Senior Officer, Community Engagement and Accountability

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191-member National Societies (NSs). The overall aim of IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by NSs with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.

IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services.

IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. IFRC also has country cluster delegations and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.

IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.

Community engagement and accountability is at the core of Red Cross and Red Crescent programming and operations. It is an approach geared towards putting people and communities, vulnerable to and affected by crisis, at the centre of what we do. It encompasses a set of activities that embed and integrate participation, communication, feedback and learning throughout the programme cycle, in service delivery and in strategy development. The goal is to enable people and communities to lead and shape positive, sustainable change in their own lives, communities and society.

The Regional Office Senior Officer (SO CEA) will support the IFRC, Country Cluster Delegations (CCDs) and Country Delegations (CDs) to enhance the impact, reach and efficiency of programmes and emergency response operations through the integration and coordination of CEA activities and approaches. This includes participatory approaches, community feedback systems and evidence-based advocacy. She / He will also be responsible to promote following up and providing the necessary support to National Societies throughout the CEA institutionalization process, as well as monitoring progress in the implementation of the CEA Minimum Commitments.

Job Purpose

The Senior Officer (SO) for Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) is a key member of the Protection, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI) team and operates within the Health, Disaster, Climate and Crises (HDCC) unit. The SO CEA works in close collaboration with technical teams across the Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO), Geneva, and with CEA focal points, technical leads, programme, and operations staff in Country Delegations and Country Cluster Delegations. The primary goal of the position is to ensure that communities are meaningfully engaged and placed at the center of all Red Cross Red Crescent activities, with a strong focus on accountability and CEA institutionalization.

The SO CEA supports IFRC and National Society teams in systematically listening to, engaging with, and communicating alongside people and communities. This involves understanding the solutions communities propose, identifying their diverse needs, vulnerabilities, and capacities, and ensuring timely and appropriate responses to their feedback and input. The role also emphasizes the importance of creating safe, inclusive, and equitable opportunities for communities to participate actively in decisions that affect their lives.

Furthermore, the SO CEA contributes to strengthening the effectiveness, reach, and impact of programmes, operations, and recovery efforts by integrating and coordinating CEA approaches. This includes Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and Accountability with Affected population within health and Climate change programmes and emergency responses. The position also plays a vital role in providing technical guidance and training to build the capacity of National Society and IFRC staff to apply CEA more systematically across programme and emergency cycles.

Finally, the SO CEA will continue to support and strengthen the regional network of CEA focal points and work closely with the unit lead to showcase the successes and impact of CEA to leadership at both country and regional levels.

The SO CEA will be required to undertake work-related travel to the National Societies in the region.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Support the operationalisation of the Movement-wide commitments for CEA, policies and guidelines relevant to CEA and ensures the roll out and adaptation of global CEA tools, methodologies, trainings and activities
• Provide technical guidance on risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) following IFRC guidelines.
• Facilitates, maintains and expands the network of CEA focal points across the Asia Pacific region through regular peer-to-peer exchanges, webinars and technical support.
• Monitor the CEA budget and supports the Thematic Lead, PGI in resource mobilisation
• Strengthens mainstreaming and institutionalisation of community engagement and accountability into programmes and operations based on the Asia Pacific CEA roadmap and Global CEA strategy
• Support and coordinates capacity strengthening efforts on essential CEA aspects within the Movement in the region
• Supports evidence-based learning demonstrating the impact of CEA on the quality and effectiveness of programming through initiatives such as surveys, evaluations and case studies.
• Work closely with the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (PMER) team to ensure the inclusion of CEA in key processes and activities related to longer-term planning across Asia Pacific.
• Provide tailor-made support in operationalizing CEA in Emergency operations (DREF and EA), including for Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) in public health emergencies.
• In coordination with surge colleagues, contributes to selecting, training, mentoring and maintaining a pool of CEA surge personnel available for deployment to support emergency responses as well as adapts terms of references (TOR) for such missions.

  Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

  • Supports technical and operational teams at country and regional level to ensure the most vulnerable groups participate in key decision-making processes, have equal access to information channels and feedback mechanisms and collaborate with protection, gender and inclusion to ensure any specific protection issues are considered
  • Coordinates support to develop country-level CEA policies and strategies and integrate CEA in strategies, frameworks, and plans, setting out how community engagement activities and approaches will be institutionalised in the longer term
  • Coordinate the setting up/strengthening of appropriate community data collection systems, such as feedback mechanisms, perception surveys and other relevant methods to gain a deeper understanding of community insights, including perceptions, beliefs, rumours and complaints and inform decision making
  • Designs, plans and coordinates community engagement assessments and guide intersectoral work towards collecting insights on socio-cultural and contextual factors that can inform planning and guide community engagement efforts.
  • Supports integration of CEA in early warning and climate adaptation
  • Attend and participate as IFRC at regional inter-agency fora on Accountability to Affected People (AAP) and RCCE, to ensure coordination and identify collective approaches together with the United Nations and international NGOs.

    Education

    Required

  • University degree in a relevant area such as social sciences/development studies/community development/international relations or equivalent
    

    Preferred

  • World of Red Cross (WORC), IMPACT or equivalent knowledge about the Red Cross Movement
    

    Experience

    Required

  • 5-7 years of experience in a CEA related role, for example, community participation, community engagement, accountability to affected people.
• Experience in leading community engagement approaches and capacity building efforts of local organizations

Preferred

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Required

Preferred

Competencies, Values and Comments

Duties applicable to all staff
1. Work actively towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goals.
2. Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles.
3. Perform any other work-related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager.

Languages

Required

Preferred

Competencies