Job Offer - Program Quality and Community Engagement Officer
Job Description: Program Quality and Community Engagement Officer
Organization: Romanian Red Cross (RRC)
Location: Bucharest, Romania Job Type: Full-time
Position Summary:
The Romanian Red Cross (RRC) is seeking a motivated and dedicated professional for the position of Program Quality and Community Engagement Officer. The position is responsible for supporting the Romanian Red Cross (RRC) in institutionalizing and mainstreaming community engagement and accountability (CEA) and protection, gender and inclusion (PGI) across the organization.
PGI and CEA are essential to the Romanian Red Cross’s work because they help to ensure that all people are safe, respected, and able to participate in and benefit from its humanitarian assistance and recovery, regardless of their background or circumstances. This position will work closely with RRC staff and volunteers at all levels to develop and implement thematic plans and approaches, providing training and capacity building, and developing and rolling-out resources and tools. The Officer will also work to monitor and evaluate the RRC’s progress and to identify and address any gaps or challenges. It will also be responsible for promoting that the RRC’s practices are in line with international best practices.
About PGI and CEA
PGI (Protection, Gender, and Inclusion) is an approach and way of working to address the causes, risks and consequences of violence, discrimination, and exclusion in an integrated way. It is about ensuring that all people are safe, respected, and able to participate in and benefit from humanitarian assistance and recovery, regardless of their sex, gender identity, age, physical ability, race, nationality, or any other factor. This is achieved through implementation of a systematic do-no-harm approach across all operations and activities, ensuring that the principles of dignity, access, participation, and safety are adhered to in all sectoral interventions.
CEA (Community Engagement and Accountability) is a way of working to ensure that communities are actively involved in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of all its work. CEA is based on the principles of meaningful participation, transparency and accountability, and inclusiveness. It includes mechanisms for feedback, complaints, and strengthening accountability and responsiveness to communities’ needs and expectations.
Key Responsibilities:
- Responsible to develop and implement approaches to advance PGI and CEA development and mainstreaming within the Romanian Red Cross (RRC).
- Provide guidance to RRC leadership and management in CEA and PGI institutionalization and its strategic elements.
- Guide and lead the development and adaptation of tools and resources related to PGI and CEA. This will involve working with RRC departments and branches providing technical guidance to integrate these principles and practical actions into RRC’s interventions.
- Organize and conduct training and capacity-building initiatives for staff and volunteers, promoting knowledge and understanding of PGI and CEA minimum standards and methodologies.
- Monitor and evaluate the impact of PGI and CEA initiatives to ensure their effectiveness and identify areas in need of improvement.
- Support RRC branches to conduct needs assessments and analysis to identify vulnerabilities, risks, and gaps to strengthen interventions.
- Drive and support the integration of PGI and CEA standards and principles in project/program design and implementation with RRC branches and throughout thematic areas such as health, cash, DM and others in headquarters.
- Support to develop specialized PGI programs and activities based on a comprehensive assessment of needs, risks and gaps in prevention and response efforts especially with regards to SGBV, Child Protection, TiP, Disability Inclusion, Identity-based discrimination and violence (Homophobia, racism etc.).
- Provide continued technical support and guidance to staff and volunteers on PGI and CEA best practices, promoting their integration in daily activities.
- Facilitate coordination of relevant initiatives with RRC partners and represent RRC in relevant networks, forums, and working groups.
- Produce reports and documentation on PGI and CEA activities, achievements, and lessons learned for internal and external communication.
- Support RRC branches to systematize community consultations and participate in community meetings to identify needs, gather insights.
- Working closely with RRC departments and branches, conduct assessments and analyses to identify protection, gender, and inclusion gaps and develop targeted interventions.
- Strengthen tools and procedures for community feedback mechanism within RRC, to ensure an effective, trusted mechanism is set up that can collect, analyse, respond to, act on, and refer feedback to relevant services providers.
- Drive and facilitate the follow-up on community’s feedback received and its systematic application to change/improve RRC operations and services.
- Support RRC branches and thematic areas in strengthening the outreach and access of target communities to RRC humanitarian services.
- Guide and support the mapping of referral services at national and county levels.
Education:
A graduate university degree in Communication or Social/Behavioral Sciences (i.e. Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology or Health Education) or other relevant field such as Law, Child Protection, Gender or Women’s Studies or Social Work.
Experience:
- At least three years of professional experience in an organization or governmental institution within the context of humanitarian or developmental support and coordination of services and assistance.
- Experience of designing and implementing/implementing community participatory approaches, including community feedback mechanisms, tools for communicating with communities (radio, social media, social mobilization) and participatory planning processes.
- Demonstrated experience in applying humanitarian protection, gender, accessibility standards and guidelines and in setting up and managing accountability systems, participatory planning processes.
Skills:
- Excellent interpersonal, communication and networking skills, able to build relationships with people at all levels of the organisation and with external partners and organisations.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Highly motivated, self-starter able to take initiative and lead a team or process.
- Excellent project management skills, able to work under pressure and manage multiple projects simultaneously, to a high standard and to deadline.
- Advanced analytical skills, able to capture learning and use it to make improvements in programming and operations.
- Strong presentation, facilitation, and training skills
- Willing to travel.
- Fluency in English and Romanian required. Good command of Ukrainian and/or Russian is a plus.
Please submit your resume and a cover letter describing your motivation and relevant experience to hr@crucearosie.ro . The deadline for applications is 01.03.2024. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further steps in the recruitment process.
If you are passionate about driving positive change through inclusive practices and community engagement, and meet the requirements outlined above, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity with the Romanian Red Cross.