Regional Safety and Security Director at the International Rescue Committee

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.

• Job position: Regional Safety and Security Director – Lake Chad Basin
• Job Location: Abuja, Nigeria
• Requisition ID: req12007
• Sector: Safety & Security
• Employment Category: Fixed Term
• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Open to Expatriates: Yes

Job Description

• The Regional Safety and Security Director (RSSD) directs the development, implementation, and monitoring of an effective strategy to identify, analyze and mitigate safety and security risks, enable humanitarian access, maintain continuity of operations and programs, manage incidents and provide for the safety and security of all IRC employees and assets.
• The RSSD acts as an advisor to the Regional Vice President (RVP), including comprehensive gender-inclusive security risk analysis and recommendations related to strategic, operational, programmatic, partnership, and cross-cutting risks. The RSSD leads the implementation of humanitarian access and collaborates with the Humanitarian access team in the development of associated organizational strategies and responses.
• The RSSD ensures adequate protocols and mechanisms are in place to address country programs’ unique risks and challenges. S/he provides direction and technical support in developing and maintaining country programs’ security management in line with IRC Safety and Security policy, framework, processes, and protocols. The RSSD participates in the development of Safety and Security (S&S) procedures and practices that integrate with gender, Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) and Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERs).
• Reporting to the RVP and the Chief Safety and Security Officer (CSSO),  the RSSD is a permanent member of IRC’s regional senior management team and of the global safety and security team. Key relationships include: Regional Vice President, Chief Safety and Security Officer, Director International Safety and Security, Deputy Regional Director; Regional Gender Advisor, Regional HR Directors, Country Directors; Deputy Directors; Country Security Leads, Counterparts in other regions.
• S/he will work with country teams across the Region to ensure that organizational security policies and procedures are responsive to the context, adequate to the security environment, and known to staff; and that security plans and measures are developed and maintained current and appropriate to changing security environments.
• The RSSD will maintain detailed contextual knowledge of all countries in the region, including awareness of early warning indicators affecting safety and security and provides contextual input, likely scenarios, with challenges and opportunities and risk treatment proposition for the IRC. The RSSD will travel at least once annually to all countries in the region, including on very short notice when necessary.
• The RSSD will mentor and build IRC staff counterpart capacities to operate more effectively and contribute actively to enabling durable programming and to reducing IRC’s operational vulnerabilities.

Job Responsibilities
Security Risk Management:

• Lead departmental security risk identification and mitigation measures that align with organizational and regional risk-management standards and requirements;
• Assist field leaders in implementing and maintaining IRC Humanitarian security risk management across the region ensuring security risks are identified, mitigated, and managed;
• Inform the development Safety and Security (S&S) procedures and practices which integrate with gender, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) and Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERs), support associated roll out and adherence;
• Provide input, including comprehensive security risk analyses and recommendations, to the RVP and the Regional colleagues;
• Inform RVP, CSSO, DRD, and CDs of any areas of concern, non-adherence to IRC policy and procedures;
• Ensure safety and security risk management processes and best practices are inclusive of gender and LGBTQ+ specific risks and gender equality and diversity is embedded into such processes;
• Ensure that IRC partners receive security management support benefiting from internal systems and best practices relevant to their operations and operating contexts;
• Prepare the Regional Daily Situation Report.

Humanitarian Access Management:

• Support humanitarian access in the region for non-Frontline projects, in line with guidance and standards as developed by the global Humanitarian Access team;
• Contribute to the development of HA guidance that responds to field needs, is high quality, built from field experiences and is relevant and applicable on the ground;
• Oversee and advise on the implementation and review of contextualized acceptance and community engagement strategies;
• Maintain a high level of programmatic and operational preparedness vis-a-vis predicted contextual fluctuations;
• Advice on the development of operational and programmatic contingency plans that respond to different emergency scenarios that look at sudden changes in context;
• Enhance IRC image and acceptance within the community and amongst stakeholders by providing guidance on inclusive visibility strategies;
• Work with appropriate IRC units to ensure timely and appropriate follow-up to violations of IRC’s Code of Conduct, in addition to operational breaches to humanitarian principles.

