Regional change lead - building resilience

Background

Oxfam Great Britain is a leading aid, development, and campaigning charity with a worldwide reputation for excellence and over 60 years of experience. Our purpose is to work with others to overcome suffering and find lasting solutions to poverty. As an organisation Oxfam is committed to gender equity and putting women’s rights at the heart of all Oxfam GB does. In Asia, Oxfam Great Britain works with partners across the region, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The role

Understanding and assessing resilience and vulnerability are key components of designing a strategy for long-term development and humanitarian work. You will lead and facilitate the development of coherent programme and policy to support improved practice on building community and government resilience to climate change, disasters and conflict in Asia and to lead on supporting the changes needed to effectively deliver on this ambition. This means delivering effective support and advice to the Bangladesh and region’s country programmes that build on these issues and contribute to the Regional Change Strategy. Ensuring that programmes have the mechanisms built-in that enable learning which feeds into the region and impacts on programme development. Although linked to the Asia Humanitarian Strategy and team, the position is designed to support both the long-term development as well as the humanitarian work in the region and is explicitly not restricted to humanitarian perspectives alone.

The Person

This is a key role and you will need to combine sound theoretical and practical understanding of both disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change, with significant field experience. Moreover you’ll need substantial experience of working in Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation vulnerability areas, ideally in Asia. Up-to-date with new thinking in this area, you’re able to share knowledge and good practice with others internal or external to Oxfam and the region. The ability to work effectively as part of cross-functional and regional team, means you’ll have excellent all-level communication, interpersonal and influencing skills.

This is a national hired post. Oxfam GB will not be able to provide visa and work permit to a non-Bangladeshi national.

Key responsibilities

• To lead the implementation and support to programmatic work supporting Resilience/Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)/Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in Asia ensuring quality and integration of programmes
• To help develop country programmes ability to consistently learn from their work and feed that into the region through innovative means and knowledge management, including the digital vision (using IT and mobile technologies)
• To keep up to date with new thinking in areas of ‘resilience’ e.g. low carbon development, alternative energy, urban etc and deliver support in integrating ‘resilience’ and advocacy work into programming.
• To include gender analysis in all aspects of the work and ensures that women’s rights form a key part of work plans and initiatives
• To work closely with the CD/SMT of the country where the post is based, to decide on country priorities and work plans
• To work closely with the regional senior team and regional support staff and their teams to ensure a joined up processes in terms of programme learning, programme development.
• To support country programmes to deliver and develop impact indicators and develop a monitoring and evaluation framework at the regional level to measure work at a regional and country level
• To develop different approaches to programme delivery and partnership/alliances, including the private sector
• To prioritise and manage the workload between country programme (30%) and region (70%)
• To work with the Regional Programme Funding Manager to source and support appropriate funding opportunities
• To develop network of resources and proactively seek technical support from external agencies and also within Oxfam (CPD and Regions) to improve programme quality, learning and innovation.
• To work closely with Oxfam International (OI) colleagues and networks (including other organisations)
• To cooperate with OI and other affiliate to share and learn lessons and good practices within and outside the region

Skills and competence

• Substantial experience of working in DRR/CCA/vulnerability areas
• Significant field experience in both, sustainable livelihoods programmes and humanitarian work, including programme design and proposal writing
• Sound theoretical and practical understanding of both, disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change, including multiple approaches that involve mitigation, adaptation, restoration, risk reduction, vulnerability reduction, livelihoods and sustainability.
• Experience in working with and building capacity of civil society groups, including community based or established NGO’s
• Gender knowledge and cultural sensitivity with a strong commitment and understanding of the values and principles of Oxfam
• Ability to bring teams together, facilitate and lead
• High levels of spoken and written English
• Experience of working in Asia
• Excellent communicator at all levels
• Understanding of impact, monitoring and evaluation and ability to put into practice
• Ability to prioritise and plan in responding to demands
• Knowledge of Information Technology and ability to use in programming and learning • Ability to undertake travel away from home base essential, up to 12–16 weeks a year (indicative)
• Compatibility with Oxfam’s values essential