Disaster Management Advisor – full-time “internationally roaming surge” (EU work permit needed!) At Swedish Red Cross

Title: Disaster Management Advisor for International Surge
Type of position: Full-time substitute position
Start date: 1 April 2024, or as soon as possible
End date: 30 March 2025
Duty station: One of the Swedish Red Cross offices Göteborg, Malmö, Stockholm and Umeå, preferably Stockholm

Background

The Swedish Red Cross (SRC) strives to be the leading Swedish organization for disaster management – aiming to play an even more active role during disaster response, in support to crisis-affected National Societies and to responses led by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). This includes increased field presence through the deployment of delegates and enhanced involvement in response operations including quality assurance, thematic support and operations monitoring, evaluation, follow-up and learning.

To this aim, SRC is now looking for a Disaster Management Advisor for International Surge – a full-time employed “roaming delegate” – with a coordination and management capacity. The ideal candidate is a disaster response generalist with a preferred background in for example one of SRC’s priority sectors namely Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WaSH) or Health.

The primary capacity at SRC is within WaSH, Community-based and Public Health, so it is expected that the Disaster Management Advisor has the capacity to lead disaster and crisis emergency responses, especially with WASH and Health focus.

The successful candidate will be a member of the SRC International Department and report to the Head of the Global Response Unit.

Your mission

The main purpose of the role is to provide in-country and on-site coordination and management assistance to emergency operations of National Societies supported by the IFRC or Swedish Red Cross in the disaster or crisis affected country at the time of crisis. Such assignments may include, but are not limited, to:

• Deployment into early onset of an IFRC or National Society led response operation as Operations Manager, Field Coordinator, WASH Coordinator, or other relevant roles depending on the candidate’s profile;
• Deployment during response operations as a member or Team Leader of a so-called Emergency Response Unit (ERU) team, in the area of WaSH or Public Health;
• Deployment in other roles within the IFRC disaster response system;
• Short-term support to SRC bilateral and multilateral programs in various types of missions and roles.

In support of the deployments, you will have International Guidelines for IFRC and National Society deployment of rapid response personnel and SRCs Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for International Emergencies. You will work in close collaboration with other Thematic Advisors at the SRC International Department, with focus on Disaster Management, Emergency WaSH and Emergency Health.

In between international assignments, you will be carrying out duties at one of the SRC offices in Sweden. These duties may include aspects of supporting the development of learning, of new or revised tools and procedures, trainings on relevant subjects with the goal to support the core competencies development of Swedish Red Cross staff, including other delegates, as well as give relevant and needed support to the work of the Global Response Unit.

Who we are looking for

As one of our Surge Disaster Management Advisors you need to have a solid background in International Disaster Response, at a coordination level and demonstrated experience in programme management in emergency and early recovery operations. Core competencies for this role include:

• Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement context, principles and values
• National Society Capacity Strengthening
• Direction Setting and Quality Programme Management
• Judgement and decision making
• Resource Management
• Safety and Security

You are very strong in your ability to take the initiative to solve problems and create results. You thrive in a dynamic and unpredictable work environment; you are flexible and quickly adapt to new situations. You like a job where cooperation and dialogue are essential, and you can network. You are comfortable working in international settings and in different cultural environments, and you have capability to generate trust, encourage and give support to your colleagues. You also have good teaching and communication skills.

We highly appreciate your ability to analyze complex situations and reach logical conclusions. You should have a strong sense of organization, as well as ability to identify and define structures and connections. Ability to contribute to effective teamwork and to share knowledge and information with colleagues is of great value. You are stress resilient.

Required qualifications

• Higher academic education, preferably in Disaster Risk Management or other relevant area such as Emergency Health or Emergency WaSH;
• A minimum of five (5) years’ experience from international humanitarian settings and disaster response including insecure settings;
• Experience in setting up structures and operations in a disaster response context;
• Experience in project cycle management including budget work, procurement and defining workforce plans
• Proficient knowledge of written and spoken English;
• EU work permit;
• International Driving License (manual transmission).

Merit qualifications

• Experience from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement;
• Experience in Protection, Gender and Inclusion as well as Community-Based Approaches in response work;
• Teamleading and management experience from a disaster response context;
• Demonstrated working capacity of other languages such as Arabic, French, Spanish or Swedish;
• HEAT (Hostile Environment Awareness Training) or equivalent security training;
• Experience of security assessment in emergencies.

Important to know about the role

As a Surge Disaster Management Advisor you are expected to be deployed on short notice. It is essential that you are able to prioritize and organize your personal and professional life maximizing availability.

Travelling to complex and insecure environments is part of the assignment. Each deployment assignment is normally up to one (1) month in length, but may occasionally be longer, and will occur at least four (4) times per year.

Please note that this is a temporary position to cover for a colleague on parental leave. This means that the contract can end earlier than 30 March 2025 if the person on parental leave decides to come back early, but it also means that the contract can be extended if the person on parental leave decides to stay longer on their parental leave.

Our culture

To be an employee of the Swedish Red Cross you need to share the core principles and values of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, and you need to sign on to our working culture:

• Drive: we dare prioritize and have the courage to take decisions
• Compassion: we see the individual and listen with curiosity in meetings with others
• One Red Cross: we act for collaboration and co-creation and see to the whole picture
• Development and learning: we try and test new things and reflect, we dare make mistakes