Security Management Planning and Compliance:

• Remotely and through a minimum of one visit per country program per year, monitor and support adherence to Policy, principles, standards, and requirements. Provide a follow-up report with clear findings and actionable recommendations after each visit. Monitor progress and report concerns to country, regional and global Security leadership;
• Ensure Country Security leads are preparing and sharing accurate S&S reporting, ensure data consistency and report into global dashboards;
• Prepare twice-yearly regional snapshot of S&S management;
• Support country program with S&S yearly assessment of standard and requirements, definition and monitoring of improvement plans, ops scorecard objective settings, and progress follow-up;

Staff Performance Management and Development;

• Actively participate in the recruitment of key positions with S&S risk management responsibilities (DDO, dedicated access and security roles, CDs and field Director for High-risk countries, others as per RVP/RD request);
• Co-Manage (under MiP), and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely performance feedback, and leading documented regular performance reviews;
• Provide constructive feedback, professional development, and capacity-building plans for all direct reports;
• Promote and monitor staff care and well-being. Support appropriate interventions in response to identified staff care needs of both national and international staff.

Learning & Development:

• Support and facilitate the delivery of IRC S&S L&D framework towards IRC staffs and where appropriate, IRC partners;
• Keep records on staff training and report data to regional and global security level as required;
• Ensure capacity development and learning initiatives account for gender-specific risks and requirements;
• Participate in the design and delivery of global safety and security training organized by IRC ;
• Assist country program offices in arranging ad hoc security training workshops appropriate to their security environments
• Incident management;
• Support Country program with timely and qualitative incident notification, reporting, analysis, and lessons learned;
• Monitor communications from country programs related to security incidents and planning, and provide timely feedback;
• As a permanent member of the Regional Incident Management Team, actively support the RVP during management and resolution of Tier 2 and Tier 3 Incidents;
• Lead After Action Review and monitor implementation of corrective measures as par existing incident protocols;
• Timely maintain the global incident database with accurate incidents of the region;
• Generate reports on security incident, including database analyses, new threats, responses, vulnerabilities, and any relevant lessons learned;
• Lead or oversee post-incident After Action Revues as required.

Liaison & Networking:

• Maintaining a network of IRC security focal points in the country programs as well as external professional contacts and counterparts, monitor the security environment in the region, identify new threats, assess IRC vulnerabilities and recommend possible responses;
• Provide timely feedback on questions and technical assistance requests from country programs;
• Monitor and provide support and reporting on NGO field security initiatives as required;
• Identify, create and maintain a network with NGO/UN and other security specialists suitable for the region
• Facilitate regional NGO security coordination through networking, collaboration, and coordination with humanitarian actors
• Emergency Response;
• As required, support and advise the RVP, Country Director(s), and NY-based senior managers during humanitarian emergencies;
• Assist with the security component (situation analysis and background information, security assessments) of the Emergency Response Team deployments in the region;
• Act as technical supervisor for all country security leads.

Key Working Relationships:

• Reports to: Regional Vice President – Chief Safety and Security Officer
• Regional Safety and Security Director – West Sahel
• Deputy Regional Director
• Country Directors
• Country Security Lead
• Regional Gender Advisor
• Regional Colleagues

Job Requirements
Education:

• University degree, preferably in a humanitarian or security-related field

Work Experience:

• Minimum 8 years of non-profit or NGO work experience in international humanitarian assistance programs, with demonstrated capabilities in planning, organizing, and executing security management operations.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Demonstrated understanding of humanitarian principles, codes of conduct, and NGO organizational culture;
• Thorough familiarity with principles and current approaches to permissive/acceptance models of security management;
• Demonstrated understanding and successes in gender security management and gender equality;
• Skilled in influencing and obtaining the cooperation of individuals not under supervisory control; able to work as a member of a multinational team and manage a variety of external and internal relationships to achieve results;
• Substantial and demonstrated prior experience as a trainer, with an effective adult learner training style and the ability to develop, implement, facilitate and impart learning to a wide range of audiences;
• Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge through mentoring and other non-formal methods;
• Ability to quickly gain a comprehensive understanding of various local, regional, country, and international factors that contribute to changes in security environments and risk levels;
• Ability to prepare and present, on short notice, clear analyses of contextual dynamics, events, security incidents, and their ramifications for IRC operations;
• Self-motivated and able to work effectively without close supervision;
• Prior experiences working in the region and demonstrated knowledge of regional and country dynamics are strongly preferred.

Language Skills:

• Fluency in French and English is mandatory.

Working Environment:

• Willingness and ability to travel approximately 40% of the time including in high and very high-risk environments.
• 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.

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should:
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