Senior Technical Advisor

Job Description

Working in partnership with local civil society, government, and private sector actors is fundamental to the International Rescue Committee’s mission. We recognize that people affected by crisis and the actors closest to them are best placed, have the right, and should have the power and resources to respond and drive lasting change. We commit to ask ‘Why not partner?’ whenever we plan programming and to partner as equals. That requires that we champion and resource leadership and action that comes from the communities in which we work.

The IRC’s strategy action plan for emergencies similarly commits to partner more, better, and faster. We aim to share power and space with partners more often and ensure that partners access a bigger share of our emergency program spend. Improving the way that we partner globally, and in emergencies specifically, is a strategic priority for the organization in the second phase of IRC’s global strategy, S100. Over the coming three years, EHAU will make significant commitments to improve preparedness, systems and processes, and knowledge and skills to strengthen partnerships in emergencies.

Position overview

The Senior Technical Advisor (STA), Emergency Partnerships leads the delivery of timely and high-quality partnerships with local actors in emergencies. The role will be accountable for the day-to-day planning and implementation of EHAU’s strategic commitments to expand reach and impact by becoming a better partner and increasing the share of resources that go to local actors. The STA will work across the EHAU team to support alignment and integration of partnership commitments across the entire unit, promote ongoing learning and evolution as we operationalize partnership principles in our work, and ensure we are able to measure and speak to our performance and progress related to partnerships. This position will manage an organizational change process within EHAU-led and country-led emergency responses; provide guidance, training, and mentorship on partnerships in emergencies; enable efficient processes for rapid partnership; advise on compliance with PEERS (IRC’s partnerships system); and ultimately facilitate emergency partner engagement that is quick, equitable, and achieves positive outcomes for affected communities.
This position sits within the Quality in Emergencies (QiE) team in EHAU and reports to the Director, Program Quality and Performance in Emergencies.

Responsibilities

Emergency Response Technical Assistance (50%)

Manage all ERT and emergency GST Partnerships Coordinators, providing effective backstopping during deployments and overseeing contributions towards strategic emergency partnership actions during non-deployed periods.
In line with the QiE technical assistance model and in close coordination with Regional Partnerships Advisors, provide advisory support to partnership leads, program leads, and country program SMTs in classified emergency responses.
Closely coordinate with the global and regional IRC partnerships teams for operational coherence and effective handover from emergency to post-emergency partnerships support.
Support teams with the analysis of roles, capacities, and strategies of local civil society, government, and private sector actors to define IRC’s added value to local actors and systems in emergency strategy and program design (asking ‘why not partner?’).
Advise on rapid, emergency-oriented, and conflict-sensitive partner selection processes to identify and build relationships with new and existing partners in crisis-affected areas.
Advise on vetting and Partner Capacity Analysis (PCA) processes in line with PEERS, providing clear step-by-step guidance to teams to ensure adherence to internal and donor requirements, prevent delays, and enable timely reviews and approvals.
In coordination with AMU colleagues, guide strategic and pragmatic decisions on donations vs. full partnership agreements and the selection of the appropriate partnership agreement type.
Guide country teams in the onboarding and orientation of new partners during emergencies, ensuring they have access to required resources and are setup for success.
Advise on the cross-departmental development and delivery of partner support plans, ensuring that IRC provides appropriate technical and operational support to partners in line with identified needs and requests.
Guide program and finance teams to achieve timely funds transfers. Determine the root causes of any delays and clearly document issues and recommendations.
Ensure continuous coaching and guidance for partnership leads, program leads, and country program SMTs on the above functions.
As needed, travel for in-person emergency partnerships support, approximately 20% of the time and maximum six weeks for a single visit.

