Private Sector Officer

Organizational context (where the job is located in the Organization)

The Federation first established a country office in Nepal in 1965 and since then has been maintaining its presence through regional representation or through a Country Office as circumstances have required, providing support to Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) programs and capacity building. The mission of the Nepal Country Office is to facilitate organizational growth, technical capacities, partnerships and resource mobilization to enable Nepal Red Cross Society effectively deliver on its 6th Development Plan 2011-2015, through the provision technical support, advocacy, representation and coordination functions, in accordance with Strategy 2020 and Federation business lines.

Job purpose

This role will be reporting directly to the IFRC Shelter Cluster Officer based in Kathmandu, positioned at the DRC office.

As a continuation of the 8th DIPECHO Red Cross Consortium program, Nepal Red Cross Society in partnership with Danish Red Cross, British Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross and IFRC is implementing the project Enhancing preparedness for emergency response through stronger national systems in Nepal with particular focus on Far-western and Mid- Western Regions.

One of the components of this project aims to enhance the capacity of shelter partners (including private sector and civil society) in coordination, information sharing and working in partnership for effective and appropriate response.

During Mega Earthquake in 2015, the response by the private sectors in Nepal has been recognised where it has been proved that the private sectors in country are the first responders for all types of disasters. Preliminary findings from the report pilot study on the private sector contribution during the aftermath of EQ 2015 suggests that private sector responders are significant contributors to humanitarian relief in natural disasters. It is undoubtedly correct to claim that private sector is one of the most important stakeholders in relief and recovery response of any kind. It represents the community of beneficiaries and responders that are most directly impacted by disaster and its aftermath, whether through loss of life, shelter and/or livelihood.

Thus, building bridges, effective integration with the private sector in humanitarian relief and recovery efforts can add value by fostering ownership and sustainability, expanding opportunities for funding and financial contributions, providing opportunities for collaboration and more importantly ensuring the private sector response is led by humanitarian needs. The response would have been more fruitful if their response had been carried out in coordination with INGOs/NGOs and government where gaps, duplications whould have been minimized. In order to bring the private sector on  the humanitarian platform seeing the need to capitalize on their resources and the capacity during emergency response, the need for this position is prioritized.  

The Private Sector officer will be exclusively dedicated to the task of establishing Private sector platform working closely with Shelter cluster Nepal. The Private sector officer will focus in building bridge among private sector in Shelter cluster mechanism providing opportunities for an effectively coordinated emergency response based on humanitarian needs. The incumbent is expected to strengthen the coordination mechanism between the shelter cluster and private sector at National and district level. In district level, the Private Sector Officer will focus mainly on 2 district Kailali and Banke which are the regional hub and has strong presence of private sector. A Private sector platform will be established at National and district level mapping the private agencies engaged in the past and interested to support during emergencies or any further disaster. The platform will be further linked with the DDRC and DEOC of districts as potential resource for disaster preparedness planning. The activity will focus on building capacity of Private sector on disaster management and humanitarian response system through different round of orientation and training at National and district level.

The position is for the period of 6 months.

Job duties and responsibilities

The Private Sector Officer will work in close coordination with both IFRC and Danish Red Cross.  

Specific Job description:

• Conduct preliminary mapping of the potential private sector and civil sector stakeholders, who will be pivotal for building bridges with the shelter cluster mechanism – mapping at the national as well as the district level (focus on the regional hubs of the 2 districts) is required
• Based on the mapping, support the project - IFRC/ Shelter Cluster in establishing a common platform for national private sectors and civil societies and link to government body and cluster coordination mechanism includes 5 lifesaving clusters (shelter , WASH, Health, Food security & Nutrition and Protection)
• Support the project in establishing district level platform for districts’ private sectors and civil societies in Kailali & Banke districts and link to DEOC/DDRC/local government bodies of respective districts.
• Build rapports with the roster of the national and district level private sectors and civil societies
• Support the project – IFRC/Shelter Cluster in developing a Standard Operating Procedute (SOP) for the working modality of the national and district platforms engaging private sector and the civil societies within the Shelter Cluster mechanism
• Map the emergency resource (fund) if available in national and district level, produce mapping 3W matrix as part of the SOPs and the platforms working modality
• Support the project teams in developing training packages customized for private sector and civil societies with special advocacy sections on the importance of private sector engagement
• Support project teams in delivering training packages as mentioned and pilot the training process
• Support the Shelter Cluster teams in evaluating the pilot process of engagement of private sector and civil societies and document the scope
• Provide briefings, guidance, trainings or orientations to encourage involvement of private sector and civil societies in national Shelter Cluster coordination mechanism
• Support the project team in advocating to encourage private sectors and civil societies to follow the standard kits during response approved by respective government entities.
• Support in engagement of the private sector and civil societies in the updating process of Shelter Cluster Nepal contingency plan

General Job Description:

• Support to the Danish Red Cross DP DRR Project with strong emphasis on the Project’s Shelter component
• Create opportunities for the private sector and civil societies representation in shelter cluster coordination and establish platform for their voice
• Develop strong linkages with the private sector based on the mapping of Shelter Cluster Coordination mechanisms with Private Sector engagements and create a strong networking between the private sector stakeholders
• Act as the focal point for building bridges between the Shelter Cluster and Private Sector platforms (both at the national and the district level)
• Support in increasing and promoting the engagement of private sector in shelter cluster coordination mechanism.
• Advocate for inclusion of private sector and civil societies in national preparedness plans.

Duties applicable to all staff

1. Actively work towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goals
2. Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles
3. Perform any other work related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager

Position Requirements