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.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in scale and in the response required. No previous outbreak has had as many confirmed cases, or as wide of a geographic spread. The situation is complicated by the relatively open nature of the regions' borders, inaccessibility of the terrain and the presence of multiple active sites of transmission. The outbreak in Liberia started in March 2014 and has rapidly spread due to porous borders, insufficient contact tracing, community fears and misperceptions. The government has instituted a 90 day state of emergency, and deployed its military personnel to assist in the containment. To date, over 3,000 cases have been either confirmed, probable or suspected, most of them originating from Lofa and Montserrado Counties but increasingly affecting counties like Bong, Bomi, Margibi or Nimba.
The IRC is scaling up its response to the Ebla outbreak with an approach that will provide essential support to the Liberian government led response, while ensuring maximum safety of IRC staff. Currently assisting the Ebola response in Lofa in coordination with County and District Health teams, as well as other international and national non-governmental organization, the IRC has just received limited but valuable funding for Monrovia (infection control, contact tracing, burials and support to investigation management teams) as well as County Health Team Preparedness and Contingency Planning in the South-eastern counties of Grand Gedeh and Maryland where the IRC currently implements Refugee Response Health programming at camp level and in partnership with UNHCR.
Scope of work
- The post holder will develop and ensure the systematic application of safety and security management policies and procedures in IRC Monrovia with special attention to the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU), but not limited to. The individual will also hold the responsibility of managing security for IRC Liberia, and ensuring that standards applied specified to ETU support are applied as a standard throughout the country program. This will include the assessment of threats and provision of advice to manage risk; the maintenance and updating of security guidelines and ensuring that field security working practices are robust and that all staff are aware of, trained in, and adhere to security management plans, guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Integral to the post is the ability to work successfully within a diverse team and to cultivate capacity and motivation thereby ensuring field-based responsibility for security analysis and management. In parallel to the above, the post holder will identify, recruit and train a local security manager until he/she gets autonomous on the position.
- The post reports to the Country Director, works in close collaboration with the senior team in Monrovia, Field Managers (FM) and Security Focal Points (SFP), as well as all other staff. He/she will receive regular technical support from the Regional Safety and Security Advisor (RSSA).
Specific Duties :
Security Management and Systems
- Ensure that all IRC programme activities and locations are assessed and monitored relative to their impact on staff safety and security, and make recommendations on protocols and practices to reduce staff risk and vulnerability.
- In consultation with the CD, Field Managers and Security Focal Points (SFP) continuously monitor the security /safety environment nationally and locally for all IRC programme areas and make recommendations to the Country Director, who will consult with the RSSA to adjust security policies and procedures as needed
- Finalize security plans as part of a fully inclusive process involving a fair representation of team members. Publish, implement and promote the approved documents to ensure staff understand updates in a timely manner.
- Ensure that contingency plans for Evacuation, Relocation, Hibernation, and Medical Evacuation are in place, disseminated and adopted amongst staff including a detailed contextual assessment and situational update which is revised at least quarterly.
- Ensure and regularly reassess that the IRC fleet, premises and equipment are compliant with internationally recognized safety and security standards.
- Research and analyze security-related information from a variety of local and international media sources, governmental sources, the UN and other INGOs in order to produce a formal weekly security update to share in country.
- Ensure that communication systems are adequate and maintained. Provide training to staff on the use of such equipment and communications protocols in conjunction with the Logistics Coordinator.
- Coordinate with HR / Finance / Logistics working practices within the context of safety and security and alert the relevant managers and the Country Director to mitigate operations negatively impacting the safety and security of the team or external perception of the organization thereby creating security risks.
- Conduct local analysis of incidents to inform management
- In conjunction with the senior team and other relevant staff, assist in the debriefing of staff that has experienced security incidents or 'near miss' incidents. Coordinate post-incident follow up actions, analysis and recommendations and ensure recording and tracking of incidents to facilitate timely action and implementation of recommendations.
- Ensure systems are in place to instantly respond to a crisis management situation by working with the Incident Management team; ensure that lines of communication and reporting to the Crisis Management team in New York are fully understood and implemented.
- Conduct security assessments in new areas of Liberia prior to entry by IRC programme staff, in collaboration with the Logistics Coordinator and RSSA.
Documentation
- Ensure that briefing documents and maps are developed to help orient all new staff (national and international) about the overall security situation in Liberia and the particular threats and procedures in the areas where staff will be based.
- Ensure that a centralized filing system of security-related documents is maintained in Liberia
- Conduct ongoing threat assessments and compile reports on security assessments of offices, staff guest houses, field sites and project areas.
- Update orientation documents with respect to security.
- Systematically map all incidents on a dedicated map and provide timely analysis to identify emerging trends.
Briefing, Training and Capacity Building
- Ensure Security briefings (arrival and complete) are of adequate quality and done in timely manner
- Work with national and international staff to build a shared understanding of security analysis and risk mitigation.
- With the support of the RSSA, develop a standardized security training method and provide security training for all staff in safety and security related subjects ensuring that policy and guidelines are understood and are being adopted and implemented across the programme.
- Act as a team facilitator during the development of the Security Management Plan and changes to it.
- Guide train and monitor all staff to ensure the Country's Minimum Standards in Safety and Security are followed and respected.
Coordination and Networking
- Coordinate and liaise on programme safety and security matters with all relevant actors in country such as national and international NGOs, UN, Donor organizations, legitimate armed actors, government authorities, private security companies and other stakeholders as identified within the population.
- Maintain regular information sharing with staff in the Country Office and in the field ensuring high security awareness levels, close situation monitoring and effective two-way communication on security-related issues.
Job Requirements/Experience Required:
ESSENTIAL:
- A formal security qualification or advanced security management training.
- Ability to implement mass messaging communications systems, phone trees, and security information systems as requested.
- Substantial practical field experience in security management in a leadership role (e.g. direct INGO security management).
- Fluent in written and spoken English
- Work experience in insecure/hostile environments.
- Ability to work within a multi-cultural and diverse team
- Experience and knowledge of personnel and organizational security issues, conducting threat/risk assessments, security management and security awareness in an insecure environment.
- Experience of incident reporting, incident mapping, intelligence collation and analysis functions, set up and execution of an incident warning system (warden system), compilation of security reports and assessments.
- Experience in training and coaching national and international staff in safety and security.
- Technical competency and training experience in field based communications systems such as HF Codan, Motorola VHF, Thuraya, satellite systems and internet systems.
- Ability to adapt to needs and balance demands of beneficiary and security actors while maintaining appropriate contextual NGO security advice and coordination.
- Sound knowledge of humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality as outlined in the Humanitarian Charter and the International Red Cross Code of Conduct.
- Strong report writing, analytical and interpersonal skills.
- Previous security management work experience with INGOs in Africa.
DESIRABLE:
- Previous experience in Liberia
- Previous experience with IRC
This is an unaccompanied position.
How to apply:
Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=c3RldmVueS42OTMwMi4zODMwQGlyYy5hcGxpdHJhay...
