Iraq Women’s Protection and Empowerment Coordinator

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.

BACKGROUND: Violence Against Women (VAW) is a serious, multi-faceted issue in Iraq and in the region. In Iraq, recent wars, sanctions and sectarian struggles in the country have taken a disproportionate toll on women and girls, in addition to social, cultural and religious norms that sanction institutionalized discrimination, domestic violence, and even honor killings. The IRC is breaking ground in the country and in the region by providing technical support and assistance to the government and local NGOs to improve emergency response and protection for survivors and promoting women’s empowerment and protection.

SCOPE OF WORK: Reporting to the Deputy Director Programs (DDP) the WPE Coordinator will be responsible for ensuring quality design of programs and strategies, the implementation of $1.5 M of programming and new initiatives. These would include training, assessments, monitoring and evaluation and other activities aimed at building the capacity of governmental and non-governmental service providers through out the country. The WPE Coordinator will be responsible for enhancing the ability, knowledge and skills of service providers to respond to survivors of VAW and to those at risk of VAW as well as build their capacity to tackle the social and cultural norms that condone VAW. S/he will also support the government in putting structures and systems in place which are survivor friendly and to guide the government in establishing services to meet the needs of women and girls at immediate risk or who are survivors of VAW.

RESPONSIBILITIES: • Program Quality o Provide technical support to field sites to ensure that women’s protection and empowerment programs are of a satisfactory quality and implemented in accordance with national and international standards; o Support the development of technical skills and organizational capacity to respond to VAW in local government and NGO partners; o Guide development of long-term behavior change strategies for the prevention of VAW; o Take the lead in designing and conducting needs assessments and lead or assist in program evaluations as needed to assess, explore and analyze the vulnerability risks and obstacles to receiving services which women and girls face. The results of these regular assessments will inform the revision of current programs and development of new ones. o Ensure integration with relevant program sectors and ensure all program sectors know how to contribute to reducing the vulnerability of women and girls to VAW. o Ensure that appropriate program management is conducted including budgetary oversight and donor reporting.

• Program Development o Lead the implementation of the VAW sector strategy that articulates the vision for the sector in Iraq and lays out the ‘master’ program design (from which proposals are developed); o Ensure that new proposals promote continued high quality programming by responding to identified needs, taking account of recognized best practices and minimum standards and improving on lessons learned from earlier programs, both IRC Iraq’s and other’s. o Recruit or oversee the recruitment of all VAW staff and consultants

• Capacity Building o Oversee capacity building of all IRC Iraq, local partner staff and other stakeholders to prevent and respond effectively to VAW through ongoing informal mentoring and training, formal training sessions and evaluations.

• Coordination and Representation o Ensure that IRC’s contribution to the VAW sector in Iraq is recognized and valued by all stakeholders through proactive participation in regular and ad hoc representation and coordination activities including co-leading the coordination group in KRG and in Baghdad; o Maintain effective relationships with key programmatic counterparts, including donor representatives, sub cluster leads/members, and district officials. o Work closely with the IRC WPE Technical Unit to reinforce quality and compliance;

REQUIREMENTS: • Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender or Social Studies, Public Health, Social Work or related field; • Demonstrated experience directly implementing programs that prevent or respond to violence against women and girls in similar cultural and political settings; • Minimum 3 years experience managing program and budget; • Previous experience managing and monitoring service provision for VAW survivors; • Demonstrated experience working at the national level policy and advocacy and implementing participatory program approaches; • Competency in written and spoken English, and knowledge of Kurdish and/or Arabic is a plus; • Willingness to travel within Iraq, including Baghdad.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: Housing is shared, the position is not accompanied; strict security measures and movement restrictions apply in Baghdad.

How to apply:

Please apply online: www.ircjobs.org or http://tbe.taleo.net/NA2/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=IRC&cws=1&rid=7508 .