Humanitarian Director at International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)

The Role

The Humanitarian Director leads the development and delivery of IPPF’s global humanitarian programme, which focuses on providing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services in humanitarian crises.

The Director oversees a diverse team of programmatic, communications, technical, safety and security, and operational experts in the field of humanitarian work. This multi-disciplinary team is located across various IPPF Secretariat offices. The Director’s role involves coordinating and enhancing humanitarian capacity across all six regions of the organization. Currently, the humanitarian team is primarily situated in the Secretariat offices located in Kuala Lumpur and Suva. The team supports Member Associations (MAs) to prepare to respond to acute crises by delivering the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for reproductive health in crisis settings, and to scale provision of essential services for people affected by protracted crises.

The Director oversees IPPF core funds dedicated to the Humanitarian Programme known as Stream 3 funding and a growing portfolio of restricted funded projects in each region. The Director also represents IPPF at external meetings and advocates for the achievement of our mission and the SRH rights of people living in crisis settings. The post-holder will build and leverage strategic partnerships to mobilise resources for IPPF’s humanitarian efforts.

Role Deliverables

• Coordinate the implementation and growth of IPPF’s humanitarian programme and integration of humanitarian work across the development and humanitarian nexus in alignment with the new Strategy (2023-2028), working closely with senior leaders in the organisation at global, regional and MA levels.
• Manage and support Humanitarian Team members and consolidate working approach and capacities across the global humanitarian programme team to strengthen common purpose, technical approaches and collaboration on priority work objectives.
• Support the development of an IPPF Humanitarian Community of Practice which will include members of the Humanitarian Team, Humanitarian Architects of Cooperation, regional Advisors and humanitarian coordinators. The Community of Practice (CoP) will be a platform to share and contribute to Humanitarian Programme scope of work through regular calls and meetings to support a cohesive and standardised approach to humanitarian action across the federation.
• Work closely with colleagues in the Strategic Partnerships Division to mobilise restricted funding to support humanitarian programming.
• Oversee the delivery of various restricted funded projects and strategic engagement with donors including the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is a donor of the humanitarian flagship programme, SPRINT.
• Expand the capacity and capabilities of MAs, supporting them to respond effectively to humanitarian crises and facilitating capacity sharing and peer learning.
• Ensure IPPF publications and approaches (e.g. annual performance reports, technical guidance and quality standards) reflect current trends in the humanitarian sector, best known practices in humanitarian contexts and promote localisation.
• Strengthen financial and operational systems to support the delivery of the humanitarian strategy and the underlying programme through collaboration with Finance, Supply Chain Management and other teams.
• Lead engagement with international humanitarian architecture, including Health cluster and Protection cluster engagement.
• Strengthen global partnerships which assist IPPF MAs to strengthen their preparedness, build their humanitarian response capacities and/or mobilise funding.
• Collaborate with partners in strategic and technical fora including the Inter Agency Working Group on SRH in Crisis, SRH technical cluster working group, and Call to Action on GBV to advocate for IPPF’s policy positions on SRH in crises and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) with key stakeholders.
• Guide IPPF advocacy positioning within the humanitarian space and collaborate closely with the Advocacy team on events and key messages development.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of 16 staff (line and matrix management) including humanitarian specialists in communications, SGBV, clinical SRH service delivery, monitoring and evaluation, operations, safety and security and programme management.
• Oversee a restricted project funding portfolio of more than USD 6m per year and core funding of USD 1.2m per year.
• Ensure gender is effectively mainstreamed within the remit of the post and in line with IPPF’s Gender Equality Policy.
• Build and maintain positive relationships with all members of staff, and contacts within and outside the Federation.
• Provides leadership on developing and implementing an IPPF feminist humanitarian approach.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate qualifications in a relevant field: international development, public health, health management, social science or equivalent.
• Substantial and significant experience in humanitarian settings, including preparedness, disaster response and recovery, fragility and conflict.
• Advanced application of health, SRHR, rights, and/or protection in humanitarian settings.
• A strong track record of leadership and senior staff management, including developing and inspiring performance of staff from diverse backgrounds and cultures and remote management.
• Extensive experience in programme and project management and budget oversight, with proven ability in producing results.
• Extensive networks within the global humanitarian system and experience with international humanitarian coordination architecture, aid systems and agencies.
• Significant exposure to, or experience working in, clinical settings or with clinicians, with a specific focus on the provision of SRHR services Including SGBV.
• Demonstrated ability to think and operate strategically and transform strategy into results.
• Strong policy and programme development skills, including managing funding by multiple donors.
• Well-established resource mobilization skills, including in preparing technical, humanitarian proposals, bids and tenders for a range of humanitarian donor agencies.
• Strong representation, advocacy and influencing skills at regional and international levels with a proven ability to build consensus.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to express technical concepts clearly and concisely to a variety of audiences.
• Fluent in spoken and written English and proficiency in Spanish, French or Arabic is highly desirable.
• Willing to travel internationally, up to 60 days per year.
• Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding in a local and international context.
• Demonstrates ability and willingness to work in a diverse, multicultural, multilingual and intergenerational environment that is anti-racist and respectful of others
• An intersectional (pro) feminist, passionate about sexual reproductive health care rights and justice, including safe abortion.
• Supportive of people’s rights regardless of sexuality or gender identity/expression and supportive of worker’s rights and access to health care in sex work.