Request #: req48048
Job Title: Violence Prevention and Response Regional Lead, Central Africa
Sector of activity: Prevention and intervention in cases of violence
Contract type: Regular
Occupancy rate: Full time
Open to expats: Yes
Work Location: Yaounde, Cameroon
working arrangements: Open to remote work
Job description
IRC’s Technical Excellence team is comprised of five sector teams or “Units” which have deep expertise in their respective fields: Education, Economic Wellbeing, Governance, Health, and Violence Prevention and Response, as well as teams which provide measurement and finance/grant management support. Technical teams are also matrixed with a team that focuses on the quality and content of cross-sectoral programming in emergency responses.
IRC’s Technical Excellence teams offer five core services to IRC country programs and the wider organization:
1. Program Design: We support country and regional teams to design state of the art programming, incorporating the best available evidence, cost data, and expertise of what has worked elsewhere, together with the knowledge that country teams, partner organizations and our clients bring to the table.
2. Quality Assurance: We partner with our measurement teams to design and drive the use of indicators to measure progress towards outcomes. We partner with regional and country teams to review program delivery progress and help address implementation challenges and adapt interventions to changed circumstances.
3. Business Development: We partner within and outside the IRC to design winning bids and identify winning consortium; we deploy technical expertise in public events and private meetings to position IRC as a partner of choice.
4. Research & Learning: We partner with our research lab to design cutting edge research to fill evidence gaps, and with country teams to learn from implementation such that we continuously improve our future design and delivery.
5. External Influence: We showcase the IRC’s programs, technical insights and learning in order to influence and improve the humanitarian sector’s policy and practice.
Technical Excellence is currently going through a change process called “Regional and Technical Alignment.” We are doing this to ensure that the impact of our programs and the influence of our ideas create meaningful change for people affected by crisis. This next phase of IRC’s commitment to program quality will more deliberately resource and link global thought leadership with practice on the ground. Updated Technical Unit structures will have new roles with clearer mandates. The Regional Lead is a new leadership role introduced by this change process.
The Violence Prevention and Response Unit at the IRC –
The Violence Prevention and Response Unit (VPRU) is one of IRC’s five Technical Units alongside Health, Education, Economy Recovery and Development and Governance. Technical Units provide support to our country programs in the design, delivery, quality assurance and continuous learning for programs advancing the outcomes areas the IRC supports and driving thought leadership around those areas of work.
Programming addressing violence, abuse and exclusion in crisis situations represents the organization’s second largest programmatic portfolio.
The VPRU brings together the disciplines of Child Protection, Women’s Protection and Empowerment, and Protection-Rule of Law. We seek to reduce people’s vulnerability to violence and support them to recover from the consequences of violence through programs tailored to individual needs and contexts, as well as strategies addressing systemic gaps which contribute to the perpetuation and exacerbation of violence in crisis and conflict environments. Our prevention work focuses on programs that shift power dynamics, promote human rights, and empower people affected by violence and inequality to transform their future. Our response work focuses on ensuring lifesaving and survivor-centered services for people affected by violence and inequality in all their diversity. We work with the people most at risk and seek to address the needs of populations of all ages and backgrounds through a context-relevant, client-centered, intersectional approach.
We also know from evidence and experience that in most contexts women and children are disproportionately impacted by unequal power, and therefore those at greatest risk of violence. For this reason, we are committed to specialized approaches for these populations.
To advance IRC’s delivery of Violence Prevention and Response programming across over 45 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, we rely on team of more than 70 professionals committed to providing best-of-class expertise, evidence- based insights based on continued attention to sectoral developments and learning from cross-regional programming insights in order to realize our ambitions for safer, more inclusive lives for our clients. They are supported in this by an intentional and strategic use of research and evidence, a commitment to the highest quality standards and continued engagement in industry-wide development including coordination mechanism, policy to promote innovation and high-impact, cost-efficient interventions. We partner with IRC country program teams and local actors to create and capture innovations in protection programming which can be used by humanitarian actors to improve the protection and empowerment of women and girls, children and adolescents, people with disabilities, with diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) and other people at risk.
