Humanitarian programmes manager, Asia and the Middle East & Latin America and the Caribbean

Work for an organisation where life comes first! Half the world lives in poverty. Christian Aid is striving for wholesale change to the structures and rules that keep people poor. We work wherever the need is greatest, giving people strength to find their own solutions to the problems they face, irrespective of their religion. So if you’re passionate about helping others, and want to help us drive positive change across the world, join us.

Christian Aid is now looking to recruit a highly committed and skilled Humanitarian Manager to manage our humanitarian work across Asia and the Middle East (AME) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

This is an exciting opportunity to play a leading role in the development and management of Christian Aid’s humanitarian and resilience work in AME and LAC. The post holder will have the responsibility of coordinating and managing Christian Aid’s humanitarian work in AME and LAC. They will be responsible for leading new humanitarian responses to emergencies, ensuring best practice is developed and followed, that the work is accountable to communities who should be benefiting from the assistance, that contingency planning is carried out and that humanitarian programmes are fully integrated into the longer term development and advocacy work lead by the country teams. They will play a key role in the development of disaster risk reduction and resilience work across the regions and work to ensure coherence between the emergency and longer term work.

You will have considerable experience working internationally, preferably in AME and or LAC, of which a significant proportion should be in an emergency management. You should also have experience of managing a rapid response team or working in chronic emergencies. Ideally you will have experience working for a non operational agency. You should have experience of staff management in complex organisations, project cycle management and an excellent understanding of humanitarian and development issues. Your ability to operate in Spanish would be an advantage, as would experience in implementing quality and accountability systems.

We value the contribution each and every one of our people makes to the success of our organisation. That’s why you can expect a wide range of rewards and benefits, including a generous holiday allowance, a season ticket loan, and flexibility that will ensure you enjoy a good work/life balance.

Recruitment is undertaken based on the candidate best meeting the competencies stated in the role profile. Please show your suitability for this post by giving answers to the following questions: Using the guidance notes may help you formulate your answers.

Innovation and creativity

Please describe a situation, ideally in a humanitarian context, where you have taken a risky short term decision in order to avoid possible longer term problems.

Operational leadership and management

Please describe an emergency response programme that you have led and ensured that it was aligned to existing programmes in that country.

People leadership and management

Please describe a situation where you have built and successfully managed a diverse team, possibly at a distance, resulting in a clear sense of direction and common purpose.

People leadership and management

Please describe a situation where you have developed staff so that they perform to the highest possible standards.

As the post will be focusing on work in Asia and the Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean, please try to provide answers that reflect this.

You will be required to have a standard disclosure check from the CRB.

As this post is UK based, non-EC nationals will require current and valid permission to work in the UK.

Download the role profile (71 KB pdf)

To apply for this post, please download an application pack and email your completed UK & Ireland application form to: recruitment@christian-aid.org (quoting the reference number). Alternatively, your completed application form can be printed out and posted to us at:

Christian Aid
35 Lower Marsh
Waterloo
London SE1 7RT

Please note that CVs will not be accepted.

Job reference: 214/MA

Closing date: 9.30am, Thursday 8 December 2011

Interview dates: To be confirmed

Christian Aid values diversity and aspires to reflect this in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of race, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.