plan International Uganda have a solid understanding of humanitarian preparedness and response, and resilience, and the emergency response manuals and are utilizing the tools.
• Ensure that the Ready-to-Respond (R2R) Plan is updated quarterly and reflect the emerging hazards so that Plan International Uganda is ready to respond where and when needed.
• Work closely with the Director of Programs, Plan International Uganda Program Leadership Team and relevant departments to develop, review and monitor appropriate implementation plans and budgets to support relevant humanitarian preparedness and response, Resilience work.
• Report regularly to the Director of Programs and PLT on progress/results achieved in technical work plans and barriers encountered, and resolve any challenges faced and provide input into quarterly, annual and grants reporting.
• Maintain close liaison and coordination with senior officials in the relevant line Ministries and other key stakeholders e.g. like in-country donor offices, bilateral and multilateral institutions, the UN etc. to ensure technical assistance activities are carried out with their active participation for building ownership and sustainability.

Fundraising – 10%.

• Work in coordination with the Business Development Unit to identify, prioritise and pursue funding opportunities and leverage on acquired technical skills and capacity to respond to requirements.
• Carry out research and analysis of the fundraising landscape and identify shifts in focus, priorities, targeting and methodologies by donors (governments, global partners, bi-laterals, multi-laterals, foundations as well as individuals and corporates) and respond accordingly.
• Identify donor related policy decisions and strategic directions that have the potential to affect Plan International Uganda humanitarian preparedness and response opportunities at local level.
• Lead the development of funding concept notes and proposals for humanitarian preparedness and response and resilience in collaboration with the Business Development Unit and other relevant parts of the organisation which may include other RH, GH, NOs and the Global Technical Networks.
• Execute donor engagement activities such as donor visits when necessary to profile Plan International Uganda ’s work and promote dialogue and information exchanges in liaison with the Business Development Unit.
• Establish consortiums with like minded agencies to access humanitarian preparedness and response and resilience funding in the country.
• Develop a bank of concepts for future potential solicited and unsolicited funding opportunities. This can be done with current and potential local CSO and other partners.
• Continuously monitor and analyse the emerging disaster situation in Uganda, donor trends and advise on potential areas for fund raising.
• Work with the technical team to develop concepts and proposal on humanitarian preparedness and response.
• Maintain working relationship with strategic donors.

Networking, Partnerships and Coordination – 15%.

• Lead strategic engagement in key networks, alliances and actors in humanitarian preparedness and response, Resilience in the CO.
• Lead in engagement and maintenance of key relationships with the relevant line ministries for collaboration in humanitarian preparedness and response, Resilience at national level.
• Represent Plan International Uganda and ensure Plan’s is visible and voice is heard at various technical meetings with other cooperating agencies and participate in various working groups as required, including making technical presentations on key activities and achievements. Priority will be on UN relevant cluster meetings, and other humanitarian preparedness and response coordination networks.
• Work together with Program Area Managers in the engagement with local government structures in program areas to improve humanitarian preparedness and response and Resilience technical capacity.
• Participate in Regional Hub humanitarian preparedness and response network meetings and share strategic programmatic issues.

Influencing – 5%.

• Work with Communications and MERL to develop key influencing and advocacy strategies for the humanitarian preparedness and response, Resilience work targeting Government staff and community leaders to increase their knowledge, funding capacity in best practices and gender related issues in humanitarian preparedness and response, Resilience.

Safeguarding, Gender Equality and Inclusion – 5%.

• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Protection (CPP) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Essential:

• Master’s degree in disaster response management, development studies, international development, social sciences.
• At least 10 years of demonstrable experience in managing humanitarian response programmes with large and complex budgets. Minimum 7 years leadership experience in disaster risk management.
• Demonstrated understanding of emergency response procedures, standards and guidelines.
• Ability and experience in coordinating teams during emergency response.
• Knowledge of disaster trends in the Ugandan context including clusters and working groups operations.

Desirable:

• Demonstrated experience in coaching and mentoring staff on humanitarian preparedness and response interventions.
• Demonstrable humanitarian preparedness and response influencing experience at national/county level.