Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) Delegate – International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

Job Purpose

The CEA delegate will support the IFRC Cluster Delegation and National Society operations teams to enhance the impact, reach and efficiency of emergency response operations through the integration and coordination of CEA activities in all programming. This will be done in close collaboration with the health team and DRM team and under the guidance of the head of Delegation. This includes participatory approaches, feedback systems, risk communication and evidence-based advocacy. The focus of the delegate will be to ensure the inclusion of community participation and feedback in all phases of programming through mainstreaming different techniques and activities across sectors. The CEA Delegate will have a specific focus on setting up community feedback systems, ensuring community feedback and complaints are collected, analysed and acted upon by the sectors. The role will also be expected to work closely with PMER and IM counterparts to ensure all information and feedback from communities is effectively visualised, profiled within the programs, and used to inform strategic decision-making.

Job Duties And Responsibilities

Community Engagement and Accountability development and capacity building:

• Responsible for rolling out a more systematic and integrated approach to CEA within the IFRC and across the 10 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in southern Africa through mainstreaming CEA in National Societies’ and IFRC plans, processes and procedures.
• Work closely with 10 National Societies, IFRC sectoral colleagues and partner National Societies to help them identify gaps in their approaches to CEA and then supporting them to address these by integrating and/or scaling up an appropriate mix of approaches and activities to communicate and engage with affected people and communities within their programmes and operations.
• Prioritise the inclusion of CEA in development projects and emergency operations and plans within the Delegation.
• Ensure the mainstreaming of PGI considerations into CEA approaches for projects and emergency responses.
• Support IFRC and National Societies’ prevention and response to sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and safeguarding activities through leveraging community feedback mechanisms.
• Plan and deliver CEA trainings to IFRC and National Society staff and volunteers and for the various networks and working groups they support, providing people with the skills and knowledge to launch and manage CEA tools and approaches within their programmes and operations.
• Develop evidence-based learning demonstrating the impact of community engagement on the quality and effectiveness of programming by supporting the rolling out of research, impact surveys, perceptions studies and case studies.
• Work closely with southern Africa National Societies’ senior management, programme and operations departments to develop appropriate and practical CEA strategies to support the long-term integration of CEA activities and approaches into their programmes, operations and ways of working.

COVID-19 Responsibilities

• Roll out risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) implementation for the COVID-19 response in southern Africa through designing strategic approaches that help prevent the spread of infection, mitigate risks, and build community trust in national responses to the pandemic. Support in revision of these plans as necessary to meet emerging needs and changes.
• Provide RCCE technical advice and support to 10 National Societies as they implement the Saving Lives and Livelihood project, which aims to increase uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations.
• Provide technical support to National Societies, support them to develop appropriate and context specific RCCE strategies and response plans, including by providing ongoing guidance on:
• Establishing systematic community feedback mechanisms to understand community perceptions, questions, complaints and suggestions, and using collected information to guide responses and update their health approaches.
• Sharing timely and accurate information about COVID-19 using social mobilization and trusted mass communication channels to help people adopt safer practices and reduce fear, stigma and misinformation.
• Work with communities to develop and support community-led solutions for preventing the spread of infection, increasing the uptake of diagnostic services and vaccinations, and ending the outbreak.
• Roll out online and face-to-face RCCE and CEA trainings for National Society, IFRC and Partner National Society staff, including building National Society capacity to collect and analyse community feedback.
• Provide key analysis on community perceptions and feedback to ensure decision-making and direction is guided by community needs.
• Capture and share best practices and support peer learning between National Societies through webinars and case studies.

Job Duties And Responsibilities (continued)

• Help coordinate RCCE response efforts across countries through actively participating in coordination working group meetings, various platforms (RCCE working groups and interagency partners meetings, etc.), taking part in teleconferences and sharing RCCE information and resources with branches and partners.

Project and budget management

• Project and budget manager for CEA, PGI and PSEA activities and projects within the Delegation.
• Develop annual log frames and activity plans in line with the annual operating plans, integrating CEA and PGI in emergency plans of action and ensuring the inclusion of CEA and PGI in cluster level plans and strategies.
• Support National Societies in southern Africa to develop their own CEA and PGI strategies, activity plans and budgets, and to establish robust monitoring and reporting processes.
• In collaboration with the Finance Department, monitor expenditure on CEA, PGI and PSEA pledges to ensure that they are in line with the budgets.

