The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
Signpost
The Signpost Project is a rapidly scaling responsive information service, providing up to date and contextually adapted information and content to equip crisis-affected communities to know and exercise their rights, access essential services, and make informed decisions. It was developed by the IRC and Mercy Corps in 2015 to address asylum seekers’ and migrants’ pressing need for reliable information upon arrival to Greece, and is now active in 15 countries on 5 continents.
The Signpost project is at a critical point of inflection where its proven success is fueling a global expansion into 10 more countries, furthering our vision is to install a Signpost project at the heart of every major humanitarian context worldwide and make community-led, responsive information a public good for the aid sector.
Job overview/summary
This is an exciting opportunity for someone interested in working in an emerging field of humanitarian response at the cross-section of protection, community engagement, and technology. The Signpost Program Advisor will support teams implementing Signpost programs to deliver quality services to their clients, with a specific focus on client interactions and individual information counseling provided through social media messenger, text and face-to-face. They should be well-versed in protection considerations in humanitarian contexts, have experience in communicating with communities, accountability, or feedback mechanisms, and be excited about using technology to empower people with information. While this is a non-technical role, the successful candidate will have experience working with technology platforms and tools beyond MS Office suite, have a general savviness and curiosity about technology, and eagerness to learn Signpost tech platforms. Approximately 75% of the advisor’s time will go towards building the capacity of implementing teams to ensure ongoing program quality and innovation, while the remaining 25% will go towards development of global tools and guidance and engagement in strategic global-level conversations and decision-making processes. This role will be both hands-on with implementing teams in improving program quality, strategizing and troubleshooting problems, and also act as a bridge between Signpost program implementation teams and advisors and product teams.
● Support Signpost implementing teams to design and deliver quality Signpost programs, drawing from, and adapting global best practice and working with relevant technical advisors.
● As required by country teams, provide training and ongoing coaching to front-line community liaisons to follow best practices related to client-centered communication, confidentiality, informed consent, escalation of acute protection needs, and digital security.
● Contribute to the development of Signpost log-frames for approximately 20 different teams and outcome and activity-level indicators in coordination with M&E colleagues at the global, regional, and country level and advise on the design and delivery of client satisfaction surveys.
● Regularly review program data to understand trends in community needs and facilitate conversations with implementing teams about the insights generated from data.
● Make staffing recommendations, and support recruitment processes as required/requested.
● Work with partners that are new to Signpost to help orient them to Signpost approaches and set them up for success.
● Support cross-context learning and knowledge sharing efforts, including facilitating regular check-in calls with partners.
● Collaborate with the product and technology team to ensure that the setup of technology tools is supportive of programmatic objectives and ways of working.
● Update existing programmatic guidance and develop new programmatic guidance as required
● Backstop for Senior Advisor for Responsive Information Services and other relevant program advisor as needed.
Requirements
● Extensive experience implementing and advising on protection and/or community engagement programs, preferably within a humanitarian setting at field as well as at headquarters level.
● Experience in adapting seminal guidance documents and training resources to meet the unique needs of organizations, specific populations, and delivery platforms.
● Experience in training and coaching staff.
● Experience in design and delivery of monitoring and evaluation strategies.
● Experience interpreting data sets and analyzing trends
● General savviness with technology and experience using technology tools beyond MS Office (no requirement for specific platform use, but experience working with a content management system, ERP, CRM, etc.)
● High emotional intelligence and top-notch communication skills.
● Multilingual skills advantageous, with priority placed on French, Spanish and Arabic.
Key Working Relationships
Position Reports to: Senior Advisor, Responsive Information Services
Position directly supervises: N/A
Other Internal and/or external contacts: Country teams, Technical Units of IRC, External Partners, and members of the Signpost Global team, including data analytics and technology focal points.
Standards of Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.
Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an
enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances
Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law
US Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days (depending on role and tenure), medical insurance starting at $145 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus a 3-7% base IRC contribution (3 year vesting), disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.
Compensation: Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.