Background/IRC Summary:  The International Rescue Committee (IRC) 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 offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. 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.

IRC has been working in Pakistan for over 30 years, and manages and delivers large, complex programs to meet the needs in health, education, protection, environmental health and livelihoods for displaced, poor and disaster affected communities. IRC works in partnership with local government and non-governmental organizations and currently works in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces.

Job Overview/Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is seeking a dynamic and self-motivated individual for the position of Senior WPE Manager for a five-year USAID-funded Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Project in selected districts of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Newley Merged Districts. The project focusses on implementing interventions to achieve the intended result of “Reduced risk of gender-based violence through community engagement”. These interventions will stimulate women’s economic and social empowerment and prepare foundation for integrating interventions to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV). 

The Senior WPE Manager will direct and oversee project’s GBV related prevention and response interventions and capacity building of partners and service providers including staff, budget and performance management. The Sr. WPE Manager will ensure that the relevant objectives of the project are met in a timely and effective manner. Specific responsibilities include oversight of technical service delivery, monitoring and evaluation, professional development and training of IRC and partners’ WPE staff. He/she will provide appropriate mentorship to WPE officers and promote coordination among the local stakeholders. 

Major Responsibilities:

Project Management and Implementation:

·         Planning and implementation of WPE interventions, ensure effective use of resources against planned activities and expected output and compliance with the donor agreement and project proposal;

·         Develop capacity building plans of partners on WPE/GBV and work with the WPE Technical Advisor and Senior Protection Coordinator to identify resources and materials, plan and lead trainings and capacity building to IRC WPE staff and partners.

·         Technical oversight and support to partners for the field level implementation of IRC Women’s Protection and Empowerment (WPE) by conducting trainings and refreshers, regular field visits and meetings with partners;

·         Lead the contextualization of  ‘Engaging Men and Boys in Accountability Practices’ curriculum as per KP context;

·         Engage with Provincial Commission on Status of Women, Social Welfare Departments, Women Development Departments and ombudsperson to support partners in strengthening field-based referral mechanisms and pathways and capacity building of service providers on GBV case management;

·         Develop SOPs and provide technical support to the partner organizations in developing and strengthening community-based women support mechanism and committees;

·         Take evident lead and close technical oversight to GBV Campaign (SASA!) including but not limited to community-based activities, engagement with local media with the support of communications team, Information, Communication & Technology interventions (including radio, mobile phones etc.);

·         Extend support to the relevant teams in the organization and partners for developing and strengthening spaces for gender discussion groups;

·         Identify gaps in WPE sector and work with the team to develop innovative approaches and mechanisms to address them based on best practice and in line with GBV guiding principles, IASC standards, and women-, girl-, survivor centered programming;

·         Assist Senior Protection Coordinator in the program development and design process through assessments, proposal writing, and budget development.

Project Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation

·         Set-up M&E systems to monitor WPE activities in coordination with the Technical Specialist Gender  and Senior Protection Coordinator and technically backstopped by WPE TA.

·         Compile and prepare quality monthly and periodic progress reports, as well as the final report, and feed in other information as required

·         Support the design of monitoring and evaluation tools that are contextually appropriate and will allow the IRC to measure the impact of programming without compromising safety, confidentiality, and informed consent.

·         Work closely with government line departments for the development of GBV data protection and sharing protocols in targeted districts.

·         Ensure that all internal and external reporting requirements are met and that reports are of a high quality and submitted on time.

Coordination and representation:

·         Develop and maintain effective working relationships with all stakeholders - including Government, community leaders, NGOs, UN agencies, community-based organizations and other IRC sectors to enhance cooperation and coordination;

·         Participate in IRC regular meetings, reviews, strategic planning; and assist in the preparation of new initiatives for the WPE program in Pakistan;

·         Participate in WEE Technical Working Group and other project coordination and partners’ review meetings;

·         Represent IRC in relevant coordination fora at national and provincial level;

·         Ensure that information from coordination meetings is shared internally and with other sectors, as appropriate

·         Ensure regular communication with Senior Protection Coordinator, Head of Office, and other departments regarding the project’s progress and processes.

·         Any other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs;

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Technical Specialist Gender – WEE /  Sr. Protection Coordinator (Technical Reporting).

Position directly supervises:   WPE officers

Job Requirements:

a)      Education:

·         Master Degree in Social sciences, Women’s Studies, gender studies or other related field

b)      Work Experience:

·         Minimum 7 years professional experience developing, managing, and evaluating GBV /  Women Protection & Empowerment programs with reputable local and/or international organizations or UN agencies.

·         Thorough understanding of best practices and evidence-based strategies in GBV response (case management, psychosocial support, legal support) and GBV primary prevention and risk reduction.

·         Experience implementing GBV response and prevention programs in collaboration with local partners and providing direct technical support to local organizations

·         Strong understanding of Feminist Principles and Gender Inequalities in Pakistan

·         Proven experience supervising and providing case management services and psychosocial support services.

c)      Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

·         Strong project planning and organizational skills

·         Successful experience and ability working within a volatile and unstable security environment is a must.

·         Strong planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation skills.

·         Successful experience in developing new programs in line with strategic goals

·         Strong written and oral communication skills, effective in representation and advocacy with external parties;  

·         Experience managing, supervising, coaching and mentoring staff;

·         Proven ability to work well in and promote teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure;

Language Skills:  English, Urdu

Others: 

The IRC Core Values and Commitments.

·         The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Adult Safeguarding , Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity Anti-Retaliation and Combating Trafficking in Persons.

·         IRC is committed to ensuring that IRC staff is suitable to work with children and have the knowledge s/he needs to uphold and abide by the IRC’s Child Safeguarding Policy.

• Level of interaction with children (Under 18): Frequent direct contact with children especially adolescent girls (15-18 years old)

·         IRC ensures that its staff must actively practice the roles and responsibilities related to client responsiveness, accountability to people in affected communities and must have competencies to solicits and listens to feedback and other’s perspectives, responds to feedback with maturity and sensitivity and takes appropriate decisions and makes changes to behavior or actions in response to feedback.

·         IRC recognizes that gender equality is fundamental to the achievement of our organizational mission. As such, IRC is committed to the promotion of gender equality in all aspects of our operations and programs. Our organizational policies, procedures and actions demonstrate this commitment.

Women candidates and differently abled persons are highly encouraged to apply.