Director of humanitarian capacity building & preparedness team

Background

Save the Children has embarked on a groundbreaking new Humanitarian Strategy 2011 – 2015 to become the No.1 Humanitarian NGO in the UK in terms of spend, reach, profile, impact and quality of or programmes. As part of Save the Children International, it will become the No.1 humanitarian agency for children worldwide.To date Save the Children has created tremendous momentum around the emergency work and is faced with a key opportunity to build on strengths to date. The Humanitarian Department is structured around three pillars; Capacity Building & Preparedness, Humanitarian Technical Unit and Humanitarian Operations.

Purpose

The Capacity Building and Preparedness (CBP) Team is responsible for building global surge capacity, providing better training to staff at national level, improving global and in-country preparedness with increasing linkages to disaster risk reduction.

This is a senior, high profile role within Save the Children globally, leading the transformation of Save the Children’s global humanitarian capacity and providing leadership and management for the Capacity Building and Preparedness team through:

• Developing effective methodology for the consistent delivery of high quality humanitarian programming.
• Identifying, growing & developing sufficient numbers of professional staff and effective leaders to meet current and future humanitarian needs of the sector.
• Understanding current and future humanitarian need to identify solutions, and appropriate resource allocation
• Save the Children sees you bringing significant experience in both humanitarian operations and development work.
• As a first class communicator to a range of audiences you’ll have a detailed knowledge of international disaster response systems, processes and institutions.
• Crucially Save the Children needs you to have a substantial interest in talent and leadership development.

Key accountabilities

• Lead the design, development, management, resourcing, promotion and partnering of the Humanitarian and Leadership Academy
• Provide vision, strategic leadership & direction for all staff with a role in emergency preparedness and capacity building in SC UK. Ensure a sense of teamwork and build a community of practice within SCUK,SCI and the wider sector.
• Further develop and promote robust and effective methodologies for delivery of quality programmes and for developing professional staff to deliver for children
• Ensure the work of the preparedness and capacity building team is working in strong collaboration with:
- the SCUK Humanitarian Dept.
- SCI - country programmes, regional offices and SCI HQ, especially the Humanitarian Team
- the Humanitarian & Leadership Academy Office and Steering Group
- SCI members in order to build strong Save the Children humanitarian programmes.
- external actors and other major providers of capacity building initiatives
• An active senior member of Humanitarian Dept. Management Team and the corporate Senior Leadership Team. Deputise for the Humanitarian Director when requested, assuming all corporate responsibilities
• Develop new projects which will increase Save the Children’s humanitarian capacity and play a lead role in fundraising, proposal development and staff recruitment •Encourage good quality internal and SCI-wide communication and collaboration
• Establish and promote SCUK & SCI as a thought leader and leading service provider of capacity building for the humanitarian sector
• Capitalise on existing initiatives to build strong interest and engagement across country and regions in disaster risk reduction, linking to on going policy and advocacy work around DRR
• Lead initiatives to mainstream humanitarian operations across Save the Children and to enhance organisational flexibility and responsiveness for new emergencies. Engage in internal advocacy where necessary
• External advocacy and lobbying to improve how humanitarian actors collaborate to enhance programme delivery to beneficiaries (focused on the operational platform, staff capacity and preparedness
• Form and oversee partnerships with actors (NGO, UN, Corporate, Military, Government, higher education) that assist in building Save the Children’s humanitarian capacity • Active role in the wider SCI humanitarian agenda – membership of humanitarian liaison team initiatives aimed at improving collective capacity and preparedness •Participate strongly in other on going efforts to build capacity at country level (e.g. security, logistics, finance, effective programmes)
• Any other duties as required, including deployment to emergency programmes as part of the SCI