Coordination, representation, relationships and reporting

• Work closely with the IFRC CEA Regional Senior Advisor for Africa to ensure consistent coordination between CEA efforts at the delegation, regional and global levels. This includes ensuring the roll out of global CEA frameworks and standards at delegation level and that global frameworks and standards benefit from learning and experience at the delegation level.
• Coordinate CEA efforts across National Societies, Partner National Societies and the IFRC within southern Africa, including playing a lead role in the CEA Africa Working Group.
• Attend and represent the IFRC at external coordination networks and mechanisms, such as the Communicating with Communities Working Group and Quality and Accountability Working Group and ensure a coordinated approach to CEA with other NGOs, humanitarian agencies, UN and private sector.
• Being the most senior IFRC representative in-country, be the liaison between the IFRC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) under the guidance of the head of Cluster.
• Identify opportunities for partnership with organisations using innovative approaches to enhance CEA.
• Ensure effective working relationships with technical and service departments at the Africa regional level.

Staff management and development

• Manage, motivate, develop and oversee the performance of a technical team in line with the organization’s systems, rules and regulations for human resources management, including staff evaluation, training and career planning.
• Directly manage a team, monitor their conduct in relation to the rules and policies of the IFRC and take actions when needed so that project objectives are met (either continuously or on time when relevant).
• Ensure all team members receive orientation and appropriate training in accordance with organizational standards.
• Responsible for ensuring delegation of tasks and securing priority of tasks and time for team members.

Perform annual objective-setting and staff appraisals with team members.

Education

Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent degree) in political science, behavioural/social sciences, international studies or a related field is required with emphasis on strategic communication planning for behaviour development, social mobilization, participatory communication, and research.

Experience

• 5 years’ experience working in CEA, communication for development, or social mobilisation in developing countries for a humanitarian or development organisation (Required)
• Experience of developing CEA strategies and plans (Required)
• Experience in integrating CEA into emergency response operations and hands-on experience in emergency deployments to humanitarian disasters or crises (Preferred)
• Solid experience of designing and implementing CEA approaches, including community feedback mechanisms, tools for communicating with communities (radio, social media, social mobilization) and participatory planning processes (Required)
• Proven experience in planning targeted and appropriate behaviour change communication strategies (Required)
• Experience in working with international organisations and/or National Societies to develop strategies and build long term capacity and create ownership (Required)
• Experience in planning and delivering training and awareness sessions to staff and volunteers at all levels (Required)
• Experience in successfully advocating for the inclusion of CEA in programmes, operations and policies, processes and tools with staff and senior leadership (Required)
• Project management experience, including developing plans, budget management, monitoring, reporting, and fundraising (Required)
• Experience in designing and implementing assessments, community consultations, research, perception studies and/or focus group discussions (Required)
• Experience working with Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies (Required)

Knowledge, Skills and Language

• Good strategic planning skills, with the ability to identify areas for improvement in programmes and operations through the integration of CEA approaches (Required)
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and networking skills, able to effectively sell an idea to management, technical staff and volunteers, creating buy-in and ownership (Required)
• Good coordination skills, with the ability to work with people across different teams and levels (Required)
• Good knowledge of Red Cross Red Crescent planning and disaster management cycle (Preferred)
• Good knowledge of gender, diversity and social inclusion issues in humanitarian disasters and complex crises (Required)
• Good knowledge of sexual exploitation and abuse concerns, and prevention and response mechanisms for humanitarian organizations (Required)
• Highly motivated proactive self-starter, able to set and achieve goals using own initiative (Required)
• Strong written, presentation, facilitation and training skills (Required)
• Ability to multi-task and work under stressful conditions to meet deadlines (Required)
• Experience in and knowledge of project management is required (Required)
• Fluently spoken and written English (Required)
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic) ( Preferred)

Competencies and Values

• Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
• Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust

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