Organization: CANADEM
Country: Peru
Closing date: 05 Apr 2017
CANADEM is seeking seasoned professionals with previous relevant experience with humanitarian affairs (community engagement and communication with communities) who are available for an immediate deployment to Lima, Peru as a seconded expert with OCHA for a 3 month contract.
Position: Humanitarian Affairs Officer (Community Engagement/Communication with Communities)
Level: P3/P4
Location: Peru, Lima and/or field (sub-hubs)
Duration: 3 months
Background: Heavy rains in Peru, ongoing since December 2016, continue to impact 11 of the 25 regions in the country. The situation has worsened in the past few days due to the cumulative effect of unabated rains. More rains are foretasted for the next 48 hours and heavy rains may continue into April. Most of the country is affected with northern coastal areas bearing the brunt of rains and floods. Government authorities have reported 62 deaths and an estimated 615,000 people affected since January 2017. More than 100,000 people are now estimated to be in need of assistance, a 38 per cent increase since last Thursday. This number is expected to rise as more detailed assessments are carried out.
A total of 115,000 houses and 900 schools are reported to have been destroyed or partially damaged. For the most part, families are seeking refuge with neighbors or relatives and are therefore harder to identify and register. Some families have received tents. As yet, there are no collective centers. An outbreak of Dengue is feared as it is endemic to the most affected areas and the risk of cholera and other water borne diseases is also heightened due to disruption to water supply systems, water contamination and stagnation. Residents of the capital Lima have been suffering from restrictions or cuts to their drinking water supply since last Wednesday as intense rainfall affected the city's La Atarjea water treatment plant
Surge Justification: OCHA's Regional Office (ROLAC) is supporting the efforts of the Government of Peru and the UN system and has two national staff already in Peru through its HAT (1 HAO, 1IMO). It is anticipated that UNDAC will remain three to four weeks in country and that additional support may be needed for several weeks to support the HAT after the departure of UNDAC.
Language requirements: Fluency in written and spoken Spanish and English.
Main Tasks and Duties
• Provide support to efforts focused on listening to affected communities and collecting their perspectives, ensuring not just that this is systematic but that these perspectives are fed back into system level project and policy work at sector and overall humanitarian leadership level, including advocacy work.
• Work with sectors and partners to ensure that feedback from affected communities influences humanitarian programming and decision-making processes.
• Strengthen collaboration between different agencies and members of the humanitarian architecture, including but not limited to the national government, relevant sector leads, and UN partners.
• Advocate for participatory approaches in ail programming planned by sectors and humanitarian organizations.
• Attend government coordination meetings and the Intersectoral meetings to ensure feedback from communities is discussed, acted upon and that information to communities is produced and disseminated.
• Assist the inter sectoral coordinator in promoting and implementing community engagement toward humanitarian programmes style and assist sector leads on the best way to make use of available CwC services.
• Provide support and technical oversight for coordinate needs assessments and analysis related to CwC, including assessment of information needs of communities, communication preferences, damage assessments of communication infrastructure.
• Provide regular updates for OCHA situation reports on CwC activities underway and reporting on feedback collected from communities.
• Assist sectors, iNGOs and UN to ensure that prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse is incorporated into all programmes and that referral systems are in place.
• Lead a CwC working group in hubs in affected areas, where necessary, and
• Provide support for multi sectoral needs assessments and analysis related to CwC, including assessment of information needs of communities, communication preferences, damage assessments of communications infrastructure
• In partnership with the government, work on the design of appropriate transition strategies for the group including how coordination mechanisms and membership will change during the transition from the emergency to recovery and develop and implement an exit strategy.
Specific Required Skills
• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in political science, social science, public administration, international studies, humanitarian affairs, communication or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• At least three years’ experience in aid and development work at field level, preferably in a humanitarian crisis. Good working knowledge of the mandates and modalities of the international humanitarian sector including the UN cluster system and the role of OCHA. Proven track record in leadership and coordination in crisis situations, including team building and conflict resolution. Strong background in community engagement work, preferably specifically in CwC and preferably in a developing country context. Proven advocacy and strategic engagement/negotiation skills including donor relations. Technical experience in designing and managing communications projects is preferable. Proven interpersonal and networking skills. Experience in working with radio is an advantage. Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team in a challenging and highly fluid environment, flexibility and the ability to handle constant change.
• Strong team player, ability to work under pressure in stressful situation, proven management abilities. Technical experience in designing and managing communications projects is preferable. Proven interpersonal and networking skills as well as experience in working with social media. Proven ability to live and work in challenging physical
Language:
Fluency in Spanish and English is required.
How to apply:
If you have all of the above-mentioned skills, please register with CANADEM before contacting us. This can be done on our website at www.CANADEM.ca/register . Then send an email no later than the 5th of April, 11:59 pm EDT to pantiwa.naksomboon@CANADEM.ca with a Subject Line: "OCHA-HAO-Peru". In your email, please include an updated resume, date of availability, your current location, and a phone number where we can reach you.
