Organisation Background
The International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO) is an international charity that supports the safety of aid workers by establishing safety coordination platforms in insecure contexts. INSO provides registered NGOs with a range of free services including real-time incident tracking, analytical reports, safety related data and mapping, crisis management support, staff orientations and training.
INSO services help NGOs with their day-to-day risk management responsibilities and improve their overall situational awareness to support evidence-based humanitarian access decisions.
The strong focus on humanitarian principles and exclusive NGO-only membership criteria have meant that INSO is now accepted as a standard component of modern humanitarian response offering independent frontline reporting and coordination services that save lives, strengthen operational practice and enable humanitarian access.
Today the organisation provides daily support to more than 1000 NGOs in 17 of the world’s most insecure countries and has earned a strong reputation for performance, principles & professionalism.
INSO Cameroon
INSO has been covering the Far North region of the country under INSO’s Lake Chad Basin regional platform that supports more than 121 NGOs to deliver vital aid and assistance to 8 million people across the region. INSO Cameroon will now become a stand-alone platform and continue to cover the Far North region from Maroua and extend the operation to the north-west and south-west regions with a field office in Buea and the country office in Yaounde.
INSO is now seeking an experienced analyst to serve as our Safety Advisor based in Buea, Cameroon.
Job Summary
INSO Safety Advisor positions are highly rewarding roles, offering a unique opportunity to work in a close-knit team giving security analysis and advice that is not only some of the best of its kind, but that is also vital to the efforts of the NGO community to deliver aid and assistance to the thousands of people who need it. Successful candidates will be outgoing and resilient, with the ability to analyse complex security issues and contexts, give sound practical safety and security advice, communicate to an excellent standard of English both verbally and in writing, and above all else share INSO’s commitment to humanitarian principles.
Successful applicants will be able to build and maintain a diverse network of contacts, articulate complex political and socio-economic analysis from an objective, neutral perspective, and produce and disseminate written products and deliver briefings on a time-sensitive basis.
In addition, the applicant will be able to identify trends and patterns within quantitative datasets of security incidents, linking this information to broader political and socio-economic developments.
The applicant must use his or her experience as a functional practitioner within insecure/post-conflict environments and his or her knowledge of the humanitarian community to ensure that analytical products are tailored to offer practical guidance and operational support.
The applicant must also be an appropriate representative of INSO among a diverse and important audience of members and a wide network of contacts, including UN agencies, international donors and organizations, local communities and their leaders.
In addition to providing potentially life-saving advice and analysis, our Safety Advisor must consistently represent INSO’s mandate of neutrality and independence, while upholding humanitarian principles and actively promoting the improvement of operating practices, to allow access to be retained and expanded, and vital services to be delivered safely and promptly.
Major Responsibilities:
* Establish and maintain an active information network, which includes NGOs, the UN, military forces, and otherInternational NGO Safety Organisation national and international security actors to obtain credible and relevant safety information.
* Participate to humanitarian coordination meetings and provide access and security enabling information
* Provide NGOs with timely and credible security information and contextual analysis of the local security situation through; daily incident alerts, reports, weekly incident lists and bi-weekly analytical reports.
* Facilitate and lead regional NGO community security roundtables.
* Assist NGOs in developing their own security management capacities by reviewing policy documents, conducting site-security surveys, and assisting in crisis evacuation planning.
* Manage a small office team, including supervision national staff and oversight of local logistics and administration.
* Effectively represent, promote and protect INSO’s mandate of independence, impartiality and neutrality.
Mandatory Requirements:
* Fluency in English (written and spoken) and working knowledge in French.
* Graduate level education or equivalent work experience.
* Experience in insecure/conflict-affected environments.
* Strong writing and proven analytical abilities (proven written/published sample requested).
* Demonstrable understanding of humanitarian safety practices and principles and their application.
* Experience with humanitarian NGO security and/or project management.
* Acceptance and strong understanding of humanitarian principles.
* Demonstrable understanding of humanitarian safety practices and their application.
* Outgoing and confident personality.International NGO Safety Organisation
* Mature leadership and staff management experience in a diverse multi-cultural setting.
* Excellent networking, diplomatic, and representative communication skills.
Preferred Characteristics:
* Recent professional experience in Cameroon or in Lake Chad Basin- ideally in the humanitarian sector.
* Prior experience in an inter-agency role.
* Local language skills
* Experience with NGO security and/or project management.
* Existing local information networks.
Key Personal Competencies
* A good listener
* An effective communicator
* Excellent analyst
* Team player
* Excellent interpersonal skills
* A people manager
* Outgoing and proactive personality
INSO’s Safeguarding Policy:
INSO is fully committed to safe recruitment, selection and vetting of all potential new staff, trustees and volunteers and we will ensure rigorous compliance with our Code of Conduct and Safeguarding policy throughout the recruitment process. As such, the following safe recruitment practices will be applied:
* All offers of employment will be conditional on receiving at least two satisfactory professional references.
* INSO will ask candidates about significant gaps in employment history or frequent changes of employer and address.
* All essential qualifications and relevant professional accreditations and memberships will be verified;
* The successful candidate will be required to provide a valid proof of identity (passport, ID card);
* All new hires will receive an orientation in INSO’s safeguarding policy and procedures and associated documents (Code of Conduct, Whistleblowing etc.);
* All new hires will be required to sign and abide by the Code of Conduct as a condition of employment.
Terms & Conditions: 12-month contract, €4550 per month salary, 4 days annual leave per month and 7 days of R&R every 2 months with €1000 Allowance, global medical coverage (excluding USA), USD $200,000 AD&D coverage
How to apply
Interested applicants are requested to send the following to jobs@cmr.ngosafety.org and reference “Safety Advisor” in the subject line of the email. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
* Cover Letter specifying how you meet the mandatory requirements, any preferred characteristics, your motivation for applying, and what you hope to bring to INSO Afghanistan (2 pages maximum).
* Updated CV (5 pages maximum).
* One relevant and substantive writing sample in English that demonstrates your analytical and report writing abilities (10-page maximum, for internal candidates a longer analytical INSO report for which you are the sole author will be accepted).
Please do not send any additional information (such as copies of certificates, copies of diplomas, other writing samples, etc.) and keep the total size of your application under 2MB if possible.