Emergency Response Coordinator (Ukrainian Refugee Crisis) – Roving position in Romania, Moldova, Hungary At Terre des hommes

Position Start Date : asap

Duration : 6 months with possible extension

Location : Roving position in Romania, Moldova, Hungary (Poland, Slovakia to be confirmed)

Terre des hommes does not set closing dates for this position; recruitment is on-going until the position is filled

Tdh :

Terre des hommes (Tdh) is the leading Swiss organisation for children’s aid with Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Since 1960, Tdh has helped build a better future for deprived children and their communities, making an impact with innovative and sustainable solutions. Active in around 40 countries, Tdh works with local and international partners to develop and implement field projects which improve the daily lives of over 4 million children and members of their communities, in the domains of health, protection and emergency relief. This engagement is financed by individual and institutional support, with administrative costs kept to a minimum.

Context :

Narrative summary of the emergency response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis: Given the current, ongoing, and significant escalation and expansion of the conflict in Ukraine, the full set of needs are yet not known but hundreds of thousands of people are on the road fleeing the conflict. Western countries and Ukraine’s neighbours are preparing to receive these families forced from their home and in need of shelter, food, clean water, and protection -the absolute basics. It is also winter in the region, with temperatures regularly below zero and many families could only flee with the bare necessity. With the current escalation, even more will be exposed to the elements and forced to find shelters.

The Terre des hommes Foundation is present in Ukraine (in Mariupol, Svererodonetsk and Kiev); Moldova; Romania; Hungary and has supported local partners in Poland and Slovakia. Due to the drastic change in context, we had to make the painful decision to halt our activities in Ukraine and to focus on the protection of the staff. We currently still have staff sheltered in the 3 locations with whom we are in constant communication in terms of psychological support and contingency plan. At the same time, we want to use our long-standing experience in the region and our resources to deploy Tdh teams on the entry points of the borders where mothers and children will need it most. This emergency intervention will directly address humanitarian assistance to beneficiaries but at the same time, Tdh will engage with local actors and the civil society to ensure that local capacity is maintained in the medium and long term.

Context:

Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union for most 20th century, and much of its territory had been part of the Russian Empire before that. Ukraine declared its independence after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. At the time, a substantial portion of the Soviet nuclear arsenal was housed within Ukraine’s borders, and it agreed to transfer those weapons to Russia. In recent years, Ukraine’s democratically elected government has grown closer to Western Europe, even as cultural ties to Russia persists, especially in the nation’s east.
Russian forces invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014, and President Putin claimed the assault was merely a defence of ethnic Russians who live in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, who never supported the new pro-Western government. But Putin used invasion to claim part of Ukraine for Russia, unliterally annexing the Crimean Peninsula. The annexation is not recognized by the international community, but Russia controlled the territory since 2014.
Soon after Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists proclaimed two republics in the eastern part of the country: the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. A 2015 peace deal largely ended the major battles but since then, there have been ongoing skirmishes and fighting in the region, which is known as the Donbas, between Ukraine’s troops and separatists.
After months of posturing while denying any plans to attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assaults on multiple cities in Ukraine began overnight on Feb. 24 and continued today. Earlier this week, Putin unilaterally recognized the independence of two breakaway regions in Donbas: the self-declared “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk. The move led to U.S. and its allies imposing new sanctions on Russia.

On Feb. 24, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared martial law across the country.
In just a few days, many families who had to protect themselves from bombing had to pack their bags and leave everything behind. Long lines of cars waiting to fill up on gas, dozens of people waiting by a bank machine before it announced that it was out of cash, families sheltering in the metro station. The borders with Poland and Moldova have lines of potential refugees’ miles long. In the meantime, the Hungarian government recognised the vast majority of people fleeing Ukraine as eligible for temporary protection by a decree on the night of the 24 Feb.
According to World Population Review, Ukraine’s current population is 43.3 million people, declining since the 1990s due to high emigration rates, low birth rates and high death rates. An average of 50’000 people per day are crossing the borders since few days. As of 27th of February, UNHCR estimates that 368,000 people have crossed to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and other countries, and expects up to 4 million people fleeing Ukraine.
Whilst, Tdh in Ukraine has been implementing mostly relief interventions targeting children and families affected by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia including individuals with IDP status or not. Tdh has a team of 23 persons in Ukraine, highly experienced professionals, and dedicated people. We run three offices in the country: 1) the coordination office in Kyiv, six employees; 2) an operational office in Mariupol, 20km from the conflict line, 8 employees; 3) the operational office Severodonetsk, 28km from the conflict line, 9 employees. So far, all are safe, at home.
The field teams in both offices have experience on provision of humanitarian/relief interventions using Case Management as the central approach and from the exchanges held it’s notable the commitment to Tdh work and values and the passion for their work and a strong willingness to expand their knowledge and skills.

