Roving Safety & Security Specialist - Ukraine Response at Plan International

Location: Nigeria (Flexible)
Type of Role: Fixed Term
Reports to:  Response Operational Support Manager
Functional Area: Humanitarian
Travel required: Up to 60% time sometimes at short notice 
Effective Start Date: April 2022

Role Purpose  

• The conflict in Ukraine is resulting in a major humanitarian crisis with over 4 million people having fled to neighboring countries, and millions displaced within Ukraine.
• Plan International is responding to the crisis and working in partnership with civil society organisations in Poland, Romania, and Moldova to meet the key needs of those affected by the crisis as well as host communities.  
• This position will play a key role in the support to country level activities and ensuring high quality safety & security input is provided across the response locations.
• The postholder will provide technical support and guidance to Plan International teams and partners in Poland, Romania, and Moldova. The position will initially be remote but may well be based in one of the 3 countries in the future.   
• The Ukraine Hub is a service-oriented structure to support initiation of activities.  

Dimensions of the Role 

• The position will support Plan International’s ongoing work to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by the crisis in Ukraine. 
• The post supports each response location, and our partners continually manage safety & security and adapt to a changing context.
• The post-holder will work closely with Heads of Mission to bridge global security strategy or initiatives and operational needs.
• Focus will be on ensuring implementation of the “essential elements” outlined in the global security strategy is timely and relevant for the local context. The post-holder will spend a large amount of time overseeing capacity-building initiatives for Plan International staff and our partners. 
• The post-holder will work with the context analyst, Heads of Mission, Emergency Response Managers and our partners to analyze security trends in response locations and provide operational support and guidance to adapt to changing risk landscapes and resolve complex security problems.  
• The role is the primary point of contact for staff and partners in Poland, Moldova, and Romania on all safety & security support requirements.  

Accountabilities:

• Ensures all work has a strong gender focus in line with Plan International’s Global Strategy.  
• Provide technical assistance to teams in Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the ongoing monitoring of the context, and implications for our work and the work of our partners.  
• Support preparedness activities across all response locations. 
• Develop capacity building plans and provide training, coaching and mentorship to staff and partners. 
• Build and maintain relationships with relevant government departments, UN agencies and NGOs. 
• Actively contribute to safety & security Coordination Mechanisms. Support partner organisations take a co-leadership role in relevant Working Groups as and when requested by partners. 
• Support development and submission of quality proposals in response to identified opportunities. 
• Contribute to relevant global advocacy and policy objectives with documented learning and evidence. 

Safety and Security Capacity Building (reflecting the “Prepare” element of the global security strategy):

• Oversee implementation and advancement of the FAST security course initiative. Work with Heads of Mission and partner organisations to ensure courses are delivered on a continuing basis and track course penetration.  
• Develop innovative mechanisms to increase the skills and knowledge of response staff across Plan and partner organisations, many of whom do not come from a security background. This can include formalized inductions, workshops, webinars, etc.  
• Work with Emergency Response Managers to ensure offices have required safety and security equipment in place.  

Safety and Security Analysis (reflecting the “Assess” element of the global security strategy):

• Oversee the Security Risk Assessment process, ensuring alignment with our inclusive and intersectional approach which considers the risk to our staff in all their diversity (e.g. gender risks, risks to LGBTIQ+ colleagues, and risks due to ethnic background)   
• Manage integration of regional security analysis efforts. 
• Support the ongoing contextual analysis of the situation, providing the organisation and partners with reports based on data visualisation approaches.  
• Provide input to the regular response sitreps. 

Operational Support and Guidance (reflecting the “Act” element of the global security strategy):

• Provide direct support for operational safety and security issues, advice to key stakeholders, and act as a “sounding board” and mentor for staff from Plan and partner organisations.  
• Manage security KPIs.  
• Work with Emergency Response Managers to ensure SOPs are fit for purpose and relevant to local context.  

Incident and Crisis Management (reflecting the “Respond” element of the global security strategy):

• Develop capacity for cascading crisis management training to Response Teams.  
• Oversee implementation of global standards for contingency planning, including hibernation, relocation, and evacuation.  
• Provide direct support to GH and response locations in responding to incidents. Act as liaison between external resources or services and Response management teams.   

Incident Reviews and Investigations (Reflecting the “Learn” element of the global security strategy):

• Oversee the safety and security incident reporting and review process for Response Teams.  
• As required, manage investigations into serious security incidents.  

General Responsibilities

• Align with the global security strategy and act as a champion for a positive security culture, ensuring and enabling a balance between organizational responsibility and individual ownership of security.  
• Focus on people over process, and work to build an inclusive and empowering security program that acknowledges and addresses the unique risks faced by a diverse staff portfolio.  
• Promote a security approach focused on training and preparation. 
• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion 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. 

Key Relationships
Internal:

• Programme technical leads.  
• Ukraine Hub colleagues 
• National Organisations 
• Global Hub departments (including safety & security, logistics, humanitarian, legal) 

External:

• Civil Society Organisations 
• UN Agencies 
• Interagency Coordination groups 
• Institutional Donors 
• Embassies 

Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
Essential:

• Deep conceptual understanding of security risk management and risk assessment processes  
• Experience working in high-risk areas, including disasters and fragile and conflict affected states 
• Experience teaching or training security courses and workshops, especially with technical or specialized material (e.g., security analysis or crisis management) 
• Experience building and implementing an entire, or significant portion of, a large-scale security program 
• Experience directly managing complex security incidents or crises  
• Experience working in an international NGO 
• Experience leading diverse and geographically dispersed teams 
• Able to build networks and relationships under challenging conditions  
• Communicate clearly and effectively 
• Comfortable in challenging at all levels 
• Able to deliver on time, to work under long term pressure and to prioritise 
• Able to work with standard IT equipment and software suites (e.g., Office) 
• Strong written and spoken English 
• Experience providing technical support to teams and partner organisations. 
• Experience of capacity building with a variety of audiences. 
• Fluency in English, written and spoken

Desirable:

• Proficiency in Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, or Moldovan languages.