Interagency Regional Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

Job Purpose

The RCCE Interagency Regional Coordinator will establish and lead the RCCE collective service for East and Southern Africa, including supporting the RCCE technical working group and sub-working groups for community feedback and social science. He/she will work to; improve RCCE coordination and collaboration between agencies responding to COVID-19 in Eastern and Southern Africa; identify and share common approaches for addressing regional RCCE issues and challenges, including developing shared resources and guidance for country level response actions; collate and analyze trends in community feedback and social science research on COVID-19 and the humanitarian response; identify actions to strengthen the response with other technical pillars, country working groups and the response leadership. The position will strengthen

RCCE coordination across technical pillars and between the country, regional and global level. The coordinator will manage a team composed of an information management delegate, country support delegate and a social science delegate.

Coordination

Job Duties & Responsibilities 1

• Support the convening, facilitation and coordination of the Regional RCCE Technical Working Group (TWG) including strengthening linkages with the global RCCE coordination forum and country level RCCE coordination working groups. As per the terms of reference, the RCCE TWG activities include:
  • Regularly update and adapt regional RCCE interagency strategies and workplans based on the evolution of the pandemic and behavioural insights
  • Bring together all actors working on RCCE in the region, including traditional and non-traditional actors, to improve regional level collaboration and coordination of activities and map regional and country level coordination capacities and roles and responsibilities of the main partners involved
  • Identify key RCCE challenges impacting the effectiveness of the COVID-19 response and discuss common approaches to address them
  • Promoting the use and adaptation of existing tools and guidance (or development of new ones) for the regional and country-level implementation of coordinated community engagement approaches (including needs assessments, perceptions surveys, partners mapping, community feedback approaches etc)
  • Discuss and agree actions based on trends and priorities identified in community feedback
  • Coordinate the identification of topics for social science research on COVID-19 including primary research, when necessary.
  • Engage with the media at regional level to encourage responsible reporting, sharing of key health information and tackling the spread of rumours and misinformation.
  • Mapping resource mobilization sources and opportunities for engagement with donors to advocate for RCCE funding at country and regional level.
  • Developing and reporting on common RCCE indicators as part of the COVID-19 response monitoring framework.
  • Support the community feedback sub-working group efforts to collect, analyse and agree recommendations based on the trends in community feedback across agencies. Help to track actions taken and provide support to follow up where needed.
  • Coordinate WG-related performance monitoring and recommend corrective action where and when needed.
  • Support and ensure alignment with other regional coordinators in the strategic approach and ensure wide dissemination and exchange of tools and best practice.

Job Duties & Responsibilities 2

• Advisory and technical support:
  • Facilitate the regional RCCE WG to undertake rapid needs assessments and agree on specific technical support to be provided, with focus on priority countries (to be defined on a needs/demand basis appropriate to the region).
  • Support priority countries to update/adapt RCCE interagency plans, according to the evolution of the pandemic.
  • Support country level RCCE coordination working groups, clusters, pillars and other relevant responders (on demand) with RCCE expertise and ensure support to country coordination approaches, promoting engagement of national/local organizations that represent the social, cultural, gender, age, and religious distribution of the communities (i.e faith-based organizations, youth organizations, CSO networks, private sectors and other influencers).
  • Provide RCCE technical advice and support to the other regional TWGs (Case Management, IPC, MHPSS and Continuity of Services & Surveillance, Lab and Point of Entry) including supporting them to address key recommendations arising from community feedback data and social science research.
  • Work with RCCE partners, to develop demand-driven guidance/tools based on assessment of gaps and support needs from other regional TWGs and country level coordination groups.
  • Capture and document examples of RCCE best practices, including community-driven approaches to COVID-19 prevention and management, for example physical distancing, hand washing, isolation etc
  • Develop and manage a repository of existing RCCE materials and resources including strategies, guidance notes, regional key messages and tools for regional reference in a diversity of accessible and applicable formats and common languages across the region by ensuring physical or online libraries are established.
  • Coordinate joint remote capacity building exercises to address specific gaps identified.
  • Working with the Information Management Officer and RCCE Working Group members, ensure the compilation of, and regularly updated 4Ws (Who does What, Where and When) mapping at regional level.
• Representation:
  • Advocate for action on RCCE priorities across the response, including community feedback and social science research, with the response leadership (WHO Health Partners meeting) and to the wider humanitarian leadership structure in East and Southern Africa (Humanitarian Partnerships Team) in order to improve overall effectiveness and accountability of the COVID-19 response in East and Southern Africa.
  • Ensure strong representation of the RCCE WG, and community engagement needs and priorities in relevant multi-sector coordination forums and ensuring RCCE recommendations are integrated and reflected in the main pillars of the response.
  • Advocate, educate, and forge consensus among all those involved in the emergency response, on the tools and approaches for establishing effective community engagement.
  • Engage donors to provide updates on current issues and community concerns, including plans to improve overall response-wide RCCE.
  Coordinate and oversee regional reporting to BMGF on progress against the agreed log frame and proposal


 

Education

• Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent degree) in political science, behavioural/social sciences, international studies or a related field is required
• Experience in and knowledge of project management



 

Experience

• Demonstrable technical experience (7 year+) in risk communications, social and behaviour change communication and community engagement in epidemics, working at a regional level
• Experience of coordinating interagency working groups to achieve common goals in health or other emergencies
• Experience of leading social science research and/or community feedback systems, including presenting and advocating for action based on findings
• Experience working with WHO, UNICEF, IFRC and/or other partner organizations
• Experience of working with UN Humanitarian Coordination Teams, clusters and health emergencies coordination systems
• Experience in building consensus and brokering partnerships
• Experience of leading and supporting multi-disciplinary and geographically remote teams
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team in a challenging and highly fluid environment, handle constant change and stay flexible
• A good understanding of information management (including data flows, protection and analysis), as well as qualitative and quantitative data collection methods
• Red Cross Red Crescent experience is an asset

Knowledge, Skills and Language

• Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills, able to identify key challenges and humanitarian needs and bring partners together to address these and design a coordinated and effective response
• Good coordination and negotiation skills, with the capacity to build partnerships across organisations and bring people together to collaborate on RCCE approaches and activities
• Sound knowledge of institutional coordination structures, mandates, policies and guidelines pertaining to humanitarian affairs and public health emergency response, and knowledge of the institutions of the UN system and key partners
• Excellent project management skills, able to work under pressure and manage multiple projects simultaneously, to a high standard and to deadline
• Highly motivated, self-starter and team player able to lead a process, engage others and create ownership, across multiple countries and cultures, both in person and remotely
• Clear and engaging written and verbal communication skills


 

Competencies and Values

• Professionalism
• Communications
• Collaboration and teamwork
• National Society and customer relations
• Building alliances
• Accountability
• Creativity and innovation