Crisis Response Specialist

Job Summary:

FHI 360’s Crisis Response Team is seeking two Crisis Response Specialists to lead country-level humanitarian response engagement throughout its operating regions. Reporting to FHI 360’s headquarters Crisis Response Team and guided by FHI 360’s Regional Offices, these positions will lead priority countries to expand humanitarian programs through the proactive development and design of emergency response efforts.

The Crisis Response Specialists will identify and execute strategy to position FHI 360 for an expanded portfolio of humanitarian programming, building and maintaining relationships with key humanitarian donors and partners. These positions will identify strategic gaps and entry-points for FHI 360 into the humanitarian and emergency response space and will build capacity within existing FHI 360 Country and Regional Offices around crisis response/humanitarian best practices and processes. Additionally, if/when needed, these positions will support rapid assessments and start-up and act as a critical regional point of contact to support overall Crisis Response program performance, quality, and operations.

Two Crisis Response Specialists will be hired, one to lead engagement with FHI 360’s East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO)​ and West Africa Middle East Regional Office (WAMERO), and one to lead on engagement with FHI 360’s Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO).

Accountabilities:

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Business Development and Client/Funder Support:

• Through a consultative process with the Crisis Response team, Regional and Country Offices, develop a regional strategy for expanding and diversifying FHI 360’s Crisis Response donor base, including innovative approaches to linking FHI 360’s existing development services with crisis response efforts.
• Provide leadership in humanitarian program design and development, including assessment, partner and stakeholder engagement, donor relationship building, and concept/proposal development.
• Lead all field assessments of emergency needs and concept/proposal development within the region, working closely with Country and Regional Offices, the Crisis Response team, and other relevant FHI 360 departments.
• Collect data for inclusion in proposals, which consist of assisting with proposal research and developing proposal strategies.
• Draft proposals, budgets, and work plans.
• Participate in business development meetings with partners and donors/clients.
• Externally, identify relevant regional humanitarian forums and ensure representation (including building Country Office capacity to participate in such forums where needed).
• Internally, engage in Regional meetings, technical forums, and other outlets relevant for humanitarian design and implementation.

Technical Requirements:

• Engage with Regional and Country Offices to understand their unique needs for crisis response.
• Identify key gaps of humanitarian service provision and areas of need aligned with FHI 360’s technical expertise and actively lead efforts to build out strategic new areas of humanitarian programming.
• Guide Country Offices through Crisis Preparedness Planning, understanding the unique threats, vulnerabilities, and risks in the country and FHI 360’s comparative advantage to address them.
• Work in collaboration with Country and Regional Offices to introduce and implement Crisis Response processes and tools.
• Identify and roll out trainings, on-job support and practical guidance, and other capacity-building to augment and strengthen FHI 360 response capacity at the Regional and Country Office levels.

Operations Management:

• Support the Crisis Response Team with rapid start-up support by deploying to new programs in existing and new country platforms.
• Provide coverage for senior leadership positions in the field missions as required.
• Contribute to program implementation and oversight as needed, helping to solve implementation challenges and ensure program continuity and quality.

Project/Program Reporting:

• Assists in the development of donor reports and presentations as required.

Applied Knowledge & Skills:

• Demonstrated success in leading assessments, identifying strategic entry points, growing new business opportunities, and starting-up new humanitarian programming.
• Experience building relationships and working with Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), and other key humanitarian donors and funding agencies.
• Demonstrated staff development and capacity-building experience, preferably including with teams unfamiliar with humanitarian donors and programming cycles.
• Has sensitivity to cultural diversity and understanding of the political, contextual, and ethical issues in assigned areas.
• Articulate and professional and able to communicate in a clear, positive fashion with clients and staff.
• Must be able to read, write, and speak fluent English; fluency in French, Spanish, or Arabic preferred.
• Experience operating in insecure environments including establishing startup operations/projects in new countries preferred.
• Willing and able to work outside of regular office hours in order to meet deadlines.
• Has sensitivity to cultural diversity and understanding of the political, contextual, and ethical issues in assigned areas.
• Excellent organizational and analytical skills.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with others.
• Demonstrated proficiency with using Microsoft Office Suite required.
• Ability to solve problems and implement corrective action as needed.

Competencies:

There are 31 FHI 360 development competencies, of greatest focus for this particular job will be:

• Developing and Executing Successful Business Development Strategy — Successfully and entrepreneurially identifies strategic humanitarian gaps and entry points for FHI 360 and proactively positions and secures new new humanitarian business and funding for FHI 360’s Crisis Response team.
• Creating and Managing Systems and Processes – Recognizes the need for standardization and balances client and organization need in systems design. Anticipates the effects of process change on people while optimizing task efficiency and simplicity.
• Project Management (Planning and Time Management) – Accurately scopes out length and difficulty of tasks (sets objectives/goals/measures). Breaks down work into steps, schedules, task/people assignments. Marshals people, time, and resource efficiently. Arranges information in a useful manner and orchestrates multiple activities at once.
• Employees are expected to possess or have high potential for development of these three fundamental competencies.

Supervision Given/Received:

• Reports to the Associate Director, Business Development, Crisis Response.
• Serves as team lead and may mentor other lower-level personnel.

*Education:

• Master’s Degree or its International Equivalent – Economics, Education, Environment, Health, Human Development, Information Science, International Development, Social Sciences or Related Field. (or an equivalent combination of relevant education and/or experience sufficient to successfully perform the key responsibilities of the job)

*Experience:

• Typically requires minimum of six years of experience leading complex on-site emergency response projects and/or programs, including at least two years of field-based experience designing, developing, and managing humanitarian programming.
• Experience in the relevant regions highly preferred (WAMERO, ESARO, and/or APRO).

Typical Physical Demands:

• Ability to sit and stand for extended periods.
• Ability to travel over difficult terrain to remote field site locations that lack basic essentials.
• Candidate must be in good physical condition and able to carry 10 lbs/4.5 kgs of quick-run supplies for extended periods of time (>2hrs).
• Must understand that medical care is not readily available at the duty station.

Technology to be Used:

• Personal Computer, Microsoft Office 365 (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, e-mail), telephone, printer, calculator, copier and cell phones.

Travel Requirements:

• 50% including willingness to deploy within a short period of time
• Travel to various countries including Fragile, Conflict, and Violence (FCV)-affected areas and a range of climates including tropical and arid.