Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 30 Nov 2016
About VSO
VSO is the world's leading independent international development organisation that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries. Our high-impact approach brings people together to share skills, build capabilities, promote international understanding and action to change lives and make the world a fairer place.
VSO recognises that managing risk and building resilience is essential to poverty reduction and protecting development gains. Without effective risk management and resilience building, our investments, results and the people that we work with may be left vulnerable to shocks and stresses.
Role overview
VSO is looking for an experienced resilience specialist to ensure that we effectively integrate the management of risk and resilience building into our programming.
VSO recently commissioned a consultancy that culminated in the recommendation that managing risk and building resilience be a 'core approach' across our health, education and livelihoods work. In response, VSO is developing a road map that aims to strengthen our approach to building resilience and includes the following three areas of focus: 1. Integrating resilience across our existing programmes, together with our social accountability and social inclusion and gender approaches; 2. Developing stand-alone resilience building programmes particularly in fragile contexts; and 3. Developing VSO's capacity to respond to crises and strengthen locally led humanitarian responses. VSO is looking for a specialist to lead the development of that road map and to collaborate with others across the organisation to ensure its implementation.
Skills, qualifications and experience required
We are looking for someone with in-country experience of putting theory into practise. They will be able to work with staff across the organisation, as well as the volunteers, partner organisations and people we work with to create a shared understanding of what managing risk and building resilience means and how VSO does it.
The person in the role will help VSO move from planning for best case scenarios to managing risk within our programmes. VSO staff and volunteers will need both the technical expertise and organisational commitment, including a clear vision and the support, guidance and tools to inform their work.
Responsibilities of role will include providing leadership on:
- Leading the process of having a clearly articulated vision and strategy that clarifies how the 'resilience' focus adds value to policy and programmes that aim to address people's impoverishment and marginalisation
- Strengthening VSO's ability to do effective risk analyses (community-led and at district and national level)
- Ensuring that VSO's programmes are building resilience through the integration of risk analysis and resilience approaches into their theories of change and methodologies and thus programme interventions; improving linkages and alignment between VSO programmes and with other international development agencies and national governments to ensure complementarity and synergy in approaches
- VSO being prepared to respond as appropriate to developing specific disaster resilience initiatives as part of the VSO portfolio of work.
VSO's programing is informed by its People First Framework that establishes an expectation that programme interventions should be participatory, evidence based and adaptive. Our development approach assumes that social inclusion and gender, social accountability and resilience need to be fostered in all development interventions to address the impoverishment and marginalisation of people. VSO's Valuing Volunteering research indicates that volunteers play unique role in building relations with and between people and the different parts of a system to bring about sustainable change.
The Lead Advisor will act as the 'Content Lead' for VSO's Managing Risk and Building Resilience Core Approach Team, working alongside the team's Process Lead and Global Sponsor and collaborating closely with a global multi-disciplinary team from across the organisation.
How to apply
If you're interested in applying for this role, please download the job description to read more details about the position and the skills and experience we're looking for. To submit your application, click on 'Apply now' and complete all relevant fields on the online application form.
This role can be based in London, Nairobi, Pretoria or Bangkok. Applicants must have the right to work in one of these countries to be eligible for this position. We will be unable to obtain a visa and work permit for those who do not have the right to work in one of the above countries.
VSO reserves the right to close this job early if we receive a sufficient number of applications.
Application closing date: 30 November 2016
Interview/Assessment date(s): End of week commencing 12th December 2016
Start date: January 2017
How to apply:
Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=a2xhcm1hbi42MDY3NC4zODMwQHZzby5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20