Programme co-ordinator overseas branches disaster risk reduction programme

Overview

The Red Cross organisations in British Overseas Territories are Overseas Branches (OSBs) of the British Red Cross (BRC). There are five OSBs in the Caribbean, namely in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks & Caicos Islands. Bermuda is also grouped with the Caribbean OSBs for the purposes of its relationship with BRC in the UK.

One of the key roles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent throughout the world is to prepare for and respond to disasters when they occur, and to work with communities and individuals to help them build their resilience with the aim of achieving safer communities.

The countries and territories in the Caribbean are susceptible to significant hazards, such as hurricanes, storms, flooding, earthquakes and volcanoes. The OSBs have a long history of responding to such events. In order to further develop the OSBs' capability and capacity to respond to disasters, as well as to assist them to engage with communities to support their efforts to reduce the risks they face, the BRC is co-ordinating a 5-year Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Programme. The programme brings together individual 5-year risk reduction projects in the five Caribbean OSBs and the Bermuda OSB.

The Programme Co-ordinator will report to the Programme Support Manager Overseas Branches (PSM) in the UK, who manages the BRC's relationship with the OSBs. The Programme Co-ordinator will not directly manage any staff, but will have oversight of the programme activities of the six OSBs, specifically the activities of the DRR Officers which each OSB will recruit for the programme. The OSB DRR Officers will be managed by the relevant person their respective OSBs.

Job purpose

The purpose of the role of the Programme Co-ordinator OSB DRR Programme is to manage and co-ordinate the OSB DRR Programme. This involves ensuring that the individual OSB activities as part of the the programme form a coherent whole with respect to the outputs and outcome of the programme, as well as to the inputs provided through the programme to each OSB. The Programme Co-ordinator will also ensure that the programme is co-ordinated with the activities of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the Federation) in the Caribbean. The post-holder will support the OSBs to strengthen linkages among themselves, as well as between themselves and regional Red Cross and Red Crescent networks.

Duties and responsibilities

1. Co-ordinate the delivery of the OSB DRR Programme, including the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the programme, as well as the consolidation of its design.
2. Provide close technical and management support to the OSBs, and particularly to the OSB DRR Officers, in the delivery of the programme. The two main strands of the programme are strengthening the OSBs' ability to prepare for and respond to disasters and, through OSB interventions, strengthening communities' resilience to disasters.
3. Maintain oversight and overall responsibility for programme expenditure, provide timely and accurate quarterly financial and narrative reports to the PSM, and ensure that programme information within BRC’s Project Management Information System (PIMS) is kept up-to-date.
4. Manage the budget allocated to the Programme Co-ordinator function in accordance with the financial management procedures agreed for the programme.
5. Host six-monthly meetings and monthly teleconference calls for all OSB DRR Officers for the purposes of co-ordination and development of the programme.
6. Play a key role in the development of Disaster Management training materials and, where appropriate, in the delivery of training using these materials.
7. Support the OSBs in Organisational Development activities linked to programme.
8. Support the OSBs in strengthening their links with regional sources of expertise and support, both internally (ie Red Cross) and externally.
9. Help strengthen the partnership between the BRC in the UK and the OSBs through a collaborative approach, taking into account the existing OSB organisational structures and reporting lines.
10. Support the OSBs in developing research and advocacy initiatives.
11. Promote the sharing of learning from the programme, both between the individual OSBs, within the Red Cross/Crescent Movement in the region and externally.