Crisis Analysis Adviser at International Rescue Committee

Job Overview

• The Crisis Analysis Adviser is a new position on the IRC’s Global Crisis Analysis (GCA) team. The role involves a mix of analytical editorial responsibilities – stewarding the analytical and stylistic quality of key Crisis Analysis outputs – and direct delivery of analytical outputs, whether individually or in partnership with colleagues. They will translate imprecise “wants” from colleagues into concrete analysis projects that explore how and why key global, regional or national-level issues such as armed conflict, climate change and more are affecting IRC programs and clients. However, this is not an academic role and success will come through establishing the role as a thought partner with IRC colleagues to answer the “so what” question – what do the conclusions of our analysis mean for IRC programs and clients, and ultimately what policy or other solutions are likely to be most relevant, effective and impactful because they can be used by advocates in influencing. 
• This role requires complete comfort in jumping from macro-level discussions of global-level trends in humanitarian crisis and the aid system to analyzing dynamics within specific humanitarian crises. It also requires exceptional English-language drafting, writing and editorial skills. The Crisis Analysis Adviser will be comfortable writing persuasively and sharing analytically robust judgments, without slipping into being opinionated or sharing un-evidenced assumptions. They will also be adept at building trusted collaborations and relationships in a culturally sensitive fashion within a largely remote and truly global working environment.  

General Responsibilities:

Provide hands-on and inclusive leadership on crisis-specific or global-level analysis projects that deepen the IRC’s understanding of specific humanitarian crises or global humanitarian issues, including the functioning of the global aid system. Much of this analysis will be focused on helping the IRC to understand the changing nature of crises so as to define what aid should look like in a world where aid is under attack. Key responsibilities will include:

• Engage relevant colleagues to co-develop an understanding of their analysis needs and translate that into a specific plan for an analysis project.  
• Find opportunities to bring together different skills and areas of expertise from across the IRC in general and the GCA team specifically to contribute to the success of these projects. 
• Ensure analysis is grounded in structured analysis techniques and draws out impactful, policy-relevant conclusions that translate well into advocacy and influence. 
• Take ownership of the final analytical and stylistic quality of resulting products. 
• On project-by-project basis agree with Director GCA an appropriate balance between editorial/oversight and direct hands-on delivery. 

Serve as an analysis subject-matter expert within policy project teams working on themes including financing and delivery of humanitarian and development aid. This covers a spectrum of activities:

• Provide technical advice and guidance on analysis methods.
• Offer edits (ranging from light-touch to more in-depth edits) of outputs prepared by Policy colleagues, ensuring analytical and stylistic quality.
• As agreed, carry out policy-relevant analysis and draft outputs.

Specific responsibilities related to the annual Emergency Watchlist report:

• While some work on the IRC’s annual Emergency Watchlist happens throughout the year, this role will typically be 100% focused on the Watchlist during the latter half of each calendar year, and it will hold the following responsibilities: 
• · Lead work of the Watchlist sub-team that delivers the brief (2-page) profiles that appear in the IRC’s annual Emergency Watchlist report to explain the key risks facing countries appearing on the Watchlist. 
  • Edit country profiles to ensure they align with the IRC’s analytical and stylistic standards. 
  • Establish meaningful opportunities for country and regional colleagues to review the drafts. 
• Deliver high quality, global-level analysis that introduces the annual Emergency Watchlist. 
  • Draft the global-level analysis that appears in the Watchlist, ensuring it is analytically robust, persuasive in its argument, and pleasurable for non-experts to read. 
  • Carry out the original research and analysis that underpins the global-level analysis. Engage senior internal stakeholders as thought partners on the development of the global-level analysis. 
  • Actively seek feedback and adjust content accordingly. 
• Collaborate closely with the Crisis Data Specialist to plan and deliver an inclusive and analytically robust country-selection process that also generates insights to inform the rest of the Watchlist.
• Promote cohesion of different aspects of the Emergency Watchlist, to ensure country profiles, global-level analysis and policy recommendations are aligned and mutually reinforcing. 
• Collaborate closely with Watchlist Project Manager and Director, GCA to plan work on the Watchlist, and to adapt plans as dictated by events. 
• Review materials developed by Communications and other colleagues based on the Watchlist, to ensure they maximize the value of the analysis for external engagement, while remaining accurate and sensitive to the content of the Watchlist. 

Other responsibilities (20%)

• As required, represent the IRC at policy events and to advocacy targets, media and donors.
• The GCA team hosts the IRC’s Emergency Classification system, which provides a rapid assessment of the severity of new emergencies and recommends what response resources the IRC should make available. The Crisis Analysis Adviser will receive training on this system so that they can offer surge support on processing emergency classifications when required. Most classification requests are handled during working hours, but the Crisis Analysis Adviser may, very occasionally, be involved in processing and issuing a classification at weekends where this is crucial to ensure a timely response to a new emergency.
• There may be occasional opportunities to deploy to lead scenario analysis exercises.
• Keep Crisis Analysis communications materials, including RescueNet pages, updated.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Director, Global Crisis Analysis 
• Position directly supervises: None
• Other relationships: Global Crisis Analysis team, Emergency Unit, global Policy and Solutions team, a network of Country Program and regional focal points. 

Job Qualifications:

Education/Experience: 

• An undergraduate degree or equivalent experience plus 6-8 years relevant professional experience. 
• At least 1-2 years of this professional experience should involve editing analysis written by others.**

Demonstrated skills and aptitudes:

• Deep expertise on qualitative analysis techniques relevant to analysis in the humanitarian sector.** This means robust analysis techniques used to reach sound, analytical judgments about the political, diplomatic and conflict trends that shape the trajectory of crises. Please use your cover letter to detail how you have deployed structured analysis techniques in previous professional roles to produce forward-looking crisis analysis.
• Basic ability to carry out data analysis in Excel or similar, e.g. to use pivot charts to identify trends in large datasets. More sophisticated data analysis skills (including GIS) welcome, but not essential. Any familiarity with OECD DAC, CRS or IATI databases will be welcome but is not a requirement.
• Must be an outstanding writer with a proven ability to turn rigorous research and analysis about complex, political, conflict or other crisis-related topics into compelling, engaging and persuasive products for general audiences.** 
• Exceptional ability to edit analytical prose to ensure its “so what” is clear, analytically robust, powerfully communicated, and adapted to suit different audiences, formats and opportunities for advocacy and influence.
• Delivering through others, including leadership through influence rather than authority.
• Comfort and experience coordinating the work of peers and providing feedback on their writing. Focuses on writing in a manner and style that gets results based on performance and testing.
• Building productive partnerships with colleagues in a largely remote environment, navigating the complexities of a large, international organization. 
• Proven problem solver who’s able to navigate complexity and ambiguity despite limited information. 
• Knowledge of crisis dynamics and challenges to humanitarian action in one or more countries/regions currently experiencing a humanitarian crisis. This is likely to have been gained through work in the humanitarian sector but other relevant experience will be considered.**
• Strong dedication to the IRC's mission, purpose and values.
• Superb English-language oral and written skills are essential.** Other languages an advantage, especially French, Spanish, Arabic, or other languages spoken in countries where the IRC works.