Inclusive Humanitarian Action Specialist – Palestine

Humanity & Inclusion is an independent and impartial aid organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. The organisation works alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, taking action and bearing witness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights.

Since its creation in 1982, HI has run development programmes in more than 60 countries and responded to numerous emergencies. Today, we have a budget of approximately 255 million euros, with 4794 employees worldwide.

At Handicap International-Humanity & Inclusion, we truly believe in the importance of inclusion and diversity within our organisation. This is why we are engaged to a disability policy to encourage the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities.

Please indicate if you require any special accommodation, even at the first interview. For more information about the organisation: www.hi.org

JOB CONTEXT:

The Palestine mission is part of the Mashriq regional programme, which covers Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. – HI in 2023 has been implementing a mix of humanitarian and development projects in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The new conflict between Hamas and Israel in October 2023 has created a major humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Around 96,000 Palestinians have been injured (Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza) and several thousand among them have suffered from amputations or permanent impairments.

In Gaza, HI has launched some light rehabilitation activities in IDP shelters through trained community-based agents and has provided more than 1,000 people with assistive devices. HI is planning to scale up substantially its response in the coming months, hiring more local physiotherapists, providing emergency rehabilitation also in homes, supporting hospitals and launching prosthetics and orthotics services.

Current sectors of activity are: physical rehabilitation, MHPSS, Humanitarian Mine Action, humanitarian logistics, education in emergencies, emergency preparedness, disability mainstreaming/inclusion in humanitarian action, advocacy.

YOUR MISSION:

Under the line management of the Deputy Country Manager and the functional management of the Global IHA Specialist, the IHA Specialist contributes to the implementation of the HI mandate and the operational strategy of HI Palestine mission in the field of disability Inclusive Humanitarian Action, while respecting the HI Disability Gender Age policy.

She/he will lead the strategy and implementation of the provision of inclusion technical assistance along the 4 must do actions of the IASC Guideline on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action to humanitarian coordination mechanisms and actors, including humanitarian clusters’ coordinators and members, consortium partners and stakeholders (ex. organizations of persons with disabilities) in West Bank and Gaza.

In West Bank, HI integrated inclusion into different thematic area including protection, Health, and Education projects. The IHA specialist will ensure the inclusion components to be implemented with optimal quality. At the same time to actively engage with Health Cluster and Education Cluster to provide technical support to promote inclusiveness of humanitarian assistance in the West Bank.

In Gaza, HI is actively engaged with the protection Cluster, Health Cluster and Education Cluster to provide timely suggestion on disability data collection, accessibility, inclusion of persons with disabilities and other technical inputs to cluster guidelines and tools. In addition, HI is aiming to support the development of the Disability Working Group in Gaza on capacity building, data collection and joint advocacy effort to timely share the needs and voice of persons with disabilities in the Gaza Strip.

Among the main objectives of the position in Palestine, there are:

1. Ensuring the optimal quality and the impact of the project implemented by means of a delegation system with appropriate oversight mechanisms:

• Ensure the implementation of the project, in line with the logical framework and allocated budget.
• Ensure that project implementation complies with the existing frameworks (institutional policies and the other HI internal standards, compliance with the terms of the project proposal and the rules applied by the project funding body/bodies.
• Ensure project monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning.
• Ensure project data management.
• Coordinate the teams involved in the project.
• Contribute to external project communication, contribute to HI’s external influence by taking part in networks, when required. Communicate about the project to partners, authorities and stakeholders when relevant.

1. Active engagement in coordination mechanisms:

• The field specialist is expected to provide IHA support to ensure participation in key coordination meetings, situation analysis/info extraction from key humanitarian updates and reports, and drafting of key IHA messages / guidance notes.
• Participate in sectorial coordination and cluster meetings (Protection, Health, Education etc.) and others (as required) to promote disability mainstreaming and HI technical assistance among humanitarian actors
• Establish a Technical Working Group on Protection mainstream and Disability Inclusion co-led by the Protection Cluster and HI in West Bank, with membership of a diversity of clusters and organizations with various technical backgrounds.
• Support to HNO and HRP responsible bodies to adapt their tracking tools and skills to better identify and integrate inclusive actions for persons with disabilities.
• Support the cluster(s) to monitor protection mainstreaming and inclusion of persons with disabilities in assessments as well as assistance and service provision upon requests.
• Provide other humanitarian actors with existing sectorial guidelines on disability inclusion and support revision of partners’ guidelines, Standard Operating Procedures, service delivery pathways and toolkits, MEAL procedures and toolkits to mainstream disability inclusion in their actions.
• Promote HI work in inclusive humanitarian action in general platforms, such as donor meetings, working groups, NGOs platforms, etc.

1. Identification of joint programming opportunities with other humanitarian actors and OPDs:

• Contribute to establish partnerships technical support or joint programming with organizations interested in enhancing inclusion in their actions.
• Generate a data-driven evidence base regarding the unique situation of people with disabilities in coordination with other humanitarian actors.
• Advocacy for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Humanitarian Leadership and in relevant coordination fora and processes.
• Capacity building of local organizations of persons with disabilities to support their participation in humanitarian efforts.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POSITION:

The security for expat NGO workers in Jerusalem and Ramallah is good at the moment and professional and life conditions are permissive. The political and security situation within Israel and Palestine, and among Israelis and Palestinians, has become relatively more unstable in 2024, with several demonstrations and clashes between police and demonstrators in some hotspots in Jerusalem and Ramallah. And the Israeli military also launched a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank in August, 2024 which lead to the security situation in the West Bank deteriorating. The levels of criminality and the risk of thefts are relatively low. Life for foreigners in Jerusalem/Ramallah is comfortable, with many possibilities for tourism and recreational activities, including in Israel and in some accessible sites in West Bank. Palestinians are welcoming and friendly. A basic level of respect and adaptation to the local culture and traditions is expected.

Travel conditions and living conditions during visits to Egypt and Jordan are comfortable. Security conditions are very stable throughout Jordan and in HI’s areas of operations in Egypt.

YOUR PROFILE:

You have a bachelor’s in social science or similar field, plus a master’s degree, preferably in Humanitarian Law or Human Rights or Disability studies.
With a minimum of 6 years of experience in humanitarian sector, preferably in technical/advocacy and management positions; you have at least 3 years of technical experience in disability inclusion and are experienced in designing and providing capacity development.

You have excellent communication skills and transfer of knowledge capacities.

Previous experience in gender, age and/or protection mainstreaming in humanitarian programs, and previous experience with HI and/or in in the Middle East is a strong asset, particularly in Palestine

CONDITIONS:

At HI, the conditions offered are up to your commitment and adapted to the context of your mission. https://hi.org/en/join-the-team

• 6 months International contract starting from the 1st, December 2024;
• The international contract provides social cover adapted to your situation:
  • Unemployment insurance benefits for EU nationals;
  • Pension scheme;
  • Medical coverage with 50% of employee contribution;
  • Repatriation insurance paid by HI;
• Salary from 2757€ gross/month upon experience;
• Perdiem: 756,27€ net/month – paid in the field
• Hardship: 500€ net/month in Ramallah, 250€ in Jerusalem, paid with your salary;
• Paid leaves: 25 days per year;
• R&R: 5 days every 3 months
• Position: Unaccompanied
• Housing: Collective, taken in charge by HI;
• If you are resident in the country: local package.