SayPro Technical Advisory Women's Protection and Empowerment and Psychosocial Support

BACKGROUND

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933, the IRC works in over 40 countries. The IRC’s Resettlement, Asylum and Integration department (RAI) operates 30+ offices across Germany, Greece, Italy, the Balkans, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with new offices and programming anticipated in response to the Ukraine crisis. RAI serves clients and communities through a diverse portfolio of programs aimed at five core outcomes: Health, Safety, Economic Wellbeing, Education and Power. RAI’s Protection and MHPSS work helps ensure that people who have been forcibly displaced are able to address risks and increase protective factors related to their safety and wellbeing. IRC accomplishes this work through collaboration with individuals, families and communities, direct services and supports, interagency collaboration, advocacy, and partnerships with formal and non-formal systems.

Job Overview:

The Technical Advisor (TA) for Women’s Protection and Empowerment and Psychosocial Support (WPE & PSS) provides technical assistance and coordination for gender-based violence prevention and response work, and best practices in psychosocial support programming including women’s and girls’ empowerment across RAI- Europe. This portfolio of work includes GBV response services, gender transformative programming, and psychosocial support programming that informs and empowers primarily women and girls. The position also collaborates on sexual and reproductive health programming along with the RAI Health Promotion Technical Advisor. The TA sits within the Safety, Education & Wellness (SEW) team, which is a part of RAI’s Program Quality & Innovation (PQI) department. PQI provides thought and practice leadership and technical support that helps IRC and partners grow and sustain high quality, evidence-based, impactful, and cost-effective programs. The SEW team focuses on Education & Youth, Health Promotion, Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being, Child Protection, Women’s Protection & Empowerment, and Anti-Trafficking. The TA partners with RAI offices to enhance and grow their WPE programming portfolio; develop and support programming based on best practices; and provides training and technical assistance to increase the staff capacity to deliver high-quality services. The TA helps identify emerging issues, liaises with internal and external stakeholders and participates in the development of programming to enhance protection efforts in RAI. The TA also helps ensure that programming is trauma-informed, strengths-based, client- and survivor-centered, and operates from a gender, equity, and inclusion stance. The TA will help coordinate and align protection efforts, liaise with stakeholders, and robustly contribute to business development. The TA’s central responsibility is program quality, with about 80% of time spent on technical assistance, and 20% on influence, advocacy, research, coordination, and liaising with stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Support

• In collaboration with colleagues from the respective program offices as well as partners and beneficiaries, develop and adapt culturally and linguistically appropriate trauma-informed, feminist, evidenced based services and materials that are aligned with IRC’s Outcomes and Evidence framework, best and promising practices with the field, and donor requirements and mandates.

• Develop, support, and maintain relationships with various RAI office teams and external service agencies to best support forcibly displaced individuals and families.

• Ensure IRC services and supports are responsive to client needs and preferences, congruent with the context, and based on a gender, equity, diversity, and inclusion analysis; and liaise with offices and teams to enhance client and partner voice and co-design processes

• Support dissemination and replication of programming frameworks, methodologies and practices contextualizing and adapting these to the local context.

• Provide technical assistance to RAI offices and other service agencies on best practices in protection assessment and monitoring, interagency coordination, GBV case management practice, including crisis intervention, documentation, referral network development, and direct services and supports.

• Provide technical assistance to RAI offices and other service agencies on best practices in psychosocial support services and interventions that inform and empower women and girls and other at-risk individuals and communities.

• Develop and deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate women’s protection and empowerment training and related materials, including interventions and models such as Women and Girls’ Safe Spaces (WGSS), Girl Shine, Engaging Men through Accountable Practices (EMAP), and analyzing protection risks for women, and girls, including women and girls with intersecting identities such as LGBTQIA+.

• Ensure and support inclusive protection programming for women and girls, inclusive of women and girls who are marginalized by society

Strategy, Policy and Institutional Capacity

• Participate and advise on strategic and joint initiatives with other IRC technical units and teams.

• Build a diverse WPE & PSS workforce by contributing to hiring and mentoring of new staff and developing the capacity of staff to deliver quality services.

• Identify where WPE & PSS efforts intersect and/or duplicate other programming efforts in an aim to explore where programming could create collective impact.

• Develop and disseminate guidance and resources related to WPE & PSS, with a focus on gender-based violence prevention and response that incorporates women’s movement building and empowerment.

• Educate IRC leadership about trends, political considerations and sources of funding to help shape IRC’s WPE & PSS approach, including strategic partnerships and alliances.

• Represent IRC in academic fora, donor meetings, inter-agency working groups, and various global/regional/transnational networks to share best practices, collectively advocate, increase visibility and establish relationships with partners working in the same sector.

• Collaborate with IRC’s Crisis Response, Recovery and Development department to identify shared priorities and best practices and adapt evidence-based strategies for different contexts.

Business Development

• Identify and pursue financial and technical resources towards the achievement of RAI WPE & PSS outcome
• Cultivate partnerships that increase the reach and impact of IRC WPE & PSS programming
• Support business development efforts, including technical review of proposals, proposal writing, creating M&E plans including selecting indicators, providing budgetary inputs, and liaising with donors.
• Develop concept notes and secure partnerships with women’s organizations and other women and GBV-focused actors related to increasing RAIs ability to provide protection services

Assessment and Evaluation

• Coordinate tracking, compilation and analysis of key RAI WPE & PSS indicators and outcomes
• Provide ongoing analysis of WPE & PSS program activities, including supporting monitoring and evaluation of efforts to determine and adjust approaches as needed
• Build partnerships with academic institutions and other organizations to support research projects and the overall work around WPE & PSS
• Strengthen and expand partnerships with RAI office teams and external service providers to solicit and integrate feedback to continually inform the development of needed resources.

Job Requirements:

• At least five years of women’s protection and empowerment experience with forcibly displaced people, including direct service, supervision, and management.
• Experience delivering psychosocial support programs, including support groups, community-based prevention and response, and general psychoeducation
• Master’s degree or commensurate experience in human/social sciences, public health, or related field.
• A strong understanding of the European context and frameworks including asylum/Dublin legal framework in Europe and those relating to WPE with established relationships in the protection sector.
• Experience in project design, proposal development and monitoring and evaluation with the ability to turn concepts and strategy into measurable action.
• Outstanding capacity to understand the country context, portfolio, and overall programmatic needs, and coordinate the relevant technical assistance needed to make a project successful, including experience with training, coaching and/or workforce development.
• Knowledge of immigration systems and the challenges women and LGBTQIA+ persons face when seeking international protection
• Experience in strategy development and working across disciplines and sectors.
• Self-starter with excellent project management skills, including the proven ability to prioritize and effectively manage competing demands and complete project tasks on time.
• Ability to effectively communicate and work as a team member with collaborative partners, the community, and clients in a cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to turn complex topics into practical and understandable educational products.
• Computer proficiency, including MS Office, internet applications and case management databases***.***

**Language Skills:**English fluency required, other languages a plus.

Key Working Relationships

Position Reports to: Senior Technical Advisor: Safety & Wellness

Position Directly Supervises: N/A

Other Internal/External Contacts:

• Internal: Regular collaboration with RAI teams implementing WPE programming, RAI’s Safety, Education and Wellness Technical Unit, communication with other members of PQI, RAI Europe leadership, CRRD teams implementing WPE and SRH programming.
• External: Serve as IRC program representative in outside regional meetings and global meetings and academic forums with donors, non-governmental organizations, foundations, and inter-agency groups

Working Environment:**

Regular office environment. 20% – 40% travel.

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 Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.