Emergency Prepardness and Response Technical Lead

Contract Length: 6-8 months

Country Programme: Ukraine

Base: Kiyv

Line Manager: Deputy Country Director for Programmes Quality

About the Ukraine Programme of People in Need:

PIN has been working in Ukraine since 2014, providing emergency relief and early recovery support to conflict-affected communities in Government Controlled Areas (GCA) and Non-government control areas (NGCA). Due to the escalation of conflicts and military intervention in Ukraine, Programmes for conflict-affected communities will focus mainly on MPCA, Emergency Food Assistance, WASH, Shelter, Protection, among other pressing needs. PIN’s contribution to the Ukrainian humanitarian response is amongst the largest, with an annual turnover of over $40 million, engaging full-time staff members across Ukraine and cross-border response hubs in neighboring countries.

About the role:

The main responsibility of the EP&R Technical Lead is to provide overall technical program support to PIN project staff on the planning, implementation and coordination of emergency related interventions implemented in response to the current military operations in Ukraine. To ensure that the emergency programme is implemented in line with all technical standards and guidance, and according to PINs scale-up strategic plan.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Strategic guidelines and quality supervision:

• Provide advice and direction on PIN emergency preparedness and response programme as per PIN Ukraine country programme strategy, especially Pillar 1 – “Emergency preparedness and response – supporting locally-led emergency response and strengthening shock responsiveness”
• Regularly coordinate with PIN HQ Knowledge and Learning Department, to ensure PIN’s EP&R programme is in line with global EP&R trends and guidelines
• Continuously evaluate PIN’s emergency preparedness and response intervention in terms of programme quality, relevance and effectiveness, help to identify gaps and implement improvements;
• Ensure that evolving contextual developments in the country’s emergency needs are well reflected in all EP&R implementation methodologies.

Emergency Preparedness and Response program design and implementation:

• In close cooperation with Programme Implementation Director, Deputy Program Implementation Director and Area Managers, lead in the design of new EP&R project proposals, concept notes and initiatives, as per PIN Ukraine’s country program strategy;
• Lead in the development and revision of all EP&R technical SOPs and guidelines, including RRM SOPs. Provide technical support and capacity building to project teams to ensure the effective implementation of these tools;
• Supervise the quality of the implementation of PIN Ukraine’s EP&R programme; organise and lead regular field monitoring and conduct audits of the implementation process as necessary to determine whether the implementation of the program is within the standards set in relevant SOPs and guidelines. Identify and flag issues and challenges impacting the quality of implementation to relevant staff.
• With the support of local partners, establish community level coordination structures that will strengthen PINs overall emergency response capacity.
• Work closely with other Technical Leads, MEAL, and programmes, to ensure that PIN Ukraine’s EP&R methodology reflect the latest best practice in terms of delivery options, service providers, data collection, targeting criteria, beneficiary selection and monitoring and evaluation.
• Provide technical advice to the MEAL team in the design and implementation of EP&R monitoring and evaluation plan, and development and use of adapted tools and processes;
• Identify capacity needs within PIN programme implementation teams and national partners‘ staff involved in emergency preparedness and response programming, develop and provide necessary capacity building activities

External representation and coordination:

• Represent and ensure active participation of PIN in national coordination and technical forums related to emergency preparedness and response;
• Develop functional partnerships with relevant partners, local authorities and other stakeholders;
• Identify opportunities for inter-agency learning and information sharing; exploring more formal opportunities to work in partnership with other agencies on EP&R (consortia).

Main requirements:

• Previous experience in other emergency contexts
• Ability to support preparedness component, not only response – e.g. previous experience in working on emergency preparedness, contingency planning, disaster risk reduction, working on building capacities of local actors in preparedness
• Multisectoral experience in emergency response in WASH, Shelter, Protection, Cash
• High coordination skills – the person will need to reach out to many actors – national and international NGOs and coordinate our approach
• Need of a person with practical experience, not only technical knowledge
• Knowledge of Russian/Ukraine is an advantage

PIN Offers:

• Working environment in a well-established middle-sized and continuously growing humanitarian organization in a challenging context;
• Salary and benefits according to PIN salary scale and HR policies; expected salary 2350-2700 EUR super gross (based on experience), monthly subsistence allowance of 1350 EUR;
• Hardship Allowance of 400 Eur;
• Accommodation/Housing Allowance;
• 25 days of holiday per year + R&R policy;
• Travel health insurance (covers health care incl. the repatriation);
• Reimbursement of travel expenses with travel to the country of residence after 6 months of work;
• Reimbursement of costs of visas and vaccinations; assistance with the visa application procedure;
• Reimbursement of the medical check-up before and after the deployment;
• Free 24/7 medical helpdesk and psychological consultation available online;
• Free access to e-learning sites, global PIN’s Induction Training, Knowledge and Learning department onboarding, and individually tailored capacity-building opportunities; incl. HEAT training.

Security situation in Ukraine

Humanitarian workers continue to operate throughout Ukraine, although the front line areas are being shelled almost constantly, and main cities are being targeted with missiles and UAVs quite regularly. PIN security SOPs require PIN staff to proceed to shelter should the risk level be assessed by the Security Department as the highest (launch of missiles or drones) and remain there until the air raid siren is cancelled, which cumulatively can be several times a week, occasionally for several hours at a time (although shorter periods are as well occurring). While air strikes that were targeting energy infrastructure have finished after winter, they have succeeded in reaching their goals and are likely to resume in late autumn/winter. At the moment military and civilian objects are being targeted, including the west of Ukraine. While Kyiv enjoys relatively strong air defense systems that are intercepting most of the missiles and UAVs, other regions are covered much less significantly which results in bigger damage. Outside of the areas in the vicinity to the contact line, services such as medical care, shops, public transportation as well as restaurants or leisure facilities remain operational.