Building Resilience in Ethiopia (BRE):

The Building Resilience in Ethiopia (BRE) programme is co-funded by UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and USAID over three years (2019-2022) and is intended to assist Ethiopia to ‘become more resilient to climate and humanitarian shocks.’ Under the BRE programme, OPM is the Managing Agent for the delivery of technical assistance (TA) across three work streams: health, disaster risk management (DRM) and finance.

With regard to the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) BRE‘s focus is supporting effective leadership and coordination of an effective and accountable humanitarian response. While the overall objective is as stated above, the current COVID-19 pandemic has created an acute health emergency crisis such that the potential social, economic, political and security impact will require an urgent need to improve the multi-agency preparedness and coordination under the leadership of the National Disaster Risk Management Commission in line with National Disaster Risk Management Policy and Strategy.

As the BRE is designed to be flexible to responding to emerging needs as they arise, OPM is looking to recruit Scalable Safety Net Experts (4) that can support the NDRMC and the regions in their response to this complex crises particularly in emergency preparedness, coordination between the different federal government ministries, between the federal and the regions and at the various administrative units and clusters.

Rationale:

The COVID-19 outbreak has the potential disrupt the routine work of the NDRMC as they engage in the short-term response to this complex emergency which in turn will have a knock on effect of interrupting the technical assistance that BRE has been providing in developing shock resistant preparedness and response systems.  The BRE program will recruit short term emergency and preparedness and response technical specialists to assist with the preparedness and response which will provide a real time opportunity to assess and identify gaps in the systems to support shock responsive systems which support an emergency response. The BRE team will ensure that this role fills a gap that is specifically identified as a short term need by the NDRMC. The BRE Deputy Team Lead in the Addis Ababa office will monitor the work of the expert on a weekly basis to ensure that the emergency preparedness and response specialists are fulfilling the needs identified by the NDRMC and if this is not taking place effectively BRE will terminate the short-term technical assistance. The BRE Team is actively communicating with the NDRMC, EPHI, the PHEM Partners Working Group and OCHA to communicate the gaps that are being identified by the BRE Government partners and communicating possible areas where technical assistance is being provided to reduce the risk of overlap.

The Role of the SSN Expert:

BRE is seeking to recruit experienced professionals with expertise in delivering a system of PSNP and Humanitarian Food Assistance systems programs in Ethiopia and how they are managed. The SSN experts will also have knowledge and experience of the targeting and transfer mechanisms for PSNP systems and HFA systems

Purpose:

The purpose of the support will focus on strengthening multi-sectoral preparedness and responses capacity of the NDRMC with attention to primary and secondary impacts of the COVID 19 as they arise, and ensuring clear responsibilities and functions between the various coordination structures including,

·         compiling/ consolidating and disseminating information, assist in preparing reports,

·         liaising with line ministries in support of the Ministry of Health in strengthening the COVID-19 response,

·         liaising between the NDRMC and the regional DRM Coordination offices in the different regions,

·         advise on long term resilience issues with particular reference to the overall objective of BRE progamme

Responsibilities:

The responsibility of the SSN experts involves,

• Establishing and maintaining excellent working relations with government counterparts
• Networking with other stakeholders
• Channeling and sequencing the technical assistance in the most appropriate and effective way
• Providing technical and managerial oversight as well as quality control to BRE technical advisors at Woreda level.

The SSN will provide support to NDRMC in the four areas indicated above and will be working closely with other BRE team members based in Addis Ababa and in the regions. They will perform tasks and undertake responsibilities as follows:

1.       Support coordination and effective response planning between the NDRMC and Sectoral ministries; between NDRMC and the regional DRM Units,

2.       Advise or lead remotely to assist regional, country management and technical teams to respond to emergencies,

3.       Support the NDRMC in liaising with the relevant line ministries on defining the preparedness plans

4.       Assist the MOA in developing contingency plans related to the potential for the interruption of rural and urban food supply chains if markets are disrupted

5.       Improve the coordination between the federal ministries and regional bureaus

6.       Support coordination with development partners and their programmes to ensure effective delivery and prevent overlap

7.       Provide assistance in the analysis and/modeling of the impact of the emergency on the Rural-PSNP and Urban-PSNP as the number of beneficiaries may increase as people are losing their job

8.       Support the MOA in the preparation of notes on the impacts of COVID 19 on PSNP 4 implementation and PSNP 5 design

9.       Immediately deploying to assess preparedness and responses to primary and secondary impacts, providing rapid on the ground support when requested,

10.   Monitor emergency intervention developments at Federal level and in the regions and network extensively with other stakeholders, including UN agencies, and, local and international NGOs.

11.   Establish and maintain excellent working relations with federal and regional government partners, ensuring BRE’s technical assistance meets its needs,

12.   Monitor processes at Federal level that support delivery of multi hazard and multi-agency emergency response and, with a view to identifying areas for further support

Qualifications:

Educational

·         MSc degree in Disaster Risk Management, Environmental science or other related fields

Experience

·         At least 5 years of experience in supporting DRM/Climate Change Adaptation, or related activities Knowledge and experience of in working in Amhara region

Required skill

·         Excellent analytical and interpersonal skills; knowledgeable of donor community, government development priorities and policies, ability to strategize project implementation, comfortable working with multi-disciplinary team

·         Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.  Proactive leader and team player.

·         Desired skills –motivation and determination to work hard and succeed. Proactive leader and team player. Willingness to be flexible and juggle priorities to get the job done. Strategic thinker, able to prioritize and focus on tasks and projects with the highest potential for success.

·         Prior USAID/DFID project management experience, especially managing DRR program is highly desirable

Other Competencies:

·         Effective in written and verbal communication in English

·         Fluency in Local Language is required as the position needs direct communication and interaction with local community

·         Experience of working on early warning system, and disaster risk assessments.

·         Experience of working in NGO environment in a rural setting.

• Experience of working with government office and knowledge of government capacity gap areas.
• Experience of working on PSNP and emergency response programs is an added advantage.