Senior Officer, CASH and Livelihoods
Job Summary
The Senior Officer for Cash and Livelihoods will be an integral part of the operations team within the country delegation, collaborating closely with ARCS focal points on a daily basis. Reporting to the Field Coordinator and receiving technical guidance from the Regional CVA Coordinator in the Asia Pacific Regional Office, this position is technically accountable for Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and Livelihoods initiatives. The Senior Officer will ensure that the design, planning, and implementation of CVA and Livelihoods during emergencies and recovery phases are well-coordinated with ARCS, while also providing coaching to ARCS teams.
As a key representative of IFRC, the Senior Officer will ensure that ARCS's response and recovery activities utilizing CVA are executed in accordance with best practices and quality assurance standards, adhering to Sphere standards and the IFRC Community Engagement Accountability (CEA) framework.
The role involves liaising with ARCS, ICRC, partner National Societies, and external partners, including UN agencies, I/NGOs, donors, and bilateral/multilateral organizations, in alignment with the established work plan and the responsibilities outlined in this job description. Additionally, in coordination with the CVA Senior Officer at IFRC Afghanistan, the Senior Officer will represent IFRC and ARCS in the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) and/or the national Cash Working Group.
Duties & Responsibilities
Programme Design and Development
- Sectoral Assessment: Support assessments that include CVA as a modality, focusing on market mapping and risk analysis related to cash components, contributing to mitigation strategies.
- Technical Support: Ensure that ARCS’s CVA and livelihoods activities are technically and operationally supported with necessary resources, capturing and tracking all milestones.
- Implementation Plans: Assist ARCS in preparing effective plans for CVA and livelihoods activities targeting vulnerable and marginalized groups, enhancing the resilience of rural communities, particularly women affected by disasters.
- Community Support: Help ARCS identify and prioritize community livelihood strategies that are resilient to existing and potential hazards.
- Economic Empowerment: Promote strategies that empower women and youth economically and socially, facilitating their active participation.
- Income Generation: Support initiatives for household income generation and savings among targeted women and youth, providing guidance on financial management.
- Livelihood Tools Development: Create tools for assessing targeted households eligible for livelihoods and recovery interventions.
- Collaboration with Information Management: Work with the CVA information management officer to deliver tasks with clear deliverables.
- Restoration Activities: Assist in livelihoods restoration for communities affected by earthquakes, including income generation activities.
- Cash for Work Schemes: Support cash-for-work initiatives in agriculture and livestock for earthquake-impacted communities, aligning with ARCS priorities.
Capacity Building and Quality Programming
- Training and Support: Facilitate capacity building for ARCS staff and volunteers, providing technical support during program implementation and ensuring adherence to good practices and the CEA framework.
- Monitoring and Analysis: Support the development and analysis of post-distribution monitoring (PDM) surveys and price monitoring surveys to assess the impact of cash assistance and livelihoods.
- Market Interventions: Develop market-based interventions and tools for market assessments.
- Coordination: Maintain close coordination with IFRC and ARCS focal points to ensure timely project execution under emergency appeals and operational plans.
- Field Monitoring: Assist ARCS counterparts with field monitoring and project implementation, mentoring them in project management.
- Meeting Facilitation: Help ARCS counterparts in organizing meetings, workshops, and field trips.
Coordination and Partnership
- Stakeholder Engagement: Maintain coordination with ARCS, ICRC, partner National Societies, local clusters, cash working groups, and government entities.
- Operational Updates: Ensure that all Movement components are informed of operational plans and progress.
- Cluster Participation: Attend and report on UN cluster meetings and working groups related to livelihoods and CVA alongside ARCS focal points.
Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting
- Reporting: Develop narrative reports, updates, and case studies focused on livelihoods, women’s empowerment, and CVA activities.
- Information Sharing: Collaborate with the country office and National Societies to draft and distribute timely updates on activities.
- Financial Oversight: Support the Field Coordinator in developing project financial plans and reviewing financial and narrative reports from ARCS projects.
- Translation Services: Provide translation and interpretation services between English and Dari/Pashto as needed.
- Project Proposals: Collaboratively develop project proposals with ARCS focal points, IFRC technical leads, and external stakeholders.
- Additional Tasks: Undertake other responsibilities as reasonably assigned by the line manager.
Job Requirements
Required Qualifications:
- Education: University degree (or equivalent experience) in economics, business administration, agricultural development, social sciences, or a related field.
