Community Resilience Advisor at Médicos del Mundo

MISSION

MdM has been operating in Ukraine since August 2015 and is currently implementing an emergency response and recovery program in the Eastern part of Ukraine (Luhansk and Donetsk oblast, government and non-government-controlled areas – GCAs and NGCAs). The program is implemented around three main components: direct delivery of services through multidisciplinary mobile units (including primary healthcare services (PHC), sexual and reproductive health (SRH), Mental Health and Psychosocial support services (MHPSS) and gender-based violence (GBV) response services); strengthening of local health system (with a specific focus on PHC, SRH, MHPSS and GBV) through capacity building of health and non-health staff, awareness raising and advocacy. In addition support to the health system in response to COVID-19 pandemics in Eastern Ukraine.

In November 2020, MdM launched a 3-year project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) having for an objective to increase resilience of communities and the local health system in Donetsk and Luhansk region (GCA) by improving availability and access to quality healthcare services to meet health needs of the conflict affected population with a special focus on vulnerable groups (people with disabilities, women, elderly people). The project will link MdM humanitarian assistance with transitional aid/development activities resulting in creation of a sustainable access to health and social services in communities affected by the conflict. The overall objective is to strengthen the resilience of people and local structures to the effects and consequences of crises, focusing on 3 levels – individual, community, health structures/system. Guided by the principle of promoting participation and self-help, the development capacities of affected people and structures are strengthened and promoted in a targeted manner. The absorptive coping capacity enables people to meet their basic needs and structures to maintain their functionality and ensure their survival in the face of crises. Adaptive capacity enables people and structures to adapt to long-term changes and to absorb and, at best, minimize the negative effects. Transformation capacity promotes structural change for sustainable livelihoods by enabling changes to take place at the root of vulnerability (power structures, economic status, etc.).

The Community Resilience Advisor is in charge of the methodological guidance to the participatory program design, engaging communities, local authorities, rights holders and other stakeholders; contributing to the development of program plan; tracking progress and providing strategic and actionable guidance. The Advisor will work closely with program teams, mainly on the BMZ-funded transitional aid program, and advise on other projects, to guarantee solid linkages between the humanitarian and the transitional aid/development programming. She/he will be responsible for developing a resilience framework for the MdM mission in Ukraine and integrating best practices. She/he is responsible for managing and coordinating communication of the key learnings to inform the mission and technical referents in the HQ on application of resilience in humanitarian/transitional and conflict context in Ukraine.

GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE OF INTERVENTION

The Community Resilience Advisor is based in Severodonetsk, Bakhmut or Kyiv with regular visits to other bases and field locations in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts GCA and in Kyiv.

ORGANIZATION CHART

The Community Resilience Advisor will report to the General Coordinator.

FUNCTIONS

1. STRATEGY AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
2. Provide strategic technical support and capacity building to program teams during inception/start up and implementation to design, adapt, monitor and document program strategies to reinforce resilience-building objectives.
3. Review technical approaches and implementation strategies and develop recommendations to integrate and refine measures to strengthen the resilience capacities at the community, including individual, level.
4. Ensure local participation planning of proposed interventions through conducting local community engagements in order to ensure inclusive consultations with beneficiaries and local ownership.
5. Conduct a stakeholder mapping to capture the activities of other actors in the health sector and ensure integration, coordination and complementarity of the proposed activities.
6. Participate, coordinate and collaborate extensively with the MdM Ukraine coordination team and HQ referents for Health and Mental health interventions.
7. Contribute in cooperation with field teams, the coordination team and the Program Quality and Development Manager to project reports and proposals.
8. Contribute to the definition of the resilience component within MdM’s country strategy.
9. PROGRAM QUALITY, LEARNING AND COMMUNICATION
10. In cooperation with the Programme Quality and Development Manager, the MEAL team and the coordination team, develop a monitoring, evaluation and learning framework to track progress and results on resilience application in MdM programs, including drafting quarterly reports based on activities carried out and program learning/results.
11. Ensure that baseline data are collected, with due regard to age and sex disaggregation, benchmark defined, real-time evaluation conducted, and recommendations integrated in plans and programming.
12. To guide development of specific accountability tools for the resilience program, based on international standards, while actively engaging beneficiary communities and local authorities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of MdM field projects.
13. Work with the technical coordinators for Health and Mental health, as well as with the coordination team to reflect on country level progress against strategic internal targets.
14. Organize regular program reflections with the target groups (communities, health authorities) to review learning and discuss new information and implications for programming.
15. Create and share strategic reports highlighting findings, lessons learned and next frontiers for research and learning, including making recommendations for minimum standards/tenets/principles for what is possible in operationalizing and building resilience capacities within humanitarian and early recovery programming, in coordination with technical coordinators.
16. REPRESENTATION
17. Develop and maintain strong relationships with resilience/development stakeholders, including local civil society organizations, and identify strategic implementation, research and State partners that can contribute to MdM development, influence and impact.
18. Participate in relevant strategic working groups and fora to share MdM experience, in cooperation with the Advocacy department/General/Field coordinators and based on the MdM Ukraine strategy.
19. TECHINCAL SUPERVISION AND TEAM MANAGEMENT
20. In cooperation with Field coordinators, recruits, technically supervises and train staff actively involved in the program, in particular Project Managers.
21. Participates in regular evaluation of the team under his/her technical management (2 Project Managers), including development of individual action plans and definition of objectives.
22. Works closely with the coordination team to identify capacity building needs and develop and deliver tailored tools, resources, and/or training workshops.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Academic: University degree or diploma.

Degree in gender/development/public health/anthropology or related fields is desirable.

Languages: Fluent spoken and written English. Russian and/or Ukrainian will be an asset

Good knowledge of Windows environment

EXPERIENCE

At least 5 years of program management experience in early recovery / transitional aid / development programming, preferably in the health sector.

Previous experience working in the post-soviet countries is an advantage.

Previous experience working in a programme focusing on strengthening the resilience of communities is required.

Very good practical experience on participatory approaches, such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Participatory Learning and Action (PLA).

Extensive knowledge of the conceptual framework of resilience and its operational models.

Demonstrated results with capacity building/training on MEAL is desirable.

Proven experience in successfully coordinating teams, negotiating and influencing others to get results.

COMPETENCE PROFILE

High organizational capacity and for adaptation to postemergency/conflict situations.

Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through training, mentoring, and other formal and nonformal capacity building methods.

Ability to train and facilitate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals with various skill sets and working styles through innovative capacity building and facilitative techniques.

Knowledge of SPHERE and other humanitarian programming standards.

Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving.

Thoroughness and selfsufficiency at work.

Strict compliance with the safety protocols established for the country and the MdM mission in Ukraine.

Identification with the lines of work, values and mission of MdM.

Effective verbal and written communication.

Multitasking, organizational, and prioritization skills.

Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines, and work independently and cooperatively with team members is required.

Capacity and interest to see big picture trends through various systems lenses, and willingness to put theory into practice in field work.

S/he can organize work remotely and have awareness of and sensitivity to multicultural international humanitarian work.

AVAILABILITY

Immediate (1 year renewable)

SALARY

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