Responsibilities :

The ER coordinator coordinates the Emergency Response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis in the different program locations of the emergency project. She/he supervises the team leaders of the 8 mobile caravans services and is responsible for the quality and timely implementation of the projects – comprising all stages of the PM cycle. She/he is flying between the different offices and place of work in Romania, Moldova, Hungary (Poland, Slovakia -to be confirmed), is member of the Senior Management Team.

The ER coordinator reports to the Operations manager in HQ, her/his main tasks are:
1. Contributes to the emergency response strategy and supports its implementation

• Ensures that Tdh is aware of funding opportunities and strategies of major stakeholders and well positioned to acquire funding.
• Supports the CR in the fund-raising efforts and negotiations with donors.
• Coordinates needs assessments and reports and contributes to proposals and CN development, in this task, she/he works closely with the G&R Manager.
• Elaborates a 3-pages weekly sitrep and share the information with each country delegation, the portfolio and the Emergency Response service Manager at the HQ.
• Organizes real-time evaluation and control the quality of the project following the M&E frame, logical framework and project proposal.
• Is in charge of the security of the teams.

2. Supervision of emergency projects implementation:

• Supervises and coordinates ER project implementation in the 3 countries of intervention (Romania, Moldova, Hungary), and in other, still to be defined areas. Position will require regular travel and presence in the different countries.
• Improves the use of tools and an improved response framework through more standardized processes.
• Assesses activities and ensures the efficient use of resources.
• In cooperation with the finance department, ensures a proper financial monitoring system of the current projects.
• Contributes to Tdh’s visibility regarding these projects.

3. Support to the team

• Provides support and, where necessary, training on the job to project managers and coordinators with regards to project management.
• Improves the use of tools and an improved response framework through more standardized processes.
• Ensures the well-being of the teams, and a clear tasks division.

4. Security management:

• In charge of the overall security management in his/her area of intervention.
• Analyses the security context and risks in his/her area of intervention.
• Proposes the security measure to implement according to the security context upon the validation of each Country Representative.
• Travelling and access limitations, withdrawals, hibernation and/or evacuation with the approval of the HQ.
• Report any significant security incident to the Coordination/Country Representative.

5. Coordination and networking :

• Liaises with HQ to get the support needed from the different departments.
• Participates in meetings and negotiations with (potential) partners, donors, cluster meetings, working groups etc. on behalf of the CR and the SMT and communicates relevant information to the SMT.
• Ensures maximum visibility of Tdh amongst the INGOs community.
• Is responsible for the timely and qualitative production of reports and ensures the timeliness and accuracy of information provided.
• Ensures confidentiality of sensitive information.

6. Child protection policy:

• Commit to respect Tdh Risk Management Policies including: Child Protection Policy, Safety and Security Policy and Anti-Fraud/Corruption Policy, Whistle Blowing Policy.
• Commit to ensure the best implementation possible of the Tdh Risk Management Policies.
• Commits to inform supervisors and to deal with any cases, allegations, or possibility of transgression, even potential, of the Tdh Risk Management Policies.

Profile :

Education: University degree in relevant field.
Languages: Excellent English writing skills. Russian and/or Ukrainian is a strong asset.
Experiences and aptitudes:

• At least 5 years previous experience of seniority in an NGO at a management position in the field (expatriation) and in a similar context.
• Successful track record of developing humanitarian strategies and securing high levels of funding from institutional donors.
• Extensive project management experience (management, budgeting, grants management, planning, staff development and training skills) in emergency.
• Management experience, mainly functional management and coordination.
• Knowledge of Child protection a plus.
• Ability to work as a team and punctually under pressure.
• A commitment to excellence, attention to detail.

Salary :

• Expatriate contract under Swiss regulations between CHF 3186.- and CHF 4065.- net /month according to experience x 13 times, Vacancy: 25 days annual leaves local accommodation and transportation, Health insurance, accident and medical repatriation insurance, return flight.

Tdh Global Code of Conduct and Risk Management Policies :

• Fully complies with Tdh’s Global Code of Conduct and systematically reports any breach to the Code through the whistleblowing procedure: raises awareness within the Foundation on abuse and violence and the rights deriving therefrom, respecting the rights and dignity of children, members of the communities and our own Staff.
• Commits to respecting Risk Management Policies including: Safeguarding Policies (Child Safeguarding Policy, Policy on the Protection against Sexual Exploitation and the Directive on Staff Misconduct at the Workplace), Safety and Security Policy and Anti-Fraud/Corruption and Prevention of the Financing of Criminal Activities Policies.
• Commits to reducing the risk of abuse and harm by developing a culture of open and informed leadership within the organization and in our work with children and the communities in which we intervene in.

We offer an exciting and varied work, useful and meaningful, in a team that wants to make a difference for vulnerable children.

Are you interested? Do you want to face this challenge?