Central Africa Regional Overview:
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. 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 that support them, as well as with those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in more than 40 countries and in 22 US cities, IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. IRC leads the way from harm to home. The IRC implements programs in Six Central Africa countries—Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania—and implements programs across the arc of crisis, emergency, humanitarian, and development contexts.
Job Overview
Violence Prevention and Response (VPR) Central Africa Regional Lead provides coherence and direction to the provision of technical support for Women’s Protection and Empowerment, Child Protection, and Protection – Rule of Law in Central Africa. As a member of both the regional team and the technical unit senior management team, the VPR Central Africa Regional Lead has accountability for technical quality and responsibility for ensuring the advice from Technical Advisors is taken into appropriate action by the country office.
The VPR Central Africa Regional Lead will lead a highly effective, strategic violence prevention and response regional team to ensure the Central Africa Region has high quality, sound technical support needed to deliver on global program goals and effectively serve our clients. The role will serve as a functional leader, advisor, and a thought partner to both TU leadership and Regional leadership, with a particular focus on leading the operationalization of the Safety strategy in Central Africa, multi-sector and sub-sector program integration, mainstreaming of Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion across programming, evidence-based design, business development, and quality assurance for high-impact and scale strategic projects. The VPR Central Africa Regional Lead will coordinate across individuals and projects, ensuring clear priorities are set and communicated, and navigating the challenges inherent in being an advisory function. They will be an excellent people manager, with great team building/animation skills, able to help technical staff succeed and grow in their careers. The VPR Central Africa Regional Lead will invest deeply in understanding the context and dynamics of the country and regional teams and the challenges they face. They will ensure coherent ways of working within and across the regional technical team, as well as technical within the wider VPRU, to align high quality support with the operational realities of the country offices. The Regional Lead will champion technical external representation in regional forum for promoting learning, advocacy and showcasing IRC’s programming as well as engage with regional colleagues on donor facing engagement. By doing so, the Regional Lead will ensure high quality programming across the Child Protection, Protection – Rule of Law, and Women’s Protection and Empowerment practice areas in Central Africa, high quality coordination and partnership with regional teams, effective team performance, and efficiency and impact of technical excellence service offering to the Central Africa region and country programs.
Major Responsibilities
Functional Leadership, Coordination and Implementation Support:
• Provide technical leadership across the region, including by contextualizing the Safety Strategy at the regional level in partnership with Technical Advisors, DRD, + Deputy Director of Programs (DDP) and in line with Country Program Strategic Action Plans
• Promote programming coherence and strategic direction of the VPR programming portfolio including identifying opportunities for intra and cross-sectoral integration
• Closely coordinate with Global Practice Leads and HQ functions to facilitate translation of global standards to the region and of country-generated innovation and learning to global practice
• Support regional Technical Advisors to address implementation bottlenecks and critical quality concerns in the region’s programming portfolio, in partnership with the Deputy Regional Director (DRD)
• Increase quality of technical collaboration across the region by fostering cross-regional dialogue with other regional technical teams
• Provide technical oversight of regional strategic projects in collaboration with the Global Practice Leads as appropriate and/or budgeted, escalating quality assurance challenges as needed
• Foster relationships with a wide range of both internal and external stakeholders to make strategic connections and identify opportunities
• Provide stop-gap direct implementation support as/if appropriate and budgeted on CP-grants
Staff management, learning, and development
• Lead and line manage a high performing team of VPR Technical Advisors and GEDI in Programs staff to design and support VPR programming across the region, and generate evidence and learning for local and global strategies
• Accountable for ensuring TAs maintain core knowledge and expertise and apply global best practices to their work across health sub-sectors
• Work closely with Regional and CRRD HQ People & Culture colleagues to motto strategies of attracting, onboarding, developing, and nurturing diverse regional technical staff at the Advisor and Coordinator levels, and ensuring an inclusive work environment. In collaboration with the DRD, Regional and CRRD HQ P&C, and Global Practice Leads, plan and implement professional development for staff ensuring targeted learning.
Program Design and Business Development
• Provide technical leadership and oversight to region-led (multi-country) business development, as well as particularly large single-country opportunities, together with the Technical Advisors, Global Practice Leads and others as relevant.
