Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action - Deputy Director at International Rescue Committee

The Deputy Director is hosted by the IRC and provides leadership to The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (the Alliance) to achieve high quality, high impact results for children that are informed by evidence, data, and best practice. Specifically, the Deputy Director, in collaboration with the Director, supports the achievement of the collective work of the Alliance to ensure that the efforts of national and international actors are of high quality and effective in protecting children in humanitarian settings.The Deputy Director is responsible for establishing productive and effective relationships within the IRC and with members of the Alliance to improve upon collaboration, diversity and quality of the work of the Alliance. 

Key Accountabilities, Duties and Tasks
Strategic leadership

• Provide support to the Alliance Director in the formulation and periodic revision and updating of work plans for the Alliance to ensure they are consistent with the stated goal and outcomes and that work planned is relevant, results-oriented, cost effective and incorporates a clear measurement framework. 
• In agreement with the Alliance Director, lead on relevant Alliance initiatives related to the Alliance Strategy. 
• Identify synergies between Alliance priorities and IRC priorities, and support the IRC as relevant in the delivery of IRC’s strategic priorities
• Governance
• Join the Alliance ExCom and Steering Committee meeting as an ex-officio member
• Contribute to transparent governance arrangements through support to the Director, and the Co-Leads.

Management and convening

• Ensure appropriate mechanisms are in place for coordinating and tracking progress of Alliance WG, TF and Initiatives, the sharing of lessons and experiences, and reporting against goals and objectives of the Alliance.   
• Coordinate across WG, TF, and initiatives towards coherence and complementarity in their work. 
• Receive and review requests to establish or disband Alliance Task Forces and, in collaboration with the Director, submit recommendations to the Steering Committee.
• Facilitate regular contact and information flow between member agencies and individuals as required to maintain excellent relationships and harmonised approaches and activities across the relevant areas of the Alliance work plan, to facilitate satisfactory completion of all interagency projects and commitments.
• Plan and coordinate, with support from the Alliance Director, the Annual Meeting for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action ensuring that it is relevant to current sector needs and priorities and an accessible and engaging space for members, practitioners and advocates. 
• In collaboration with the Alliance Director, plan and coordinate the annual internal meeting ensuring that it provides a forum for effective governance, planning, review and fundraising for the Alliance. 
• Support the Alliance Director in day-to-day management of the secretariat.
• Report to the Alliance ExCom on strategic updates of the technical groups

Technical guidance and support

• In consultation with the Director, sign off the Alliance working group and Task Force products for Alliance endorsement
• In coordination with the Director, provide technical oversight and support to the work of a select number of working groups, task forces and initiatives within the Alliance.
• Support the inter-agency identification of needs, gaps and areas of improvement for technical guidance and support.
• Upon request from the Child Protection AoR and/or UNHCR, organize the provision of technical support from across the Alliance for in-country actors.

Networking and partnership building

• Support the Alliance Director to build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with, UN system agency partners, donors, relevant institutions, NGOs; peer partnership/alliances/coalitions, funders, research institutes and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on child protection
• Support the Alliance Director in strategic discussions to influence policy and agenda setting for promoting child protection in humanitarian response.
• Support the Alliance Secretariat in the development of communication strategies, implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness for sustainable results for protection of children affected by humanitarian action.
• Support the Alliance Director in strategic engagement with donors to promote the centrality of children and their protection in humanitarian action

 Innovation and knowledge management 

• Contribute to IRC’s organizational research and learning agenda 
• Keep abreast of latest research and evidence and facilitate the generation and dissemination of best practices and knowledge learned.
• Collaborate with IRC technical advisors in Child Protection, Protection Rule of Law and Women’s Protection and Empowerment to promote uptake of inter-agency resources within the IRC and share learning from IRC work with Alliance members
• Contribute to the IRC’s and the Alliance’s knowledge management work to ensure effective dissemination, roll out and use of Alliance products by relevant actors and within the IRC.  
• Support the director in introducing and promoting best and cutting-edge practices on child protection programming.
• Share cross-contextual learnings generated from the Alliance with IRC’s VPRU and relevant sector staff across the technical unit in internal (IRC) networking spaces

Fundraising and financial management

• Identify opportunities for joint fundraising between IRC and the Alliance
• Support the Alliance director in implementing the fundraising strategy formulated by the Alliance ExCom and approved by the Alliance Steering Committee, to facilitate the implementation of the workplan, as well as the functioning of the secretariat.
• Support the co-host entity.

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

• Success in this position requires an individual with expertise in coordination and management of Child Protection agencies and cross-cultural teams, and with a deep understanding of the cultural, societal, and political contexts in at least three of the regions where IRC operates. 

Work Experience: 

• A minimum of 6-8 years of relevant experience in coordinating, managing or implementing Child Protection networks or programs, with on the ground programmatic experience in a service delivery organization, NGO or comparable international agency required.
• Demonstrated track record in the development of global public goods and resource mobilization. 
• Experience and familiarity with related donors, peer agencies and national contexts, preferably in humanitarian, post-crisis, or climate impacted contexts.
• Experience in leading alliances, multiagency collaborations and interagency platforms is a strong asset.