Lead Humanitarian Advisor, CVA Operations and Preparedness at Save the Children

The Lead Humanitarian Advisor, Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) Operations and Preparedness will be responsible for ensuring Save the Children is positioned to deliver CVA quickly, efficiently, and safely, in a manner that is responsive to the needs of communities we serve. Save the Children considers CVA a critical tool to meet its global ambition that children Survive, Learn, and are Protected. To achieve those goals, our operational framework, delivery systems, risk analysis, monitoring processes, staff capacity, and financial management must reflect a balanced approach to humanitarian need and risk mitigation.

The Lead Advisor will initially be responsible developing a global CVA Operational Framework

that guides future CVA delivery in all contexts. They will then lead a comprehensive roll-out to ensure the Framework is institutionalized throughout Save the Children. The Lead Advisor will be responsible for the implementation, compliance, verification, and utilization of that Framework in future CVA programs.

In addition to the CVA Operational Framework, the Lead Advisor will be responsible for creating the minimum standards of CVA Preparedness throughout Save the Children, and directly work with global, regional, and country staff to support their journey to full Preparedness.

The Lead Advisor will also oversee the expansion of Save the Children’s engagement with public and private partners focused on innovative and new CVA delivery platforms. They will identify, evaluate, test, and scale up technologies that meet the need of Save the Children’s programming, in close collaboration with CVA implementers throughout Save the Children.

The Lead Advisor will be the primary focal point for CVA delivery at Save the Children, working closely with a range of functions, teams, and staff to ensure our operational capacity meets our programmatic ambitions, for children.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Demonstrated success in creation of organization-wide guidance
• Proven experience in designing, leading, and standardizing trainings and capacity building approaches
• Extensive previous work in the design, implementation, and monitoring of CVA delivery
• Experience with internal control systems to support CVA delivery in the areas of procurement, financial management, logistics, security and programme delivery
• Comprehensive understanding of CVA technical requirements
• Leadership in the development, implementation, management, and institutionalizing of staff capacity
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities
• Demonstrated leadership experience in the institutionalization of processes and systems in a large, complex, multi-national organization
• Can identify, explain, and troubleshoot the challenges to the delivery of CVA, balancing humanitarian imperatives with contextual constraints
• Fluent in the distinction between CVA modalities
• Understands and balances the information required, versus optional, to implement feasibility, risk, market, needs, gap, financial provider and capacity assessments

Desirable

• Previous work on the financial side of CVA or program delivery, in particular audit, financial controls, reconciliation, and budgeting
• Experience designing capacity building curricula
• Proactive nature
• Previous work on supply chain, with a particular focus on contracting, tender development, competitive bid analyses, etc
• Can explain and identify the technological requirements of CVA delivery
• Experience working in the private sector, in particular with Financial Service Providers
• Capacity to understand and translate needs and ways of working between public and private sector actors
• Knowledge of donor-specific requirements, with a particular focus on USAID, ECHO, DEVCO, NMFA, World Bank, and the United Nations