Senior advisor - livelihoods resilience

Background

CARE International is one of the world’s leading aid agencies, fighting poverty and injustice in over 80 countries around the world and helping 65 million people each year to find routes out of poverty. Our mission is to create lasting change in poor communities and we put money where it is needed most: more than 90 pence in every pound goes towards our poverty fighting programmes. With over 60 years’ practical and hands-on experience, our programmes tackle the deep-seated root causes of poverty, not just the consequences.

The aim of the Climate Change and Food Security team, where this post will sit, is to contribute to CARE International’s Vision by supporting policy development and high-quality (risk reduction, climate change adaptation and food security) programmes in situations of chronic hunger and vulnerability and acute crises. The objectives of the team are to build a strong, well-resourced portfolio, providing
programme support and technical advice with emphasis on secure, resilient livelihoods and with focus on food security, community-based climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and to deliver coherent and quality evidence and learning that contributes to knowledge sharing and learning for improved policy, practice and investment.

Our geographic focus is wide and includes countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Technical advice is provided in some other limited circumstances and we are working on regional resilience building in the Horn of Africa. Our technical focus is on community-based adaptation, communitymanaged DRR, and various aspects of food security.

The post holder will lead CIUK’s work on resilience building and disaster risk reduction. S/he will work closely with various country offices (and the East and Central Africa Regional Management Unit) to effectively manage and provide technical support to a portfolio of long-term programmes. The post holder will also be expected to explore new funding opportunities with fellow members, Country Offices and RMUs. S/he will ensure that learning and evidence from CARE’s work is captured and used to contribute to programme quality, communications and advocacy work. S/he will lead analysis of current risk reduction and resilience building paradigms and debates. The Senior Advisor will work in partnership with other parts of CARE International and a range of inter-agency groups.

Job Summary

The Senior Advisor is a full-time member of the Climate Change and Food Security team. S/he will oversee the development of a strategic resilience building initiative in east Africa, while playing a broader leadership role for the CIUK Humanitarian Team within the CARE confederation around risk and vulnerability reduction and resilience building. The post-holder will provide high-level technical assistance across a range of institutional contexts, including direct assistance to country offices, particularly in east Africa, (and the east Africa regional management unit) and manage major initiatives with minimal supervision. S/he will engage in design and development of new programmes addressing chronic vulnerability, risk reduction, resilience building and adaptation and ensure links to emergency response, preparedness and recovery work.

The Senior Advisor will collaborate with CARE International staff and drive the development of technical resources, materials and knowledge products to improve practice. S/he will also play a significant external representation role, engaging with senior decision-makers and peers to influence policy, promote CARE’s work, and develop new partnerships.

Main Areas of Responsibility

Programme Quality and Impact

- Develop and manage a regional resilience building initiative in east Africa and relevant initiatives funded by the DFID Programme Partnership Agreement.
- Develop and manage major multi-country research and learning initiatives.
- Provide high-level technical assistance across a range of institutional and programmatic contexts (including, potentially, in emergency situations), including direct assistance to country offices.
- Drive learning and knowledge management by authoring, commissioning and contributing to publications, policy documents, and other resource materials for internal and external audiences.
- Engage in current policy and practice discussions related to risk and vulnerability reduction and resilience building, with particular reference to east Africa, and ensure this informs CARE’s work.

Policy Influencing

- Lead the development of organisational policy positions on relevant issues.
- Lead the coordination of policy influencing work on relevant issues for CI.
- Promote CARE’s resilience building activities and learning by organising, contributing to, and/or speaking at relevant events.
- Engage strategically with relevant networks in the UK (eg BOND DEG, BOND DRRG) and in the East Africa region.
- Establish and/or develop relationships with relevant bilateral and multilateral institutions from policy perspective.

New Funds and Resources

- Attract significant resources toward annual team fundraising targets, including by working with fundraising staff to identify new opportunities for DRR and resilience-building programming and by recovering costs for technical assistance to donor-funded projects.
- Support the development of project proposals to institutional donors, foundations, and the private sector in association with country offices, the RMU and CIUK’s fundraising team.
- Contribute to organisational efforts to raise awareness about CARE’s work on resilience building and risk and vulnerability reduction.

Connecting with CARE International

- Play a leadership role for the CIUK Humanitarian Team within the CARE confederation, convening meetings across the CI membership and driving the development of major technical resources, materials and knowledge products to improve practice around resilience building programmes.
- Specifically, engage with the Poverty Environment and Climate Change Network (PECCN) Adaptation theme team, the DRR Reference Group and the Food Security Advocacy Working Group.

Organisational Efficiency and Effectiveness

- Contribute to efforts to improve organisational efficiency and effectiveness as appropriate.
• Any additional duties as may be reasonably required by a senior manager within the scope of the above.
• This document forms part of the post holder’s contractual terms and conditions of employment.
• The document is not an exhaustive list of core elements of the role. This job description is a working document and may be amended from time to time by mutual agreement.

Person Specification

Education & Qualifications

- Essential
• MA or MSc in development or subject directly related to this role, or MBA, or equivalent expertise.
• Specific training in Community-based DRR, Climate Change Adaptation or livelihoods analysis/programming. 

- Desirable
• Other relevant qualifications.
• Household economic analysis, socio-economic cost benefit analysis or other relevant development-specific training.

Skills & Expertise

- Essential
• In-depth understanding of key concepts in vulnerability and risk reduction, resilience building and expertise in applying these to development programmes.
• Specific technical capacity in one or a combination of adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction, livelihoods recovery and resilience, natural resource management, agriculture or pastoralism.
• Outstanding ability to support and advise non-specialist colleagues and deliver training.
• Expertise in developing or implementing knowledge management and learning processes and/or strategies .
• Ability to analyse, summarise and synthesise learning and evidence and produce high quality written outputs suitable fro publication.
• Strong negotiation, influencing and networking skills.
• Proven project design, development, management and budgeting skills (including proposal writing).
• Demonstrable understanding of principles of participation, gender equity (including women’s empowerment), accountability and pro-poor governance in development work.
• Demonstrable skills in communitybased/ managed approaches to risk reduction and/or climate change adaptation.
• Skills in numeracy and basic statistical analysis. 

- Desirable
• Advanced statistical analysis skills.
• Understanding of political economy of the east African region.

Experience 

- Essential
• Significant experience implementing development programmes involving risk and vulnerability reduction, resilience building in chronically food insecure contexts.
• Experience managing major development initiatives, including budget management experience.
• Experience representing an organization at a high-level, including interacting with and attracting support from institutional donors such as DFID, ECHO and the EC.
• Experience designing and leading research initiatives, monitoring and evaluating projects/programmes, and demonstrating impact (including policy analysis experience).
• Experience drafting policy publications for external audiences and advocating to highlevel policy audiences.
• Relevant and sustained experience in development and humanitarian programming in east Africa.

- Desirable
• Experience living in and implementing development or humanitarian programmes in the drylands of east Africa.
• Experience in development or humanitarian programming in Asia or other African contexts.
• Experience engaging closely with relevant multilateral bodies.
• Experience working on other CIUK priorities, especially conflict- and governance-related issues.
• Understanding of the role of the private sector in development and poverty reduction.

Other

- Essential
• Capacity to relate effectively to a variety of audiences.
• Takes responsibility for problem solving and delivering quality results.
• Willingness to undertake extensive travel.
• High quality English writing and presentation skills.

- Desirable
• Language skills.
• Media skills.