Livelihood delegate (W/F)

Context of the position: Humanitarian context of the project

The Philippines: a distar-prone country

The Philippine archipelago, with 94.85 million inhabitants (World Bank, 2011), lies off the southeast coast of the Asian mainland and consists of 7.107 islands. Right after Indonesia, the Philippines is considered the second most disaster-prone country in South East Asia and ranges among the most disaster-prone countries in the world.

The Philippines ranks 114 out of 187 countries in the current Human Development Index (UNDP, 2013) with around 41,5% of the population living with less than 2 US$ a day (World Bank, 2009). Families highly depend on small-scale or subsistence farming and/or fishing, two sectors that are very vulnerable to natural hazards.

The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre estimates that global climate change will further aggravate the situation within the next years and decades, confronting the population with additional challenges: the intensity of tropical cyclones and heavy rains will increase, escalating the risk of floods and landslides. The sea level will rise and additional erosion of beaches and cliffs endanger the properties and livelihoods of coastal settlers. Saltwater will intrude into arable land with negative effects on agricultural productivity and water quality. Another impact of raising temperatures and rainfall is the rise in epidemics like malaria and dengue.

Typhoon Haiyan as the most powerful storm ever recorded in the country

Typhoon Haiyan (locally called Yolanda) was the most powerful storm ever recorded and made landfall in the morning of 8 November, 2013 causing extensive damage to life, housing, livelihoods and infrastructure across 9 of the Philippine’s poorest provinces. The Government placed the provinces of Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Panay and Palawan under a state of national calamity. The most affected population, estimated at 4 million, is located along the coastal and inland areas of Samar, Leyte, the northern tip of Cebu and Panay Island. In total, 16 078 181 people were affected by the typhoon, houses of 1 140 332 families have been damaged, 6155 people lost their lives, and 28 626 persons got injured.

Impact of typhoon Haiyan in North of Cebu province

619.984 people in 328 barangays located in the northern part of Cebu province were affected by the typhoon. 66.849 lost their houses entirely, while 65.421 shelters got partially damaged. 81 people lost their lives, 1.083 got injured and 6 are still missing.

Key services in northern Cebu, such as electricity, water and fuel supply, as well as markets, were severely impacted after the typhoon but are back functioning again, except for households who were not connected to those services before the typhoon.

RED CROSS objectives and project

Philippines Red Cross

PRC was founded in 1947 and became a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) the same year. It has 100 established Chapter offices in all 78 provinces and major cities of the country. At Chapter level, PRC is governed by the Board of Directors and the staff is headed by the Chapter Administrator. PRC is working countrywide with 1.054 employees. The organization provides six major services: Blood Services, Disaster Management Services, Safety Services, Community Health and Nursing Services, Social Services, and Volunteer Services. It has gained particular recognition for its strength in the provision of blood bank services and disaster preparedness and response.

In the post-typhoon emergency context, PRC volunteers have been proactive and dynamic in responding to the disaster. PRC has quickly organized the coordination of the response and developed a Plan of Action for the Typhoon Haiyan Operation, which aims to support up to 155 000 households in 10 provinces. PRC also developed with IFRC, and ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) a Movement-wide Operational Framework. FRC and PRC actions are in line with these strategic frameworks.

French Red Cross and Philippines Red Cross actions

• Recovery phase: an integrated approachtowards most affected people in northern Cebu.
  Detailed assessments have been carried out in January and early February 2014 to design the recovery phase of the RC Movement. Most urgent gaps are related to shelter, wash, infrastructure rehabilitation, and livelihood. However, there are also long-term housing issues; consequently, resettlement and relocation are also considered. In this context, FRC has decided to have a permanent Country Representative with 2-3 delegates (TBC).
  
  
• To respond to these recovery needs in first instance, FRC currently contributes to two projects:

1. A project called, “Early Recovery Assistance to Populations affected by Typhoon Haiyan in Cebu province in the Philippines” implemented by the German Red Cross and the PRC, from March 2014 to September 2016, targeting 5000 beneficiaries. It mainly consists in building 500 transitional shelters in 5 municipalities in northern Cebu and has also wash, infrastructure, livelihood, DRR, and OD components.
2. A relocation project called “Integrated Recovery Intervention on Housing, Livelihood and Access to basic services for population affected by Typhoon Haiyan in Barangay Papay, Northern Cebu, Philippines” implemented by FRC and PRC, with the support of the NGO Habitat for Humanity. It aims at rebuilding a safer and healthier living environment for the most vulnerable people, by building disaster-resistant houses for 148 households, and to improve and rehabilitate community infrastructures (including health center, day care center, and multipurpose center).

The livelihood component of FRC and PRC action

In the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan, the Philippine Red Cross has set up a Livelihood Recovery Program. This program follows a Livelihood approach based on 4 principles:

1. Context specific (suited to agro-climatic diversity and differing livelihood groups);
2. Community Centric (community based targeting of vulnerability and needs);
3. Collaborative (supporting CBO, cooperatives, collectives and partnerships);
4. Concerns (Climate Change Adaptation, DRR, Gender, Disability, Indigenous people, Aged, HIV-Aids, Poverty).

The position:

He/ she will be in charge of the definition of the strategic livelihood orientations and the project elaboration, including the assessment and the project proposal writing.

He/ she will be in charge of the planning, implementation and monitoring of the project. Moreover, the livelihood delegate will ensure that budgets and activities are well managed respecting the due processes.

He/ she will ensure effective implementation of the project in close cooperation with the Philippine Red Cross, the local authorities and other partners.

He/ she will contribute to the learning process and experience sharing regarding livelihood with other members of the Red Cross Movement.

Responsibilities:

• Development of the FRC strategy and programming in terms of livelihood in close cooperation with PRC.
• Project implementation, monitoring and reporting
• Team management and training
• Supervision of administrative and logistical support activities in close cooperation with PRC.
• Capitalization
• Representation and communication in coordination with PRC
• Support to the definition and writing of new projects proposals

Profile:

Education:

• Agronomist engineer, or related diploma, specialized in rural development, economical support or livelihood diversification
• Training/experience in market analysis and cash transfer programming
• Training/experience in community empowerment.
• Training/experience in natural resources management
• Good knowledge of the Sustainable Livelihood framework is an asset

Position requirement:

• Sense of responsibility, team spirit
• Patience
• Diplomacy
• Experience in staff management, and ability to accompany various profiles.
• Strong listening, comprehension and dialogue skills
• Strong writing skills
• Strong organizational ability and coordination skills
• Strong motivation to work in close partnership with a national partner
• Ability to mobilize various institutional and technical partners around the Project and its challenges.
• Ability to make this project part of national and local sector policies.

Experiences and abilities:

• Skills in environmental (agro-physical, economic, social) context studies, especially agrarian diagnosis
• Experience in market analysis
• Valuable experience in Livelihood and Cash transfer programming and management (writing of operational proposals, of narrative reports, financial management, monitoring of indicators, etc.) with an international NGO is mandatory
• Experience in implementing projects supporting community management and participative methodology.
• Experience in livelihood recovery is an asset
• Experience is South-East Asia is compulsory, in Philippines an asset
• Experience of multi-stakeholders coordination is a plus.
• Experience in team management
• Experience or knowledge of the Red Cross Movement would be an asset

Languages:

English compulsory.