TRANSFORM Inclusion Specialist - (SOGIESC inclusion)

The IRC:   

Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global leader in providing emergency relief, rehabilitation, post conflict development, human rights protection, resettlement services and advocacy for refugees and others uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. Over the past 17 years, the IRC has pioneered and implemented programs that prevent and respond to violence against women and children, as well as other vulnerable groups in refugee settings and in other conflict-affected contexts. IRC is one of the first humanitarian organisations to bring together specific expertise involved in violence prevention and response (VPR) in conflict affected settings to ensure collaborative and still specialized support to survivors and those at risk of violence. IRC presently implements VPR programs in over 26 countries, to support social and political environments that foster freedom from violence, discrimination, and exclusion for marginalized populations in contexts of crisis.

Background: 

Building on a growing body of evidence – including IRC’s Cycles of Displacement report and other reports including The Only Way Is Up – in 2022, the IRC launched a flagship technical innovation project ‘TRANSFORM’ to develop mechanisms for humanitarian organizations to systematically embed diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) considerations in conflict and displacement response. Through this BHA-funded project, the IRC is seeking to address the systemic reluctance/capacity issues holding back the humanitarian sector in a way that models a deep involvement of diverse SOGIESC CSOs and extends diverse SOGIESC inclusion across the humanitarian architecture. The TRANSFORM project will develop and socialize new approaches to advancing conversations and furthering commitments to diverse SOGIESC inclusion in the humanitarian sector and architecture.

Job Overview / Summary: 

The Inclusion Specialist will support with ensuring the successful delivery of TRANSFORM, including the implementation of all key activities and deliverables.

The Inclusion Specialist will be based within the Violence Prevention and Response Unit (VPRU)’s Inclusion Team, which promotes more inclusive humanitarian programming at the IRC, rooted in a strong analysis of context, power, gender and how intersecting aspects of identity may result in discrimination, oppression and exclusion. The Inclusion Specialist will be based in a sub-team responsible for the delivery of TRANSFORM and may have opportunities to support with other diverse SOGIESC inclusion initiatives.

Major Responsibilities:

In collaboration with the Technical Lead for TRANSFORM, the Inclusion Specialist will play a leading role in the implementation of all aspects of TRANSFORM until the end of the project, with a focus on technical programmatic components linked to diverse SOGIESC inclusion. Responsibilities include:

Project Management and Initiative Oversight and Coordination:

·         Support with the management of all programmatic activities and deliverables within TRANSFORM.

·         Actively work with relevant IRC country and headquarters staff and support project partners in delivery of project activities in all three pilot locations, ensuring effective implementation and with particular oversight of activities and deliverables in Ukraine and a disaster risk reduction (DRR) context.

·         Support the Technical Lead for TRANSFORM and grant management focal point to produce programmatic donor reports, communications, and participate in meetings/calls as needed to keep the donor apprised of program progress.

·         Coordinate with a wide range of project stakeholders, including the project team at IRC and the project partners, but also with IRC staff from pilot country locations to ensure timely implementation of project deliverables.

Learning and Impact:

·         Document evidence and learning from TRANSFORM at the global level as well as from the pilot countries, in partnership with the MEAL focal point.

·         Collaborate with IRC staff and project partners on the development of all knowledge management aspects (including but not limited to case studies, resource package and training materials) of the TRANSFORM project. This will include taking a leading role in the writing of substantial parts of the resources package and training materials.

·         Support with documenting and sharing learning internally to support better diverse SOGIESC inclusion in programming – linking learning to IRC frameworks and strategies, and working with colleagues from across the organization as appropriate.

·         Convene – with the support of the Technical Lead for TRANSFORM – an internal learning exchange / regularized discussion space to link together counterparts across the IRC and share learning from the TRANSFORM initiative.  This may include colleagues from VPRU and other Technical Units, as well as from Policy and Solutions (P&S), People and Culture (P&C), Resettlement, Asylum and Integration (RAI), Country Programs, and employee resource groups (ERGs).

Dissemination and External Representation:

·         Support with the ongoing running of the project’s advisory group and ensure ongoing coordination between the advisory group and all project team members.

·         Package and disseminate the growing evidence base, learning, and good practices around diverse SOGIESC inclusion on relevant internal and external platforms.

·         Ensure dissemination of key project resources and learnings.

·         Play a key role in IRC’s external representation for the project, including ensuring continued coordination and collaboration with external stakeholders within the relevant global humanitarian architecture, as well as representative organizations and local and national partners.

·         Lead the development of communications materials linked to TRANSFORM.

Capacity Strengthening:

·         Support the Technical Lead for TRANSFORM to develop capacity building resources and materials related to diverse SOGIESC inclusion.

·         Support the Inclusion Team to provide capacity-strengthening opportunities to IRC staff (both within the Technical Units and in Country Programs).

Key Working Relationships

·         Position reports to: VPRU’s Senior Inclusion Specialist

·         Position directly supervises: N/A

·         Regular internal (IRC) contact with: Fellow members of the Inclusion and Transformative Programming pillar; VPRU’s Deputy Director and Global Practice Leads, Regional Leads and Technical Advisors for Protection & Rule of Law (PRoL), Women’s Protection & Empowerment (WPE), and Child Protection; MEAL and Policy colleagues; and the VPRU Operations Team.

·         Regular external contact with: Project partners, and representatives from LGBTIQ+ partner organizations.

Personal Specification:

Skills and Experience:

·         Extensive experience within the humanitarian and/or development sector, related to the inclusion of people with diverse SOGIESC.

·         Strong understanding of the existing external policy and practice landscape around diverse SOGIESC inclusion, including humanitarian architecture structures for representation at an Inter-Agency level.

·         Experience of implementing projects in diverse humanitarian settings/contexts at both the field and global level.

·         Experience coordinating multi-country and multi-stakeholder initiatives.

·         Proven experience of knowledge management and development of diverse learning products.

·         Excellent communication skills and experience representing an organization and building strong relationships at the local, national, and international level.

·         Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.

·         Experience developing capacity-strengthening resources, preferably including toolkits for use in humanitarian contexts.

·         Experience of writing technical documents (an enjoyment of writing is an added benefit).

·         Excellent attention to detail and ability to synthesize complex information into written documents in English.

·         Previous experience working in communications is an advantage.

Job Qualifications:

·         Education: A relevant combination of academic qualifications and extensive experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

·         Language: For this position, strong working proficiency in English is essential and additional languages are an advantage (particularly French, Spanish, or Arabic).

·         Ability to manage a complex and varied workload, work under pressure, and travel to insecure environments;

·         Excellent IT skills (i.e. Word, Outlook, Excel).

Working Environment

·         Some international travel as needed, up to 25%.

·         This position is required to have flexible work-day hours to accommodate varying time zones to complete required tasks and coordination functions.