- Experience: 5-7 years of professional experience in CVA and/or Livelihoods/Food Security programming, with at least 2 years in an international humanitarian organization.
- Project Management: Experience in basic project management, including planning and monitoring.
- Beneficiary Management: Knowledge in designing beneficiary management approaches that enhance accountability.
- Technical Knowledge: Familiarity with tools, frameworks, and good practices in livelihoods and cash transfer programming.
- Analytical Skills: Ability to provide quality technical analysis and conduct assessments.
- Methodological Skills: Experience in participatory methodologies for livelihoods and recovery assessments.
- Computer Skills: Proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
- Teamwork: Strong commitment to teamwork and the ability to work within a large team of volunteers.
- Communication Skills: Experience in communicating with National Societies in diverse environments.
- Detail Orientation: Detail-oriented with the ability to multitask.
- Results Focus: Results-driven and accountable.
- Language Proficiency: Fluent in spoken and written English; fluent in Dari and knowledgeable in Pashto.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Training: Courses in livelihoods programming, recovery programming, cash and market-based programming, and data collection tools (e.g., Kobo Toolbox).
- Red Cross Knowledge: Understanding of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement's work.
- Coordination Experience: Experience in humanitarian coordination platforms, especially during emergencies.
- Additional Language Skills: Proficiency in another IFRC official language (French, Spanish, or Arabic) is a plus.
Submission Guidelines
Interested candidates are invited to apply through the following link:
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191-member National Societies (NSs). The overall aim of IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by NSs with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.
IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.
IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services.
IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. IFRC also has country cluster delegations and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.
IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.
About Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA)
Community engagement and accountability is a way of working that recognises and values all community members as equal partners, whose diverse needs, priorities, and preferences guide everything we do. We achieve this by integrating meaningful community participation, open and honest communication, and mechanisms to listen to and act on feedback, within our programmes and operations. Evidence, experience, and common sense tells us when we truly engage communities and they play an active role in designing and managing programmes and operations, the outcomes are more effective, sustainable, and of a higher quality.
Working in partnership with communities is at the core of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. We commit to involving people in the management of aid, holding ourselves accountable to those we seek to assist, and building on local capacity in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s Code of Conduct in Disaster Relief. The Principles and Rules for Red Cross and Red Crescent Humanitarian Assistance commit to including transparent communication and feedback mechanisms in emergency responses. In December 2019, the first set of ‘Movement-wide Commitments for Community Engagement and Accountability’ was approved at the Council of Delegates.
The Movement is not alone in its efforts to strengthen community engagement and accountability. There are several global initiatives also working to support this aim. These shared commitments support collective action on improving community engagement across agencies and include the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS), which sets out nine commitments that organisations and individuals involved in humanitarian response can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of the assistance they provide, the Interagency Standing Committee Commitments on Accountability to Affected People, and the Grand Bargain Commitments to increasing the participation of affected communities in addressing humanitarian needs.
About the Protection Gender and Inclusion (PGI)
The CEA approach also works together with PGI components as these both are a crosscutting issue that to be integrated in the programs and operations as an organization’s value. The Protection Gender and Inclusion identified as one of the strategic priorities in Strategy 2030 in its objective to mitigate violence discrimination and exclusion with particular attention to people who are vulnerable, excluded and marginalised. The PGI Policy approved at the 2022 General Assembly supported by the PGI Operational Framework developed in 2021 accentuate integration of value, power and inclusion as key features. The PGI policy define IFRC stand on addressing violence, discrimination and exclusion as “interlinked and to effectively address causes, risks and consequences of any of these issues we need to address them together” further affirmed by the framework that Protection Gender and Inclusion “integrates issues of gender, diversity and inclusion into any protection response to make it more appropriate, adapted and effective”.
The core emphasis of PGI approach has been to be mainstreaming PGI into programme and operations while also emphasising specific themes in mainstreamed and specialised work addressing the marginalised, excluded and vulnerable and to develop the tools, guidance and procedures that addresses them in an integrated way.
To support the programmatic guidance, institutional structures and systems to be developed and refined, with core PGI competencies being established for all staff and volunteers, and specific competencies being established for those specialised in PGI. Accompanying training and accreditation processes ensure a consistent quality across the national society.
All these policies, strategies, and tools have one single common aim to provide better help for people affected by violence, discrimination and exclusion.