Partnerships Strategy & Change Management (30%)

As the EHAU partnerships lead, oversee day-to-day planning and implementation of the emergency partnerships strategy to facilitate EHAU’s strategic ambition to partner more, better, and faster across all emergency responses.
Work closely with the Director, Program Quality and Performance and other EHAU leaders to evolve strategy, structures, and competencies across all EHAU teams to facilitate improved partnerships
Manage the integration of partnership support, routines and principles into the terms of reference and practices of all response-facing EHAU team members.Identify and address any project, operational, or finance business processes that create barriers to emergency partnership ambitions and advise leadership on solutions.
In collaboration with the Director, Program Quality and Performance, plan and deliver against partnerships actions in the SAP implementation plan.
Stay abreast of and influence developments related to the organization-wide partnership ambition, ensuring that emergency-specific considerations are incorporated into global partnership strategic initiatives and business processes.
Represent EHAU in action teams for the implementation of the global partnerships roadmap as required
Support with the regular review, updating, and completion of strategic tasks in the partnerships workstream of the emergency strategy action plan (SAP).
Contribute to the development of models for meaningful partner participation in emergency decision-making processes, including emergency response plan development and program design and management.
Promote and help develop the team culture required to partner first and as equals, including through the direction and tone that EHAU leaders and staff set and the modelling of partnership principles.

Knowledge Management and Training (10%)

Work with the EHAU MEAL team to ensure the systematic collection of partner feedback on IRC to understand and enable learning from partner perspectives. Develop and implement appropriate actions in response to feedback.
Support the evolution of knowledge required for effective partnerships in EHAU, including facilitating in-person and remote training on PEERS as required.
Provide advisory support across EHAU functions to ensure the support we provide to partners in emergencies is timely, high-quality, and aligned with the partnership ambition.
Facilitate dialogue platforms for EHAU staff to explore opportunities, challenges, enablers, and barriers associated with IRC’s partnerships evolution.
Contribute emergency-specific inputs to the development of global partnerships/PEERS training curricula.

Systems, Tools, Learning (10%)

Help inform and contribute to the continued development of PEERS policies, processes, and tools, advising on approaches and adaptations required for emergencies.
Develop emergency partnership guidance notes as required, documenting best practices and tips for expedited partnership establishment and processing during crises.
Using the emergency partner satisfaction survey and other tools, ensure the regular collection of feedback in red and orange-classified emergencies to understand and enable learning from partner perspectives.
Support the development of processes for the inclusion of partners in learning exercises.
Ensure the routine documentation of lessons learned with emergency partnerships, development of recommendations, and dissemination across relevant teams.

Team Culture

Build and maintain strong working relationships with EHAU and Regional colleagues and continually promote a culture of partnership and collaboration.
Cultivate and maintain a positive, collaborative, safe and protective work environment, while additionally setting an example of ‘One IRC’-way of working within the team, EHAU and the wider organization.
Contribute to efforts across EHAU to promote gender equality, diversity and more inclusive practice across our programming and our ways of working.

Other

Other relevant duties as assigned by supervisor to further partnerships in emergencies.

Qualifications

Approximately 8+ years of experience managing or advising humanitarian programs, including substantial experience in partnership and capacity sharing with local and national NGOs and government entities in emergencies.
Demonstrated genuine interest in and commitment to collaboration and partnership with local actors.
In-depth knowledge of best practices in partnership and capacity sharing, with demonstrated experience integrating this theme into programming.
Technical understanding of and experience working with IRC’s PEERS approach is strongly preferred.
Knowledge of sub-award processes and compliance regulations for key humanitarian donors.
Ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through participatory training, mentoring, distance learning, and other formal and non-formal methods.
Demonstrated experience in an inter-departmental coordination role and the ability to communicate with and balance the priorities of a range of stakeholders.
Experience with strategy development and delivery
Strong cross-cultural communication skills and comfortable working as part of a diverse team. Sensitive to interpersonal differences and a range of viewpoints.
Demonstrated advance planning skills. Able to effectively prioritize and follow multiple activities and deadlines simultaneously.
Flexible and innovative. Able to adapt plans and pivot approaches in response to changes in context.
Willingness to travel approximately 20% of the time, including to remote and insecure locations.
Fluency in English; knowledge of another global language (preferably French, Arabic, or Spanish) preferred.