Senior Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and Protection Officer

The Senior Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and Protection Officer will work in the Nepal consortium office based in Kathmandu. The Consortium Members (American RC, British RC, Canadian RC, Danish RC) have had a longstanding partnership with the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) having worked closely with them for several years, working alongside in the April 2015 earthquake response and recovery, as well as in the delivery of disaster risk reduction, health and community preparedness programs. This role is based in country with regular field visits to programme areas. It will specifically focus on two ECHO-funded projects implemented by NRCS in several Terai districts of Western Nepal and will support the ECHO programme team.

The Senior GESI and Protection Officer will also work closely with and build the capacity of NRCS’ GESI department team; as well as collaborate with other members of the Programme and PMEAL team of the Country consortium to support mainstreaming of GESI and Protection in all Country consortium-supported projects. S/he will also coordinate whenever required with the finance and administration & logistics teams.

The Senior GESI and Protection Officer will report to the her/his PMEAL Manager with dotted-line reporting to the ECHO Programme Manager. This position will closely coordinate with the Head of the GESI Department of NRCS.

The overall purpose of this position is to support Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) in strengthening the capacities of NRCS HQ and field teams (staff and volunteers), as well as government personnel supported through two ECHO-funded disaster preparedness projects, in GESI and Protection, as well as in relation to Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) and Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA), throughout the implementation of these projects; ensuring as well the quality of the implementation and a process of learning and documentation of best practices.

The Senior GESI and Protection Officer will also support the mainstreaming of these concepts throughout some other programmes supported by the consortium, and alignment with global best practice in these sectors, as well as donor requirements, community needs and partner priorities.

In addition, the Senior GESI and Protection Officer will support ad-hoc disaster operations- if occurring; to ensure the approaches s/he supports in projects overall are also applied in such circumstances.

• Build the capacity of and support the consortium programme team and NRCS staff and volunteers especially on GESI and Protection; as well as CEA and CHS.
• Provide technical assistance and training to NRCS staff and volunteers as well as other stakeholders such as Municipalities, Emergency Operation Centers’ (EOC) personnel or Assessment and Coordination Team (ACT) members, on GESI/Protection/CEA/CHS, and Advocacy.
• Support the assessment and identification of gaps and barriers, as well as subsequent actions, to ensure meaningful participation and integration of, as well as support to, the most vulnerable groups, in disaster preparedness and response.
• Support the development and implementation of innovative strategies to ensure the needs of the most vulnerable are covered by disaster preparedness initiatives; including the development of GESI/Protection/CHS checklists to be applied in disaster simulations and actual operations.
• Ensure that a GESI/Protection/CEA/CHS lens is applied in the development and implementation of all activities by the consortium programme and NRCS team, and especially when in direct consultations with communities (i.e. field studies, mapping of vulnerable exposed populations; collection of experiences of extreme events; Initial Rapid Assessments; simulations etc.).
• Advocate for the importance of GESI/Protection/CEA considerations to other stakeholders involved in project activities, when supporting them in the development of their own strategies and tools (e.g. ensuring specific gaps and barriers faced by the most vulnerable groups are taken into consideration in the development of early actions, SOPs, contingency plans, etc.).
• Where appropriate, support NRCS to facilitate focus group discussions and other community outreach systems to inform programme learning and implementation.
• Report progress to the ECHO Programme Manager and PMEAL Manager against the indicators related to GESI/Protection/CHS to provide relevant quality information to ECHO.
• In consultation with the PMEAL teams (NRCS and consortium), identify and document potential lessons learned, good practices and impactful stories.
• Develop communication materials in line with ECHO visibility plan for the supported projects.
• Support NRCS to develop and deliver a GESI/Protection strategy and plan of action across all programmes, including in disaster preparedness and response operations.
• Support NRCS to disseminate and apply learning emerging from GESI/Protection/CEA/CHS tools within the RCRC Movement and the broader sector within programme development and implementation.
• Support NRCS to create, test and utilize innovative and contextualized means for effective engagement of community members (including meaningful participation of the most vulnerable) and other stakeholders, including information sharing and participation in programming.
• Support NRCS in ensuring that all accountability mechanisms (e.g. complaints and feedback) are properly registered, investigated and responded to in a timely and appropriate manner and are considered in programme decision making processes.
• Ensure strategies and activities are integrated, mutually supportive and in-line with the overall NRCS and Country consortium strategies/policies/best practices.
• Ensure awareness of and adherence to the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and other minimum standards/commitments for humanitarian responses.
• Link and demonstrate RCRC Movement’s core values, programming principles, strategic objectives, gender equity and equality in programming and behaviours.
• Ensure the consortium remains engaged and coordinated with national and international GESI/Protection/CEA/CHS initiatives related to Nepal.
• Coordinate with NRCS, IFRC and PNSs in GESI/Protection/CEA/CHS-related activities especially where shared learning opportunities and standardisation of approaches are possible.
• Support the identification and development of partnerships with leading disability, gender and social inclusion and child protection organisations to enhance the consortium programming.
• Provide support to all project staff in ensuring that inclusion and cross-cutting themes are considered in interventions at all levels, especially in project design, budgets, work plans and trainings.
• Demonstrate a commitment to GESI, CEA, Child Protection, CHS and other key policies and promote awareness and application of these cross-cutting themes within the consortium and NRCS.
• Document and promote good practices, knowledge management and institutional learning around GESI, Protection, CEA, CHS and incorporate lessons learned, best practices and technical innovation in plans and project designs.
• Contribute to the production of case studies, training materials, positions papers and proposals.
• Contribute to the production of reports to reflect GESI, Protection, CEA and CHS activities/initiatives/innovations.

Other Tasks

• Any other tasks specific to this position will be identified and agreed upon by the job holder and line-manager.

Produce timely reports based on defined templates and indicators