Regional Partnership and Localization Advisor At Danish Refugee Council

Founded in 1956, The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a humanitarian, non-governmental, non-profit organization providing direct assistance to conflict-affected populations – refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and host communities – in more than 40 countries around the world.

The EAGL Regional Office covers the following country operations: Burundi, Djibouti, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Overall purpose of the role:

The objective for the position is to support the operationalization of DRC’s localization and partnership ambitions through technical support and strategic guidance to regional and country operations, with a view to developing relevant structures and competitive programming that ensure an effective localization approach and enables DRC to shift some of its fundraising in support hereof.

While the focus of responsibilities lies in direct support to DRC regional and country operations (app. 80%), the position will also be part of and include commitments to the global localization team (app. 20%), feeding regional/local experiences with localization into global learning and the development of processes related to localization ambitions.

The position can be based in one of two locations: DRC Uganda country office (Kampala) or DRC Ethiopia country office (Addis Ababa). Extensive and often longer-term travel (30-40% of time) will be required across DRC operations (priority countries to be decided).

The position is open for national and international applicants. The position is Non-accompagnied.

The role will have the following key responsibilities :

Regional

Resources, training and learning

• Be the go-to person for technical support with the use of global tools and resources, including (acceptable) adaptations to fit to specific contexts in the region;
• Support staff learning and development in the region, including coaching and mentoring of direct counterparts, focused learning for wider programmes teams, and providing induction for new staff;
• Support partner capacity development, when relevant and within own expertise;
• Engage local networks, partners, stakeholders in systematic discussions and learning loops.

Technical advice and support to program development

• Provide technical, programmatic and operational advice to develop and mainstream a localized approach to programming in key DRC operations;
• Support the development of regional/country-level structures that enable localization ambitions;
• Collaborate closely with country level support staff to ensure a localized approach is embedded in support functions;
• Contribute to scoping for new programmatic and funding opportunities to improve and increase localization efforts, in close collaboration with the regional Business Development Coordinator;
• Contribute to the identification and conceptual development of model program concepts under the heading of localization and partnership engagement, for potential replication;
• Collaborate closely with regional and country-level sector and platform technical advisors to ensure localization is mainstreamed across DRC ‘s response framework.

Strategy and Policy

• Support with the strategic direction of localization ambitions, with a special focus on but not limited to supporting the development of localization roadmaps/strategic plans at country and regional level;
• Lead on supporting/implementing globally initiated pilot localization initiatives in selected countries, in collaboration with the global Go Local lead (Civil Society Engagement Unit).

Other

• Engage in other regional and global tasks and collaborations in pursuit of Go Local ambitions.

Global

Resources, training and learning

• Support the development of global compliance-related guidance, tools and resources led by the Civil Society Engagement Unit CSEU (and other global leads, where relevant), and lead on the roll out and relevant contextualization at regional/country level (towards ensuring that compliance-related resources are fit for purpose at country level, enabling localization programming);
• Collaborate closely with relevant global units to ensure uptake of learnings from local to regional and regional to global level, in support of global learning and development in support of localization ambitions.

Strategy and Policy

• Participate in the development of the global localization framework (guidance and tools) led by the global Go Local lead (CSEU);
• Contribute to global strategic & position-related development as well as general advisory tasks as required by the global Go Local lead.

Other

• Support the Go Local lead on other relevant localization-related tasks.

About you

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’s five core competencies:

• Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
• Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
• Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: You act in line with our vision and values.

Experience and Technical comptencies

To be successful in this role we expect you to have at least 6 years demonstrable experience in similar advisory or operational roles in international humanitarian and/or development organisations, preferably in a mix of country and regional roles and at senior level. You should have demonstrable experience developing, raising funds for, and overseeing programming that empowers local actors to be better engaged in the planning, delivery and accountability of humanitarian action, with a main focus on local civil society organisations, but not excluding other actors relevant to localization of aid (namely local and national duty bearers as well as the private sector). We also expect you to have substantial experience working with local partners, a strong understanding of the compliance-aspects of partnering and experience with the development of tools and approaches to enable the implementation of localized programming. An excellent understanding on global discourse on the localization agenda is also required. Experience with rolling out organizational change processes and documenting learning is highly desirable.

Moreover, we also expect the following:

• Social science master’s degree in development or humanitarian studies, sociology, political science, human geography or similar ;
• Knowledge of engagement concepts, participatory techniques and methodologies applied by projects in humanitarian and/or development contexts;
• Demonstrable skills with the design and facilitation of trainings and workshops;
• Excellent communication skills for writing and presentation ;
• Demonstrable abilities in problem solving as well as taking a flexible and innovative approach to working;
• Demonstrable skills with the design of programming concepts for fundraising;
• Demonstrable ability to lead and support change processes at management level;
• Demonstrable ability to form productive working relationships with colleagues from a diverse range of backgrounds, across offices and departments;
• Highly motivated by the normative framework behind the localization agenda ;
• Fluent in written and spoken English and French; Swahili and other regional languages are an asset;
• Able to travel up to 40% of the time;
• Able to operate in a physically demanding working environment.

What we offer

Contract: 1 Year Contract with the possibility of extension, subject to funding and performance.

Salary: in accordance with the Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment Non-Management Band/ F.

Availability: 1st September 2023.

Duty station: Kampala (Uganda) or Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)

Reporting Line: Regional Head of programmes EAGL

Providing equal opportunities We are committed to creating an inclusive and positive work environment based on mutual respect for all employees. All applicants are considered for employment without attention to race, age, ability, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other factor. At DRC we celebrate diversity and appreciate our employees for the people they are and their unique skills, backgrounds, and perspectives. We encourage all interested candidates to apply.

DRC strives to attract, motivate and retain qualified national staff within its programs. As such, we strongly encourage national and diaspora candidates to apply for this position. However, candidates should take into consideration that DRC cannot employ, under an international contract, a national of the country in which he or she will be working (in this case, the Republic of Ouganda or Ethiopia).

Promoting high standards : DRC’s capacity to ensure the protection of and assistance to refugees, IDP’s and other persons of concern depends on the ability of our staff to uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation DRC’s values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. DRC conducts thorough and comprehensive background checks as part of the recruitment process.