Disaster risk reduction documentation officer

Background:

Working with the world’s poorest people to transform their lives. Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and suffering in the world’s poorest countries. We work in partnership with the very poorest people in these countries, directly enabling them to improve their lives, as well as using our knowledge and experience to influence decisions made at a local, national and international level that can significantly reduce extreme poverty.

The Disaster Risk Reduction Documentation Officer

Reports to:
• Head of the Emergency Unit
• Day to day management and support coming from the Unit’s DRR Advisor

Direct reports: None

Liaises with:
• Emergency Preparedness Co-ordinator
• Regional Directors and Desk Officers of the countries in the research plan, and their country management teams
• Head of Social Economic Development Unit in Strategy, Advocacy and Learning Directorate
• Engineering and Environmental Health Manager in the Emergency Response Team

Job Purpose:

After seven years of implementing Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) interventions, we are seeking to ‘take stock’ of what we have been doing and whether, and to what extent, we are contributing to reducing the risk faced by those communities with which we have been working.

The intention of this role is to document our experience, collate our learning, and show the successes in and challenges to our DRR work to date as a means of giving guidance to our future work in this area

Main duties & Responsibilities:

The following are the objectives of the documentation process:

• Document actions and achievements of DRR both through mainstreamed and stand-alone projects
• Identify lessons that need to be learned and any good practise identified to date – especially in relation to good practise identified more broadly in the sector. In particular, there is a need to focus on how we identify, prioritise and address hazards, and how (or whether) we address extensive risk
• Identify the major barriers and constraints to reducing risk in the communities in which we work
• Identify any shortcomings in our approach (including in the measurement of results and impact)
• Assess the impact of DRR on reducing risk, and the extent to which we have contributed to increasing community resilience, using evidence and monitoring data from the field wherever possible. It is recognised that there may be significant data and evidence gaps which may have to be filled through community testimony and anecdotal/qualitative assessment
• Develop an understanding of the degree to which our DRR programmes contribute to reducing risk, vulnerability, and extreme poverty

The key responsibility will be to develop five papers – one on each of the following areas – to document and assess the work in the following contexts and countries:

• DRR in mountain regions: using examples from Afghanistan and Ethiopia
• DRR in coastal areas: using examples from Bangladesh, India and Mozambique
• DRR in riverine areas: using examples from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zambia and perhaps Mozambique
• DRR in ASAL areas: using examples from Niger, Kenya and Chad
• A fifth paper that is a synthesis of above topographical papers, with a focus on community resilience, with examples of how Concern programmes for community resilience and an analysis of what is working, and identified lessons to be applied in other Concern programmes.

The countries indicated above are indicative and may change.

A more detailed scope of works has been developed and will be shared with the successful candidate

Person specification:

Essential:
• Master’s Degree in a Development related field.
• High quality and proven research, analysis and written and photographic documentation skills
• A background or decent understanding of risk reduction or related skills so that the concepts of risk reduction, community resilience, humanitarian response and so on are rapidly understood
• Two years’ experience working with communities overseas
• Fluent written and spoken English
• Willingness to travel and work in difficult contexts
• Ability to work in a diverse team
• Ability to work with limited supervision – the candidate needs to be self motivating
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to communicate with many different types of people

Desirable:
• French - spoken and written

Candidates must be legally entitled to work in Ireland at the time of application.

Concern has a Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants, especially beneficiaries, from abuse and exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, partner organisations, and anyone engaged by Concern or visiting our programmes, and the standards of behaviour expected of them.

Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions in these two documents.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List).

Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office.

Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.