Health Cluster Coordinator At Relief International

Title: Health Working Group Coordinator NES

Department: Program

Location: Syria – Hasaka with frequent travel

Reporting to: Hub Team Leader and Technically to the WoS Health Advisor

Budget responsibility: NA

ABOUT Relief International.

Relief International (RI) is a leading non-profit organization working in 16 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

RI includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.

Position Summary.

The Health Sector Working Group Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating all cross-border health activities, interacting and engaging with Health actors, INGO, SNGO, UN actors, Donor representatives . This position sits within the WoS health coordination architecture and informed by the Global Health Cluster Guide: https://www.who.int/health-cluster/resources/publications/hc-guide/en/

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

Coordination and Representation

· Chair regular coordination meetings with the Health Working Group for Syria; building when possible on existing health sector coordination fora, including a diversity of locations within Syria.

· Actively identify new and existing actors to add to the working group, inclusive of those that may be registered in other hubs, but responding in North East Syria.

· Support the Information Management Coordinator (IMO) in collecting information from all partners on Who’s Where, since When, and doing What and feed into the Whole of Syria Health sector reporting for the OCHA 4W database.

· Work with health sector IMO team to provide consolidated feedback to health actors and other clusters, in line with data sharing and anonymization guidelines.

· Mobilize Health Cluster Partners to contribute to establishing and maintaining an appropriate Early Warning and Response System, and regularly report on health services delivered to the affected population and the situation in the areas where they work.

· Ensure that humanitarian health needs are identified by planning and coordinating, joint, inter-cluster, rapid assessment as well as follow-on, more in-depth health sub-sector assessments as needed. All assessments should be captured in the Whole of Syria assessment registry to ensure inter-hub coordination and harmonized data collection techniques. Support the Forum/ISWG in area-based needs analysis, and contribute to developing practical action plans.

· Work with WHO and Health Working Group members to ensure that key health concerns are reflected and addressed, including coordinated efforts towards advocacy and awareness-raising.

· Work with the IMO and WoS team to a) ensure accurate and consistent reporting and mapping of health activities and b) provide analysis back to working group and other interagency fora. This exercise will assist in steering the strategic and operational planning for the WOS response, including but not limited to contributions to the HNO and HRP process

· Represent the cross-border health response and raise health concerns and liaise with coordination Fora (needed INGO Forum/OCHA Focal Point/ Sub Office, and needed Inter-Sector Group ISG) on local and technical level to ensure and facilitate contextual analysis, needs assessments and access to beneficiaries and sites/structures.

· Collaborate with other sectors, including, in particular, the WASH Working Group, the Nutrition Working Group, the Protection Working Group, the Food Security and FSL Working Group and other working groups in coordination with WoS Health sector to ensure integration of health concerns and responsive programming. Provide support to the MHPSS and RH Sub-Working Groups, to ensure that interventions are duly integrated with the health sector strategic objectives and implementation plans.

· Identify gaps and areas of overlap in the health sector in Syria

· Coordinate regularly with IMO and WoS health cluster coordinators, and engage in Whole of Syria health initiatives – including inter-hub coordination meetings – as required.

· Identifying resources needs and track funding to support WoS resource and funds tracking and coordinate with the WoS coordinators to advocate with donors to ensure appropriate support for inter-agency health activities in line with HNO/HRP.

· Ensure that the heath sector plan activities are duly monitored in coordination and collaboration with the health partners and the Whole of Syria Health cluster.

· Ensure health sector preparedness and contingency plans are updated on a regular basis to reflect changes in context and integration with other response hubs and made available to health sector partners. Provide technical lead on health sector emergencies, in coordination and collaboration with other sectors and NGO Forum

· With support from IMO and WoS team, assist in developing/updating information management tools and products.

Capacity Building

· Arrange/conduct direct training in health for key national and local stakeholders as feasible, in line with agreed upon sectoral priorities in the work plan.

· Work with partners to promote understanding of and adherence to humanitarian and health principles and standards according to international standards.

· Ensuring consideration and inclusion of cross-cutting issues (Protection, Age, Gender, Disability, Disaster Risk Reduction and Environment) in the sector’s response; with particular attention to guidance contained in the 2019 WoS Health Sector Protection Risk Analysis document.

Safeguarding

· Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.

· Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, ensure all people who come into contact with Relief International are as safe as possible.

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS REQUIREMENTS

This position will require a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

• Medical background/degree in medicine
• Minimum of three years professional experience leading, managing, and implementing emergency response programs, preferably in a conflict setting;
• Demonstrated background and knowledge of major humanitarian donors particularly, OFDA, ECHO, and HPF funding;
• Demonstrated experience in management of health or other relevant sectors is highly desirable;
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, public speaking, and strategic planning skills required;
• Fluent English speaking and comprehension skills required native Arabic speaker preferred;
• Strong English writing skills required;
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and tasks efficiently;
• Strong budgeting and budget monitoring skills including a high level of proficiency with MS Excel;
• Demonstrated experience in successfully managing a multicultural team, and a commitment to capacity building;
• Excellent time management skills and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail;
• Demonstrated experience of upholding humanitarian principles and actively engaging the most vulnerable communities. Committed to promoting NGO’s focus on accountability, innovation and partnership building

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Relief International is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Relief International (RI) is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to RI’s Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

RI Values:

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

• Inclusiveness
• Transparency and accountability
• Agility and innovation
• Collaboration
• Sustainability