Humanitarian Lead - West at Christian Aid

Reporting in to the Head of Impact, the Humanitarian Lead for the West & Central Africa region will play a lead role in setting up new emergency programmes as well as managing existing emergency response programmes across Christian Aid programmes globally but with a primary focus on an agreed set of countries to maximise impact. 

The post-holder will will ensure Christian Aid’s people-centred humanitarian reform advocacy agenda is energetically communicated in relevant regional and country policy forums, so that the humanitarian sector regionally takes visible steps toward more people-centred and locally led humanitarian programming and aligns with organisational values and goals. 

Some of the key responsibilities of the role of Humanitarian Lead are:

• Manage and collaborate on new and existing humanitarian and emergency response programmes internally and externally to maximise impact.
• Manage staff and ensure they perform to a high standard, meeting their objectives with activities integrated with the Country Teams, aligning with organisational values and goals.
• Active engagement in Country Leadership Teams ensuring Christian Aid’s humanitarian mandate is integrated within the wider country strategies in line with “Standing Together”.
• Manage response strategies to ensure plans are in place, funding secured for humanitarian work with budget planning, monitoring and reporting in place ensuring the effective use of these funds and ensure they are high-impact initiatives to maximising impact.
• Deliver humanitarian programmes in a timely and accountable manner meeting the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), safeguarding, inclusion and other minimum standards, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and resilience work, and ensuring high quality and maximising impact. 
• Manage an active engagement in humanitarian programme policy advocacy work at national and international level feeding into the broader Christian Aid advocacy agenda around ongoing and crisis specific issues aligning to organisational values and goals.
• Manage our partners and ensure MCC staff are confident in, committed to and inspired by Christian Aid’s humanitarian signature focus on anticipatory action, cash transfer programming and survivor-led response to maximise impact.
• Deliver technical expertise through collaboration from within and outside Christian Aid is effectively engaged ensuring high quality programming.
• Collaborate and coordinate humanitarian programming within the relevant national and regional mechanisms, UNOCHA, clusters, ACT sisters and well recognised within donor and Civil Society circles and take advantage of opportunities to work harmoniously on humanitarian together programmes.

About you

Who we are looking for:

Essential:

• Fluency in both French and English (written and spoken) is required.
• University graduate or equivalent qualification.
• Significant knowledge of humanitarian issues and best practice in humanitarian action. 
• Significant experience leading both rapid response and chronic emergencies or managing programmes to build resilient communities.
• Significant multi-country humanitarian programme support experience. Experience in the ME is an advantage. 
• Detailed understanding of the CHS, SPHERE and other humanitarian standards.
• Developed ability to equip and encourage staff to take responsibility and promote an empowered working.
• Developed ability to contribute to and work successfully as part of management and cross-organisational teams, with excellent time 
  management and the ability to work with challenging deadlines and to multi task.
• Highly self-motivated with personal resilience.
• Highly developed communication skills in writing and oral, with a fluency in English.
• Developed ability to develop and maintain successful working relationships with a range of colleagues.
• Significant experience of emergency programme cycle management from needs assessment, through funding applications, management, review and evaluation.

Desirable

• Developed skills in facilitation of learning and change processes.
• Management qualification.
• Experience of working with an NGO.