• Support and promote technical and programmatic innovation in the region, based on technically-sound and contextually-grounded creativity and/or insights
• Collaborate with other technical area Regional Leads and Technical Advisors to promote regional uptake of solutions that are proven to increase scale and deepen impact, with close attention to where integrated programming would multiply efficacy and efficiency
• Work with DRD, Director of Awards Management and DDPs for country programs to understand the region’s donors for the protection sectors, the donors’ priorities in the region, and the regional funding priorities of Country Programs for the Safety Outcomes
• Support regional donor engagement to deepen donor understanding of IRC’s work the region, strategically foster and develop new donor relationships in close coordination with the regional team, and support the development of regional business development opportunities
• Support the development and growth of strategic partnerships with mission-aligned organizations at the regional level who share commitments towards scale and impact and have complementary areas of expertise for collaboration towards delivering better outcomes for clients
• Accountable for coordinating across expert staff to better integrate cross-cutting issues into VPR programs (eg, gender equality, diversity and inclusion, climate adaptation, etc.).
Knowledge Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
• Lift up program learning for sharing across the region and to inform global strategic direction of relevant Global Practice Areas
• Facilitate interpretation and use of data from VPR programming in regional learning routines and put in place routines and accountability mechanisms to encourage uptake of data-driven recommendations made by TAs
• Collaborate with Regional Measurement Advisors to ensure that Regional Technical Advisors support good MEAL practice for VPR programming in Central Africa, including the use of high-quality indicators, the use of IRC standard data tools, and the inclusion of MEAL activities in project plans
External Influence and Representation
• Engage in regional protection coordination groups and bilateral relationships as appropriate, to represent IRC, showcase learning from our client-centered program implementation, and support priority policy and practice shifts
• Support regions in addressing policy & practice shifts needed to enable program impact and scale
• In close collaboration and partnership with the DRD, regional Awards Management and Advocacy focal points, ensure effective networking and representation in relation to Child Protection, Protection – Rule of Law, and Women’s Protection and Empowerment, through mobilizing input from global practice leads.
Key Working Relationships
• Position Reports to: Dual reporting line to Deputy Director, VPRU and DRD, Central Africa
• Direct Reports:
o 2 Women’s Protection and Empowerment Technical Advisors
o 1 Child Protection Technical Advisor
o 1 Protection Rule of Law Technical Advisor
o Regional GEDI in Programming staff, if applicable
Key Internal Relationships:
• VPRU Senior Director
• Global Practice Leads for Child Protection, Protection – Rule of Law, and Women’s Protection and Empowerment.
• VPR Regional Leads across 5 other regions
• Regional Measurement Advisor
• Regional Leadership Team, Country Directors, DDPs, CRRD colleagues across multiple roles
• Regional Advocacy and Comms leads
• Regional Safety & Security lead
• Central Africa Awards Management Unit team
• CRRD Senior Management Team and Leadership Group; Regional Leadership Teams
• Global HQ and AMU focal points
Key External Relationships:
• Global Protection Cluster leads and stakeholders, INGOs, Red Cross/Crescent Movement counterparts, International Protection Coordination Platforms and Coalitions, Donor and policy makers, GBV counterparts in relevant UN agencies.
Desired Experience and Skills
• Highly seasoned professional with at least 8+ years of progressive technical and management experience leading and managing technical teams
• Established technical expertise in at least one of the VPR Global Practice Areas relevant to Central Africa. Professional and/or lived experience in Central Africa context and sound understanding of the region is a huge advantage.
• Excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management
• Strong track record of leading multi-location technical programs
• Strong track record of driving uptake of evidence-based practice
• Experience managing multiple projects with multi-disciplinary collaborators
• Demonstrated ability to influence across a wide range of diverse stakeholders internally and externally
• Strong track record of identifying and converting business development opportunities (when leading and managing the leader)
• Knowledge and understanding of the respective regional context
• Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; outstanding business acumen, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills required
• Superb inter-personal, written and verbal communication skills with ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments
• Fluency in English and French required
• Ability to travel regionally and globally up to 35% of the time, occasionally on short notice
All applications must be submitted ONLINE at:
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